Artist Bio
We The Living is a band that was formed to spread the idea that everyone needs a personal philosophy, or philo. Through constant reinvention, touring, and street team-led promotion, We The Living has grown from nothing in April 2007 to a nationally-lauded band with a large and fervent grassroots fan base.
John Paul (vocals/piano/guitar) has been singing forever. After high school he read a couple of books that changed everything for him, picked up a couple of instruments and started writing songs. The three albums that restructured the fabric of his life were Joni Mitchell's Blue, The Beatles' Self-Titled, and Coldplay's Parachutes. John Paul is the schemer and the dreamer.
Benjamin (drums) can move mountains. His favorite thing to do is to make sure everything stays together, so he drums. He liked Thoreau because he made his own way. Benjamin mixes, engineers, and illuminates We The Living. Benjamin makes plans real.
Matt (lead guitar) thinks of everything like a movie. The first time he ever played a guitar through a delay pedal was during his tryout for We The Living. He proceeded to compile his pedalboard as though he were directing a film about guitar tone. His life was forever changed by the Fender Telecaster, Photoshop 7, and Reason. Matt makes images real.
We want to do things differently. We want to do things people don't think can be done. We finished our debut record in California in early 2007, climbed in our van, and drove directly to our first show in Iowa. It was our goal to bring the music to as many people as possible through hard work and grassroots promotion. It was our goal to play a show every day. We experimented, learned from our failures and successes, and in the first year we managed to play 170 around the nation.
We're working on a new record, we're on pace to play 250 shows this year, and effective immediately we're changing to the next incarnation of our touring. We will always play as many shows as we possibly can, because bringing music to people is the axiom of what we feel music's place in the world is. The only shows we are going to announce publicly are going to be the EVENTS. If you want to see us, come to an event. We will unveil new songs, new lights, and longer sets at events. Between events, we will still be playing shows to continue to share the music with new people, but they will be a secret until the day of, and will be promoted virally.
If you're reading this, we're thankful for you, and we're busy planning our next big event for you.