An Interview With The Influence

By Broadside Style Editor Emily Sharrer

The Influence, a band out of Virginia Beach that is influenced by 90s rock movement, has quickly been establishing itself as an elite rock outfit of today by fusing acoustic and electric sounds. Band members Matthew Stephenson, Collin Cogan, William Clarke, Tully and John Zontini have toured with major bands like Silverchair and Jimmy Eat World and now, the band is headlining their own tour. Broadside had the chance to talk with drummer Collin Cogan about the band’s upcoming Jammin’ Java show this Thursday and their new EP Dust and Sun.

Broadside: So tell me the story of the band, you guys formed in VA Beach?
Cogan: We’ve been playing together for basically the last four years now and have been touring for the last two and half years up and down the East Coast.

Broadside: You’ve opened for Silverchair, Jimmy Eat World, Finger 11, The Bravery, Starting Line, Sum 41, Angels and Airwaves, Sister Hazel, Vertical Horizon and about 20 more major bands, so what is it it like to finally headline your own tour?
CC: It’s humbling, I guess. You play with bands like that and they draw tremendous crowds and they make you better by playing with them; they have their stuff together. It helps to play with [established] bands... they push you to work harder.

Broadside: Just for the record, which band was the best to tour with?
Cogan: Silverchair was I think the coolest act that we’ve gotten to share the stage with, mainly because we grew up listening to them. I think Matt actually got to really hang out with their lead singer, Daniel Johns, afterwards, but I actually only talked to them a few times.

Broadside: Tell me about the EP. How many tracks are on it; what’s the feel?
Cogan: The EP is a good representation of what we do live. We just wanted it to be really raw, and I think it kind of came across that way. I’m really happy about it; it’s only three songs, but they really will get a good idea of what we’re all about lyrically and musically.

Broadside: I understand you guys are big fans of ‘90s alternative rock, so which bands have the biggest influence on the band?
Cogan: I think we all love the Smashing Pumpkins. Siamese Dream is still one of our favorite albums. I’m a big Incubus and Tool fan, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Radiohead, Pearl Jam; a lot of timeless acts. These bands put out albums that people are going to be listening to for a long time. We hope that people will be listening to our music for a long time too.

Broadside: What’s your live show like?
Cogan: It’s gonna be high energy; it’s gonna be a blast. We really hope that in general it’s just sort of an emotional show. We love our stuff and we hope that energy carries over into the crowd and I think they can just sort of expect something familiar, but also something they’ve heard before. We’re going to be covering a Tool song and that’s kind of a big exciting cover, and I’m sure we’ll throw one more in there, maybe from Michael Jackson.

Broadside: What about the opening bands, did you hand-pick them?
Cogan: We’ve actually never played with them, so I don’t know much about them. It’s gonna be a really cool show... any time we play with a new band, it’s great. Everybody’s different and there’s nothing better than playing with a new band.

Broadside: Anything else?
Cogan: Obviously we would love for people to hit up our MySpace page or our Web site, theinfluenceofmusic.com.
We just want people to come out to the show. The live show is everything that we are and I think we’re pretty good at it.