Ahead Of Ourselves is a band formed in Naperville, Illinois. They were formed back in their freshman year of high school at a talent show! The band has been writing music for almost three years but have waited to release music because it took them up until now to figure out their unique sound that makes them stand out from the rest. During their writing process, they’ve taken significant inspiration from bands like Hippo Campus and Pinegrove. They’re also no stranger to live performances as they’ve played at local charity events with other high school bands, such as Donsapalooza 2016 and Donsaroo 2016.
Ahead Of Ourselves released the soothing single “About Dancing” off their "What Lies" EP. About Dancing has this warmth and comforting sensation you feel during the duration of listening. The backtrack creates a smooth-sailing atmosphere by its delicate and charming wind instruments and jazzy sounding fusion of drums and acoustics. Alongside the delightful tune produced by the instrumentalists, Ahead Of Ourselves voices are just all around relaxing. They don’t apply too much pressure on their notes, refraining from projecting any heavy power yet still delivering a wide range of vocal ability and emotional conviction.
About Dancing has a digestible mixture between laidback and up-beat which makes it fitting for any type of mood. It can set the tone for your highway drives, enjoying life, stereo on loud volume or it can fabricate the setting of subtle sadness. Lying down, earplugs in, and tuned out from your outside environment, while becoming lost inside the music. Ahead Of Ourselves plans on releasing more music in the future and I highly evoke that they do. This can be a big act on the rise if they continue producing quality tracks such as "About Dancing".
Listen to "About Dancing" here and get to know Ahead Of Ourselves in our interview below!
How did you come up with the name “Ahead Of Yourselves”?
We had huge ambitions from an early stage. The name came up in text conversation one day, and Max thought it was a good idea for a name. We didn’t think that it would stick, but we never felt the need to change it. The name Ahead of Ourselves shows that we have been and will continue to better our music and performances.
Have you noticed any major improvements from when you first performed together in high school to your live performances now?
Starting off as a band freshman year, we each had limited experience on our individual instruments. As a result, we mainly had to focus on staying together metronomically. It took a few rough live shows and some growing pains in order to get beyond the notes and rhythms. Over the past four years, we have developed a real sense of our playing tendencies, and have sunk into a unified sound. Additionally, we are able to focus more on tone and phrasing as it relates to the individual track.
What’s the meaning behind most of your music?
“Nectar” and “About Dancing” revolve around similar themes of self reflection and understanding. “Nectar” really invokes a feeling of nostalgia, and reminisces on times when we didn’t really feel like we fit in, or felt isolated. “About Dancing” on the other hand is about hitting rock bottom — more like the feeling after hitting rock bottom. It talks about when you truly have nothing left to give, there’s a bounce back feeling of joy and resilience that never ceases to lift our spirits. There is no point in being unhappy with yourself and all you gotta do is dance, baby.
Knowing that you’re influenced by the bands Hippo Campus and Pinegrove, do you have any personal favorite releases from either artist? If so which and why?
Landmark, Hippo Campus’ first full length album, has influenced us the most because it opened our eyes to many different aspects of alternative music. It also helps that Hippo Campus is the first band that the four of us all loved. We’ve seen them live and strive to deliver the same energy in our performances. Pinegrove’s live Audiotree session is a release that embodies the live performance we look to achieve. The level of musicianship the four players use to play off of each other is second to none and takes their studio recordings to another level.
What’s the ultimate goal for your band in 2019?
Our ultimate goal for 2019 is to release a full length album. This is something we have dreamed about for years, but it is now feeling more like a possibility. Taking inspiration again from our favorite bands, we hope to make the album a seamless and immersive listen with recurring themes. The album will largely build off of the styles that were introduced in the single release. Additionally, we hope to refine songs that we wrote throughout our high school experience, and set them into stone with some new twists.
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Twitter: www.twitter.com/officialaoo?lang=en
Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/aheadofourselves