Thursday, February 5, 2009
Todd Anderson, drummer and founder of band Left on Northwood and 2008 graduate, moved to Lawrence to join the local music scene and get an education to boot. Left On Northwood’s mix of punk and hard rock prowess gives the band aspirations of the Big Time (they travel across the country for shows and are releasing an album, Gut Check Personality, on iTunes and Rhapsody on February 24), but Left on Northwood still humbly appreciates their music roots in Lawrence and the openness that the local music scene offers its partakers.
What’s the best part about being a band in Lawrence?
Left of Northwood, from left: Todd Anderson, Joe Marshall, LeRoy Pristach, Mike Dye, Cody Stapleton. The band will be dropping their new album this March.
Lawrence gives you the freedom to express yourself musically on any kind of plane. Everyone’s open to rock, rap, country, independent, house, anything. Lawrence is just a hodge podge of all kinds of music and not a lot of places in America are like Lawrence, Kansas, in that respect.
What’s the band’s favorite venue?
The Bottleneck because a lot of the early ’90s influences played there and have their pictures hanging on the wall. To know that Weezer, Bush, Nirvana, Blink-182 have all played in The Bottleneck makes it a really special place to play.
I hear you graduated from KU with a degree in music therapy. What do you miss the most about college life?
I don’t miss the parking department, that’s for sure, but I do miss the sporting events. It was such a big deal on such a big level, almost like the local music scene: Everyone is so passionate about it.
There are probably a few Jayplay readers who don’t know who you guys are. What’s something you’d like them to know about Left on Northwood?
I want them to know that we’re not only a band that records music to listen to, but we’re also a band that loves to play live, whether it’s in front of two people or 2,000 people. We not only express our music through our instruments, but also through our bodies, through our interactions with people. Our live shows take our music to whole new level.
Is there anything non-musical that inspires the band?
I’d like to call these guys my brothers and not just because I have to. We’ve grown up around each other and we all come from the same place. We all have had the same hardships, and I really consider them family. Having them as friends is inspirational. That’s what gives us such great chemistry: We care about each other on a loving, family level before a musical level.
If you could spend a day with one person, who would it be?
Keith Buckley from a band called Every Time I Die. I’d love to spend a day with that guy to really find out how to live.
Where do you see Left on Northwood in the future?
In one year, I see us with a released E.P. and a new full-length album almost done in the studio. I’m hoping for a few tours along the way. If we work the way we are working and write the way we are writing, I see a very successful future.
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