-Interview- Your Best Bet (1/7/12)

Your Best Bet
(From The Depths Entertainment)

Genre: Pop/punk
Interviewed on: 1/7/12
From: Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Facebook Page

http://www.facebook.com/yourbestbetpoppunk


1. How did you guys get together and form? Who thought of the name “Your Best Bet”?

Eric – Jeremy and Collin went to high school together and have been jamming for awhile. They have a metal project called Desertion, in which I used to be the lead vocalist for. I left the band in the summer of 2011 due to influential differences. Collin and I started writing pop punk songs together and decided to make it an actual band and asked Jeremy (the band’s token metal head) to drum, and he hesitantly agreed. We have been close friends ever since. Pierre came into the picture later as the second guitarist when we all realized that it sounded empty with just 3 of us. I thought of the name “Your Best Bet”. I find it kind of ironic in our genre because that phrase is usually followed by someone telling you what to do, plus it’s just plain fun to get on stage and yell “Hey we’re Your Best Bet!”


2. Your logo of the bear is very different and outstanding., Who came up with it and what was the inspiration behind it?

Eric – I wanted to have a mascot and a design that incorporated as many Canadian stereotypes as we could think of to support the title of “Canadian pop punk”. I brought up the idea to the talented Vince Kogut and he was happy to bring the idea to life.


3. You guys did a cover of Enya’s “Only Time”. How did that come about?

Collin - Basically, we wanted to do a cover of something epic and never done before. The “Pop Goes Punk” CD’s always had covers of whatever was popular on the radio, we wanted to do the same but a lot of the songs we wanted to do had already been done. Then, randomly the idea of covering an Enya song was brought up and when I thought about it more and more, I found that the chords and song structure is pretty much the basis of a pop punk song...Just a million times slower and a creepy Celtic Folk Singer doing it.


4. What can people expect from a Your Best Bet show?

Collin - A LOT of energy and a really tight set. Having a fourth member has made things so much easier on myself because I do a lot of singing in our newer songs and playing guitar and singing at the same time has never really been my forte’. We’ve been told our sets are full of energy and thought we haven’t played many pop punk shows in Windsor. People have said that they like our music a lot, even though it’s not particularly their style. So, I’d say people have gone home from one of our shows with a different outlook on the pop punk genre.


5. When can we expect new songs/EP?

Collin – We are always writing new music and we usually tryout new songs at shows, if we feel the crowd would dig it. We are looking to go into the studio soon to record a full length but, it’s just a matter of money.


6. What is the music scene like up in Canada?

Collin – Pop punk is a fresh market in Ontario. There’s only a few pop punk bands in Canada that are starting to break out and make a name for themselves internationally. As far as our hometown of Windsor goes, the scene is pretty underground with mostly basement punk shows but the crowd seems to be growing more and more every show we go to


7. Any good show stories? How did the show with The Bunny The Bear go?

Eric - The Bunny The Bear show was our first show and it went very well, even though we didn’t fit in with any of the other bands at all. We didn’t expect such a great crowd response for our first show; it definitely got us excited to play more shows.

Collin – Our first house show we ever played our set got pushed back and so we decided to break into our beer before we went on. Sure enough we were plastered by the time we went on. After our set we had to leave because we were too drunk. We are good friends with the house owners, so they weren’t upset with us and were very understanding.


8. What are some of your influences for the new tracks?

Collin – I’ve been listening to a lot of melodic hardcore (pianos become the teeth, touché amore, etc.) That influence you’ll hear more on the new stuff. The songs are going to have trickier structures to them and be a little heavier but still maintaining the pop punk sound.

Jerms – A lot of my drumming for our songs comes from a combination of Metal and Easycore esque drumming. I fluently listen to Blink 182, so that helps me get used to the style and technique in the pop punk genre. Other bands that influence me include Kid Liberty, The Vegas Wake Up, We Were Sharks and With The Punches.


9. You guys have a benefit show coming up.

Collin – Yeah we’re pretty stoked about it, mainly for the cause though. The show is to help Eric’s friend go to Africa supporting Canadian Charity Youth Challenge International to help the children in need. We’re playing with a bunch of death metal bands and we DO NOT fit the bill at all, but we’re still going to do our best to put on a killer show!


10. What’s next for Your Best Bet?

Collin – We want to do extensive amounts of touring, put out a full length, sell a bunch of merch and meet some solid friends along the way. We would also like to hit the states as soon as we can because the market for pop punk there is much more alive than it is here in Canada.


11. Any shoutouts?
Eric – Tons! Lots of love goes out to all of the other Windsor bands involved with this scene. The Rowley Estate, With Glowing Hearts, Another Intention, Young Bones, The Nefidovs, Ape Cassette, Shared Arms, Always A New Day, Falling With Glory, Anu Beginning, Blackheart and Nathan Boots at Visceral Studios for recording our EP!