Whaddya know about Captives? An Interview with Jeffery & Trevor.

The story of how this interview came about is an odd one, and one I'm excited to share. I found Captives when they followed me on Tumblr, of all places. I didn't realize that bands were starting to use Tumblr as a means to get their music out and expand their fan bases  but it worked, so they may be onto something! After listening to the band's tunes and finding the music to be really interesting and diverse, I got in touch with the guys, compliments were exchanged, and here we are. I hope you enjoy the answers from Jeffery and Trevor (vocals & guitar).

Up Late Reviews: How did you first get together as a band? Since then, how have any band member changes or personal ups and downs affected your music?

Trevor Bookout: Well Jeff and myself shared a passion for music ever since we became friends in high school. We wanted to pursue music seriously our senior year. We eventually started a band with some friends, but we jumped into it too fast and ended up with some really confusing music. We knew what we wanted to sound like, but had no idea how to get there. A few years went by, and after going through some tough times in our life we found ourselves writing music again.

Jeffery Mudgett: Like Trevor said, he and I had been friends since high school, and we both shared a love for music. We've been jamming together since '09. It took us several years and a couple bands to find our sound, but we stuck it out and founded Captives in early 2012. In the beginning we went through a lot of different drummers and bassists, but eventually we ended up with Jake Evans and Tyler Colburn, who we couldn't be more happy with. And as for the ups and downs, we all have had them, but those are the things and times we express in our music.

ULR: Do you feel like starting in Utah made things harder for you to break into the music scene?

TB: Trying to play music in Utah is definitely a frustrating place to try to break into a scene. We feel like were actually trying to start a scene here, much less break into one.

JM: There really isn't much of a scene around here for our kind of music sadly, especially in Utah County. The Ogden and Salt Lake scenes are better, but still lacking in diversity. The style of music that thrives here are hardcore and indie folk. I feel like our music is more of an east coast sound, hence why we want to tour so badly.

ULR: Do you guys think that you've grown as a band and your sound has changed accordingly?

TB: I would say that our sound is maturing the more we play and the more we learn about ourselves and our writing abilities. Jeff and I have been attempting to write music since the day we started playing guitar, around four years ago. Jake was a guitarist before he joined the band, not a drummer. He specifically learned drums to jam with us. So all of us, from a musicians standpoint, are still fairly new to writing. So yes, we are growing for sure, and we are very excited about our new material coming.

JM: As musicians, we are always growing. 

ULR: Do you have one specific member who works on writing a majority of lyrics and/or music or do you feel that it's an equal collaboration?

TB: Jeff and myself are mostly the song writers. Jake and Tyler will write their parts after we present the song to them, but we lay down the foundation for the song. Jeff is mostly our instrumental guy. He has been playing Guitar for a year less then I have and I have nothing to show for it besides complete confusion to whatever chords and/or leads he's showing me ha. I will occasionally add a guitar riff or hum a note progression I want him to find for me haha. He is 100% the reason why our music in our EP is as good as it is. I do a good portion of the melody writing and lyrics. I've always had a knack for poetry and I just converted that over into a lyric form. Jeff usually thinks of his own melodies for his parts and helps out with lyrics as well.

JM: The original plan was that we would both write our own lyrics and create our own melodies for our vocal parts. We stayed true to that for Forsaken and Abandon, but Trevor basically took over all lyrics and melodies for Ugly and Grace. 

ULR: Tell me about your lyric writing process and how you end up with the final product? Has your process changed at all since you started?

TB: Writing lyrics comes easy for me. I would say that once I find a melody, I concentrate on how that melody makes me feel, what emotion or memories or random segments of thought pops in my head and I run with it. Sometimes, when I write a song, I have no Idea what I initially mean behind what I'm saying. Afterwards, I find that connection that lets me apply it to my own life, literally or metaphorically. I will then change it to fit me more and be more personal, or leave it, because that's exactly what I wanted it to say. That method usually works for bits and parts of songs, but not the song as a whole. I seem to always have something that is on my mind that I feel the need to express through music and that's what I go off of. For example, some people have mistaken "Grace" for a romantic song. It's not about a girl really at all. Rather, it's about a time in my life when I truly felt lost, and those are the experiences and emotions and trials I went through during that time in my life.

