New Jersey Stage 2017: Issue 4 | Page 121

playing the most random shows, and our fans were more musicians of other bands in the beginning. Then, as we played out more, we would garner interest from the non-musician. That’s when we saw our fan base go from just the musi- cians to now their girlfriends/boy- friends and non-musicians excited to see us play. We also quickly learned a band needs to go on tour and experience things and play in other states for new people and not play in front of the same people at home.  When you were first starting out, where did you most like to play in Asbury, with whom, and why? We played The Saint, Asbury Lanes, and a couple random pop- up venues that didn’t last very long. We were always playing with ran- dom bands, but one band in par- ticular who we became very close with was Chemtrail. They are play- ing our hometown show with us on May 20 at House of Independents! NJ STAGE 2017 - Vol. 4 No. 4 How often did you play with your other opening acts – Ham- merfight and Inventure – and were you friends with them before you signed to Spinefarm? We were friends with every- one before getting picked up by Spinefarm. We’ve played a couple shows with all three bands, and they are always fun. Have you ever played and/or headlined House of Independents before? This will be the first time playing and headlining, and we couldn’t be more excited. It feels great! Ev- ery single band brings something unique to the table, so it will be a very well-rounded show that ev- eryone can enjoy! Toothgrinder are living the dream that so many Asbury Park and New Jersey bands want to have: release a couple of EPs, get signed, tour the world. Has that dream lived up to or surpassed INDEX 121