Show Notes
Our Production Director, Andrew Jáuregui, interviews Warriors Bend and speaks with them about the upcoming Battle of the Bands.
View Full Transcript
Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: That was, and you will know us by Trail of the Dead. Up next, we've got something really special here for you. UA is in the middle of their Battle of the Bands, and we have one of the bands here for an interview here is Warriors Bend. And we're gonna have a quick interview about who they are and what they're doing here for the Battle of the Bands. You guys want to introduce yourselves?
[00:00:21] Speaker B: Hey, how's it going? My name's Luke. I'm from Montgomery, Alabama. I'm the lead guitarist for our band, and I'm a major in kinesiology.
[00:00:29] Speaker C: What's up? My name is Austin Murphy. I'm the drummer for our band. I'm from Charlotte, North Carolina. I'm also a sophomore here, and I'm currently studying biology here at ua.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: My name's David Brett. I'm the keyboardist. I'm from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and I'm currently majoring in computer science.
I'm William hall from Montgomery, Alabama, as.
[00:00:49] Speaker C: Well, and I play the bass. And I'm majoring in finance right now.
And also don't want to forget Nate. He's our Nate Arnsten. He's our lead singer and our rhythm guitarist. He can't be here today, but definitely couldn't forget him.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: Well, I'm glad we could get you all in here today or at least as many of you as we could.
So tell us a bit about who is Warriors Ben. Like, I guess get more specific. How did you guys come together?
[00:01:19] Speaker B: We met through a lot of, like, our mutual friends. Me and David were friends and with our Greek involvement, and me and William went to high school school each other with each other in Montgomery. So we kind of just met through that. I heard we came to know Olson from William because I was looking for people to play play with, and I heard that, hey, this guy Austin, he plays the drums. He's really good. Y' all need to play with him. And that's just all how we all kind of met.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: So what music experience did each of you already have before coming together?
[00:01:49] Speaker B: I think Olson was the only one to play live before. None of us have really played live.
[00:01:54] Speaker C: Yeah. So in high school, I was in a band with a lot of my friends, and we played for, like, three years in high school, and then even into the summer, going into the senior year. We still play on and off when we're back home. But, yeah, I was the only guy who was in a band beforehand before where he's been.
But, yeah, we all got connected, started playing, and it's Been a lot of fun. Yeah.
[00:02:15] Speaker B: He's been helping us walk through it nicely.
[00:02:17] Speaker A: Well, it's nice that you have someone that has a little bit of that know how.
So where did the inspiration for the name come from?
[00:02:26] Speaker B: Well, the inspiration for our name actually came from the city of Tuscaloosa. We kind of wanted to name it something that had affiliation with the city.
And we all lived in the freshman dorms freshman year. So that was kind of by the Black Warrior river, which is, you know, right across from Tuscaloosa. North Port is the river in between those two cities.
That's how we kind of got our inspiration. So we got the Warrior idea from that, and we were just like, let's just name it, like, Warriors Bend, like a River Bend.
And it just.
That all kind of sounded good to us.
[00:02:57] Speaker A: Yeah, well, something we love to hear.
So what is it that you guys love about music? What? Like. Like, what's about. It makes you passionate and wanting to have a band?
[00:03:11] Speaker C: For me, like, I went to a lot of, like, concerts, but, like, growing up, I was always into music, but not necessarily the genres I'm into now. And then, I guess, like, I went to a couple of concerts, my dad and some friends, and I just, like, loved it. I had the best experience ever. And I was like, I want to be able to do that. And, like, that's kind of when I first started playing the drums specifically.
And I think that's a pretty common feeling. I feel like most people are like, that's awesome, like, watching concerts. So you want to go see if you can do that. And that's kind of where we are trying to do. Trying to do what those guys do.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: And how would you describe your sound?
[00:03:47] Speaker C: I'd say we're kind of actually. You want to take this one, Luke?
[00:03:50] Speaker B: Yeah. I feel like our band kind of consists more of, like, a blues, Southern rock style of music.
Basically. That's just because that's kind of all the music that we listen to. We love, like, listening to the 70s, Allman Brothers, learn, Skynyrd, that. Those type of genres, like that.
So, yeah, I would definitely say our sound is more of, like, a blues, Southern rock style of music.
