Zin : Could you tell me a little what every one does in the band that is present?

Chris : Sarah plays guitar and keys and writes all the words, Melanie sings her 12 year old heart out and plays bass, Nate plays drums with one arm (and sometimes two), and I play guitar and sing from time to time.

Zin : What were some of your original thoughts that you had when you where trying to form your band?

Chris : I just joined the band once they were already some what established, but I definately wanted to add some cool guitar stuff to the mix that wouldnt distract from the song itself.

Sarah : "The Band", as it can best be described, first started with me and Melanie singing our "12 year old hearts out" in her basement. When I say 12, I mean it. We started doing this when we were pretty young. We played cover songs for fun and just fooled around and basically learned how to write songs together. It eventually came together, and after a few trys with a few drummers we ended up with Nate, and Chris was last to jump on.

Nate : What would be a better name than Friendly Contribution?

Zin : I got to listen to your first ep. Could you tell me about how the production went and anything you may have learned from the process.

Chris : The first cd was when the band was extremely rough, and the person who recorded us was also extremely rough, so I think it was a big learning experience all around. I actualy wasnt "in" the band on the first cd, i was just hanging around in the studio and once all the actual bands tracks were laid down, everyone agreed that it sounded pretty bare. I asked FC if I could throw in some guitar stuff and showed them the riff I was thinking of for "get down", and they were like "sure". So 16 tracks of guitar on every song later I realized that I would have to join the band now to make this work live (haha). But anyway, the first cd is kind of a muddy mess, but thats how FC became what it is.

Sarah : It was actually a friend of ours, Alex, that recorded our first EP. We all know that the actual quality of the CD isn't fantastic, but I'm still glad we made it. It was our first shot at recording, and Alex's first time recording a CD for another band. We all learned a lot about our music and each other, and that in itself is something to be proud of.

Nate : The production process sucked, as most artists know recording can be fun but it can also suck a lot. Its so much of the same thing over and over, and when we recorded that guy, I was still new to the band and I had a hard time getting the drum tracks down. but it turned out alright, dr. proctor did a good job, for an amateur.

Zin :  I also hear that you just released a full cd. Is there any dramatic differences that you tried with this album compared to the first?

Chris : Very dramatic differences! The skill level of each member individualy has grown tremendously, as well as the ability of the band to actualy play well together and compliment each other. The guitars got more clean and well thought out, the drumming is more technical, fast, tight, and intense, and I don't know, everything is just way better.

Sarah : One very huge and obvious difference is that we had the opportunity to record in a quality studio. Aside from that, we had the chance to try some new stuff, including adding keyboard to all of the songs, which may not be super noticeable at first listen, but it really filled out a lot of the tracks. I guess I just have to talk about the keyboard endlessly because I really like it for some reason. I know that I'm the only one.

Nate : YES! This new unit sounds a lot cleaner, tighter, and more professional than anything else we've ever recorded.  And the artwork is awesome, my favorite picture is the one on the back with the woman slapping the man in the face.

Zin :  How are your fans reacting to your new album?

Chris : They are all like "The new cd is righteous!" ...Naw, actualy we dont really have any fans.

Sarah : As of now I don't even know how many people have heard it! I've heard really good things from those that have, including a lot of compliments on how Melanie's voice has developed and grown.

Nate : As far as I know, they love this unit. There is one fan that stands out in particular named Mike Elder, who is in love with the album.  He's constantly listening to it and telling me how much he loves our band, thats one of the more outstanding fans of course, most fans just tell me how much they love our band.

Zin : What are some of your musical influences right now?

Chris : My musical influences for my guitar work in fc has come from lots of places, Element 101, Rufio, Further Seems Forever, I dont know... pretty much any guitar stuff that I admired I would get ideas from. Right before the CD Sarah and I kinda got into the GoGo's and they made a big influence on the way we went into the cd, and the way our guitar parts work together.

Sarah : In my CD player, right now, I have Patti Smith - "Horses", thanks to a friend of my mom's. The album was made back in 70's I think, and while it really seems to speak for the younger generation of that time, I feel like people our age could really relate to it too. Patti Smith is amazing and really inspirational, I would give the world to meet her. Other than that, I've been listening to The Cure a lot, both the new and the old. Bright Eyes is another one of my absolute favorite artists, I admire the lyrical and emotional value of Bright Eyes more than I can really express. When I was a kid, I listened to a lot of Selena and Madonna, respectively. I'm still into it, and I know it's made a definite mark on the way I write music. I don't even think its a completely bad thing, or a bad thing at all.

Nate : Hawthorne Heights, Underoath, Taking Back Sunday, Juvenile.

Zin : Are any of you working on any other projects right now?

Chris : I'm actualy working on recording a 3 song cd as a solo thing where I'm going to play everything. Right now I'm getting lots of the drum parts worked out and such, but I think I'll record probably around the end of september with Tom Smouse, who recorded the new FC cd.

Sarah : Either many or few are aware of "The Secret Squirrel", I don't know yet. It's my keyboard semi-joke project, which basically involves me layering tracks upon tracks of keyboard ontop of eachother in my room at 2 AM. In all seriousness though, I'm going off to school this September, to Carleton, and I've been talking with a few people already about starting a band there. So far we have a potential violinist, a few guitarists, keyboard, and bass. There will be more, I promise. We all have really different musical tastes ranging from Bob Dylan to Belle & Sebastian to Rilo Kiley, so it should be pretty interesting!

Nate : No. Not me at least, I think Sarah is teaming up with one of pequots finest, Jacob Scott, on a synthesizer unit.

Zin : What is your favorite color?

Chris : Hmmmmmmmmm.... I really like brown, so I'll just say that. But I like lots of colors.

Sarah : I've always been a fan of yellow, or blue. Yellow for happy, and blue for sad. Pink for when I'm hanging out with Melanie.

Nate : Sky Orange

Zin : What direction do you all feel the band is going in?

Chris : I'm not sure, I would definately say every new song we write is getting more jazzy though.

Sarah : Thats such a hard question to ask, because it's something we really don't plan. I think that the direction a band takes is really a culmination of each member's individual direction as a person, and that really can't be predicted.

Nate : North.

Zin :  Is there any shows coming up that you would like to talk about?

Chris : We're playing a pig roast in Bemidji on August 27th. ... I think the fact that its a pig roast speaks for itself and I dont even really need to make a witty comment on that. We play anything.

Sarah : You heard it. We play anything! The Pig Roast will be excellent though, I hear there will be a lot of metal bands, which will undoubtedly make for a thrilling experience.

Nate : Well I thought I would be looking forward to the conrete sound show in Bemidji Minnesota, but there seems to be some conflict between me and the sound guy now, so we're not on speaking terms quite yet.

Zin : Is there anything that an interviewer never asks you that you wish they would?

Chris : A mathematical equation or somthing, so we could see where the brains are. That would be funny!

Sarah : I'm obviously the brains, we don't really need to test that! I always wish they'd ask questions about specific songs and the stories behind them.

Nate : Are you single / or funny.

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