Jamie Cunningham and Justin Costello from The Rest Of Us

                                 The Rest Of Us
                                                       Syracuse, NY

                                                  Vox/Guitar -  Jamie Cunningham    

                                                         Guitar - Justin Costello

                                                             Bass - Ben Ausburn

                                                         Drums/Vox - Tim Ehrhart

How and when did the band form?

Justin: Tim Ehrhart (drums), Ben Ausburn (bass) and myself have been friends for a long time, and during the summer of 2010 we decided we wanted to try forming a band together.  Ben and I saw Jamie Cunningham (vocals and guitar) performing at a coffeehouse and asked him to be the frontman for our band.  We played our first show that October.

How did the name come about?

Jamie: My favorite band (at the time), The Goo Goo Dolls were releasing an album called "Something For The Rest of Us", and we wondered who "the rest of us" were.  Then we thought, "Maybe we are the rest of us." And that's what we became :) 

Justin: We’ve had to break down to an acoustic duo or trio before, where we’ve been jokingly called “Some of Us” or “The Rest of the Rest of Us” so it’s fitting on all occasions.  I honestly can’t think of a more perfect name for the band though.  It’s just worked for us.

Who are your main influences?

Jamie: 30 Seconds to Mars - for their anthemic and expansive sound
Goo Goo Dolls - for their hooks and melodies that are easy to digest and to really enjoy
The Who - for classic rock sensibility and knowing what works with music
Jimi Hendrix - for changing the way the guitar was presented and played
U2 - for making spiritually uplifiting music mixed with a rock sensibility

Justin: I listen to a lot of music like Radiohead, CAKE, Beck, and U2.  Although I’m a guitarist, I can’t really say I listen to “guitar music”… some people think I’m crazy when I say I don’t know a certain Van Halen song that every guitar player should know.  I’m more interested in finding the groove to a song rather than cramming notes into a solo.  One of my favorite solos ever is Neil Young’s in his song “Down by the River”… It’s based off of a single note almost the entire way through.  But the feeling is so strong with it, he doesn’t need anything else.  As far as guitarists who are “groove based”, I’d say my biggest influence is Xan McCurdy, the guitar player for CAKE.  At the end of the day, I model most of what I do after him.

What inpires you to write? How do you go about tackling the songwriting process?

Jamie: I think that most of the things that I deal with and I see others dealing with through everyday life is what makes me want to write a song.  I don't really write too many love songs because I haven't been in love (yet) and I figure that most others are writing enough love songs right now for me to focus on other things.  The stuff I like writing about deals more with spirituality and finding ones place and satisfaction in life.  It's about getting people moving in a certain direction with thoughts in their mind.  Just getting people to think is a really important thing. Another thing I aim to do is to simply make music that makes people feel good, because that feeling is what makes me do really creative things. 

 The best way, in my opinion to tackle the songwriting process is to try to let as much of it happen as naturally as possible. I find that once my mind gets involved in the process, the message tends to get lost and the music doesn't happen as easily.  I usually can get a solid verse and chorus out and then the rest of it is more of a struggle.  But with patience and relaxation, the song always shows up in good time. 

You are about to release your first album. Tell me about that.

Justin: Well, this can technically be considered our second album, as we’ve had a release previous to this.  Actually, 2/3 songs on “Into the Air” were also on our first one (“Follow Me Up”).  But in many ways, I would consider this our first “album”.  I definitely think we’ve grown as a band between the two releases. I’ve always thought that a good album captures something- a certain feeling or emotion that transcends through the songs, regardless of length.  So much was happening during the period of time in which we recorded these songs- Jamie released a solo album and moved to Los Angeles, the rest of us were just finishing up high school and trying to decide what we wanted to do with our lives- I think it was an important time to capture.  In September of last year, we had our “Last Show” before Jamie left for LA.  So when he came back in December and wanted to record the songs, it was sort of like a reunion… it was good to be on our own for a little bit, but when we went to Subcat for the first time, it was like we put a breath of fresh air into the songs.  I noticed that not only had the composition of the songs slightly changed since the first time we recorded them, but the way we delivered them changed as well.  We all sort of felt like veterans to the process in a sense… We all had a little bit of an ego going back into it, which is good.  It gave us confidence which I definitely think carries through with the recordings.

I heard your original frontman Jamie just left the band to pursue a career in LA. Who is his replacement? How is thing going to affect the sound of the band as a whole?

