Getting to Know… Echoseven | Interview 🎤

In the 309^th Q&A in our Getting to Know… series, we get the inside scoop from New Brunswick, female-fronted, hard rock/alt metal/post-grunge band, Echoseven.

“What makes us unique is totally our different musical backgrounds blended together which creates Echoseven.” That’s an excellent response to our first burning question, 🎙 Echoseven, which asks about what makes the band distinct. Like other Getting to Know Q&As, we get the inside scoop from three of the New Brunswick band’s members, 🎙 Allon McCall, 🎙 Justin Larracey, and 🎙 Stefanie Roy.  All three provide superb insight into Echoseven’s genesis, goals, musical influences, and of course, current, and future musical endeavors. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into 🎤 Getting to Know… Echoseven: Interview No. 309!

For those who may not be familiar with Echoseven, what would you say makes you distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

🎤 Allon: What makes us unique is that we just do what we do. We are not trying to force a gimmick or a look. We just want to make good music. We all have different influences and musical backgrounds that we mesh together to create what you hear. Not sure if we are rocking any socks off lol but I feel our music does resonate with people and that’s the goal: to hit you where it hurts and speak to it.

🎤 Justin: what makes us unique is totally our different musical backgrounds blended together which creates Echoseven.

🎤 Stefanie:  I think the biggest part of our sound is the variety of musical backgrounds we have. Creativity and inspiration are different for all of us and in our band, we don’t stifle anyone’s ideas. This makes it easy to express ourselves as individuals and also as a group and I think it’s a huge part of our core sound. We also tend to be quite high-energy performers and the audience responds well!

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Echoseven form and what were some of the goals or visions you had early on?

🎤 Justin: When me and Allon created the band, we knew we wanted to make music that was catchy and metal, the goals we set out as a band I think we have captured them and are ready to catch more

Stefanie – It’s not super juicy! I was approached by a friend who knew Allon, and we all worked on a project together. While in the studio, Allon pitched the idea of a rock/metal band to me, and I was a bit apprehensive at first because I was originally a singer/songwriter folk artist. This new genre was kind of scary, but I said yes. Our vision has always been to inspire some kind of hope in people with our lyrics and our story. We all come from different backgrounds and paths, and I think this allows people to connect with us.

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

🎤 Allon:  I’d say the general goals and aspirations of this band have remained the same. However, the path has become more defined. This business is a marathon, not a sprint. Meaning that the idea of overnight success does not exist – and any band flexing on social media as if they are – are not! This business changes the rules consistently, so you need to have a clear path and a clear set of goals. Doing is more important than looking like you’re doing. Reality is more valuable than social numbers. Our goal is and has always been to play shows, connect with fans and make a living off this thing we call Rock music.

🎤 Justin: I have to agree with Allon.

🎤 Stefanie: Our goals often revolve around self-improvement! We embrace growth, change, and betterment in a lot of ways. As a vocalist, I know I can always get better. I can always have more stamina, improve my range, my breathing… it’s a learning process every step of the way and it’s important to embrace it! Recognize that we all start out a little rusty and as we find our groove and our way to go, things only go up. But you have to be open-minded and keep learning.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Whom would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎤 Allon: My influences are all over the place lol. From classical to 80’s pop, Grunge to Emo to electronic, Urban to EDM, If I like it is an influence, lol.

🎤 Justin: My biggest influences are thrash metal, and heavy metal like Lamb of God, Pantera, and Killswitch Engage. The part that makes them influential is seeing how long they have been together as a band, and they are just all amazing musicians.

🎤 Stefanie: My influences are extremely varied. A lot of my stage presence and movements are actually inspired by K-Pop. That genre of music involves a lot of descriptive hand motions that relate to the story of the song, so I learn a lot from watching choreographed performances. More recently, I’ve been blown away by KARDI, a South Korean metal group. Their singer has such an extremely strong aura on stage. She is absolutely phenomenal, and I have a habit of watching their live performances while I’m waiting to go on stage for shows! They inspire me that much

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

🎤 Allon:  don’t think we have one lol. Mishaps always happen during live performances. I had one of my beater heads fall off during a show- which at that point makes playing double pedal impossible, so i had to rework all the riffs without it on the fly. That’s about as exciting as it gets so far lol. I’d like to think we’re all too old for nonsense shenanigans, lol.

🎤 Justin: Not too much crazy stuff yet, lol.

🎤 Stefanie: The only thing I can say is that I performed while sick once! I spent most of the day crumpled up in a little ball and revived just in time for the show. It was the hardest performance of my entire life, but we got through it!

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

🎤 Allon: 🎵 “Keep from Breaking” would be my favorite so far. I wrote that song as a way to deal with the company that I was working for at the time going bankrupt and how I saw management treating its employees. Just the lack of respect and empathy and the lies being told were just overwhelming. It brought back to my memory all the times in my personal relationships that I have been lied to or used and the feelings were very similar. You trust someone or a situation to be a certain way. You have invested time and energy into someone or something and in the end, it meant nothing. That feeling is enraging. So, if you ask why I’m crying or upset “ it’s the only thing that I can do to keep from breaking – YOU.” The song celebrates self-control, which I think not a lot of people and society give enough credit for these days.

🎤 Stefanie: I’m highly biased, but my favourite song is 🎵 “Born From Ice”. It has a bit of unique history! I’ve mentioned I started as a folk musician – nine or ten years ago, Born From Ice is a song I wrote and recorded on my own. Lyrically, it speaks about being lost – being frozen in time, looking for warmth and fire to rekindle some sort of happiness inside you. This is something I have felt many times and still do at times. I pitched this song as an idea for a holiday song with the band and we reworked it and re-recorded it. I’m very happy with how it tuned out.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left-of-center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

🎤 Allon: I like cars, movies, 80’s anime, coffee, and snacks lol.=

🎤 Justin: I like to paint and I’m super friendly.

🎤 Stefanie: I can speak and understand basic Korean. I’m an avid gardener and I absolutely love house plants! I also love to draw, paint, and do all sorts of artistic things.

Closing out, what is Echoseven currently working on, or promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

🎤 Allon: Currently we have our EP, 💿 X-Ray In Use that we are promoting and on tour with. We also have our latest single 🎵 “Blame” that’s out now as well. You can purchase the EP on Bandcamp and stream it on all digital platforms. Check us out on YouTube as well. We have videos there for “Blame” and others. We are back in the studio this fall/winter working on new material for the next year.

🎤 Stefanie: We just had our official EP release show a few days ago and it was a blast. We’re always working on new music and constantly writing, so expect a lot more from us soon!

Follow… Echoseven: IG • Facebook • Twitter • Spotify • YouTube

Getting to Know…  Echoseven: Interview No. 309 [📷: Brent Faulkner, Darkmoon_Art, luis2500gx, The Musical Hype, Pixabay, OpenClipart-Vectors]