Interview: Undefeated

What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?

I (Meredith) was just made this way. My mom tells a story when I was quite small, I walked up to the adult pianist in a community musical who was having trouble transposing music. The pianist thought it cute when I offered “I could help you with that!”. 

Multiple people entered by life after that, guiding me, mentoring me, and opening doors. Similar multiple people have drawn the boys into music as well. 

As for what we’d be doing without music… well, we’d be very….very…very sad. And a little lost. The drummer (Christian) is a remarkable athlete, so he would probably have immersed himself in sports. 

What do you like to do when you’re not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?

Other than working out, we are very different people. I do everything on the crafty side…oil paint, knit. Right now I’m making synthetic dreadlocks (yes, dreadlocks. You might see them on me in the near future!).

Christian juggles a full load of school, sports, and work. He still fits in yo-yoing. And he’s always down for a family game! (and he’s quite lucky, I might add)

Ian, the bassist, loves to listen to music! He’s down to fish anytime, any season. 

I think what you do is a reflection of who you are. So, the more you relax into being yourself, the more your creativity shines! 

How long has your band been around?

We just passed our 2nd year “bandiversary” in August!

Where are you based out of and how did that influence your music?

Lewis County, NY! It’s about 45 minutes from the Canadian border. You know, there’s a lot of classic rock and country up here. It comes out whether we mean it to or not! So we embrace it, and make it more metal. ;) 

How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you.

We were driving back from playing at the annual Rock N Worship Festival in Dalton, MA. We straight up ripped the name off of the rap song Undefeated by KB. 

Whether you are defeated, or undefeated, it’s really about who you are made to be and being faithful to that. 

Tell me about the best and worst shows you have played.

We just competed in JCC’s Battle of the Bands in Syracuse NY. We did win, yay! We consider that one of our best shows because we were all locked in together that night. And any musician or athlete knows how good it feels to be locked in with your team. 

One of our worst shows was definitely our own fault. We went in half-prepped, and, well, it showed. Hard lesson. We should have known better, lol. We still got good feedback from the crowd, but we knew we hadn’t brought our A-game.

Tell me about your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you haven't already? 

Our favorite venues are the ones with easy acoustics hehe. Also, full concerts with lights, smoke, and everything are our top favorites:) Ian would like to play at the Landmark Theater in Syracuse. We would love to play on stages across the country, and around the world! 

If you could play any show with any lineup who would be on the ticket?

Tenth Avenue North, the Rolling Stones, and Red. That would be a heck of a concert, wouldn’t it? 

What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band?

Play, play, play. There is no excuse to not keep growing. Someone once told us when we were first starting out, to evaluate our performance. Pick one good thing (something to keep) and one bad thing (something to change) for each show. 

If you could go back in time and give yourselves advice, what would it be?

We’re all still in our teens, so there isn’t a lot to go back to lol. But we’re constantly learning from older musicians who recount their lessons to us. 

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why? 

For me (Meredith), I’m thinking Exodus 14:14. It was the first song I had written, that I performed consistently. 

Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?

Our favorite to play is Shadows (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62xRoCrGHRg); mainly because it has great performance camaraderie between the 3 of us, and we love that. Our ballad, Where Are You, is the most audience requested. We are releasing Where Are You in the next couple of months, so stay tuned to our pages! (Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/undefeatedofficialmusic - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/undefeated_official/)

What is the creative process for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?

I write the lyrics/melodies so far, and we all collab on the instrumentation! For what inspires me, once again, I was just made that way! Ideas from everything and anything! Lately, Lacey Sturm has been inspiring me with her creative use of lyrics!   

What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?

Thinking through the lyrics, they’re usually about life. Lol, I’m 17. Above all, we want people to come to our shows and leave feeling like they have a place where they can feel completely themselves. 

Do you ever have disagreements in your band, and how do you get past them?

Yeah, we have very different musical tastes, that’s why our songs differ in sound from one to another. We like it that way! As far as disagreements, we usually go one person’s way in one song, and the other’s in the next. 

What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that's coming up?

We are releasing our second single, Where Are You, in the next couple months! You can follow our pages (Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/undefeatedofficialmusic - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/undefeated_official/) to stay on top of that. 

As part of the prize package for winning Battle of the Bands, we are also playing at the New York State Winter Fair in the Expo Center February 9th, 2020!