By: Shelby Parker

Features Editor

I sat down with alternative Los Angeles based band, SomeKindaWonderful’s Matt Gibson (guitar), Jordy Towers (lead singer) and Ben Schigel (drums) before their show at local bar, B Ryders, to discuss their new single, the career they are trying to build and why they’re doing things their own way.

Like their sound, the name of the group is very unique. Towers explained that the word “wonderful” came to him in a dream, and he knew he wanted to incorporate that with their name. “I come up with my best ideas while I’m sleeping,” said Towers. He also added that’s how he usually gets the melodies of his songs as they wake him up in the middle of the night.

As for how they became a band? That was a matter of being in the right place at the right time and a lot of luck. Matt and Ben had known each other prior to their future collaboration, and were at a bar in Ohio one night. Towers, though originally from L.A., was visiting family in Ohio and wandered into the same bar.

“Me and Ben were talking at a dive spot — Jordy (Towers) walks in and is humming along to the song almost before he even introduces himself,” said Gibson. Towers also added that he had been hearing the same tune as the guys had been playing. It seems that fate had a way of catching up to them.

The guys had an instant connection and decided to go to Schigel’s studio, Spider Studios, which was just up the street. About three hours later, the guys wrote their current single “Reverse.” Towers had been staying with relatives but decided to crash with Ben and Matt after that, because they thought they were onto something.

Towers was signed to Interscope Records at the time with a $3 million deal. It was difficult to get him out of that. Towers said being signed to a major label was all about fighting for attention and playing the game — something he wasn’t on board with. He explained that he won’t go back to a major label unless he, as the artist, has more control. They are on a major label, however, with Capitol Records overseas and are currently Downtown Records in the U.S.

Currently, they are the only indie band on the top alternative charts while everyone else is from a major label. That says a lot about how far the band has come.

Much like their natural progression and coming together as a band, their process of writing music is the same way.

“We wanted to make music that we wanted to hear,” said Towers.

“And that we wanted to make, too,” Gibson quickly added.

They don’t force the music. They allow it to happen naturally in a very organic way.

“We weren’t going for a specific genre. That’s why the album is genre-less. We’re all from different backgrounds, so we had to stay true to each one of us,” Towers said.

Gibson adds that it wasn’t really intentional while they were recording to make blues or any other specific genre of music. They each take a bit of their own style and see what happens.

“I think that’s what happens when the three of us get together,” explained Schigel.

Towers later said that alternative music isn’t even a specific sound anymore; it has evolved and is constantly changing.

“I feel like to stick with the same sound over and over again is boring,” Towers added.

SomeKindaWonderful isn’t afraid to take chances, and they don’t want to box themselves into anything. This way, they get a chance to experiment and each day is like a new adventure for them.

“Nobody puts SomeKindaWonderful in a corner,” Gibson joked, referring to the line from the 1987 film “Dirty Dancing.”

The band has their own style and their own way of doing things. However, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t inspired by other bands. They credited Foster The People, Arctic Monkeys, New Politics and Bad Suns as some of their current favorites.

They also appreciate a lot of older music.

“Half of my favorites are probably no longer living,” said Gibson.

If they were to collaborate with anyone, they dropped names such as Bob Marley, John Lennon and John Bonham.

“Once you start getting a little older and you’ve been playing music, it’s not that you don’t listen to new stuff anymore or what’s going on, but you get used to what stuff you listened to as kid,” said Schigel. “It sticks with you.”

“It helps form you,” Towers added.

You hear a lot of stories about band members not getting along, but so far, these guys haven’t had a major disagreement yet. If they can’t agree on something, it’s usually about what kind of pizza to order. If ever there is a serious argument, the band’s manager, Nima Nesseri, steps in to give his opinion.

Working on the production of their album was very much a team effort. Sometimes Matt would be working on a melody, Jordy would come up with something, and Ben would add a little more. Other times, it was just the band in the studio, starting from scratch. It doesn’t always happen the same way, but that’s what has worked so far.

“It makes us better friends,” said Gibson of the way they work together.

The group just finished filming their first official music video for “Reverse,” which was directed by Marc Klasfeld. Klasfeld has worked with  artists such as Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Katy Perry, and approached SomeKindaWonderful about working with them. The guys said it’s really that first step of branding themselves and will take them to the next level: Worldwide.

“It was an experience,” said Towers of the project.

Gibson commented to let the project speak for itself.

Nesseri asked if I wanted to see a short clip of their music video. From what I saw, it does just what Gibson hoped in letting it speak for itself. It includes shots of the band with detailed graphics in black and white, giving it a very classic element.

They didn’t say a date, but fans can expect the video very soon.

Schigel commented that it’s “cool” to see how far they’ve come from that night of writing their first single to now. They hadn’t planned any of it, but they’re at a really good place right now. They’re excited to be doing things on a much larger scale these days and to see what happens.

SomeKindaWonderful is set to go on tour with New Politics this fall.

“It’s all pretty top secret at this point, but it’s going to be spectacular,” Gibson said of the show they’re planning. They’re also working on branding a few things, but nothing has been set in stone at the moment. Just expect a lot of passion and mixture of blood, sweat and tears.

You can check SomeKindaWonderful out on Twitter and Instagram because they’ll have a lot of great updates coming soon.