Interview: Milea

On February 6th 2003 Guest Reporter Cathy Lewis sat down with Chris, the lead singer of Milea, an up in coming hardcore/emocore band from the New York City area:

BP: I don’t know how to start this.
Chris: Umm… What exactly are you asking me about, my band right?
BP: Okay, what is your favorite ice cream?
BP: (yes)
Chris: (laughs) Vanilla with sprinkles.
BP: Alright, now for the real questions. What is the name of your band and what type of music do you guys play?
Chris: We’re called “MILEA.” Um, we’re not sure about our “category” but I’d like to think were on the lines of emocore or screamo. What ever it is it’s your basic scream sing relationship, but we have an original enough sound to differ.
BP: who plays what?
Chris: Dave Paleaz plays bass, Sean George plays guitar, Raphael Morant plays drums, and I’m the lead singer.
BP: How long have you guys been together?
Chris: Not for long, about maybe 10 months. But we’ve accomplished quite a bit for our short time together.
BP: How did you guys get together?
Chris: My band mates were already in the band together and they were looking for a lead singer. I went to one of their rehearsals, I didn’t think they were all that and I was piss drunk so I decided to sing. Surprisingly they enjoyed it. It was fun. And from then on we’ve adapted to each others different tastes in music and styles and molded it into what we make.
BP: Very cool, who are your musical influences? Is there anyone who you would want to be like?
Chris: Well, I have a lot of musical influences. Ranging from Glass Jaw, Mudvayve and The Deftones. And even soul music, old school stuff. My band mates range from death metal to classical music. Very diverse music range, there are a lot of bands that I look up to. And sometimes I find my self mimicking them, but I try not to… I want to have an original “image” or whatever that is. But my favorite band is The Deftones they’re awesome.
BP: I love The Deftones also. Wait, I forgot to ask where are you guys all from?
Chris: (laughs) Manhattan, NY mostly. Dave is from queens Sean from Manhattan I’m from the Bronx but will soon live in freki Yonkers. And Raphael is from uptown Manhattan but he also lives in Jersey
BP: So what’s store for milea in 2003?
Chris: Nervous breakdowns! We’re waiting for the “word” from Epic Records. Matt Pinfield, that dude from MTV, took our demo to Dave McPherson, the head Sony Records. He enjoyed it and now we’re just waiting. Only problem is… We’ve been waiting for about three weeks. But this shit doesn’t happen over night, so ya know.
BP: Do you know when you will get the “word”?
Chris: Well, it depends on when they hold the meeting and get official contracts printed. And then it has to go through lawyers; it’s a bunch of bullshit. We’re just like fish waiting to be caught, but they’re teasing us with a worm and no hook… it blows. In this case we are suicidal fish!
BP: I wish you guys the best of luck! Hey, if people reading this would want to hear some of your music where could they do that?
Chris: Well, I hope they don’t want to hear it yet… but they could go to the website. It has it there. www.milea.xrs.net… we need to put our new demos up though.
BP: Good deal, do you have any up coming shows?
Chris: Not right now unfortunately, we’re working on all new material. We don’t wanna play the same songs. We want to hit CBGCs or Elbow Room or any venue in New York with new songs.
BP: Well, good luck to you Chris and thank you for taking time to chat it up with me. Is there anything you want to say, any random comments?
Chris: Yes. Masturbation is kinda like drugs, It’s all good until you notice your fucking your self. A message to all those drug addicts,
BP: Ok well, Chris…
Chris: Cool.
BP: Thank you and good luck.