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If you are like most fans of good music I'm sure there has been a time in your life when you turned on the radio and said
to yourself, "I really like this song, I wonder who's playing it?" Then you maybe sought that information out and
found the name of the band, only to become a loyal fan of that band and then spread the word about them to your friends and
loved ones. Isn't that how it usually works? Have you ever given any thought to how that band got on the radio in the first
place? Most of us don't, honestly. We aren't concerned with how our favorite band got spun on the radio, we're just glad
they did.
When I first started writing about bands I had no idea how many unsigned artists there are trying to get their breaks
in the music industry. I'm talking about really great bands that just haven't been signed to the almighty record deal yet.
The amount of bands still trying to accomplish this feat is staggering, to say the least. The more this came to my attention
I felt the need to do whatever I could to at least get some of them some face time with the world at large.
I was introduced to one of these truly inspiring bands via the internet one afternoon. Their name is Pan.a.ce.a, an alternative
rock band out of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. Being in this business I hear a lot of new music, or music that has been around
for a few years but has not been widely heard by the public. When a band like Pan.a.ce.a comes my way I definitely consider
it a fringe benefit of my job. The band is made up of Tim Farley - lead vocals, Kevin Harry - drums, Aaron Brook - bass/vocals,
and Paul Young - guitar/vocals, and they collectively produce some of the most intense, melodic and gut-driven modern rock
that I've heard in a very long time. Tim Farley's vocals are haunting and can leave you feeling both soothed and full of
raw emotion when he's through with you. The band is known for its fiery live performances, driving their audiences into pure
frenzy as soon as they hit the stage. They are equally as impressive in the studio with their EP 'Anodyne' debuting at number
two on the local charts and their new CD 'All or Nothing' breaking out at number 3. It's hard to imagine that a band who
could outplay many of the major artists we hear everyday on the radio on any given night is still unsigned.
I had the pleasure of talking with lead guitarist, Paul Young, about Pan.a.ce.a. We talked about the band's beginnings,
their progress and what's in store for them. Here's what he had to say:
ROCK ON REQUEST: First of all, can you clarify for me how to pronounce the name of the band?
PAUL YOUNG: It's pan-uh-see-uh.
ROR: I've read about how the band's name came about, but would you like to share that story with the readers of Rock
On Request?
PY: The name came about before I was in the band. I believe Tim and an old member of the band were sitting in a bar
in Bloomsburg just hanging out and some guy said, "You know what would be a cool name for a band? Panacea," and
it just stuck with them and they used it.
ROR: And that means 'a cure for all ills?'
PY: Yeah, a cure for all ills. There are a couple of different meanings to it.
ROR: It's always nice to have something that's unique, that has some meaning to it.
PY: Thank you.
ROR: I wanted to ask you, how did you come to play with Pan.a.ce.a? Had you played in other local bands before you hooked
up with them?
PY: Yeah, I played with some local bands around here before I saw them the one time and I was blown away. I was like,
"Wow, the singer is really good. They have a lot of potential." I always said in the back of my mind, you know
if something doesn't work out and they need a guitar player I'm going for it.
ROR: That's great, I love hearing stories like that.
PY: It's kind of karma, you know. I admired them, it just kind of trickled down and they needed a guitar player. We
hooked up and now it's working out very well.
ROR: Obviously. You know, I get a lot of bands coming my way through my Myspace site and I always listen to each and
every one. I like to hear new music to see who's got a lot of great potential. When I received a link to your Myspace profile
from someone on your street team, the minute I heard you guys the first word that came to my mind was "phenomenal."
How would you describe your sound to people just getting turned on to you?
PY: We've been asked that a million times and I still can't describe it, it's just so unique. There are so many different
influences. I mean, stuff comes out of nowhere. It's like hard rock, but there is a lot of meaning behind it. Tim writes
very meaningful stuff. It's not just bull; it's a lot of things people can relate to, which has been missing for a long time
in music. People can't relate to stuff. Now there are a lot of dark things people talk about, getting down and a lot of
depressing stuff. That gets old after awhile and Tim really writes about real things, whether it be, well, a couple of our
songs have to do with the war in Iraq and relationships, stuff like that; but it's real. Some people can really relate to
it and say, "I remember when that happened to me."
