Making Dreams, Reality: On a Few Too Many's New Single "History," Getting Signed, and Maintaining Integrity as an Artist
A Few Too Many
While every kid who watched MTV in the mid-2000s wanted to become the next big act to take over the rock genre, few got together that had the heart and passion to keep that dream going to make that a reality. You gain and lose people along the way until eventually someone and something sticks long enough for a vision to get across. This was very much the inner beginnings of A Few Too Many, and while their story is anything short of glamorous, the love for wanting to pursue something greater would out way the obstacles they would have to face to make the pop-punk band they had sought out to materialize.
That love and dedication would prove fruitful in their endeavors with 2017's Lesson's Learned, which would then give way to 2018's Solid Ground. The success of these would transform their careers forever, as it would breathe life into a few singles that would soon follow, "Sunflower," and "Someday." All of this would lead to their signing of Lost Music Collective and their latest dynamite single, "History." Still maintaining the soundscapes that we all know and love from the band, there is a new sense of unbridled punk and punchy rawness to their sound that has manifested to the surface this year.
While this all seems like a fairytale for the England native pop-punk darlings, they are only just getting started on their blazing path to success. The band is here to talk about their new single, their road to being signed, and what lies ahead for the pop-punk trend-setters.
How did a Few Too Many get started? What was the scene around you like at the time that prompted you to get this band together?
Danny: AFTM formed because when I was younger. Around that time, I grew up religiously watching MTV, around the Summer of 2009. I used to frequent our local town’s youth center where they ran a Youth Music Project put together to bring budding new musicians together.
I met the very first bassist of the band there and together we decided to put a band together, we started practicing in my garden shed and dreaming of big things, that was the start of AFTM’s journey. Over the years the lineup of the band has chopped and changed more times than I can count, but my love for the band and what we stand for has never changed and I feel like now we’re in a stronger position than we’ve ever been in before, we’re a tight unit and a family.
What are your music influences? How did they find their way into your latest single "History?"
A Few Too Many “History” Single Art
Danny: Honestly, we really have a mixed bag of influences. Some of us live and breathe classic 90s and 2000s pop-punk on an almost daily basis and then others like Luke for example, absolutely love those heavier sounds and bands like Funeral For A Friend, so the result is that our overall tone ends up reflecting that and we think that the core "AFTM" sound is now something that encapsulates that nostalgic pop-punk vibe with a gritty heavier punk edge to it.
Your single "History" is the latest we have heard from you guys since "Someday". Can we talk about the new track a bit? Where is this track coming from lyrically?
Danny: “History” was an interesting one because the chorus literally popped into my head whilst I was sat at my desk working, so I immediately grabbed my phone, ran to the bathroom, opened voice notes, hit record, and sang the chorus melody into it. Lyrically speaking, the inspiration for it came from previous toxic relationships I’ve been in, which goes for friendships too, not just romantic connections. I’d gotten so inadvertently used to being treated like an option or second-best that those lyrics pretty much flowed out of me in defiance of that.
After that, I sent the voice-note around to the rest of the guys in our band group chat and they liked it, so after Mitch demoed it all out musically, we ended up getting together at rehearsal to work on it and flesh everything out.
What were the writing and recording and process like for guys this time around? Looking at "History" and "Someday," instrumentally, there was a high melodic flow and energy that was present in your prior release. With "History," there is more of a rough punk edginess in your sound, even down to the vocals. Is that fair to say about this release?
Jez: The writing between “History” and “Someday” was very different. “Someday” musically was done in about 20-30 minutes in my bedroom along with Mitch and Luke. Mitch had the intro riff and we built the rest of the song around that, then Danny & Rob jumped in on the lyric writing.
With History, after Danny sent us the chorus lyrics/melody Mitch demoed the whole song and brought it to us, so then we changed up a few things here and there musically and that was it. Rob hadn’t joined AFTM at this point so the four of us came up with the rest of the lyrics and when Rob came in we gave him free rein with them so he moved some things around and changed some bits so the verses flowed more overall. It’s fair to say that “History” does have more of a punk edge to it as it’s much heavier and has that gritty vocal delivery from Rob & Luke, whereas “Someday” is much more melodic and commercial.
What do you want people to take from this release that wasn't present in your past releases?
Luke: On this release, we've had everyone in the band writing for the first time and the tracks have got a lot of variety as a result, yet they are still very much pop-punk at their core. On Solid Ground, the only track that was written more collectively was “Ghosts,” whereas everyone has had input on all of the songs on this EP. I think people will be able to hear our progression as a band from the last release as well. We've found a sound that we really like, the songs are better and musically and vocally it’s a massive step up from our previous work. The production is also far beyond anything we've released before.
What are you doing to stay progressive with your sound but still keeping in tune with your integrity with who you are as a band? I know pop-punk is a genre that is constantly growing now more than ever, there is this need to still stand out above the rest and not get drowned in the sound of many others trying to do the same thing.
Danny: Since the very first time we (the current lineup) all got together, we agreed that we want to stay authentic and true to our brand. We’re always looking at adding new layers and considering things we can try in songs to try to push the boundaries and I can say that we’ve definitely done that on this EP, but ultimately, we’re not planning on ever losing our sense of identity or that core sound that makes us, us. Since getting added to the Lost Music Collective label family in January, we’ve also had the added advantage of having the creative vision and mindset of Vinnie Fiorello (Less Than Jake, Fueled By Ramen) and Erick Droegmoeller (Word Is Bond) on our team too, which has proved absolutely invaluable so far.
Has this approach set you up for success in some ways?
Danny: I would say it has, but I think it’s a mixture of that and our overall DIY and business mindset. We’ve always been a ‘let’s do this in-house if we can’ kind of band. For example, our last three videos for “History”, “Someday” and “Haze” were all DIY, for the most recent we asked our friend’s company, Jazza Media, to come to shoot the video and then Rob edited everything himself afterward. He took care of the artwork for our singles too.
Growing up, I was heavily inspired by observing Pete Wentz’s business attitude towards Fall Out Boy and their global success shows that the grind really paid off well for them. I always wanted to adopt that approach and way of thinking. We recognize that we all have a part to play in the band besides the songwriting and musicianship, everybody pulls their weight somehow, ranging from production and demoing to booking and the business side of things.
Since joining LMC, our attitude on this has not changed one bit, if anything it has only got stronger, we get fantastic support from the label, but we’re still very much hustling harder than ever to carve our name out into the genre so that we can be more than a fleeting moment. For us, that weekly hustle is the difference between this being a hobby and a career. We’re always looking to build up our band, and more than that, ways to build up our brand.
What are your plans moving forward this year?
Luke: Our main aim is to get the EP finalized and released, that is our priority over the next 6 months or so. We've got some shows booked in for later this year that we'll be able to reveal very soon and we've got our first ever London headline show at the Fiddler's Elbow in Camden on July 17th which is a big achievement and a very exciting milestone for us. There is a new single and music video coming out very soon via the label as well so I’d ask you to please keep your eyes firmly on our socials for further news on that!