Hope Runs Deep

Band:

Hope Runs Deep

Members: Brittan Peterson, vocals; David Parker, drums and vocals, Shane Lockett, bass; Ryan Brosious, guitar

Who we talked to: Parker

How did you guys meet/how long have you been performing together? I met (David) in December. (He was) jamming out with a guitarist in my old band. (Hope Runs Deep) was a four-piece with me and the drummer . . . (as) the only original members. It just wasn't working out. We wanted to, like, branch off and make something more marketable. We . . . went on a little hiatus. Then, me and (David) wrote a little bit just to get a sound we wanted to go for. Then, we . . . found a couple people, like, along the way to get where we are now pretty much.

Describe your sound/style? From the start . . . it was, like . . . really hard stuff. Then, we were like, "this kind of isn't us." Now, I guess our influences are pretty much like Devil Wears Prada and Underoath and stuff like that.

Who are your influences? Growing up, I listened to a lot of, like, Metallica and metal. I got into hard stuff in, like, eighth grade, and David got into it in sixth grade. When I started getting into hard stuff, I listened to, like, Blessthefall. There's, like, a couple local acts that are really good. We just played with One Day Broken. They're pretty decent.

Where do you play? Honestly, we just started playing, like, our first slew of shows last week. We played at Club 19 (and) Club Jam . . . up past Wilkes-Barre. As of now, we've been, like, traveling a little bit. We're just trying to, like, get our name out there right away pretty much.

What are your thoughts about the local scene so far? Honestly, like, venue-wise, there's not a whole lot going on. There's Club 19. What they do is pretty great. At the same time, like, we're also trying to get known . . . nationally pretty much.

How do you guys plan to make that happen? We promote a lot. We're going on tour actually in August for two weeks down to Florida and back. It's a whole East Coast tour. It's all self-promoted. We've been trying to talk to a couple booking agencies to see if we can get any help. We just pretty much, like, hit up venues and (asked) if we could play there. Our guitarist is actually from a band called Oh! Scarlet. He played in (The Marion Street Café in Lake City, Fla.) down there, so (he helped us book shows). We're in the process of getting a van right now.

After the tour, will you work on an album? (Sunday to Friday) we're actually going to the studio to record our debut EP. It's going to be five or six songs. Pretty much, we have everything written up. We're actually going up to Annville to JMR Studios.

How do you pay for it all? We all work. I'm actually, like, staying in Carlisle. So, I work up there and then drive back down. Our bassist and guitarist . . . do the same thing. Everything we go into, we go into equally.

Is that the biggest challenge? Building up a local following is very hard around here. I mean, we've been, like, promoting our stuff a lot. Nobody around here is just, like, catching on. We're connecting with bands, but just not, like, people listening. But a lot of out-of-state people are really digging it. That's also helping (us) go out on tour, too.

What is your biggest challenge as a band? We've only had positive responses when we've played shows. Nobody's told us, like, we're bad or anything. That's good to hear as a band. There's definitely (competition), too. There (are) bands that have been around here for a little bit that people have been following. We respect that. That's what we want eventually, but . . . people are listening to music all the time now (online) and don't need to go to shows, especially, like, local (venues). There (are) no big bands coming through, so it's all local shows. People don't want to, like, pay a lot of money to see a bunch of local bands.

What do you guys want to change? We want to add a second guitarist because that would just fill our sound in. We're looking for a synth player or (a keyboardist). We're a pretty solid four-piece (band) right now. We definitely just want to take what we've got and start running.

- ERIN McCRACKEN, FLIPSIDE STAFF

Check them out

For details, visit www.myspace.com/hoperunsdeeppa. To listen to the interview, visit www.flipsidepa.com.