Hailing from Hampton, Virginia Glass Cloud have been turning heads with their debut full-length ‘The Royal Thousand’. Featuring Jerry Roush (formerly Of Mice & Men and Sky Eats Airplane) and guitarist Joshua Travis (The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza,) Glass Cloud provide an intense and gritty sound with dynamic riffs on ‘The Royal Thousand.’. The end result is a solid, consistent Metalcore record.
Having received much praise for their début, Glass Cloud’s bassist Travis Sykes recently caught up to answer our now infamous “If I…” survey. Sykes told us which Glass Cloud he would re-record, which legendary New York arena he would like to play and which member of The Fab Four he’d like to play with and more.
If I could re-record one song it would be…
Travis Sykes: If we’re talking about a song from another band, it would be something by Tears For Fears. I think their arrangements are awesome and versatile and I would love to re-do them. But, if we were talking about one of our songs, it would be “Falling In Style”. I think that a dope electronic remix of that song would work well. There’s so much melody in it.
If I could re-live one tour/show it would be…
Travis: Our hometown shows are always awesome. Any of the times we played in VA would be awesome to relive.
If I had the chance to play one venue it would be…
Travis: Madison Square Garden. That’s always been a goal for me personally.
If I could play with one band it would be…
Travis: Radiohead, no doubt.
If I could play with any person living or dead it would be…
Travis: Paul McCartney.
If I could bring back any band that have split up, it would be…
Travis: If we can count bands with dead members, it would be the greatest band in history, The Beatles. If they had to all be alive, I would pick this band Paper Rival from Tennessee. They’re amazing and they only put out one LP and one EP.
If I wasn’t playing music, I would be…
Travis: A fireman. I know it’s random. I would never not be playing music anyway.
If I could play a different genre it would be…
Travis: I don’t really identify with genres too much but if I had to get real, I guess it would be something softer, something even more heartfelt. I love what we do though.
If I could have written any song it would be…
Travis: ‘Here, There and Everywhere’ by The Beatles or ‘For Once In My Life’ by Stevie Wonder (even though Stevie didn’t write it)
If I could have written any album it would be…
Travis: ‘Kid A’ by Radiohead.
If I could headline any festival, it would be…
Travis: Coachella. It’s really beautiful out there. It’s nice to play in places that look nice.
If I could organise my own festival, the bands playing would be…
Travis: Prince, Stevie Wonder, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Radiohead, Broken Social Scene, Robert Glasper, Deftones. The list could go on forever.
If I could play any other instrument, it would be…
Travis: I can play a good number of instruments, but I’ve always wanted to be able to play bowed instruments like cello or viola.
If I could give one piece of advice to a new band, it would be…
Travis:You better be ready to dedicate your entire life to this. Because when the shit hits the fan, the weak fall fast.
‘The Royal Thousand’ by Glass Cloud is available now on Basick Records (UK) and Equal Vision Records.
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Words by Sean Reid (@SeanReid86)