ROR: Exactly, and I think that's what people want when they hear a song for the first time, to be able to relate to it.
PY: Right.
ROR: What would you say are the band's strengths, and what things are you still working on to improve, or should I say
what things aren't yet conveyed through your music?
PY: Our strong points are good strong songwriting and we're all talented players. We all know how to play and we're
all dedicated to this. This is pretty much what we all live to do. Myself and Kevin work day jobs. Kevin is a schoolteacher.
He has a very stable career, but this is what we want to do, we're all into it. We got each other's backs; I mean, were not
gonna back down and quit because of a couple obstacles in the road. We're just gonna keep on trucking and do what we do,
write good songs and hopefully people will like it. Every which way you see it, people like our stuff.
ROR: You guys seem to have a really big fan following locally.
PY: Locally and regionally it's starting to pick up now and that's good, we're happy with that. We love our fans.
ROR: Speaking of fans, what kind of relationship do you have with them? Do you spend time with them at shows or are
you guys more behind the scenes away from them?
PY: No, we hang out with them. We don't go in the back and hide like rock stars or something. They kind of grow on
you after awhile. If we have a summer party or something we invite a lot of people that come to see us. They are just that
close now. We know them by first and last name. You know, we want to know something about them. It's not just; oh they're
a fan, whatever. They're important to us. We get very close to everybody and people say, "Wow, you're really close
to your fans." Well, that's the way we are. We're personal people and we're not going to just go hide somewhere. We
don't need to.
ROR: My favorite bands are bands like that. I'm a fan of music, I've gone to concerts my whole life but it wasn't until
recently that I noticed bands are getting more personal with their fans and spending actual time with them, where before it
was just, "We're done with our show and now we're going to our dressing room."
PY: That's definitely not us.
ROR: Let's talk about your musical influences for a moment. This was really interesting to me. On the band's Myspace
profile you list influences from Tool to Parliament and Earth, Wind and Fire. Are there any other musical influences that
might surprise your fans?
PY: I don't know, I don't think anything would really surprise them anymore. I mean, I'm a huge Beatles fan. That's
my thing. The Beatles is what it all is. They made it in the simplest form. They had the simplest possible songs, yet they're
so intricate. I can't explain it.
ROR: They do something to you.
PY: It's amazing. Today I was driving home from work and I popped in one of their CD's. It was old type stuff, like
'I love you' crap. It just makes you feel good. It's very common, you can touch it. It's very tangible. I know our original
bass player liked Earth, Wind and Fire, stuff like that. He's no longer with the band. We still have vast influences like
Incubus, Tool, Rage Against the Machine, Deftones. Tim is into Eddie DeFranco and, like songwriters. He has a lot of independent
stuff that he listens to. We're a big melting pot.
ROR: I think that would explain a lot about why your sound is so different. What elements do you like about influences
you have? How do you think that wide range effects what you guys do?
PY: It just gives us so much more to work with. We're not limited to, "Oh well, it's gotta be like this."
We can say okay, here's something and then put a totally different twist on it. On our new record there are a lot of parts
that, we're considered hard rock. How many bands will have a guitar with a capo in it? I'm the first one to say, "What
the hell are they doing?" Then I tried it and it worked. I put a slide in the album; different things. We actually
have one song on our album that has a string arrangement. Not many, I don't want to say small bands, which is kind of what
we still are, would put a string arrangement in. With the help of our producer we did it. But we all have that idea, like,
that would be really cool to do...to try it and it worked out. Things that nobody would expect we tried.
ROR: I think that's the mark of a great band right there Paul. The creativity you can all put together into one group.
