Band of the Day: Count Me In

You know what’s great about pop punk bands? Their sense of humour as you’ll see below…

Simple things first – where are you guys from?

We all hail from the city of Kelowna in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

How did you meet?

Dave and I (Jason) have known each other since we were kids. We grew up together and got into playing music together which is why it’s kind of surprising it took us this long to get something going. We met Alex in high school. He played synth in a really shitty screamo band, but we’ve forgiven him for that. Ryan was somebody we all looked up to as he was playing in a few local bands, most notably Stutterfly which went on to get signed by a major label, played Warped Tour, stuff like that – living the dream. Then Dave and Ryan played together in the bands Secret and Whisper and Shreddy Krueger and as they say, the rest was history.

How long have you been playing as a band?

This is a hard question because Count Me In has had many different incarnations over the years. At the core, it’s always been me and Alex and then a revolving door of mostly drummers who all contributed their own influences and styles. But, once Dave and Ryan came around, it almost felt like the band took on a new life. It was still the same band it was before but also a new band at the same time. We even thought about changing our name to start anew but we couldn’t think of something we liked better, so we said fuck it. Not like we’re Coldplay or something. Imagine if they changed their name? It would be chaos. So… what was the question again?

Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?

We’re all big fans of New Found Glory and they wrote a song called Head On Collision which the band All Time Low got their name from. Following in that tradition and that thread directly, we got our name from the All Time Low song “Dear Maria, Count Me In”. Not only do we love that song, we thought the name Count Me In sounded pop punk AF. Tell us we’re wrong, I dare you.

What are your influences?

We all have different influences which I think makes things real creative and interesting when writing songs together. When it comes to this band specifically, Blink-182, New Found Glory, Eternal Boy, The Starting Line, Mayday Parade and All Time Low are the first bands that come to mind. Honestly, we are a product of so many different influences. Our sound has always meant to be a love letter to all the bands that have come before us that we grew up loving and still love to this day.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

To put it bluntly, we’re straight up pop punk. We love and appreciate all the sub-genres within the sub-genre itself whether it’s the poppier side of things, or the heavier. When it comes to our music I feel like we fall directly in the middle. That was always our intent so that we were never completely defined would have the freedom to try different things without having to change our sound completely.

I think what makes us unique is how not unique we are. Nowadays, it’s next to impossible to truly do something that’s original. So, instead of attempting to reinvent the wheel, we’re just going to make the best damn wheel that we can and drink a lot of Twisted Teas while we’re doing it!

Do you have any particular lyrical themes?

I wouldn’t say we necessarily have a theme, but we typically write about normal life shit that just about anybody can relate to. Relationships, partying, good times, bad times. We pretty much cover it all.

What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?

The sad thing about this question is that we have yet to play a show with our current lineup. Before in the “Pre-Dave and Ryan era”, it was very much the Blink-182 approach – light practising, little to no warming up and then pretty much winging it when it’s time to play. Now that we have serious musicians in the band we would probably do a lot more in preparation leading up to a show but back then, it was punk rock all the way.

What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?

I can’t say anything too wild has ever gone down at one of our shows. There was one where some dude dressed up in a luchador costume and was moshing which was sick. We played a show at a venue that used to be a strip club so that was also cool.

What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?

I mostly play Fender guitars right now. I have a Fender Telecaster and her name is Ronda “Ron” Burgundy. Alex plays some crappy bass he bought at a pawn shop and then painted it yellow and blue because he’s artistic, but then Dave made him play his Fender Jazz Bass cause it sounds infinitely better. Dave plays a PRS because he shreds so he’s allowed to. We both play Mesa amps because why mess with the best, let’s keep it simple. Ryan plays drums and cymbals. That’s all I know but I’m sure they are nice ones.

What are your plans for 2018?

Well considering 2018 is just about over, we don’t have anything planned. Just continue promoting our new album How’s Your Heart, Kid? that we released last month. As for 2019? Hopefully Dave will get sick of living in Iceland and come home so we can put together some shows and get out there and play these songs!

If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before! 

The band we would want to support across the board would probably be Blink-182. You can’t get much bigger than that! To open I would just find some band that sucks. You don’t want the opening band to be better than you otherwise people will just leave during your set to get a drink or go to the bathroom. No bueno.

Shout out to all the B.C. bands doing their thing right now! Yard Sale, Living Machines, bl00m, Dead Churches, Youth Fountain, Tama Hills, Chief State, just to name a few. I’m sure there are a bunch that I am forgetting so please forgive me, friends!

Count Me In: facebook | twitter | instagram | youtube

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