The TV-Watching Habits of a Young Musician. (OF COURSE he watches Glee, haha)

Little known fact: Ern and Leeard like local music and supporting local rock bands, especially when those local bands give back to their communities. One of our favorite local bands, Playground Vigilantes, just came out with their first CD: http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/playground-vigilantes/id403637624

Reasons we love them:
-they are really good live
-they are only 17 and already making/writing songs
-they are actually nice guys

To celebrate their success, we asked if any of the band members were into TV and the lead singer/songwriter, Trey, (pictured here with his sister) totally responded. So here’s a nice dose of testosterone (kind of, he’s a sensitive artist, after all) for this mostly all girl-written blog.




Interview------------------------------

What is your favorite show that is currently on? Glee, because LOST is over. (Laughs) I like the music. I wish they would cover more current good rock though. I like the classic rock a lot. More rock, I say.

We are Glee fans here too. As a guy singer, which guy do you think has the best voice? Oh man. That’s hard. Well, I used to think Puck was the best, but then I heard him live and it sounded as good as dying cats. I do like Puck’s voice though. Kurt has a good voice too, but I think the new blonde guy is the best guy singer on the show right now.

As a 17-year-old straight guy in school (you are straight, right?), do you get crap for watching Glee from your peers? A little bit, but then again, I wear tight pants and sing in a choir, so I’m used to that stuff. I had a mohawk like Puck once. My dad was so happy when I shaved that off. I don’t really care what the guys think, because you’re right, I’m straight. It’s better to impress the girls. They are smarter and they like my music.

Which Glee characters do you hate? Artie and Tina drive me nuts. The fake stutter really bothered me. I don’t know if I will ever forgive Tina for that. Artie is kind of a baby. All he does is whine. Don’t put that in the interview. I sound like a jerk, because he’s handicapped. (Laughs)
I feel his pain, but even in this new storyline where he is sad about Tina and not his wheelchair, he's still being a baby. That's the only side of his personality we really get to see.

You mentioned you like the ladies. Which TV girls are you crushing on? Mila Kunis from That '70s Show. And definitely Lea Michele on Glee. Although I don’t totally approve of her recent photos, I can’t help but appreciate them a little.

Why don’t you approve? I thought the setting of the shoot was weird. The exaggerated high school students. I think it sends the wrong message about high school and girls in high school. It looked like some 40-year-old perv’s fantasy. But Lea looked pretty. I love her legs. With those legs and that voice, she doesn’t need to do stuff like that. She doesn’t look like every other girl on TV. She has a unique face, and I like it.

You mentioned that you were a LOST-watcher? I could write a whole book about why LOST was good. It was funny, creepy, and it made you think. The acting was good. I cried during the finale and when Sawyer told Jack about meeting Jack’s dad at the bar. It just had everything.

Thoughts on that finale? I loved it. I think if you wanted all the answers doled out to you like you are three years old, it wasn’t the show for you. LOST was more about the journey to the end and the characters. It had a good resolution for the characters. If you want answers, there’s a LOST encyclopedia coming out, and you can just read that. If you break the show down like that on air, it would have lost its mystery.

What is a show you want to get into? I want to check out Modern Family, because people have compared it to Arrested Development. That was the funniest show ever aired. I get compared to Buster because of how much I love my mom. (Laughs)

Which show has the best music? Grey’s Anatomy plays a lot of good music. They played Jon Foreman once, and I loved that. But Grey’s Anatomy is just a dreadful show to me. I’m a guy; I can’t get into the plots. The indie music on that show almost makes it worth it though. Almost.

Sometimes shows have guest bands. What is your dream show to guest play and why? Friday Night Lights would be best. It’s a good show. It’s a high school setting. The band would fit in. Plus, my dad always wanted me to be into football. Too bad it's ending this season.

Any good background music on TV? Rarely. They can’t get big name composers to write the music most of the time, so a lot of those guys lack music knowledge and have little music theory. A lot of the time it is just a bunch of powerchords or tones. The music can make or break a show though, so I wish it were better on lots of shows. HBO has the money to put good music on, like in Band of Brothers. That was good stuff.

A little about your band: How did you come up with the fun name? I wish I had this amazing, funny story about how I got it. I’ve been trying to think of a good band name since even before I had a band. I started thinking when I was 12. I would go online and use all the band name generators, but none of those were ever good. I really like Batman and he’s a vigilante. So I decided that was a cool word. And I always wished there was a superhero on the playground when I got beat up there as a little kid, so I made the band “Playground Vigilantes.” I just thought it sounded fun. The other option was "Arrival for Departure," but I thought that sounded too generic.

What are your songs like? It’s indie rock. Those songs were my first attempts at songwriting, so I hope they aren’t too rough. I try to keep it real in my songs. Most of them come from my life. I’m in high school, so I focus on the feelings in high school and exaggerate them in my songs. They are about girls, crushes, struggles, getting over things, and wondering about the future after school. I try to write songs with positive messages. Most of it is upbeat and just fun. Even the depressing ones have a little hope injected in. (Laughs) It won’t bring you down.

Why did you name the CD “Wait for the Sun”? That’s a line off the song “Mistake.” Wait for the Sun kind of sums up the theme of the CD, which is that high school life and the drama and stuff is going to pass. It’s like wait for better days, God, the good times, whatever you see as your hope for the future. My life is pretty good, I have good friends, and lots of kids have it worse, but I want more than “pretty good.” We’re told life gets better, and I choose to believe that. I think it’s a good message to put out there since there have been some teen suicides lately. I think if you just hang on a little longer, it’s gonna pass.

What’s next for you and your band? I’m going to college for musical theatre. I want to keep making my own music though and spreading it around and playing shows. Whatever I do, I won’t be fully happy unless it involves music. The next show we have is a benefit concert for To Write Love on Her Arms, which is an organization that reaches out to depressed and suicidal youth. This is an organization I supported and admired long before I had a band, so it’s an honor to play for them. I also almost have enough songs for a new album.