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Many people dream of becoming rock stars, but few actually ever realize the dream.
Ryan Groff of Champaign, Ill. band Elsinore said his band is getting there.
With a brand new album ready, titled "Yes, Yes, Yes", to be released and shopped to record labels, the band is launching a tour tonight in Carbondale at Booby's.
Pulse was able to talk to Groff over the phone this week about the band and where it is heading.
Pulse: Is this the band's first time playing in Carbondale?
Ryan Groff: We did a few shows about two years ago as were starting to play outside of Champaign, Ill. and Charleston, Ill.
We played at Tres Hombres and it was a really long marathon of a show and those are not that great of a time.
Pulse: Give me a brief history of the band. When and where did it start?
Ryan Groff: We started while we were in college. Three of us were at Eastern (Illinois University) and the bass player and I were friends in the music scene there.
We got together and at first it was a hobby band and then it spread out of the college scene. We became more serious and career minded with it over the last two years.
Pulse: How would you describe the band's sound?
Ryan Groff: I think the easiest thing to do is talk about the bands we get compared to the most. We get a lot of comparisons to Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead and Arcade Fire.
Pulse: How do you feel about those comparisons?
Ryan Groff: Thankfully those are the most common comparisons and they are bands we love and are musically inspired by.
It's a bummer when people say bands that we all hate, where it's like "ahhhhhhh." That doesn't happen too often though. Usually people will say that after only hearing a couple of songs.
Pulse: You guys have been working on a new album, is it finished?
Ryan Groff: The record is done and we are in the process of strategizing how to shop it to record labels. It's been so hard to be working on it for so long and now it's done and it's really important we release it right.
Pulse: When you say "release it right", what would be the "right" way to release the album?
Ryan Groff: We all feel we are ready for a record label that can give us national and international distribution. We want to have licensing to TV and movies.
We want to be involved with a label or team of people who can get us more opportunities to be in front of more people. We want to be the band on Conan and Letterman. All these things, we have decided are signs of progress in the music business.
You don't have to sacrifice the creative process to "make it," but you have to work hard enough so that there is no way people can ignore you. I think this record is going to do just that when people start to hear it and it gets distributed more.
Pulse: Have band members had to quit day jobs to pursue this then?
Ryan Groff: We all have really flexible jobs we come back to when we aren't touring. It takes one more step to get to were we aren't having to have those jobs.
Three of us teach music lessons and the other two have really flexible jobs.
We have all worked real hard to be in a position where we can tour and have jobs still. It's a tricky game and I think we are doing well so far in getting the balance of real life things nailed down to support ourselves.
Everything's in good enough shape that we will survive and won't have to not do something for the band because we can't support ourselves as people.
For more information on Elsinore visit msypace.com/elsinoremusic
Luke McCormick can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 275
