Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Mike Crow: Guitar
Ben Saplak: Guitar
Justin Ineman: Drums
Brandon Radic: Bass Guitar
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Covariance? How long has the band been around?
We were not in a previous band before the formation of Covariance, we just started playing together one day for fun. I (Justin), had been friends with Ben, who knew Mike. We started jamming one day and were playing to what eventually became "Space Jam." From then on, we would jam and write short songs, and before we knew it we were playing a show. We have been around for a little over three years now.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
The name "Covariance" came about simply because we liked the way it sounded. We wanted something short and easy to remember.
Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?
We all write our songs, it's a collective effort and we try to take everybody's ideas and work together as best that we can. We don't really have themes in our songs in terms of meaning. Being instrumental, we never really found a reason to try to convey some sort of message, and we don't want to take a stand. Our music is about the music, and to us that's deep. To try to have any sort of deeper meaning with our opinions I feel would stop people with differing opinions from enjoying our music. It really is about the music, which we hope speaks for itself.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
What we get the most is, "You guys remind me of CHON", so I guess you could say CHON. Others would include the instrumentals, Intervals, Animals As Leaders, etc. It would be so hard to narrow it down because we all listen to different music than each other. There is definitely a lot of overlap, but each of us is inspired by something different, which I think helps bring a lot to the table when we are writing.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
We just love playing music, and figured if we were going to, why not do it with our best friends!
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, ect …
We just run our set multiple times and then doubt our abilities, that usually leads to a good show.
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
We could probably all agree that when we played with CHON was the best show we've played. There was something about that night that we just played super well, and had a blast playing for a full crowd.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
I could only speak for myself here (Justin), but I'd love to tour with Rush. I'm sure Ben would say something funny like R. Kelly, and I couldn't speak for Mike.