JM: A lot of times we don't have an initial theme or idea behind a song to start off with. Most of the time I'll have an instrumental foundation written before we even start lyrics or melodies. Usually Trevor will write the first few lyrics and then I'll add my parts accordingly. It really depends on the song though. Our process is always changing.

ULR: Do you feel like it's difficult for you to continue making a name for yourself as a band, while other bands and musicians often seem to meld together under the pressure of the industry to make "popular" music?

TB: Being in a band is always gonna be difficult. I don't think anyone gets themselves into a serious band with the thought that it's gonna be an easy ride or that it's gonna be one big party. Especially if you are outside of the top 40 sound. I don't think that the level of difficulty has, or ever will, put pressure on us to change our music or the way we write. We are strong believers in writing music for the right reasons. I can honestly say that I wouldn't be the person I am if it wasn't for a handful of bands who I shaped my life around. We would love to be one of those bands for someone. We write music we love, and that is all that matters.

JM: We just make music we love, and will continue doing so for however long we can. Popularity doesn't affect our writing. 

ULR: Have you experienced any issues or fallbacks while recording?

TB: We have only recorded professionally once. All I have to say, is if you do it with the right producer, you know your parts, and you can hear the finished product in your head how it's supposed to sound, it should go as smooth as butta. It was a breeze for us. We recorded all four tracks to our EP in five days.

JM: We've had some bad experiences recording locally, so we decided to go a more professional route with our EP and chose to record at a legitimate studio out of state. And it turned out amazing.

ULR: Do you guys have any plans for a tour in the near future, whether local or US?

TB: We would absolutely love to go on tour. We really want to get onto a tour with a band who has a similar sound to us so we can actually play in front of people who enjoy our style of music, rather than playing shows with bands who's fans couldn't care less about us haha. Right now it's all a matter of time and money, which hopefully will not be an issue in the near future.

JM: TOUR WOOOO!

I'm curious as to how you guys personally feel about the way music sales have changed, including illegal downloading, iTunes, Amazon, and other online music retailers. Does this totally ruin music or do you think this improves how easily and rapidly music reaches your fan's ears?

TB: Illegal downloading is like a bitter-sweetness for sure. Mainly because it's awesome how music can spread like wildfires and tons of listeners can hear it which could lead to more support. However, "can" is the key word in that sentence. I am a very strong believer that if you love a band you should support them. Go to their shows, buy some merch. Just help keep them in a financial position to continue making the music you love. Right now, we just want people to listen to our stuff and experience our music. So it's on our bandcamp for free 90% of the time until we run out of free downloads for the month. But if that happens you can just download it off a torrent website instead haha.

JM: Music has turned into a service now days, so I say go download anything you want, but if you like it enough, go support the band and buy some merch. 

Do you think that online sales will eventually completely replace CD and vinyl sales?

TB: I don't think online sales will ever replace vinyl. Maybe CD's, but not vinyl. Once you have the love for records it never stops. They are just so cool, and so much fun to have and admire. I love seeing the artwork and reading the lyric sheets along with the music. Plus, it's always nice to have something tangible of the band you love so much.

JM: I've spent way too much money on vinyl records and CD's. They are more collectibles in this day and age. I feel for listening purposes digital music has already replaced physical. But I think Cd's and records will always be around.

If each of you had to choose one musician, dead or alive, to add to the band, who would it be?

TB: I would probably want Chris Freeman from Manchester Orchestra, not only because the guy rocks out on the keys like no one before him, but he brings such a cool environmental sound to Manchester and I think if we were missing a piece of the puzzle to some of our songs, some raining down, powerful keys would do the trick.

JM: Ian Mackaye.

And if Jake were here he'd choose Justin Beiber.

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If you're interested in finding out more about Captives and seeing what they're up to, check them out on Facebook, Bandcamp, Twitter, and Tumblr!

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