Our drive at hurdcore.com is to keep you informed about local bands, venues and events. We love interacting with local bands and musical entities that are helping to bring more good music to our area, especially where many smaller communities are starved for action. We were able to steal a moment of Rafe’s time to slate and email interview with Ashland, Oregon based Turned Up Missing (Currently On Tour) to ask them a few questions about their band. Turned UP Missing has survived Elk attacks, are inspired by the Beatles, sustained by frequent BBQ and are headed to a town near you…

HC What inspired the name of your band?
TUM Our band name doesn’t have that inspiring of an origin… we happened to be looking at a website listing oxymorons and “Turned Up Missing” happened to be one we saw, and we thought it sounded like a good name.

HC When did your band go from the dream stage to actually putting tracks down and going on the road?
TUM That’s a good question, and I would say it was a fairly gradual progression from playing our high school Battle Of The Bands, to various local shows, and then finally to the point of actually get a van and starting to try to go on tour. Going on the road has been one of the best experiences I think that all of us have ever had.

HC How would you describe your musical style?
TUM Pop, but with our own take. As individuals we like a huge variety of different bands and styles, but when we write collectively, it seems to just come out as melodic pop. Basically our only criteria for song writing is that we think it sounds good.

HC Where are you at currently in terms of writing and/or releasing an album?
TUM As of now we are writing and recording for our upcoming EP “I’ve Got Some Friends.” We are finishing up vocals on 2 songs right now and less than a week ago we wrote a new song that all of us agreed HAS to be on the EP so we’re going to begin recording it in probably a week or less. The EP will be out in June.

HC Where can those interested best connect with you to find out about news, releases and tours?
TUM Definitely myspace.com/turnedupmissing Myspace is pretty much the best networking tool that has ever been created for bands…

HC From the concept of your band, the makeup of its members and the lyrics of your songs, would you say that there is a prominent theme (i.e. religious, political, philosophical, etc)?
TUM At this point I don’t think that there is. So far we have only been trying to write good sounding songs, rather than creating a concept album based on a certain idea. However we definitely would be interested in doing a concept album in the future.

HC Where are you currently grabbing inspiration and/or frustration from and how has this been affecting your music?
TUM For me personally and cliche as it sounds, I have been listening to The Beatles more than any other artist. Musically, they are unmatched songwriting geniuses. As a band, we have been focusing alot on improving the arrangements of our songs, which are usually based on experiences in our day to day lives.

HC What have been some of the most important lessons for you as struggling-artists?
TUM Success doesn’t happen overnight. When we first started, we had grand dreams of being signed/famous overnight, but the fact that it hasn’t happened as fast as we imagined it would hasn’t deterred us, it actually makes our successes as a band even more satisfying because of the effort that we have put in.

HC Are there any favorite/funny/scary memories from your current tour that you’d like to share?
TUM The scariest thing that has ever happened to us was hitting an elk in Montana at 3 AM in the morning going 50 MPH on the freeway… its honestly miraculous that we weren’t injured and that our van escaped without serious harm (although the same cannot be said for the elk, RIP). As for funny stuff, everyday in the van is almost always greatly amusing. We are all very close friends and being trapped in a van for 5+ hours per day can yield hilarious results!

HC What has been your favorite tour stop so far? What new foods have you discovered (scary or good)?
TUM Our favorite place to play is Olympia, WA. The crowds are always amazing to us! We haven’t really discovered any new foods, but we have discovered the joys of barbecuing (especially in summer). We have a barbecue that we bring on tour and every night at after the shows we have awesome barbecues!

HC What has been the most challenging part of taking your band public?
TUM Trying to get our name out there while being unsigned. Attempting to take your band to any level of commercial success takes ALOT of effort.

HC Any words of encouragement for aspiring bands?
TUM Enjoy every moment of it, because attempting to be in a band and playing music for a career is undoubtedly one of the craziest and best adventures you can ever take!

UPCOMING SHOWS:

:: 04/30/09
@ The Hawthorne Theater
7PM, All Ages, $15
w/ Turned Up Missing, Something About Airplanes, Delta Bravo
> Indie

:: 05/01/09
@ The Big Room – Olympia, WA
508 Legion Way, Olympia, Washington 98501
7PM, All Ages,
w/ Turned Up Missing, Again And Again, The Welcome Home, Emsley and The Everlast
> Indie

:: 05/02/09
@ The Viaduct
5412 S Tacoma Way, Tacoma, Washington 98409
7PM
w/ Turned Up Missing, Again And Again, The Welcome Home and Marine View Drive

:: 05/03/09
@ Level 2 – Astoria, OR
7PM, All Ages,
w/ The Seatbelt Tragedy, Turned Up Missing

To see more information for local shows happening in April/May 2009 see our previous post HERE