Interview with Raynes
Interviewed by: Marissa Rodriguez
Hello Raynes, thank you so much for your time, how are you all today?
Our pleasure! We are doing great thanks. We are currently all in different parts of the world but will be back together in the next few weeks which we are all very excited for.
Do any of you have hobbies outside of music?
Whilst music is certainly the biggest joy in our lives, the three of us all have other passions outside of the music world. Joe loves being out on the water, Mark you’ll often catch on the football pitch (soccer pitch for the American readers) and Mat is obsessed with cooking & reading. One thing we all share in common though is how much we all love a good party! Music is certainly still the biggest hobby, but one we are now fortunate enough to call a living.
Has there been anything on your six-year journey that you were not expecting at all?
The past 6 years we have been together have certainly been filled with many ups and downs. It sounds cliché, but there is a lot of truth in the sentiment that the music industry is turbulent, to say the least. There have been a few things that have been un-expected in this journey. Perhaps the most surprising and exciting was signing with music giants Sony Music Publishing a little after a year of our inception. This was something we could have only dreamed of happening in our careers, never mind less than one year after the band had formed. There we were, the top floor of the Sony office in NYC, performing in front of the SVP of A&R, Rich Christina – now that was unexpected!
Your newest track "Tie Me Up" is a deeply personal one, how does it feel to have it out in the world?
“Tie Me Up” was actually written over 3 years ago with the amazing platinum selling writer and producer Dan Book. It’s a song that we sat on for a while until we felt the time was right to finish it and get it prepped for release. “Tie Me Up” was a deeply personal song for Mark in particular and its release has proved to be a very cathartic experience. We all contribute in different ways to the song writing process but Mat is certainly the most lyrical out of three of us. As Mark was struggling to put his emotions and experiences into words, Mat was able to write the most poignant of lyrics to Mark’s specific situation. This is a great example of how all three of us work so well as a team.
The summer festival season is upon us, are there any festivals that you would love to see Raynes play?
Festival season is always very fun and we’d certainly love to be playing some in the circuit next year. We love playing anywhere and everywhere but of course Coachella, SXSW and Lollapalooza are big milestones we hope to be hitting next year.
Tracks like "Lemon Drop" remind me of songs that would be on a coming of age movie soundtrack. If you could have one of your songs on a movie soundtrack, which would it be?
We’ve heard this a few times about our music, that it’s destined to be in TV and film. I think if we have our music in any movie, it would be any Quentin Tarantino film. We love his work and it would be so awesome to hear one of our songs as part of the soundtrack.
Who are your favorite artists at the moment?
We’ve got a few favs at the moment, but Ernest & Kate Bush are two artists we are vibing with big time right now.