Una reintroduced themselves to a growing fan base a month and a half ago, releasing a new sound and new material at their show at Chain Reaction. The band’s upcoming album tells a mythic story set in medieval times about three main characters, Loyalty, Purity and Justice. Una is also playing at the Eddy tonight, Nov. 1. The Chimes had a chance to sit down for an interview with the band members and learn more of the insights behind their music. This is truly a bold and talented band of Biola alumni that warrants support in their current Eddy show and future concerts.
Chimes: What has been happening since your first show as far as new material?
Patrick: A lot more writing. We’ve written three songs since the last show. We’ve also been writing more of the storyline in story form as well.
Mark: Yeah, we’ve been thinking about making a children’s book with the album —something that we can brand and put into a complete package.
Chimes: Dustin, you are now the official drummer for the band. How does it feel to be with the band, and how long have you been with them?
Dustin: It feels good to be in the band; I’m enjoying it. I’ve been in the band for about two months now.
Patrick: He started before our last show, and we asked him to be our drummer after the show.
Chimes: Have you been playing any shows since your show at Chain Reaction?
Patrick: We’ve mostly been focusing on writing.
Mark: We have a bunch of shows coming up, but we’ve mostly been writing and taking bookings for shows as they come.
Patrick: We have the show tonight at the Eddy, and then next Monday we are having another show at Chain Reaction that is a battle of the bands.
Chimes: Have you been trying anything new with your previous material?
Mark: We’ve sort of been tweaking the songs where I’m not playing guitar, or Brandon is not playing guitar during the entire song. We used to be a more rock-driven sound, and now we’re going for more holistic musical approach.
Chimes: How many more songs do you have left to record on the album?
Patrick: We have about nine songs on the board right now and about three, maybe four left.
Mark: We’ll probably write a total of 15 or 16 and cut a couple songs in the studio.
Chimes: Is it hard to cut songs out because they’re part of a larger story?
Patrick: We want to go into the studio with a fairly set product and for story purposes we want it to be a complete whole that can take you from beginning to end. We probably won’t be recording until sometime next semester, but hopefully we will have a two or three-song demo done in the next month.
Chimes: Which character in the story are you most like, or who do you empathize with?
Patrick: I’d probably have to go with Purity — the idea of someone who falls in love with life where virtue can turn to vice.
Mark: The thing I identified most with was all three of them — that there is this theme where there is only one person with these three characteristics, and he is torn.
Brandon: To be honest, it would have to be Loyalty. I sometimes can’t pick one side or the other, and Loyalty gets a little lackadaisical in the story.
Dustin: For me, I’m not even familiar with the story yet because it is all kind of new to me. Up [until] just recently it’s been more about learning the songs musically. As far as a storyline goes, you can connect with everyone, the good guy and the bad guy.
Chimes: Dustin, do you incorporate any of your own ideas and beats into the songs?
Dustin: With an album like this, it’s more of me trying to stay out of the way. If it doesn’t aid or help these guys, it’s not worth throwing in the song.
Chimes: How do you feel about the Eddy tonight?
Mark: I think it will be fun. It will be our first free show in a long time.
Patrick: Great. There’s going to be good sound … another good band, Hives, is playing, and it’s free, so a lot of people will be here.
Brandon: Really good. We’ve always tried to play at Biola, but we’ve had to play our own shows. I’m excited about it; I think it is going to be a solid show.