PY: We wrote this album over the course of six months. We just wrote the songs and they were bare bones songs. There
was nothing else to it. There was one guitar part, one bass part, a drum part and one vocal one. Then we kind of invented
it while we were in the studio. We were only in the studio for two weeks. There are a lot of vocal parts going on and it
was all invented right there. It wasn't like we had this preconceived thing like, "We want this here and that here and
that there." It was all invented those two weeks sitting in the studio playing.
ROR: That's amazing.
PY: When all the parts came together it was like, wow.
ROR: Tim is such an amazing vocalist.
PY: I can't praise him enough.
ROR: Has Tim said where he draws his lyrical inspiration from, other than real life events? Does he have anything in
particular that gets him going and inspires him to write?
PY: I really can't answer that. He has a lot of things he writes about, not just one thing. He's really very creative,
always pouring out with stuff. That's just how he is.
ROR: I want to talk to you about playing live shows. What is the best part about that for you, and what's the most difficult
thing about it?
PY: What is the best part about playing live?
ROR: Yes.
PY: Just playing live. We all love to play live.
ROR: You get a lot of praise for your live show. Is that something that you keep in mind when you record? The need
to be able to recreate the song live?
PY: The only problem with that is that some stuff we can't recreate live. Some of the parts we can't do but we come
as close as possible. The energy makes up for it.
ROR: I mentioned your Myspace page briefly earlier. How important do you think the internet has become in helping to
promote unsigned bands?
PY: It's becoming the wave of the future. The days of buying CD's are gonna be done soon. It's going to be all visual.
We actually got offered a big deal from a record label out of New York who only does digital downloads. They don't even press
records. We were like, god, that's pretty neat but the deal just wasn't something for us.
ROR: Another artist was mentioning that to me too, talking about how CD's just aren't going to be around much longer.
It's going to be a strange world when that happens I think.
PY: It is. I enjoy buying the CD, the artwork and different things. It will get easier to deal with. It's like when
our parents, you know, records came out. They were like, "What's this new technology?" It's always different,
and it will always be changing. You got to be in with the evolution of things.
ROR: That's true. You have to be able to roll with it.
PY: It's all good.
ROR: As long as you guys are out there making music it's all good. Your CD, 'All or Nothing' was released in September
of 2006 and has done quite well on the local charts in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
PY: It's just about sold out.
ROR: That's awesome. What sets this CD apart from your initial EP release, Anodyne?
PY: A little songwriting growth. We had more time with this one actually. For the EP I was only in the band like three
months. It was kind of like, "Guys, we gotta do an EP." And we kind of just threw everything together. It was
there, but it wasn't like to where it was on this record, the parts. There is a lot of growth. There's a lot of different
things going on.
ROR: For it to debut at number 3 locally for you guys, that's pretty incredible.
PY: That one debuted at number 3, and when Anodyne came out it debuted at number 2. I think Anodyne stayed on the charts
for about a month. Our first EP actually had more sales success in the beginning month because there wasn't a lot of stuff
that came out. With this new one we had a lot of new things coming out like Justin Timberlake and Clay Aiken. Then Evanescence
came out. Obviously we're not going to compete with that, yet we did. We stayed with it. It was selling locally at like
200 copies in a week. Not every week. I mean, Evanescence comes out and they sell 200 copies in a week and the next week
they sell 180. We're not going to be able to do that because we are in a very small demographic.
ROR: Well, when I looked it up on Gallery of Sound's website earlier today 'All or Nothing' was still at number 4 on
their list.
PY: Excellent! Nice.
ROR: I thought that was great, since it's been out since September. I think that says a lot. Can you tell me which
track is your favorite off the CD and why?
PY: I kind of like all of them (laughs). They are all great to play. I love playing all of them. I really can't put
my finger on one song. They're all just all of us. We put all our hearts into it. There are rock songs on it that we rock
out to live. There are songs we kind of mellow out to, like 'Additive.' It's a big song. The song speaks for itself.
ROR: Okay, I have a big question for you.
PY: Sure.
