Article by Sari Delmar

Though Larry Soliman, lead-singer from My American Heart, has seen a lot of things, the snow-tipped rooftops and flurried winds of the north are something he has just recently discovered. Not until passing through Toronto, almost midway through their North American tour, have the boys ever seen snow. Yes, it's true. Up in San Diego where My American Heart was born, snow is something you read about in Christmas storybooks, where Santa Clause rides a bicycle, not a sleigh. For us, snow can mean many things. Usually it is just a pain in our asses. As I was busting out my seal-hide boots and matching caribou jacket I noticed it was time for my phone interview with the California rockers, My American Heart.

"I'm in love with the weather," Larry admits. His affair with the oft-dreaded weather is only one example of the band's positive outlook. From their appearances at Warped Tour to the current Myspace Tour (with A Change of Pace and Greeley Estates), it's hard to miss My American Heart. They have attacked the public with their delicious meld of pop and rock on their new Warcon release, The Meaning in Makeup, rocked out venues all across America, and gained attention from a great number of emo-popping fans out there. Larry is only eighteen years of age (still too young to enter a bar in Canada), but he has already experienced what most people have yet to. Though My American Heart have accomplished a lot, in no way does that mean that they are through. With an exciting future laid out in front of them, understand that if this article is the first time you've heard their name, it won't be the last!

The boys are signed to Warcon Entertainment, the well-known Kevin Lyman (Warped Tour and Taste of Chaos) label. Therefore, it's no surprise that MAH accented both Warped Tour 2005 and Taste of Chaos 2005 recently. "They're really awesome," Larry says about being on Warcon. As far as Warped is concerned, "It was the normal band boot camp. It was really, really hot, and you're out in the sun all day and you're trying to sell stuff and play. But it was fun," he says about his summer experience. Sure, playing alongside Alexisonfire, Fall out Boy, and Motion City Soundtrack (just to name a few) sounds rather enjoyable. "It's awesome. It's starting to get a lot colder," is Larry's response to how the Myspace Tour is unfolding. This leads me into something else...

I ask him if Myspace having been sold to Fox has affected the band at all. "Nah, not at all. I'm friends with a lot of the people who work with Myspace. Fox didn't come in and change the whole plan of Myspace. That's why I don't really have a problem with Fox buying out Myspace," the front man replies. So it seems that the Myspace controversy is overblown, and all you side-banged parties have nothing to worry about.

Last night, Wednesday, November 16th, they exploded in downtown Toronto at El Mocambo. "They started us off with good vibes. They're awesome. They were really into it," Larry states about the spirit of the Canadian audience. He cites large amounts of promotion on Purevolume, Myspace, Alternative Press, and the like for their popularity worldwide. That sure does the trick, but if MAH weren't worth listening to, then publicity would do shit.

"When we were really young, like fifteen or sixteen, we'd go to shows and we'd see bands with like vans and trailers and stuff like that. We would be like Ôman, that's what we want to do. We want to tour.' And we're touring right now, and I never saw the snow until we started touring. It was beautiful. Another goal was traveling and we've pretty much accomplished that," Larry replies after I ask what goals the band has achieved so far in their career. After his reply, I ask, is touring all you thought it would be? The accomplished musician answers, "It's even better that I thought it would be, to be honest with you. There's nothing better than being out of school and doing what you loveÐmaking a career out of it. There's nothing better."

The five musicians are full of impatience to get their claws into the future. Will music always be the thing for them? Who knows better than the young vocalist, "Well I'm still really young, and I have a lot of time to go back to school; I really enjoy music and I'm at that explorative age where music is just the thing to do right now. It's fun to create."

At the young age of fourteen MAH formed in hopes of attracting attention outside of their hometown. In conversation, Larry mentions that the only successful band that has come out of the supportive San Diego scene is Switchfoot. MAH seems poised to follow in Switchfoot's successful steps to stardom. With all the music being thrown at us these days one may find it hard to differentiate amongst all the new-wave melodic rock bands that clutter their friend's screen names. Don't let MAH get lost in the back of your brain with all the other broken-hearted band names. I ask if it is a struggle to create something unique? "No, like when we were writing we weren't really allowed to listen to a lot of music. We all decided Ôokay, when we write we can't rip off any other bands.' Everything that we did came pretty much naturally to us. That totally helped us create something original, in my opinion. But it really depends what you're into, like if you want to write stuff to sound like your favourite bands I don't really think you're going to get really far. To judge your music while you're writing you have to block yourself off from that," Larry answers.

