Thank you for taking the time to meet with us. Can you please introduce the person to your left and tell our readers something funny about them?
Luan: This is
Jim, our drummer. I would say he is the most verbose member of the band. He usually engages in stuff that sounds very educated and makes us laugh.
(everyone laughs)
Parker: This is
Luan, he's the best dancer in the group. He entertains us with his impressive moves and does a couple good accents, the best being his southern Vietnamese accent. He's a goofball basically.
Tim: This is
Parker, he is a professional courtier and he can talk like a southern belle.
Andrew: This is
Tim, he is our songwriter, piano player... basically the brains behind the operation. Something funny about him... not so much recently but definitely in the past few years or so, waking up around 2 pm would be like waking up in the morning for him. We'd already have finished lunch and he'd just be starting breakfast basically.
Jim: To my left is the infamous
Andrew, he is from the great state of California and he is what we refer to as the human vacuum cleaner, or at least I do. Before you finish a bite of your food, he is already asking if you're finished.
(everyone laughs)
How did you choose the name Tim Be Told?
Tim: My last name is Be Told. Just kidding. (laughs) We were going to go with "Truth Be Told", but what happened was one, it was already taken, and two, it was too cliche. So we said, hey,
Tim Be Told, that's pretty catchy.
Have your families always been supportive of your choice to be in a band, or was there some resistance?
Tim: There has been some resistance. (laughs) For me personally, my parents really wanted me to go into architecture because that's what my degree was in, and I didn't do that. They were a little upset. I think parents want what is best for you, and music is definitely is a crapshoot. But they are actually now very supportive and really love what we're doing so it's been a good journey.
Some of your songs have a very strong religious influence. What other subjects are in your lyrics?
Tim: I think the way I write music is that I try to write about everything I can, but I won't write unless I feel inspired or have something to write about. I write about everything from love and God to friendship and the world, like poverty and trafficking. I just like to write about what is on my heart at the moment.
Tim, are you a really religious person?
Tim: I definitely believe in God and am a Christian, so it is something that certainly influences my music and writing heavily.
You have several online accounts, such as MySpace and Facebook. How important do you feel it is to connect with the fans?
Tim: I think it's really important.
Parker: I think in today's media, online presence is everything and social networking sites are the way to go in terms of getting your music out there. That's why we're on everything - Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, everything. Some people might only use Facebook, some might only use MySpace. We figure if we cover all of them, we get our music out there.
In the respect of having your music out there, what do you think of file sharing?
Parker: File sharing...
Tim: (interrupts) We're all for it!
Parker: Well, I mean there are pros and cons. The cons are obviously that you want people to buy your music, but at the same time you want it to go as far as it can. So if that means some people will illegally download it, it happens, but we hope that person will in turn come out to a show and pay us back.
Luan: Our road manager keeps pretty good tabs on where you can get our songs. He's really good with finding songs for free.
(everyone laughs)
Tim, you have a very distinct voice. Have you undergone vocal training?
Tim: I have been in a few choirs in high school but never had formal training. I just love singing. It's how I express myself, and I just trained myself by listening to other singers.
Your music has a very modern feel, bringing to mind bands like Maroon 5. What genres in particular have influenced you?
Jim: We all come from different musical backgrounds. With
Tim being the primary song writer, you can definitely hear the soul influence in the way he sings, and
Andrew is really into in blues and jazz.
Parker and I are into rock. What's really cool is that we've all gotten influenced by each other, and the music we listen to, it's helped us bring our sound together. We're introducing new genres into newer music we've been writing.
You blend a lot of genres together. Do you like experimentation or have any ideas for the future?
Tim: Our biggest critics say that genre-wise, we're all over the place and that also tends to be one of our biggest praises as well. It just depends on what people like. We don't feel that we need to be placed in a single genre. We enjoy all different types of music, and that influences how we play and the types of songs we do. Whatever I happen to be listening to at the moment tends to influence what I'm writing. Since we're in the van traveling a lot, whatever is playing on repeat will have an impact.
Do your Asian roots have an impact on the band?
Tim: We don't use gongs or anything. (laughs) But who knows, we're open to those things. Most of us were born in the US, Jim was the only one born in the Philippines, so I think for the most part, we are very much American musicians. We grew up in the states with a very American experience. Culturally, we can't escape that, it's part of who we are, but musically, we're very influenced by American music.
How do you think the band has improved performance-wise since you first began playing together?
Luan: We've improved in a lot of areas, one being our stage presence. We all kind of stood around when we first started - everyone except for
Jim (laughs). We just stood there and didn't look like we were having much fun, but we got more comfortable and began moving around. When we first started we just wore whatever we wanted to shows and didn't look as unified. But we have a couple people in the band who are really good at fashion,
Parker, Tim and
Jim, they kind of dress us. I also think over these years we've tightened up our sound a lot. I think in the beginning we all played together at the same time for the whole song, but we've learned how the different instruments function in the context of the band. For
Tim, Andrew and I, this was our first band, so we didn't really know how to work together when you bring five people together to make music.
What aspect of touring do you like the most?
Luan: Personally, I love hanging out with people after shows. We get to meet a lot of cool people.
Andrew: It's really cool to meet people and experience their generosity. Food is one of the big things - we get a lot of food.
You're not scared to eat it?
Andrew: No, I'm not scared. (laughs) I'm basically open to every type of food. But it's really cool to see how they will open their houses up to you, and give their time to you. It's awesome to experience that.
Has anything interesting happened this tour?
Parker: We have a lot of experiences we otherwise wouldn't if we weren't in the band. For example, last night we played at a show and the folks that had us play were celebrating their anniversary. We ended up hanging out with them on their anniversary and they told us they want to take us around the city the next time we're there.
Do you have any rituals you do to prepare yourselves for the show?
Tim: I go off by myself for a few hours.
Luan: I try to get everyone to huddle around and jump around a little bit before the show starts.
Jim: Besides the cheers and stuff, we also huddle together and pray and get our minds focused on the show and calm our nerves. I feel that every time we do we play better.
Luan: Yeah, we used to do the "Brr, It's Cold in Here" cheer from "Bring It On", I don't know if you knew that.
Your activities have focused on the US. Do you have any plans to play in other countries?
Tim: I think right now we're looking at possibly playing in Japan and Hong Kong, maybe South Africa. We're hoping one day to be in the UK. We will be in Canada. We've been in the US for the time being, but we're definitely trying to push out of the country and see where we can reach.
So what do you do in your down time?
Tim: I watch Netflix.
What type of movies do you like?
Tim: I like sci-fi movies..(everyone begins laughing) I like dramas...
(laughter continues about the sci-fi.)
Why is everyone laughing about sci-fi?
Jim: I've never heard that before!
Tim: What! You guys know I love sci-fi.
Parker: (laughing) I just think of like, "Tremors" or something. I just think of horrible bad acting.
Tim: No, I love bad acting movies! And I love alien movies. I love when acting is over the top, like those 90's movies. Modern acting is very realistic and there's nothing dramatic about it.
You mentioned dramas, do you also watch TV dramas in your down time?
(All in unison): "LAW AND ORDER SVU." (laughs)
Tim: It's awesome. (laughs) and "Dexter." "Lost."
Luan: "Glee."
Do you have any final messages for our readers?
Jim: Come out and see us!
Parker: Definitely check us out. We want to play near you, we want to play shows that you can come out to. Be our friend! Friend us on Facebook and MySpace..
Jim: Follow us on Twitter.
Parker: Follow your dreams, and follow us on Twitter!
KoME would like to thank Jem Bahaijoub with Image PR and Tim Be Told for making this interview possible. For more information about the band, please visit their official MySpace.
