With their passion and presence on stage, DIY band At Our Expense is a group of guys worth looking out for in the music scene.
“How are you all doing tonight?” Angel, lead singer, asks to a roar from the crowd. The intro to “Embers,” off their album, “I’m The One Who Changed” begins, and you can feel the build up, the tension on the stage as the music collides, crashes together to form their pop punk, post-hardcore sound. Their stage presence is big, each of the six guys in their own zone, putting their all into this song, the band, and the music. I’m easily impressed with their spirit.
At Our Expense is a group of musicians out of the San Fernando Valley. Having just released their fourth EP, Awake, they’ve come a long way from the garage they started jamming in, in the spring of ’07.
I got to sit down with three of the guys: Angel Carmona (vocals), Andres Argueta (vocals), and Danny Santamaria (guitar) to discuss everything from their future goals to their dedication to music. The great thing about them is that right off the bat, when asked about their biggest accomplishments, they don’t hesitate in saying that it would have to be sticking together for the last eight years.
JE: What would you say are your biggest accomplishments as a band?
DS: Sticking together for eight years
AC: San Fernando Battle of the Bands. And we’ve been on two tours and two smaller ones.
JE: Why do you guys make music?
AC: We’re all into music, we’re all music lovers. That’s why we do it.
AA: And hanging out with your friends at the same time.
AC: Playing live is the ultimate high. To sum it up we’re just a bunch of dedicated people who – we share the same passion. Music’s our thing, it just happened to be that way.
AA: I think we’d all like to leave a mark.
JE: What’s your favorite thing about music – yours or in general?
DS: The feels. When you hear something that you emotionally connect to, or you hear someone sing about a situation that you’re going through or have been through… you just go, yeah that guy knows what’s up.
AC: For our music, if someone digs our songs it means a lot. We wrote it and people enjoy it. When people actually take the time to remember your lyrics, it’s nice.
JE: What do you guys like to do outside of music?
AA: We keep up with sports.
DS: Yeah, we’re really big sports fans.
AA: Music and sports. Going to other bands shows and listening.
AC: Video games and… we like food. Music is the coolest thing we’ve got.
JE: What are your goals for the future of AOE?
AC: Shows, tour, writing. Shows, tour, writing. Building up the fan base.
DS: Yeah, we’re trying to write a full-length right now, but it really depends on the finances to take on that big recording contract. We’re DIY.
AA: We’d like to travel to the east coast; write more, travel more.
DS: Hopefully it becomes full-time, where we can really dedicate ourselves – getting a house, everyone living there and writing a record together.
With their DIY ideal of doing things at their expense and their strong bond, I can tell that they’ll make their goals. They are some of the most dedicated dudes I’ve had the pleasure to meet.
2015 has been a good year so far for AOE and seems to be only getting better, with a bunch of shows under their belt, they continue to book shows locally.
Check them out soon: FaceBook.com/AtOurExpense
