By: Sindy
Sindy:: How did you guys get into music?
James: I started playing guitar around the age of 15 because everyone else was (laughs).
Mark: I think every kid gets put into church choir…
James: You were in church choir?!
Mark:Dude, from age 6-8 I was a church choir All-Star.
James: Ha, I'm learning about you in this interview!
Sindy:: How did you guys meet?
Mark: We met in a hurricane shelter in 2004 at the University of Central Florida. That was the third or fourth hurricane that year. I stayed on campus to meet people since I was a Freshman.
Sindy:: So you both had guitars and started playing together?
James:Actually, at the time, Mark was surrounded by a group of girls and I wanted to be in there too (laughs). But there are only so many movies you can watch—I think they played the Lord of the Rings trilogy like four times.
Sindy:: You guys are on Johnny Wright’s label. How does it feel to be working with such a big name?
James:It’s a little unreal. Sometimes our manager will pick up the phone and be like “Hold on, it’s [kwlink 2008Justin [Timberlake][/kwlink].” It’s a constant reminder of how blessed we are to be working with such professionals.
Sindy:: Would you say you're a boy band?
James:Our co-manager always jokes that we’re just a boy band with guitars, which is probably not true, but we are boys, in a band, with guitars (laughs). That said, Justin Timberlake has transitioned into a serious musician and the Jonas Brothers are on the roster—we’re probably closer to them than anything else.
Sindy::Who are you listening to now?
Mark:Well, I wasn’t a huge Justin Timberlake fan until we got on the label with Johnny and we got the opportunity to go to his live show. I didn’t know he played so many instruments live—I became a big fan after that show. I also like OneRepublic, they just came out with a new album.
Sindy:: I’ve been listening to your song, My Own Way. What’s that about?
Mark:: I was a Freshman in college and my older brother scored like 1500 on his SATs and my younger brother got 1400. My scores were uh, considerably lower (laughs). Not to say that my parents pressured me to go to the University of Florida, but it was always mentioned. I didn’t really want to follow my brothers, I wanted to do my own thing.
James:: I think that goes for everyone. You really have to make your own way, especially at that stage in life—when Mark wrote that we were in college. It’s a night and day difference between college and high school—you’re on your own and have to make your own choices and sometimes you really struggle to make the right ones, but that’s when you grow as a person.
Sindy:: I know you guys played large venues with the Jonas Brothers and Avril Lavigne—do you like big venues or do you prefer the smaller, intimate ones?
James:: I’m not going to say one is better than the other because it’s an amazing opportunity to be able to play those large shows and to connect with new fans for the first time, but the last show we played was packed wall-to-wall and it’s just so exciting to be only a few inches from the people in the front row—you really feel like you’re connecting more.
Mark:: As far as being nervous for a show, the smaller the show, the more nervous I am. You can see everybody and you know that after the show you can literally talk to everyone in the room. When you’re playing with the Jonas Brothers and playing for 3,000 people, the lights are off all you see are glow sticks—you don’t know who’s holding them! With smaller venues, it’s like—my mom on the left, a girl I like on the right, and I am so nervous right now!
Sindy:: Have you guys ever liked the same girl?
James:: I’m not gonna say no and I’m not gonna say yes. Do we still like her?
Both:: NO!
Mark: :It’s usually easy because she’ll like one or the other of us. Or we’ll play rock paper scissors (laughs).
Sindy:: Do you have a message for your Kidzworld fans?
Both:: Dream big and don’t ever let people tell you, you can’t do something!
For more information, please go to myspace.com/markandjames
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