NEWS: PARADE SQUARE RELEASE 1ST EP "SEASONS" - FREE DOWNLOAD
Parade Square's Kris Osmond met with some of the Noisography staff back in November and it was there we all heard the potential.With gritty, yet heartfelt and pretty vocals mixing with pop rock acoustic guitar riffs, he'll have you singing along with him by the end of just about every song.
I asked Kris to answer a few questions about himself and the recording of his first EP "Seasons" to give us a better idea as to who and what Parade Square is:
Where did the name Parade Square come from?
Honestly the name Parade Square wasn't something I came up with. When I was working for the Dalhousie Student Union I asked a good friend of mine who I was working with (Rob Lefort) if he could come up with a name for my band. He came back a few hours later after lunch with the name Parade Square scribbled on a napkin. I don't think I ever asked him why or how he thought of it but it sounded right so I went with it.
Who would you say your biggest influences are?
I'll be honest I grew up listening to Blink-182, Taking Back Sunday and Dashboard Confessional, stuff like that. I still listen to them and I doubt I'll ever stop. But for the purpose of this album I'd say it was a lot of Death Cab for Cutie, Jimmy Eat World, City and Colour, and Hey Rosetta!
How long have you been playing music? Has it been something you've done as a kid or is it something you just recently picked up?
I've been playing guitar since I was 14 and I'm 24 now. Considering that I should be a thousand times better than I am. I picked it up because I wanted to play and write songs like the bands I was listening to. I decided to teach myself through tabs I would look up on the internet and playing along with my favorite albums. I would occasionally try and write songs but nothing I ever liked enough to keep around. When I got to university I decided that I really wanted to take music more seriously. I began to take a different approach to writing. Instead of trying to mimic the bands I liked to get a certain sound, I just let things come out and have whatever sound they had. Eventually it got easier and easier to write songs that I actually enjoyed playing for other people.
What was the most difficult and what were the best, aspects of recording "Seasons"?
The most difficult part of recording Seasons was doing everything for the first time and trying to teach myself something I knew nothing about. I had asked a friend to help me record some tracks a couple of years before but nothing on my own. On top of that I was recording in the living room of my apartment with just a laptop, Garage Band, and a $100 microphone. The best aspects of it was getting to hear the songs develop over time and being able to hear and change things I might not have from just playing live. It was also cool to try and add in a few secondary instruments like other guitars and a little keyboard. I threw out a lot more of the background instrumentation than I kept. It was still a good experience though. However I find I get the most creative with others so I'm definitely looking to do a record with a full band and electric instruments next.
You're playing a gig at the Dalhousie T Room on march 3rd, can you give us some details about the show?
As far as the show on the 3rd goes, we've been invited back to the Dalhousie T-Room on Barrington street for another show. We play there a good bit but this is the first time we're the headlining act so I'm pretty excited. Some really good friends of mine IGA are opening for us and they've just had some wicked success recently with a music video they did for the Dalhousie Student Union. It has over 27,000 hits on You Tube! I really don't know why they're opening for us the most I have on one of my videos is 200 lol. Regardless I'm still extremely excited and honored to be headed back there so I can share the new album with more people. I'm gonna have some hard copies there to give out to anyone who wants one.
Parade Square will also be one of the featured bands playing during the Noisography Live Music Photography Exhibit & Show in May alongside of bands such as Bike Rodeo, Glory Glory Man United, No Flyers Please & Scribbler.
Download the album for free on the band's Bandcamp:
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