A Dirty Dozen with AIDAN HARGIS from CONWAY – April 2020

According to a recent press release: “Conway is an alternative rock band from Chicago, Illinois.  The genesis of Conway came in the summer of 2017, when lead singer Aidan Hargis and guitarist Riley Allen began recording the first Conway EP, Last Chance to Dance, in Allen’s bedroom, which was released in January 2018 and followed with a split single “Forbidden Fruit” and “Every Single Time,” in September of that year.  Since June of 2018, Conway has been gigging all over the Midwest, having picked up Mitch De Biase on bass, Austin van Johnson on drums, and Jake Dillon on both guitar and keyboard.  ” We get singer Aidan to discuss new music, influences, and much more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

There are a few different layers to literally every song on the record.  Each one has something on the surface that’s a little different if you hear the lyrics a few times.  “Missed Me” is pretty fun and bouncy, but look at the words and think about how well everything is actually going.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

I was in the School of Rock, this after-school place where we would put on shows covering various artists.  I was so nervous about getting onstage and forgetting words, but once I got up there my heart started beating the right way and I had such an amazing time I knew that’s what I wanted to pursue for the rest of my life.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

My dad had this CD in his car with a whole bunch of different songs, he had Hootie and the Blowfish playing next to U2, it was all over the place.  It also had “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by The Clash, which would become the first band I listened to seriously.  That’s a pretty important song for me.

4. Who would be your main five musical influences?

The Clash, Green Day, Arctic Monkeys, My Chemical Romance, and Rob Zombie.

5. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Dan Smith from Bastille.  I’ve been listening to them a lot recently, I’d love to do something with him, he’s so poetic, but spacious enough that I think I could mix well.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

Alternative pop punk rock? I’m not sure, really, it’s a hard one to pin down.  My friend described it at ‘post-emo’ which is pretty funny. Someone said we were too wordy.  Our songs have more words than average sometimes, not sure what I really think we can do about that.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Riley is our cook, definitely, and a damn good one too.  Everyone but Mitch is gonna get the drinks in, and if any one of us pulls out a guitar, we’re all gonna grab something for a jam session.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

I went to see The Story So Far and I met Parker Cannon there doing a meet and greet.  Didn’t know it was happening it at all, super cool dude.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

Playing live shows always, that’s the high I’m always chasing, it’s an addiction. The only other thing I’ve ever considered was baseball.  I was about as good a 13 year old player as you can be without being a phenom so who knows?

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

Favorite song to play on guitar, which is “Mary Had a Little Lamb” by Stevie Ray Vaughn.  Never gets asked, mostly cause there are people who play it a lot better than i can but it’s still a fantastic song. I’m tired of hearing “how tall are you.”  I’m well above average so it happens a lot, I try to be creative with my responses.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

My last band, Face First, was doomed from the start.  We had some killer songs and I actually managed to get some attention, but we jumped on a bandwagon, and one that was running on fumes at that.  We rode a dying trend and it was a year of my life I could have spent on Conway early, call it a learning experience.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

The Bleach recording booth must have been wild.  That’s my favorite Nirvana album by far and I would want to sit in on the first record from a band that would go on to, as we all know, completely change the face of popular music.  It was their earliest, most chaotic stage and that album really opened me up to truly alternative music, which then took my into hardcore punk and other extreme genres.  The time I spent in the scenes around Chicago were crucial to how I view music and the way I approach it now, and it all started with that album.

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Category: Interviews