Endless Hallway interview

Endless Hallway is a rock band from Los Angeles, California. Their debut album, Autonomy Games was released in April 2009 and they are currently touring to support it. Endless Hallway incorporates various elements of rock and diverse musical and cinematic influences into their music to create rock soundscapes that are diverse and complex, yet accessible and harmonious. Recently, iProng’s Matt Saye had the opportunity to speak with Joe Mullen.

First of all, thanks for taking the time out to do this interview. You’re on tour supporting your debut album. What’s the experience been like so far?

It’s been great. We’ve toured with two really awesome bands. Gavin Rossdale was the first tour we did and we just finished a run with VAST and it’s been really cool. It’s been a long tour– going on two and a half months now– and we’re actually starting another tour today in Sacramento with the band Dance Gavin Dance. We haven’t done any heavy touring before and it’s been good to be promoting the record that we’ve been working on for the last year.

The album is getting very positive reviews. How’s it been received at the live shows?

It’s been a positive response. The bands we’ve toured with so far have kind of drawn in a bit of an older crowd. Gavin Rossdale was in Bush so he’s pulling in the older 90’s alternative rock fans, which is awesome because that’s kind of the music that influences us. Same thing with Vast. We’ve gotten a little bit of strange looks from those people because our generation expects a different style of music, but overall it’s been a great response and I’m totally stoked on the response with both the record and the live shows too.

As far as live shows go, do you have any special thoughts on performing live? Do you try to capture it the way it was recorded or do you experiment around?

The recording process was very much like a science lab, experimenting with tons of different sounds and it was extremely focused. With the live show we’re inspired by the visceral raw energy of a rock show like Nine Inch Nails or Nirvana. We really try to have as much energy as we can and put on a good performance. We definitely approach the live show differently than the recording process; we try to do what feels right and what is more natural as opposed to analyzing every little note. It’s definitely a lot different than the recording but it’s cool. It’s more like a physical expression, which is how I address a live performance.

On your homepage you say that you try to write each song as “a location in a world” would you mind elaborating on that?

When we were writing the record we all met up. Ryan [Jackson, vocals] and Jono [Evans, guitar] are the primary song writers, but when we would talk about the record and what we wanted to do with it we were really influenced and inspired by visual stuff. We’d go songwriting in a park, and we went out to the desert a few times. We just looked at wherever we were and where we wanted to be and where we wanted certain songs on the record to exist.


For example, “Remora” or “Shallows” are really influenced by underwater landscapes so we kind of built these little worlds for each song that we thought were really cool and that we wanted to the song exist in. We did that for every song and that’s how we approached it. The goal was also to be able to provide enough of that for the listener to be able to create their own world around each song. That was the main goal for the record, to have a kid be able to put it on and imagine a space the same way that our favorite bands and records have done for us.

Speaking of the experience of other bands, what particularly do you draw from? Who inspires your music?

We all have our own things that are more personal to each member, but collectively our biggest influences are Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Bjork, a lot of soundtracks like john Williams. Ryan’s really into a lot of Japanese composers.

Are there any non-musical influences: movies, books, etc?

I would say Disney stuff is a huge inspiration. That’s another thing with the whole idea of creating a world around each song. You go to Disneyland and there’s all these different rides and each one has a completely different world. We made our record in that formula: a different ride that has a different feel or visual soundscape. We love this Japanese filmmaker named Miyazaki. He did Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. So movies are also a big inspiration.

Since iProng Magazine is focused around the iPod, the iPhone, and 21st Century music in general, I have to ask about iTunes and the online availability of music. What do you think about them in terms of being a band supporting a debut album? Has that helped you or did you take it into consideration?

I think it definitely has helped a lot of new bands. There’s such a vast plethora of bands that are out right now and it’s so easy for a group of kids to get together and record on their computers and put it up on MySpace and iTunes as well. I feel like the opportunity to get your music out is much easier than it may have been back in the 90s before all this madness started.

It’s helped us a lot. For example we put our demo up on our MySpace and from that we got a record deal and that’s the way it’s been going for a lot of bands. It also makes it easy for someone who may not have a record store nearby to get the record. So that’s definitely helped us out. At the same, there’s so much going on that I feel like you have to work a lot harder to stand out by delivering quality music and media and everything else that goes along with having a band.

One thing we at iProng have discussed among ourselves is that since iTunes allows you to buy on a song-by-song basis, many bands are now making concept albums. Did this have an influence on you when writing Autonomy Games?

Definitely. I feel like the best bands out there are creating solid records and that’s the way it’s always been. The great bands have always put out great records. I really feel like if we stick by that standard we’ll be successful. There’s a lot of bands that just focus on one or two songs and that also works for awhile but as easy as it is to deliver the bare minimum, the record as a whole being a quality product will really prevail regardless of all the single promotions and focus on one songs.

The single promotion and the way you’re able to just buy the one song you like on iTunes or wherever, I feel like a lot of bands are just dropping their standard of quality because they can put two songs on their MySpace and do well off that. It’s misleading at times. We’re trying to make our record as strong as possible.

I have one last question for you: do you have any advice you’d give to anyone trying to get into the music business?

Of course. If you’re wanting to start a band or get into the music business, don’t ever compromise any sort of artistic integrity you have for the sake of achieving a quick in. For me, it’s not settling for what could work. We try to maintain that honesty and integrity. I feel like those are the strongest traits you could have in this business. Just work hard and tour.


Learn more at EndlessHallway.com