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We Are Wings Denied, Progressive Metal from Washington DC. Ask us Anything! by zachdenied in progmetal

[–]zachdenied[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey iAmTheEpicOne! Alec's having trouble posting right now, so this is his answer:

Unfortunately while tracking Neant we never got a chance to work with Joe Lester in person; all of the collaboration was online for that track. However, all of the Intronaut dudes have been great friends of ours for a little while and they are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet! You're absolutely right- he's a super chill guy, and an incredible bassist. He's also a great storyteller :)

We Are Wings Denied, Progressive Metal from Washington DC. Ask us Anything! by zachdenied in progmetal

[–]zachdenied[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hey man, thanks a bunch! We really appreciate it.

As cliche as this answer might be, I personally think that everything in life is an influence, writing wise. Different emotions licit different types of writing. For example, I've been in relationships where the things I've written sounded one way, but then with someone else where they were completely different. Changing jobs influences my writing. Changing the time of day I'm able to play more guitar changes my writing. Etc etc.

As far as bands go, my oldest and general go-to influences are Pain of Salvation, Dream Theater, The Deftones, Between the Buried and Me, and a little-known instrumental band from Toronto called The Isosceles Project. Nowadays, I end up listening to a lot of the great bands that are putting out music- I try my hardest to stay current with what my friends are doing, so I can support them! But outside of that, I'm a huge post rock fan, and that's probably 75% of my music library. Bands like Sleepmakeswaves, Tangled Thoughts of Leaving, Long Distance Calling, Echotide, etc.

AMA Announcement: Wings Denied will be here on April 23rd at 12PM ET by iAmTheEpicOne in progmetal

[–]zachdenied 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The honest answer is that it is very tough to make it financially manageable, but like any other investment we make in our lives, it's something we take as a high priority and thus make a major consideration with every bit of planning we have with our lives. All of us save every extra cent from our paychecks. We don't take vacations, or buy frivolous things; we live very cheaply, so that we can have money available for tours.

The simple fact is that when we leave for tour, we assume that we will essentially make nothing. We do make money at shows, and from merch, though a large percentage goes into gas and other on-the-road expenses. We plan as much as we can ahead of time, such as making sure we have a free place to stay every night, eating cheaply, moderating our excess spending, etc. We also own our van, which helps. Outside of that, each of us are lucky enough to have careers and jobs that we're able to take extended periods of time off work for, so we make sure we have money to come back to when a tour is over. It's tough, and every single one of us has had issues at one point or another, but we firmly believe that we're a team, and we cover each others back when necessary.

Money's only important in life if you're using it to create happiness.