ROR: Why aren't you guys signed yet? I imagine there has been some label interest. Are you holding out for the perfect
deal or is something in the works your fans (and the readers of Rock On Request) should know about?
PY: There's always something in the works that we don't know about. I never count anything out. It's not like, oh,
we're not getting a deal. What we've been frustrated with the past couple of months is that nothing's been happening. The
music business kind of shuts down for two or three months during the holidays. We really would like some local radio help.
But the local radio stations won't spin us. We honestly think, and a lot of people think, we compete with some of the bands
that are on like Nickelback. And there are only so many times you can hear Nickelback in a day. They do spin them a lot.
They're getting 20 spins a day.
ROR: Do you think that has a lot to do with the label pushing the spins themselves?
PY: You mean the label from Nickelback's standpoint?
ROR: Right.
PY: Well, it's all about the benjamins. It's all about spending that money. We talk to DJ's that love, I mean, DJ's
come out to see us play, and they love us. They talk us up and down, but you know talk is cheap. Put your money where your
mouth is. We had a band around here called Breaking Benjamin. They're from here with us. The main reason they got a deal
is that a local DJ took their record and spun it on his morning show and it took off. All we need is an opportunity, a chance,
and I know people will like it. The people that don't already don't. It's frustrating. We're trying to push this thing
and we're getting nowhere with our local radio station.
ROR: That brings me to my next question. You've gotten a lot of support from local news media in the northeastern Pennsylvania
area as well as your fans. Your fans love you. What more do you think can be done to promote Pan.a.ce.a?
PY: I honestly don't know. It's just to the point where I talk to people and say, "What can we do?" We just
gotta keep doing what we do and keep putting it in their face, and we're not going away. This area has bands that are really
good. I'm not just saying that. There are a lot of bands that are just really, really good, that could stand up against
any national act.
ROR: I just saw a band recently, which shall remain nameless; they were an opening band for a major act. They are also
very well known, but they literally almost put me to sleep. I could not wait until they were done. So I know exactly where
you're coming from.
PY: There's a label out of New York called Warcon. They have a band called Bleed the Dream on their label. They thought
Bleed the Dream would be the next big thing. We sold more records than Bleed the Dream, and they're on the Warped Tour.
ROR: That's just insane when you think about it in those terms.
PY: It's a lot of politics and bullshit.
ROR: What are your goals for the band right now, and how have they changed since you first got together?
PY: They've kind of been the same since I got in it. Get out of here, that's the goal.
ROR: In regards to that, have you ever talked about going any place like L.A. or trying to push yourselves out there.
PY: Tim has talked about it many a time. His sisters live in California. He always talks about going up to California
and you have close contact with people. But I think that's kind of a bland statement because I've gone to California on vacation
and gone to clubs where bands are playing and there's nobody there. The grass is always greener. The talk is always California
or other big cities. It's the same shit everywhere. If you're gonna make it out of here, we'll make it out of California.
I just think the big city clichés are a big bag of air. Nobody's getting signed out of Los Angeles either.
ROR: True. The music business is not easy anywhere.
PY: We've seen bands make it out of here. We've seen bands make it out of small towns, small places.
ROR: Like Breaking Benjamin?
PY: Exactly. That's a prime example. That's right in our backyard. I remember seeing them play for two years, Thursday
night they played a club and they only had 8 people there. For two years, every Thursday. Then their song gets spun on
the radio and everyone is all about them, but they're the same exact band.
ROR: I have one last question for you. Is there a question about Pan.a.ce.a that you have never been asked, but would
finally like to answer?
PY: That's a really good question.
ROR: I like to throw one out there to stump you guys every once in awhile.
PY: I think we've been asked every possible question from jobs, personal life, why does your drummer play with his shirt
off, and why do I wear a hat.
ROR: I'll tell you what, if you think of one you can e-mail it to me, okay?
PY: I'll do that. I really will.
ROR: Thanks Paul. I really appreciate your time.
PY: My pleasure. Take care.
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