I had the chance to step aside with Chris Motionless, lead vocals of Motionless In White, just before their set. I really appreciate how noticeably genuine and down to earth he was. He gave a really interesting interview and I really enjoyed working with him. Here’s what he had to say...
PI: This is Liana Marie of Central Pa Plug’d In Magazine here with...
C: Chris from Motionless In White.
PI: Would you mind if we started out naming each member and their individual role in the band?
C: I’m Chris, I sing. TJ plays guitar, Angelo plays drums, Ricky Olsen plays bass, Ryan plays guitar, and Josh Balz plays keyboards. ...and yes, that’s really his last name. It really is Balz. (PI) It’s good you answered that, which was actually going be a part of this interview. (C) Oh, oh, good! (PI) Yes. [Laughter]
PI: What’s the story behind Motionless In White? Where did it come from?
C: We’ve actually been a band for a really long time. Our drummer Angelo and I started the band a long time ago with 2 other members. We were only a 4 piece band. I guess you could say it’s the product from playing together in high school. Over the years that we’ve been doing this we acquired all the members we have now; the solidified Motionless In White. We’ve been like this for about 2-3 years.
PI: Is there any significance behind the title of your band?
C: Yeah. The title is actually a song by the band 18 visions; a band we were heavily influenced by when Angelo and I started the band. It was one of my favorite bands; what makes me want to play this kind of music. We just picked the name as a way to represent what our influences were and kind of pay a tribute to them. (PI) Right, right.
(C) Its cool because they actually know about us and approved the name and now we’re sponsored by 18 Vision’s bass player’s clothing line. (PI) That’s awesome! (C) Yeah. It’s really cool to have that. (PI) Yeah, that’s really awesome.
PI: Did you imagine or dream you would be where you are today?
C: I dreamed that this is where I wanted to be, not where I would be. I never thought we would ever come this far. I know that I wanted it and wanted to do anything I could to get where we are now. But, I never knew that it would actually happen. It’s something that...You’ve got to risk a lot of your life to make this happen. I felt that if I was going to put that much effort into it then I’ve hoped it would be this way. We’re still a small band so we’ve got a ways to go. (PI) You guys are pretty big though.
PI: How long would you say that you’ve all known each other?
C: For as long as the band has been around. We’ve been using the name “Motionless In White” for about six years, which is crazy. Like I said we’ve only been the band we are now for about 2-3. Every one of those six years has brought on us knowing each other. We met TJ. Through TJ we met Ryan, through Ryan and TJ, we met Josh. We ended up getting our bass player Ricky last year so, basically every year someone comes in and now we’re done. This is it. I hope so at least... (PI) Yeah.
PI: What genre of music would you consider your band?
C: When I wrote the music to this record I wrote it so we wouldn’t be able to answer this question. But, if I had to choose I’d say metal-core. There is a lot of different kind of shit in our songs industrial-wise or melodic black metal type stuff. For example, Cradle Of Filth etc. It’s just probably easiest to say metal-core. We’re not a scream-o band anymore.
PI: Which one of your songs would you say you enjoy performing live most?
C: Definitely the song “Abigail”. It’s a newer song we just put out about a month ago; it’s on the record. I don’t know why....Kids who don’t even know it are always jumping up and down. It’s such a good song! It’s short, it’s heavy, it’s fast, and it’s everything. I definitely like that song best.
PI: Is there any bands you haven’t played with quite yet, that you would like to play a show with in the future? If so, who would they be?
C: There’s a lot. My answer to this...even though we already toured with them, I would love to tour with Bleeding Through, again for…forever! They’re definitely my favorite band. They’re “THE band” that inspires me to do this but we already fortunately; dream come true, got to tour with them. If not them, I would really like to play with Cradle Of Filth. I would also really like to tour with August Burns Red. I think they’re actually from Lancaster, right? (PI) Yeah, they’re from the area. (C) lot of bands, man. Definitely Cradle Of Filth. Cradle Of Filth is a BIG one just because I feel I would want to see how we do with that crowd and our new record.
PI: How does being in a band affect your personal life?
C: You don’t have a personal life when you’re in a band. Well, I mean you do but you’re gone so much it’s so hard to have a life at home, when you’re gone all the time. Relationships are kind of...are really rough and tough to handle, and anything like that, really. I mean, my personal life on the road, I love it! This is what I wanted to do so my personal life is to be alone, and on the road with my friends. I enjoy doing this for my fans. My personal life is pretty awesome because I get to do this every day.
PI: What would you say one of your biggest challenges as a band has been? And if you have, what did you do to overcome such an obstacle?
