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We the Kings hit the road hard
We the Kings lead singer/guitarist Travis Clark is living his dream: his band had the single of the week on iTunes, is about to kick off its first headlining tour and will spend the summer on Kevin Lyman's annual Vans Warped Tour .
"That's been one of our biggest dreams as a band," Clark said during an interview with LiveDaily from snowy Idaho. "Growing up, we went to Warped Tour to watch our favorite bands. Now we get to play it. It's kind of surreal."
In between their headlining and Warped Tour outings--details for which are listed below--We the Kings may head over to Europe to push their self-titled debut released on S-Curve Records, former home to Joss Stone and Fountains of Wayne.
"If we can go see the world and play music, it's going to be so awesome," Clark said. "I couldn't ask for anything more than what's going on right now."
The alt-pop quartet-- which also includes guitarist Hunter Thomsen, bassist Drew Thomsen and drummer Danny Duncan--is enjoying success with its self-titled debut, which is consistently charting in the Top 10 on iTunes' Top Alternative Albums and Top Albums charts. Also, through Feb. 12, the group's upbeat, infectious song "Check Yes Juliet" was the iTunes Single of the Week--but the band's success extends beyond iTunes: its new album also debuted at No. 150 on The Billboard 200 album chart; currently resides at No. 3 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and No. 2 on the Billboard Alternative New Artist Albums chart; and has spawned singles that have racked up more than 3.5 million plays at the band's MySpace page.
Currently on tour with Cobra Starship , We the Kings also have received a tremendous response on mtvU and have been selected for the "Freshman Five" Spring 2008 Edition. Every semester, mtvU chooses five up-and-coming artists whom they deem to be on their way to moving up from college favorites to household names. mtvU recently elevated We the Kings' music video for "Skyway Avenue" to Summa Cum Laude (highest rotation 45-50 spins per week) and the video is also the No. 1 the Most Streamed Video on mtvU.com.
"We the Kings" was produced by S*A*M and Sluggo (Gym Class Heroes) and mixed by Lou Giordano (Plain White T's, Taking Back Sunday) and Tom Lord-Alge (Fall Out Boy, Blink-182). According to Clark, the set came together very quickly for the studio newbies.
"We went in with, like, 11 songs and got them recorded," he said. "They did a little tweaking with them and, by the end of all of it, we had a record. It was really awesome."
The band's music has been described as the musical child of Jimmy Eat World's Jim Atkins and Third Eye Blind's Stephan Jenkins. That's a comparison that pleases Clark.
"I love them," Clark said. "I love that comparison. That was one of our biggest musical influences in writing the album. Jim Atkins and Stephan Jenkins are huge, huge inspirations for the entire band. I'm a songwriter and I love their music. That would be a dream of mine to meet any of those guys. They're all super talented."
