The Calling
Answer the Call
Interview by Stephanie Fournier
Aaron Kamin - guitarist, songwriter
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| HardRock.com: What does your album's title Camino Palmero mean and how did you come up with it?
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| Aaron: It's the name of a street in Hollywood. Alex lives on that street and his neighbor is the president of RCA Records, which is The Calling's label. So that street really means a lot to us, that's where the band started. You know I dated Alex's sister and that's how I met him. It also means the "Street of Palms" in Spanish and when I hear the name of the street I automatically think of home. |
| HardRock.com: You've had a lot of success with "Wherever You Will Go" and "Adrienne." What will be your next single? |
| Aaron: It's a song called "Could It Be Any Harder" which is one of my personal favorites. This song is on the same sort of lines as "Wherever You Will Go." |
| HardRock.com: What inspires you when you sit down to write a song. Is there any special place you like to work when you're writing? |
| Aaron: There's no special place that I go to write. When Alex and I start to write songs we start off by sitting down and talking together, then we'll separate to add in our own ideas, and then come back together at the end to collaborate ideas and finish the songs. Some of my inspirations are just my thoughts and feelings, hope, things I see in the news, changes in my life and my emotions. |
| HardRock.com: Your producer Mark Tanner compared you and Alex to Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. What are your thoughts on this? |
| Aaron: Fine, I don't know. I think that Aerosmith is too rock 'n' roll for me, but I'm flattered that he would compare us to such successful people. |
| HardRock.com: How did you and Alex meet Billy [Mohler, bass], Nate [Wood, drums], and Sean [Woolstenhulme, guitar]? In what way did these members contribute to the album or the writing process? |
| Aaron: We met the three guys through friends of friends. Most of the songs on the album do not have Billy, Nate, and Sean on them but we wanted them to be a part of our album, so we went back and re-recorded three of our songs for Camino Palmero so that they could be involved in the album. |
| HardRock.com: A lot of bands do a ritual before they go out onstage. What do you guys do? |
| Aaron: We don't have a ritual before our concert. It's kind of a luxury because it's the part of the day when we can just sit down and relax. It also gives us time to do interviews like this and meet our fans at meet-n-greets. It gets us prepared for our concerts. |
| HardRock.com: You decided to drop out of UCLA to focus more time on the band. What did you study there? If you didn't make it with music, what did you want to become professionally? |
| Aaron: I wanted to be a doctor. My major was biology and a minor in business. I wanted to go to medical school and become a general surgeon. I'd still like to do that someday. |
| HardRock.com: Besides being a musician, what other jobs have you had? What about the other members of the band? |
| Aaron: I used to be really smart, so I would tutor kids in math, English, and science. I did that all the way through college. One summer I worked at my uncle's art gallery. And, I was a cashier at a restaurant when I was 15, but I only worked there for one week! |
| HardRock.com: What personal or band goals have you set for this tour? |
| Aaron: Well, we only have a couple of headlining shows on this tour because a lot of show dates are radio station shows. We're hoping to diversify more. Hopefully, collaborate with other artists. Do more stuff with The Calling and on my own. |
