Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
John Perdue – Drums
Charlie Campanella – Guitar
Gary Sheedy - Guitar and Vocals
Steve Browne – Bass
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Previous Love? How long has the band been around?
We all starting making music together in middle school actually. We all went to the same high school, and played in a pop punk band together growing up. We called it quits originally when a couple of our members were going off to college, but after a year of being away it felt wrong to not be making music together. We started writing again, but this time it was a much different sound for us.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
John was shopping around for records, and came across some older looking ones. He came across a crate of used records with a sign saying they were “Previously Loved”. We had been already looking for band names, and it happened to strike us all the right way. It fit the sounds we had been coming up with, and we rolled with it.
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?
For the most part on this EP the songs were written by Gary, with some influence from John as well. He wrote them while in Florida with the rest of us in Upstate New York, and we did a significant amount of the writing process over group chats, voice memos, etc.
As for the main themes, it really centered on a lot of our experiences with the growing pains involved with going away to school. The themes are always shifting, but our songs try to reflect how we feel.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
We listen to so much music it’s ridiculous. We update a weekly playlist on Spotify where we share what we’ve been listening to lately. Some of the main ones influencing us lately have been the new Turnover record, Science Fiction by Brand New, John Mayer, Citizen, Smashing Pumpkins, and many many more.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
I would say probably our first Warped Tour together was a big moment for us. Something about Warped that exposes so much new music to people is a really special thing.
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, ect …
We’re super laid back before shows honestly, we just like to chill out and hang as friends beforehand. We try to set ourselves up for a very stress-free environment.
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
Definitely releasing our debut EP. We’re extremely proud of this record, and we hope everyone enjoys it as much as we do. I know I still listen to it almost every day, I really love our music.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Head North is likely the big one we all would agree on. They’ve been like big brothers to us growing up in the scene. They were the first Buffalo band we saw that was really making moves, and getting out on tours. They proved that if we make good music and put the work in, we can do it just as well if not better than anybody else.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
If you’ve listened to our new EP, thank you thank you thank you. It means the world to us to even be able to share our music with the world, and we hope it impacts peoples’ lives the way our favorite records have impacted ours.