Table for Twelve with The MIC

The Mic: What got this band together and started in
this business?
Table for Twelve: We were just bored high schoolers really. When we got started we were pretty sad...we only did covers for the first six months before we finally got the brains to write music. Honestly though that worked out well in hindsight though because it taught us what works for us, what makes a song good, how to put the music together, and loads more I don't think we'd have gotten otherwise.

The Mic:Who writes and produces all the material for
the band?
Table for Twelve: Mostly Ryan and Weston. They've been with the band the longest, Seth and Aaron being relative newbs. A lot of times Ryan will write guitar and drums, while Weston takes lyrics. Sometimes one of us does all of them, and for a few songs its a whole band effort. We just kind of keep making stuff up till we decide what song parts we want to expand on.


The Mic:The band played in front of or with any acts
our readers would
know from the Mainstream?
Table for Twelve: We've had the privilege of opening for pop-rock group Addison Road and punk group Children 18:3. Addison road has been all over the Christian radio stations lately. Children 18:3 is more underground, but they put on one of the best concerts you'll ever see. We're looking forward to being able to open for them again June 10 in Wichita.

The Mic:Where can people access your music on the web?
Table for Twelve: www.myspace.com/table4twelve


The Mic:Any embarrassing moments on stage?
Table for Twelve: Ummm.....we've had a few. Some shows where we've honestly just sucked, either due to poor sound equipment, someone being sick, or just flat out not being prepared. Haven't had the latter for a long time though. A lot of it has to do with the audience too. Our opener is always our most solid and heaviest song, and we can usually tell by the end of it how the rest of the concert will go just by how the crowd responds. We've realized that even though we're from Derby, the crowds there are pretty disappointing every time.


The Mic:Any good stories you want to tell us?
Table for Twelve: Ooohh....where to go where to go.....umm...lets see....we tend to be pretty easy going on stage and off. Makes every show a little different. Not sure we have any off the wall crazy stories but we still have fun all the time. If it wasn't 3 a.m. right now I could probably come up with some good ones.

The Mic:Who is the bands musical influence?
Table for Twelve: We tend to really have our own style. Yeah we're pretty hackneyed heavy rock but I feel with our newer music we've really defined ourselves. I don't think there's any one band we sound like, but the bands we like best are Thousand Foot Krutch, Skillet, Pillar, Red, Switchfoot, Children 18:3, and Underoath. There's plenty more but those tend to be what we all listen to the most. Oh, and Aaron is in love with Taylor Swift...


The Mic:How did the band get together?
Table for Twelve: That story keeps getting longer....Ryan got it all started playing drums with Spencer Jones on guitar and singing and John Broussard on bass in December 2006. John lasted all of one week and two shows before leaving. We've gone through plenty of lineup changes, but with Ryan staying the backbone not much has really changed. Weston joined about Feb 2007 and it's stayed pretty much the same musically. Now we have Ryan on guitar instead of drums, his brother Aaron on drums, Weston singing and on 2nd guitar, and Seth Froncek on bass. Anymore we've come to the realization that Ryan and Weston are really the band. Because of that we're open to lineup changes, and although we love Aaron and Seth, they're kind of the live backup band (no offense guys!). We'll keep them as long as we can and incorporate their musical styles, but Ryan and Weston are really the core.


The Mic:What is your musical background like?
Table for Twelve: When Ryan started this band, really none. Since then he's mastered drums and has gotten good enough on guitar to rock it out live. Weston had the experience of a band before this one, but really this band is what we've grown up in musically.


The Mic:Any other members in your family that are
musicians?
Table for Twelve: Well, Ryan and Aaron are brothers. Their Mom can sing but their Dad lacks all musical talent. Not sure how music became so big to us....Weston's brother played bass but that's about it for him. Seth.....not sure about Seth...think his sister does piano....prolly should find that out....

The Mic:What is the TOP reason why you want to play
music?
Table for Twelve: It's fun!!! Also, being a Christian band, it's an awesome opportunity to spread God's word but in a way that doesn't shove it down anybody's throat and leaves it open to them to listen to us or not.


The Mic: what's your stance on file swapping?
Table for Twelve: Haha, you think we care. It's never been about the (very little) money. We get more satisfaction about people hearing us than us getting anything about it.

The Mic: what is the process of making a cd?
Table for Twelve: Well, you write a bunch of songs (or at least parts). Second, you decide which ones are worth recording and which ones suck. Third, you book a studio for uber amounts of dinero. Fourth, you spend way too much time trying to make the music sound as good as possible. It's fun for sure though. We hope to record another EP soon. We had a studio booked end of May but had to cancel just because the timing did not feel right and we didn't want to rush anything.


The Mic: how do you get the word out about your music?
Table for Twelve: Anymore, mostly through concerts. This is much more of a thing that's just for fun than anything else. We're not in this to become a huge band or anything, but rather we just let whatever happens happen.

The Mic: how is your local responce to your music?
Table for Twelve: In Derby, it sucks. In Wichita, it rocks. Everywhere else it also tends to be pretty favorable.

The Mic: what is the farthers you have traveled for a gig?
Table for Twelve: Salina I think....We've mostly done within an hour or two of Wichita. Hopefully this summer we can hit KC.

The Mic: What tune on the cd are you most proud of?
Table for Twelve: Katie's song for sure. It's the simplest but also the most meaningful. Yeah we get tired of playing it, but we never get tired of the response it has. We really don't play much from the EP we put out anymore. Just Katie's and Black Lights Burn....strangely the heaviest song and the acoustic...go figure. We've really tried to redefine the band since only Ryan and Weston are still around from the group that recorded. Our newer songs are really the ones we're most proud of just because we feel they are miles ahead of the older ones. Really makes us want to record them but at the same time that takes a lot of money a poor college kid and a bunch of high schoolers don't have....so come to a show and buy a shirt!!! haha