Paper Tongues plays for the people. Fusing massive rock n’ roll melodies with fiery hip hop beats, the Charlotte band conjures an infectious, incendiary sound on their A&M/Octone debut, due out this summer. Embracing elements of rock, funk, rap and soul, these seven individuals have created something you haven’t before. It’s music for dancing, crying, loving and living. Paper Tongues Aswan North, Devin Forbes, Cody Blackler, Joey Signa, Clayton Simon, Jordan Hardee and Danny Santell are a collective of artists, and this record is their first masterpiece.
Paper Tongues’ eclectic sound ranges from bombastic songs like “For the People” that can light up a packed arena or a dance floor, while the soulful electronica-infused “Trinity” is inspiring and invigorating. Guitarist Devin Forbes comments, “Our music is extremely eclectic because we’re all coming from different places. Aswan grew up with hip hop, Clayton grew up with electronica and I grew up with rock, but it all comes together fluidly in Paper Tongues.”
Paper Tongues was officially born in 2007 on the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina. Lead singer Aswan North, helped found the Inprov Music Experience, a weekly event where musicians played for the homeless at a main intersection in the middle of the city. The current band lineup congregated at uptown Charlotte weekly, slowly developing a bond. Aswan started cultivating his song writing and presence during those shows. He brought those street sounds and ideas to producers in Los Angeles. It didn’t take long for Aswan’s collaborators to feel the power and magnitude behind the ideas of his music. This caught Cody and Devin’s attention. They had been formally playing as Paper Tongues. With Cody, Devin, Jordan and Clayton’s help, Aswan quickly set out to find other members for this entity. As the songs sprung to life, Paper Tongues was reborn with the same vision to impact rock n’ roll with a new sound.
I recently had the opportunity to chat with Aswan, who took a few moments out of his busy schedule to talk about their music, interests, and inspirations. You can check the interview out below.
How would you describe the sound of your music?
Club Rock – the best name we could think of. You can dance to our music without losing that rock edge. People can actually dance and get down to what we play.
How long have you been playing together, and how long did it take for you to break into the music industry?
We started playing in Charlotte as buddies and musicians over five years ago. As a band, 2.5 years. We came together in LA in a studio playing and recording music and went at it for over two months before committing because its what we all dreamed about. We posted our music on Myspace and within 30 days we were getting friend requests and messages and the momentum started to pick up.
You’re from the Charlotte NC area – which is known more so for the banking industry rather than music. Did that make it harder for you to break into the music industry? How does your fan base from Charlotte differ from everywhere else?
It actually made it easier. I’m originally from the Jacksonville NC area and moved up to Charlotte in 1999, the last year of the 1900′s and it was a good thing then. I gained lots of education and knowledge from meeting different people. Charlotte is a big part in getting our music quality to level. Our fan base are like brothers and sisters. They don’t feel like strangers to us. We love the city and playing live in the city. Its a community feel in the family sense, they don’t feel like just fans.
I noticed on your tour date calender that you guys have been traveling all over the US recently. What are some of your favorite cities that you’ve visited and why?
Boston, no doubt. Tuscon is the number one favorite city. Boston because when we played in Cambridge for the Harvard students it was just amazing. An incredible feeling. Tuscon because we’ve never gotten a response like we have in Tuscon. People were actually singing the words to our songs, and we don’t even know how they knew them because some of the songs we haven’t even released yet.
What is the hardest part of traveling and what do you miss the most from back home?
I’m a homebody. I love Charlotte. I’ve been to London, France, Peru, but I love Charlotte. I miss waking up in the morning and heading down to East Blvd. to get some coffee. I miss playing playstation with my buddies and smoking a cigar acting like we’re grownups. When I have a hard night on stage and get nervous I sometimes wish I could go back and smoke a cigar with my buddies. I miss being home but I love being on the road. Hardest part of being on the road is going on stage. That first inital step is hard and I battle anxiety like crazy. But once that first step is taken I get into a mindset and have a great time.
Who are some of your idols and most influential musical influences?
Steve Perry and Al Green by far. They put so much effort and thought vocally into their music. You can tell on their albums and dvds they focus on their voice in their preparation moments. And that is something I really appreciate. I am a lover of their voice. And Bono of U2. Its hard not to love what he does for humity and South Africa. I have a lot of love for him as a vocalist, too. If you listen to his earlier stuff, like say from the 90s, and you listen to him now you can tell he still has the power behind his voice. Aretha Franklin, too. She is amazing and so very soulful.
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Besides music, what are some of your interests and passions? What do you guys do to keep yourself grounded?
Helping other bands. Jordan, our drummer, plays on local artists cds and helps to promote them. I hep songwrite for other artists and help them get connected in the industry. Just overall music is our hobbies and our dreams. I am always keeping myself busy writing new songs, producing and helping other bands and artists. Just the other night Devin was on the tourbus with our production manager recording folk music on the laptops.
Do you have any pre-gig or post-gig rituals that you participate in?
Huddle. We huddle before every show, putting on instrumental music that we are into at the moment. We chant amongst ourselves, like they do on the movie Rudy. We dim the lights, sit in the living room of our tourbus on lockdown, and shout and go crazy. We envision ourselves on stage and see the whole show through in our heads. Afterwards, we hurry up and get out of the other bands way, tearing down our set and helping to set up theirs. We become roadies.
What are your hopes for the upcoming year as a band and what direction would you like to head towards?
We’ve been touring for the past 10 months and we hope to keep getting picked up for more tours. We are so greatful to be picked up, and are really greatful to be picked up to tour with Switchfoot and for a second tour with Flyleaf. We’re greatful to bands like Jet who love their audiences so much, and to Our Lady Peace and Everclear. We’d love to be able to tour our butt off for the next two years. I speak for everybody in the band when I say that we would love to hear our songs on the radio. Its so amazing when you’re sitting around and your song comes on the radio. Its how we pay our bills and keep our cellphones on. Fans come to our shows and buy EPs. Right now we are lucky enough to be helping out a non-profit organization called “Invisible Children” that we allow to wrap our bus and they help with the costs of the tourbus. Right now we’re getting the tourbus for less than the cost of two 15-passenger vans. Funny story is, we still haven’t gotten our bus wrapped yet. By the time we get back after shows, its too late to get it wrapped and they are nice enough to send us back out and pay for the costs anyways.
Where do you get your song inspirations from, lyrically speaking, and how have they evolved since you first started playing?
When I first started singing I didn’t feel like I could write anything. The lyrics come from things that are happening in and around me, things that I’ve went through. I wrote a song called “Strongest Flame” about a past girlfriend. I pull from real life experiences and it has really helped me. I dont sit down and say ‘alright, I’m going to write.’ I write when it comes to me.
How did you guys come up with the name ‘Paper Tongues?’
This is a story from History. Devin literally one night sat down and wrote down on tiny pieces of paper a lot of different words and put them into a hat and said the first two words that came out and sounded good together would be our band name. Now 2.5 years later the name has meaning to us.
If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to check them out, I highly recommend that you do. You won’t be disappointed. You can check out more about Paper Tongues on their official site here or check out their Myspace page.
