You guys went on at 1pm at the Mastercard Arena Stage here at Electric Zoo. What did you expect and what did you see?
Anna: We came into this without an expectation. We had a blast, the set was really fun. It’s really hard playing a set right when the doors open. The tent ended up being pretty packed by the end of our set though so that was open. Every song, more people came in. It was dope show, we loved being here. The sound is just huge, even where we were playing. It was cool.
Let’s throw it back to 2014. They said that any press is good press and this goes back to the hater of all haters, Deadmau5, who tweeted negatively about a performance of yours. When you guys initially saw that, how did you guys react?
Nathan: We thought it was hilarious. He’s known for being an asshole to people, he’s an attention whore. It squashed really quickly when people started YouTube’ing the band and they saw that we were playing real instruments so it was more of a confusing thing for everyone than anything else. It went away pretty fast. He does his thing, he’s talent, let him do his thing.
How would you describe the Five Knives live experience?
Anna: It’s just an electric powerhouse. We combine pop, rock, dance, electronic with full energy so when people show up it’s like a dance party but I try to put as much of a punk rock aspect into the show as possible. Nate and I kind of play of each other in that realm, but you’re definitely seeing a full-on performance.
So you guys are signed to Red Bull Records. How did that all come about and what is your relationship with them?
Nathan: For us, it happened really quick. Three shows in, they were there. We were just forming and the A&R scout was there and someone had passed her our music online and she thought enough about it to fly out. And then we did SXSW and the whole label was there so that’s sort of what sealed the deal. So it happened really fast, but they’re a worldwide brand. You say the name ‘Red Bull’ and everyone has heard of it. It’s really great to have someone that powerful behind us.
What is the end vision with Five Knives?
Zach: The end goal for us was to always create music that sounds huge enough to fill up an arena. We’re an arena rock band. If you are concerts, it’s like a rock show and that’s the goal. We’ve always had an international state of mind.
Anna: For me, I’ve always wanted to go down as some sort of legend as a powerful front woman because I think about all the woman I looked up to when growing up, the Gwen Stefani’s of the world, just so powerful. I would love to be remembered as that.
What’s coming up that you want your fans to know about or get excited about?
Zach: ‘Savages’ is breaking into Top 40 radio right now. You can request the song at pretty much any radio station at this point. That’s really exciting. We’re doing a big radio tour right now. We have a 12-minute movie coming out that is based on the ‘Savages’ video. It’s going to be kind of crazy, it’s a 12-minute film that features all of our songs and that will be coming out really soon, probably in the next month or so.
As a band, there are always hardships, struggles and fears. What would be your advice for upcoming artists trying to get into the music industry, getting their sound heard and overcoming all obstacles?
Nathan: It’s one thing to be a talented artist. It’s one thing to be able to program and make beats and write songs. But you literally need to have a hunger in you that will only be satisfied by doing this. Like literally losing relationships and having no money forever, and your friends are moving on and getting married and having babies and I’m like “Uhh I’m still acting like I’m 16 dancing at clubs every night. But you have to be focused so hard and want it more than anybody else. There is no secret to success. You need to want it bad enough and stick with it.