Justin: I don’t think Jamie could ever be replaced, or any of us for that matter (although, we have to give credit to Evan Pitonzo for playing bass on the first track of the new album).  For a while, we’d play shows when Jamie came back to town and keep busy doing other things while he was away.  However, recently when he’s been back in Syracuse, we’ve just been tweaking the album and I don’t think all four of us have even been in the same room at the same time in months.  We never really “broke up” and we’re still releasing music, and I think we would still consider ourselves a band even still.  There’s a bond between the four of us that can’t really be mimicked even if we wanted it to.

Who is singing on the new album?

Justin: Jamie 

I understand that Justin also plays guitar for the Mike Mckay Band. How do you handle playing in two bands at once. Does one take precedence over the other?

Justin: The two have never really overlapped, which has made it pretty easy on my part.  The two have even played shows together before.  I would say The Mike McKay Band is definitely my main interest now just because it’s active full time, but they’re both made up of incredible people and they’re both very close to me. 

What is your favorite part about being in the band?

Jamie: The musical connection that the band has is really something special.  Everybody in the band compliments each other extremely well with our individual eccentricities and personalities. I think that we have a pretty clear vision of where the music should go and how each person says that through their instrument is what makes all of our individual contributions to a song so cool.  

Justin: And in addition, it’s just a lot of fun.  We’ve never been concerned with “making it big” or getting the most “likes” on Facebook- It’s not really about that to us.  We just enjoy playing and sharing our music.

What is your favorite song of all time and why?

Jamie: As of right now, it is "Kings and Queens" by 30 Seconds to Mars. To me, it just is the most positively charged, expansive song that I know of. It really feels like it's music made to put you on a higher level, and it does that for me every time I listen to it. 

Justin: I have two.  U2’s “Where the Streets Have no Name” for its larger than life sound, and Radiohead’s “Kid A” for its simplistic weirdness.

If you could pick any band/musician to tour with, who would it be and why?

Justin: Probably U2.  To me, they’re the ideal band just because they’ve remained together through the 30+ years they’ve been making music and I think it’s all very good.  They also put on the best live show I’ve ever seen.

Jamie: I'd love to tour with 30 Seconds to Mars just to see show after show of theirs, and also to just see how they go about living life on the road.  However, I'd have to say right now I'd be the most interested in touring with Against Me!. I would love to go out and be a part of supporting the changes that Laura Jane Grace is experimenting with in their music and in her life. 

If your music was the soundtrack to a movie, which movie would it be and why?

Jamie: Hercules :)  I think our music talks a lot about one's individual struggle with the world and the celebration of overcoming that struggle.  Sounds like Hercules doesn't it? 

What are your thoughts on shows like American Idol? Do you think artists who become instantly successful through TV shows deserve the same respect as those who do it the old fashion way?

Justin: The people who participate in those shows and contests are all very talented.  However the difference between those artists and an artist who became successful the “old fashion way” is the difference between “talent” and “skill”.  The artists who are truly respected throughout history are skilled- they have had time to grow, explore, and develop as an artist, while an American Idol winner is thrust into instant fame without any allowance to discover who they are as an artist- they will always be remembered as that 16-20 year old who won American Idol, if they are remembered at all.  I think it does more harm to them than anything else in that way.  For example, had a band like Radiohead obtained global fame when released their first album, they probably would have either broken up due to pressure to succeed or they would have been stuck trying to recreate their first success- which is just a bad thing to do no matter who you are.  Instead, the world dubbed them as “one hit wonders” and sort of passed them on, allowing them time to develop as a band.  If you listen to Radiohead’s Pablo Honey and then their latest release The King of Limbs, you don’t hear the same band.  They’ve grown and changed significantly, but have been so successful every step of the way.  I have no idea where half of the American Idol winners are today.

Do you have any shows coming up in the near future?

Justin: Only time can tell.  Jamie and I have been doing acoustic shows whenever we get the chance, but maybe sometime we’ll decide to do another show.  I think it’s actually a cool situation to be in- we really have no liabilities, no duties to fill.  We’ve each been doing our own thing now- I’m the guitar player for The Mike McKay Band, Jamie has his growing solo career and another band in LA called Spark the Fire, Tim is heavily involved with a project called Beautiful Mess, and Ben’s been involved with jazz band.  We’re on our own but there’s still this sense of a “band”.

What can we expect from The Rest of Us in the future?

Jamie: Evolution.