A few weeks back, I had the opportunity to interview the guys in A Place To Hide. Nick Valero (bass/vocals), Nick Rigali (guitar/vocals), and Ryan Mastrelli (drums) sat down with Veronika and I to discuss the band, the new album, and what’s in store for the future! Check out the interview below!
Tell us a little bit about the backstory of the band.
Nick V: Me and Ryan were 14, Nick was 15. There’s this music store that used to be called Monster Music in Levittown and we all took lessons there. Our teachers actually put us together. Me and Nick would play a bunch of Green Day covers and Blink 182 covers to YouTube drum tracks and then we eventually linked up with Ryan.
Nick R: Nick and I shared the same guitar teacher and my teacher told me theres this kid that plays bass that is crazy good to play with. So I found him on Facebook and we just started hanging out for a little bit.
Ryan: I was just looking for people to play with.
How long were you guys playing together before you put out some original material?
Ryan: Wasted Away was the first song we ever wrote together, in 2015.
Nick V: Yeah 2015, so about a year. After 2 years, the first EP came out, which I don’t really count because we were so young and it was our first time putting out a project. Since then, Wavelength took like 2 years.
Nick R: We had 2 songs off Wavelength already written before we even released the original EP. We had all the songs we just released for so long.
Nick V: We’ve been playing those songs for like a year and a half – 2 years. Anyone in the Long Island scene has heard all the songs live for a long time.
So how does you guys tackle that, playing the same songs for so long?
Nick V: We always switch up the order of the set. We throw some covers in sometimes. At our release show it was a very big deal for us. We took a lot of time to work on transitions between songs to fill up some time. Even thought they’re not full songs, we were jamming to the next song we were going to play.
Nick R: It was always a rule. We always said ‘lets never have any silence between songs’. Even when we thank someone or interact with the crowd, theres always music in the background.
Because two of you are currently attending Oneonta, how do you guys tackle that as the bad?
Nick V: At first the plan was for all of us to go there but I ended up not going there. I think it works though. While they’re up there, they are booking shows up there. I’m able to book shows here on Long Island. It’s a good back and forth.
So how often do you guys travel for shows?
Nick R: We try to play a show a month. We try to split it up evenly so Nick will head up for a show and the next show we’ll head back to Long Island.
Let’s get into the new music. Where do you say the band has come from the first self-titled EP, to Wavelength?
Nick R: There’s a huge difference. The vibes of each song are very different.
Nick V: The first one was very four chord, pop punk, early 2000’s sound. We were a lot younger. The songs match our age in terms of maturity.
Ryan: The taste in music, what we were each individually listening to, changed a lot over the years. And that changed our sound.
Nick V: Yeah, that helped us really find our own sound. We took a lot of influence from bands like Title Fight, Basement, and The Story So Far even thought we don’t really sound like them. If you look at the first EP, it took way too long. Four songs took about two years.
Ryan: Plus we were in school a lot of the time. Whenever we could get in the studio would be weekends and we could only get four hours at a time.
Nick V: For that first EP, we went into the studio not even with the full idea of what the song is. We were still working on it as we were recording it. With Wavelength, we tracked everything out and had demos so that when we went into the studio we knew exactly what we wanted and created our sound.
What was the inspiration behind Wavelength?
Ryan: Nick leaving.
Nick V: Me and Ryan are the same age. Nick was going away to college and Ryan and I thought “alright the band is done”. All the songs are kinda just about how we were feeling at that time. A lot of the songs are kinda us talking to each other about how we feel about the situation. Drag Me Out and Where I’ve Been go hand-in-hand. I like to think of it is Drag Me Out is my perspective of Nick going away, and Where I’ve Been is his perspective on going away.
How do you go about putting all the music together?
Nick V: We write all our music together. We basically write the instrumentals first. Nick had the guitar riff and I had a melody from a song I recorded on my computer. From there we kinda just write lyrics, we show each other, and they come together.
Nick R: We’ll write something and not know what we’re going for, but as soon as I say whatever I have against what he has, we’ll be like “holy shit this means something that we both understand” and we didn’t even realize it at first.
Ryan: I come up with the drums. They’ll bring their stuff to me, and I’ll just say “ok let’s try this” and we’ll just go with it and build until it’s perfect for us.
What is your best memory on stage?
Nick V: Our last show at Revolution, our EP release show, was crazy. We brought like 90 people out…
Nick R: And that was just us! Not including the other bands. And other people actually showed up and stayed to hear us. My favorite moment from that show was when we played Breach. It ends with a short breakdown, but we decided to double it and slow it down each time we went to it. By the last time, we were going so slow it sounded like doom metal a little. We basically turned into Knocked Loose for a quick second. No one expected that!
Nick V: At that EP release show, we also planned this whole thing where we stopped the instruments at the last chorus so it was just the vocals. It was so loud. Everyone was singing.
Ryan: I even heard it. I wear headphones so I never hear the crowd ever, and I was able to hear it. It was just crazy.
Summer is coming to a close. What’s the next step for A Place To Hide?
Nick V: We have a bunch of shows booked up until November. We have at least one every month, and we have two in some months so far. Both Long Island and Oneonta. We’re playing October 26th at Shakers Pub.
Anything else you guys want to add?
Nick V: We wanted our next release to be a full length, but we know that will take a very long time and don’t wanna not have anything out for long again. We plan on definitely releasing new singles throughout the Fall/Winter/Spring, and hopefully we can put out another EP next summer. Maybe some songs from that will make the full length! We want to keep people interested, so look out for new music before the new year!
Nick R: We already have three full songs already written and basically recorded. So hopefully the three singles during the school year and an EP in the summer.
Hanging out with A Place to Hide was a great time. These three guys are awesome and the new EP, “Wavelength”, is killer! Check out some music from the EP on the blog’s Spotify playlist: After Hours Review!