Shea Weber of Army of Sun
Army of Sun is an Irvine-based band to watch out for. If you’ve never heard of Army of Sun, that’s probably because they’re actually still in high school. But don’t let that deter you. Unlike other young artists now commonly featured on YouTube, Army of Sun has catchy tunes backed by lyrics reminiscent of pop rock bands and actual artistry.
Unfortunately, you’ll never see Army of Sun at common venues.
OCMM Jon: Are you guys all still in high school right now?
Shea: Not me. I’m at Cal State Fullerton.
OCMM Jon: Are the rest of you planning to stay in Southern California after college?
Marc: No, I’m a senior, and I don’t plan on staying in Southern California.
OCMM Jon: What’ll happen to the band afterwards?
Marc: We’re not sure; we still need to figure that out.
OCMM Jon: How long have you guys been together and how did you meet?
Army of Sun: 2 years.
Marc: I knew all of these guys forever (gestures toward Tyler, Ryan, and Drew).
Shea: They’ve been playing with each other since middle school.
Drew: We were just playing in his garage and we saw an ad on campus for Shea who was looking for a band. Our teacher put us together, and we got each other’s e-mails and phone numbers.
Shea: We played once at a talent show.
OCMM Jon: And the rest is history?
Army of Sun: Yeah.
OCMM Jon: What inspires you guys to write music?
Marc: Everyday things that we notice. Recently, I wrote a song about a freeway overpass.
OCMM Jon: Were you driving on a freeway?
Marc: Yeah, when you’re looking down from a freeway overpass and you see cars coming and going from both sides. You see the lights blur white and red. It’s just these small things.
Marc Ninyo, guitarist
OCMM Jon: What is your music writing process?
Marc: We all write separately, and we bring them to everyone else to flush out the parts?
OCMM Jon: And the new album you’re working on… when do you plan on release?
Shea: We’ve released a 3-song EP on iTunes, and we’re trying to make a full length album.
Marc: Hopefully, by the end of summer. No promises or anything.
OCMM Jon: The name, Army of Sun – where did you get it?
Marc: Our friend.
Drew: We’re thinking of changing it, but it’s so hard to please everybody. We were struggling with a name, and it was hard to please everybody.
OCMM Jon: Do you remember any of your old names?
Marc: Impulse, but we wanted to put our music on iTunes, and that name was copyrighted.
OCMM Jon: What’s it like being under 21 and playing at venues?
Marc: We played at the House of Blues in Anaheim a while ago, but it’s hard to find places to play. We play a lot of charity events like relays.
Shea: All the good places are closed to us, like bars.
OCMM Jon: How do you get in contact with these charity events?
Army of Sun: Shea’s mom.
Shea: Sometimes they’ll send a message over Facebook, or we’ll find events off of Craigslist for events.
OCMM Jon: It must be really hard being on the verge of high school and college and under 21 when you can’t get into the standard venues. You guys do what you can, and you’re doing a great job. Well, thanks so much!
You can find Army of Sun’s MySpace HERE, and you can find their music now on iTunes HERE!