[00:04:13] Speaker A: And would you say that some of those bands you mentioned are some of your inspirations that you have?
[00:04:18] Speaker B: Absolutely, for sure.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: All right, so you've come together. You have your separate passions for music.
You have the name. So did you guys form for Battle of the Bands?
[00:04:27] Speaker B: No, we didn't form for Battle the bands. We honestly were just looking for people to play with and you know, that we all just kind of met and made it happen one day. We just kind of decided that this was going to be our group. And we're honestly all happy that we're able to participate in Battle of the Bands.
[00:04:43] Speaker C: Yeah, kind of definitely was a second thought. Not the just heard about it, like, oh, we definitely got to enter in that.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: All right, so for those people who may not be as aware of the process of Battle of the Bands, what did that look like from your side of getting started entering?
[00:04:58] Speaker B: Well, we basically heard from a lot of the SGA representatives from, like, some of the friends that we know. They were like, hey, y' all really need to sign up for this and maybe have a chance to participate. It'd be really good for your band. And we all thought it was, like. We all thought it was a great idea. We hopped on it, instantly, signed up, and the voting round started. So I think people had the option to pick between nine different bands, and we were lucky enough to get voted into the final four. So that's 12, actually. It was 12? I think so, yeah, it might be 12. Nine or 12.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: Tell me a little bit about that process. Did people have a chance to hear you before voting?
[00:05:36] Speaker C: Not really.
[00:05:36] Speaker B: Not really.
[00:05:37] Speaker C: I mean, they had access to all of our Instagram pages, so I guess it kind of could take a look, but not for the most part, honestly, it was kind of. That's just the voting process was all online.
[00:05:47] Speaker A: So what content did you guys have out that people were looking at?
[00:05:51] Speaker B: We just had our Instagram.
[00:05:53] Speaker C: We had a couple, like, practice videos on our Instagram. And, like, we've played a show that we had a video from, but that's really all we, like, have posted of our own sound.
[00:06:02] Speaker A: All right, and so what is coming up next for this next part of Battle of the Bands? Tell us again what that looks like.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: We're just, you know, getting our set list figured out. Figured out what songs we want to play. We're working on time management because we're only giving about, like a 45 to an hour set.
So we will gonna. What we need to really hammer and practice leading up to it is our transitioning from different songs and being faster switching from song to song.
[00:06:27] Speaker A: Now, are all the bands given a time to perform?
[00:06:31] Speaker B: Yes, they are.
[00:06:31] Speaker C: It's all in the same day. And it's like back to back to back.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:35] Speaker C: All the sets to the same night.
[00:06:37] Speaker A: And for voting in that round, is it only people who are there in person?
[00:06:41] Speaker B: I think so, yes.
[00:06:42] Speaker C: Not exactly sure, but I think it's.
[00:06:44] Speaker B: I'm pretty sure, like, if you buy a ticket there, you're allowed to vote on the bands that are participating.
[00:06:51] Speaker A: And where will this be?
[00:06:53] Speaker B: It'll be at Druid City Social, 4 to 7, October 11th.
[00:06:57] Speaker A: Okay. And so what are you doing to practice to get ready for this?
[00:07:02] Speaker B: Just, you know, we're going to. I think after this, we're just going to go practice, devise a set list of songs, and just run it through, run it through until we feel like we're ready enough.
[00:07:11] Speaker C: We have a show this Friday, so we got to get ready for that, and I guess that'll help us practice, and we'll play much more songs, and we'll play for Battle of the Bands, but we can kind of see what sounds the best and what we think.
[00:07:21] Speaker A: And one more thing. So do you play covers or songs, or are any of you guys songwriters?
[00:07:26] Speaker B: We're all just working on covers for now.
[00:07:29] Speaker C: For now.
[00:07:30] Speaker B: Nothing original yet.
[00:07:31] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: All right, well, I'm sure things are just cooking, but is there anything that is being worked on?
[00:07:36] Speaker C: Not in particular, but it's. It's common. We've. We've played around a little bit, though.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: All right, well, we really appreciate being able to have you guys on. On the station. You mentioned that Lynyrd Skynyrd was a big inspiration. So we're going to be playing a classic, Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I'm Andrew Howdige. This is Warriors Bend in here for the interview. And this is Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
