Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Kevin Preller - Guitar, Lead Vocals - Me
Anthony Quartararo - Drums, Backup Vocals
Eric Ponto - Bass, Backup Vocals
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Like Minded Criminals? How long has the band been around?
We’ve all been parts of other bands for our entire lives. Anthony comes from local cult legend band High Bluff as lead singer and guitar player, before moving to drums to play with InCircles in which Eric was playing bass at the time. I’m a little younger than the other two and grew up listening to their bands. So when they both were available at the same time I seized the opportunity to steal them for my own band.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
Originally the band was called ColorBlind and actually Eric nor Anthony were in the band when it first started. When we first started it was me and my friend Marisa Testa on Drums(Currently playing drums for Corey Feldman and her own project) after recording a small low budget EP, Marisa moved to California and I recruited heavy hitter Anthony Quartararo on Drums. After going through a staggering array of bass players finally one of our old friends, Eric Ponto found himself out of a band and just in time to join up with us! We decided that even though we were playing some of the same songs we decided to change the name, at this point our aesthetic and sound had changed and our name didn't fit anymore. And thus Like Minded Criminals was born.
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?
I(Kevin Preller) wrote all the songs on our album, aside from Redshirts which was written by Anthony. However a lot of our newer stuff we’re writing is much more of a collaboration. The album we just put out “Drowning in Bed” was about getting over a loss and realizing your own mistakes. Hopefully our subject matter will change and evolve as we grow both as a band and as people.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
Well I think that's part of the issue. Largely as a band I think we are relatively uninspired by a lot of the bands out today. Certainly there are exceptions and there are some bands out there killing it, but part of reason that we play music and write the songs we do is because this is the kind of music that we enjoy and want to listen to and we don't think there's a lot of people making it right now.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
I think we have all have grown up listening to music from our parents and wanting to be a part of it. I’m not sure any of us could tell you one defining moment in our lives that was like “wow this is what we want to do” Cause I think it happens to us all the time. I think every time we get on stage or every time we find a new band we like or anything like it reaffirms in us that is just who what we are.
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, ect …
Me and Anthony do a lot of stretches and exercises before shows. If you’ve ever done the “Insanity” I basically do the warm up from that before every show. We tend to go really hard and you gotta be in relatively decent shape to keep up and also to dodge flying cymbals and eric’s wild roundhouse kicks!
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
I think the highlight of our career(So far) was putting out this album and everything that came with it. From going to the world class VuDu studios and working with our incredible producer and engineer Frank Mitarritona, to mixing with the all powerful Mike Watts who has mixed some of our favorite records. After releasing the album we went on a 2 week east coast tour where we were incredibly well received, which may not really seem like much for a young band to be able to go on tour it's really a great experience and the on top of that we managed to break even, which if you’ve ever been on tour you know is incredibly difficult especially for your first time around as a new band
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
I think we would pick to go on tour with the Beatles. While yes of course it would be awesome to get to see them and play with them every night but more so I feel like they're just funny guys who like to pull pranks and hijinks and just have a lot of fun. If you’ve ever seen any of the movies I imagine that's kind of what tour is like. Me and George are trying to get some weird magic ring off or ringo while Anthony, Eric and John are off fighting blue meanies! It just seems like a super fun time.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Upcoming Shows:
August 19th at Amityville Music Hall in Amityville, NY
https://www.facebook.com/events/1251141861667174/
September 10th at 89 North in Patchogue, NY
https://www.facebook.com/events/108408266433464/
September 14th(Kevins Birthday Show!!) at Revolution in Amityville, NY
https://www.facebook.com/events/157005984855621/
Also be on the lookout for our new music video coming out later this month!