C: I feel like the biggest challenge for a band, where we are now is to get our name out there; like we have been, and it’s still a challenge. I wouldn’t say you can ever really overcome getting your name out there but just breaking from being a local band to an internationally touring band...That’s something that we really wanted, and had to work towards. Fortunately, it turned out well and it is something we’re able to do now...Putting out a record, getting a full-length under our name, stuff that every band wants to do that not everyone gets to.
PI: If you could describe your band as a sitcom or television show what would it be?
C: Oh man. “The Adam’s Family” for sureMan I loved that show! (PI) That reminds me, you really have some crazy awesome make-up going on! I really dig that. © Thank you. (PI) How long does that take? (C) This is actually... I tried to hurry up, because I didn’t want to wait too long to do this interview. I actually do more. I don’t know... It depends on the day, if I want to go crazy with it I could take awhile. If not, I just throw it on. (PI) That’s awesome! (C) It can take anywhere from ten minutes to about a half hour. (PI) So, you do it yourself? (C) Yeah. I’ve been doing it for so long! (PI) It’s legit. Real cool.
(C) Thank you!
PI: What are you currently listening to?
C: We’re all fans of William Control. Now that we’re on tour w/ him we’re addicted to his music. We hear it every night. Sometimes we’ll go in the van and just listen to Aiden or William Control the whole time. However, whenever someone’s driving they’ll listen to whatever they want. So, we’re never really listening to one thing as a band. I think the last thing we unanimously listened to was the new All That Remains record that came out 2-3 days ago. That’s about it. Yeah, everybody just does their own thing.
PI: Any specific musical influences or inspirations other than what you have already mentioned?
C: Musically, for me...I generally write all of our music and lyrics etc. The way we do it is ... I’ll have an idea or Angelo or Ricky will have an idea and they will bring it to me and I’ll pretty much take it from there and write the songs. Musically for me, Bleeding Through is definitely the band that inspired me to play this kind of music. Bleeding Through really pushed me to be in a band. I really like Marilyn Mason. His stuff really influences me. People may think this is weird, but lyrically and vocally my biggest inspiration would be Morrissey from The Smiths. His stuff as well as that band in generally has lyrically pushed me to not care what I say or what people think about what I say and just say it, because it is want I want to say.
PI: What advice would you give those just starting out or who want to be in a band as successful as yourselves?
C: Kids ask if I have any advice all the time...There’s not really any one thing I could tell anyone that I could guarantee 100% that it would work for them. We kind of got lucky, being in the right place at the right time. We were a band for four years before we got signed. Basically, don’t ever stop. If this is what you want to do then don’t stop. Just do it, do it, and don’t give up. Find the new members If you have to. Play the shitty-ass shows in bars with five people. Just keep going and if nothing works out then it’s not meant to be. Though, you never know. Four years down the line we were like you know, “Alright this is just not going to happen” and then we ended up in the right place at the right time and it worked out. So, that’s really all I can say...
PI: October 12th you released your debut album, “Creatures”. Did it end up exactly as you planned or expected?
C: There are some things I would change about it just due to time issues in the studio. We unfortunately didn’t have as much time as we would have liked to have. For the most part, I’m pretty happy with it. I like all the songs a lot and I really just like the way it sounds. It’s cool, but there are some things I would have done differently but I’m not going to bitch about it.
PI: What inspired the title, “Creatures”?
C: It’s completely dedicated to what we now refer to our fans. I feel like our band... I don’t want to say we’re underrated because that sounds self-centered ... For me to say that,” We’re an underrated band! We should be bigger!” I don’t mean it like that but I feel like we’re a small band. I would rather be a small band with a limited amount of fans that are really dedicated to our band than just another “cool” band. You know, like other bands...that I can’t exactly mention the names of. I don’t ever want to be that “cool” band. I would rather just have a dedicated legion of fans, and that’s kind of what it feels like we’re doing. In dedication to those people that actually really like our band we are referring to them now as “Creatures” in which we named the record. We did this to make the fans aware that they’re just as much a part of this band as we are.
PI: What can we expect from Motionless In White in the future?
C: The record came out a couple days ago. We’re just going to be touring a lot to try and get the record out there. We’re shooting for Warped Tour 2011... I mean everything kind of comes day by day and week by week. So, it’s hard to say what is going to happen. But, we are shooting for Warped Tour, and to keep touring and hopefully getting this record out there.
PI: Any last words? Anything you’d like to include?
C: Thanks. Thank you for having us do this. (PI) Yeah! It’s no problem at all. Thank you! (C) I’m glad. This is a good interview. There are a lot of people who just come and do interviews to get into shows for free... Like, “Oh, I’ll interview the band and I’ll get in for free...” They don’t care about the interview or the band. So, thank you for actually giving a shit.
PI: Well thank you! I really appreciate you taking the time to help make this happen and giving us a chance to get Plug’d In.
C: Yeah, It’s no problem.
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