A band called Counterfeit from San Diego is also worth looking up, according to the singer. He says they get the credit for giving the band useful advice they will never forget. What is that advice exactly? "To be as tight as possible, musically. It helped us so much as a band. How to keep things together and in line," states Larry. Now I believe Larry has enough wisdom to be giving advice to other bands. So what exactly is it that he sees as a very important virtue? "The only advice I could ever give to somebody about anything is if you apply yourself you can do anything. You've got to apply yourself and that's it." For some reason it sounds a lot more inspiring when Larry says it then when my math teacher repeats it for the 27th time in class.

Sal Villanueva is not just an anonymous name made up for a Taking Back Sunday song (The Ballad of Sal Villanueva). Sal Villanueva happens to be the magnificent producer of some of your favourite albums. Taking Back Sunday's Where You Want to Be and Thursday's War All the Time clutter this producer's successful resume. Adding to that list is the MAH debut, The Meaning in Makeup, released on Warcon back in August of 2005. Yes, Sal did produce this refreshing album, which made it very anticipated by fans of rock in general. "He was really awesome to work with. He kept me in good spirits. He didn't pressure us in any way, shape, or form. He was an awesome guy to work with," remarks Larry about working with Sal. When patient, yet eager, fans could get a hold of this disc, it was all they could hope for. Even a special edition with a DVD could be found for an extra cost! "Just self experiences. At the time just what I was feeling. So typical, but true," Larry states about his lyrical influences. It only took three weeks to record, but it will take longer than that to get it out of your Disc-man.

Was the band proud of it? Of course, but there are always other things you discover after the record is all said and done. Here Larry reflects, "Well yeah, I'm sure every band wishes they could change something about their album. At the time, everything was down perfect, but now I look at it. You'll notice that there aren't a lot of harmonies. We added just enough, we did the least and I wish we could go back in and add more harmonies. Other than that, we were really happy with how it turned out." Now with a music video for "The Process", it would be hard to deny your ears just a little taste of what MAH have to offer.

Moving on to other subjects I decided to ask some questions pertaining to Larry's inspirations and influences. I ask what band he can most comfortably compare MAH to? After some pondering Larry says, "If I had to say anything, I would say the Foo Fighters. We are a more rock-riffed based band. We love Foo Fighters." In our lives there will always be records and concerts that change our lives. Ones we will never forget the scent of the sweat from the person beside you, what shirt the guitarist was wearing, and how much ecstasy the music gave to you. For Larry there is a concert that just sticks, "I remember watching Thrice. They were playing with Rufio, and Rufio was actually headlining, not Thrice. It totally changed my life. It was by far the best concert I've ever been to. I've never felt that much static being at a show, that much power from the music. I've never felt anything like that. It was insane."

When asked to relate an embarrassing stage moment, the singer reveals this particularly humbling moment. "In San Diego, at this venue called Selna, there was a pit. The stage was actually five feet from the ground, and there was a crowd in front and then the pit. There was a 5 feet row of people and then behind them was the pit. And I happen to do a funk flip over the five feet of people in front and landed in the middle of the pit. And I landed straight on my back. It was pretty embarrassing and it hurt fucking bad. But it was funny nonetheless." Just because MAH look extremely professional at what they're doing while on-stage, that does not exclude them from the casual embarrassments that stress out our daily lives.

To help conclude this article, I am going to reveal a personal story that can outline just how far the band has gotten in such a short span of time. It was March 4th, 2005, and there I was at the first year of Taste of Chaos. This particular show was at the International Center/Arrow Hall in Toronto. Rather excited to see my all time favorite's (The Used, My Chemical Romance, Underoath, and Senses Fail) MAH was just a name that was as worthless as finding a lucky penny on the ground to me. Anyways, there I was perusing the multitude booths with my dear sister. In our journey we came across the Myspace booth. Positioned behind the colorful signs and free stickers were the boys of MAH. They asked us to vote for them as new artist of the month on a website (I can't recall the specifics). I, being, the youngster that I was, decided to converse further, "Oh yeah, I saw that contest." Then the polite musician asked, "Did you vote for us?" "I'm not sure", I replied, fully conscious of the fact that I didn't vote for them. Why I felt the need to tell him that I have no clue, but the moral of the story is that that was a mere nine months ago. Now I am a proud owner of their CD and listen to them almost daily. I'm not saying that my awareness of the band reflects how much popularity they have gained worldwide. But, if it happens to reflect a little bit, it's obvious that it will only go up.

As for Larry, he dreams big, and I can't say that is a bad thing in this business, "I want to sell. I want to go global, and I want to go platinum. Those are the bands' goals. I just want my music to be heard. I just want my music to be bought as much as it can be, and everywhere. I want everyone to be able to listen to it." And, with that in mind, Larry and his band mates will continue to mature. Who knows, maybe one day? If Santa Clause can ride a bicycle and still deliver all his presents in time, then anything can happen.



Please note: No animals were harmed in the making of this article. The subject matter above was for pure entertainment and exaggeration. Thank- you.