EXPOSED VOCALS INTERVIEW

MUSTANG gave an interview to American website Exposed Vocals. You can also read it here:

Exposed Vocals: How did you hear about Exposed Vocals? What made you decide to sign up?

Mustang: We had one of your people on Twitter and we were offered an interview, which was cool, and we decided to sign up.

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

Anja: I grew up in Mostar (Bosnia & Herzegovina). Well, the part with becoming an artist was an accident. There was a band my boyfriend was in, they needed a singer, I knew how to sing and the rest is history.
Boris: I was born and raised in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. I decided to become a musician when I started listening to my father's cd's of rock groups like The Doors, Queen and Deep Purple.
Marin: I grew up in Mostar. Since I was a lot into the rock and metal music and had an opportunity to learn how to play, I took that chance.

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

Mustang: Our former singer, Ivan Nižić, came up with that name, and we all liked it...

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

Anja: I support online music sharing. Artists can promote themselves easily via internet and people who listen and love music should get an affordable and easy access to it.
Boris: Well, free online sharing is a good thing if you are unsigned artist trying to reach your audience. On the other hand, if you always give your music for free, you probably won't last long, when it comes to recording. So it's a blessing and a curse at the same time in my opinion...

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

Anja: Be persistent.
Boris: Work hard and be careful whose advices you listen to. Most people actually don't know how to help you but they think they know. This can turn your career in totally wrong direction.

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

Anja: Of course we make mistakes, we are only human. The point is when you make mistake to look cool as if it never happened, so no awkward death stares to each other.
Boris: Mistakes are natural part of every human being, and they can happen anytime, for whatever reason. All you can do is to try to minimise it as much as possible by working very hard.
Marin: Everyone makes mistakes, but with lots of practice you learn how to handle them.

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

Anja: We get to spend a lot of time on the road together. There are some funny situations, Boris and Marin are jokers in the band, so we're never bored.
Boris: I like travelling with them. As Anja said it's never boring...
Marin: Soon we will be playing in Slovenia for the very first time, and we have in plans to tour across our neighbouring countries...

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

Anja: Boris is the creative soul of the band.
Boris: Well, sometimes it's a sadness, or anger. I don't write songs about being happy. I compose mostly in my mind. Then I take a guitar, or piano and I work on songs, then I start working on lyrics. If the band like the song, we arrange it to suit the band the best possible way.
Marin: We are post war country, there's always an inspiration, although we try not to write about that. We rather write about other things...

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

Mustang: Yes we do. Our website is www.mustang-bend.com.
You can follow us on Facebook
(https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mustang-Bend/236818533159747?ref=ts&fref=ts) and
Twitter (https://twitter.com/mustang_bend), too.
We have a Reverbnation profile too (https://www.reverbnation.com/mustangbend)

Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?

Anja: I do listen to various artists and music in general, but I sometimes get this disco fever when I'm alone at home. : )
Boris: I like to listen to parody music sometimes.
Marin: Nothing embarrassing really.

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

Anja: I would spend it on traveling, concerts and festivals. There are a lot of old bands that I want to hear before they retire.
Boris: I would probably invest it in something connected to health and education.
Marin: I think I would invest it in music and private life.

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

Boris: No, not at this point in our career. But one day, who knows...We pay the studio and we leave it to the people who know how to do these things better than us.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

Anja: Internet and the gigs.
Boris: Media like TV and radio are best ways, of course. But live playing is also very important, as well as social networks.

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

Anja: Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Nick Cave anytime and anywhere. Because why not, they're awesome...
Boris: If I have to choose one, that would be Queen. They are eternal inspiration. Place is not so important for me, it just matters if the audience is right.
Marin: Would be great to play with Motorhead or Black Label Society, cause I love those bands, don't care where...

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

Boris: We have a lot of unrecorded material, and I'm sure that after finishing the debut album we will soon start working on the second one.

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

Anja: Some members have finished the college, some of them study, so we all have backup plans. But talking about dream jobs, I saw a company that hires people to test beds in random hotels.
Boris: I finished a law college, so I would be doing something connected with that proffesion.

Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?

Anja: I was raised in the internet era and music was easy to buy online, so the first time I bought an album was 6 years ago, it was Iron Maiden.
Boris: Yes I do. That was Croatian punk band Hladno Pivo, when I was 13. But soon after that, I became interested in rock music.
Marin: My friend bought me Metallica's greatest hits, it was a game changer.

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

Anja: It's hard, but we always manage to do it somehow.
Boris: You somehow manage to deal with all the other things. It's not easy, but you have to fight...
Marin: It is very hard but if you try anything's possible...

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2015?

Anja: Our first album...
Boris: Probably the first album will be out and we will try to play as much concerts as possible.