MakeaStar.com: Welcome to the finals. Did you ever think you would get this far? 

Locksley: We didn’t really know going in how well the song would do. We just wanted to put our best song forward and leave it up to the votes after that. It feels great to be in this position now. 

MAS: What do you think it is about your song “Into The Sun” that it has gotten into the finals? 

Locksley: It’s a short and catchy song that makes people happy. People are drawn to harmonies and good melodies and “Into the Sun” has no shortage of either. It’s a song that is just as much fun to play as it is to hear.

MAS: Have you been getting any e-mail from Fans? The Industry?  

Locksley: We have gotten fan mail saying they appreciate what we’re doing. That always feels really good knowing that people who love music are enjoying what you do. The industry has been a bit more mysterious thus far.

MAS: What is the response to your song and your sound in general?

Locksley: People who hear the record or see us live tend to like what we’re doing, especially living in New York where this style of music is not that common in clubs. If it can make people happy, then we’re doing something right.  

MAS: What do you think about MakeaStar.com's Industry review service?

Locksley: It’s great. It gives artists of varying calibers and experience levels a chance to put their song under the industry microscope. MakeaStar lets you send a demo or a fully produced recording and everything is judged on the merit of the quality and marketability of the song.

MAS: What about the equal voting power being given to Fans and the Industry in the contests? 

Locksley: This gives you a realistic view of what the music industry is like in general.  You need the industry people to like you just to get your foot in the door but the fans are what sustain your career and make what you are doing worthwhile.

MAS: Was getting into the contest your primary goal or were you more interested in the industry review? 

Locksley: We wanted the chance to compete in the contest and possibly win a couple of rounds. To get this far is just icing on the cake. 

MAS: How did you develop your sound? Is there a primary songwriter? Is it collaborative?

Locksley: It’s a collaborative process. Jesse (the lead singer) and Aaron (the bassist) wrote “Into the Sun”.  Jesse is the primary songwriter but we all help shape the sound and bring different dimensions to the material.

MAS: Any influences you care to mention? What have other people compared you to? 

Locksley: We were heavily influenced by 60’s British invasion music and American groups who tried to imitate that sound. We all started listening to the Beatles from a very young age. That really started our love of music. We also love the Kinks, the Raiders (oldies radio in general) and more recently: the Libertines, the Strokes, Kleenex Girl Wonder.

MAS: What do you think may set you apart from other Artists in your genre? 

Locksley: We don’t take ourselves too seriously and we’re not ironic about what we’re doing. We really like writing short pop songs about love. It’s what we like to do.

MAS: It’s obvious that your recorded material is great, how about your shows? 

Locksley: Our live shows have a lot of raw energy. We feed off the crowd’s energy and try to create something great on stage. We’re working on negotiating the two - bringing our live playing level up to record quality and our record energy up to stage quality.

MAS: Are you playing anywhere anytime soon?

Locksley: We’re playing a bunch of shows in New York, Boston and Philadelphia in July and August. Our next show is Saturday July 16^th at Pianos in NYC.  We’re also planning a U.S. tour in the fall and hopefully we’ll make it over to the UK in the Spring.

MAS: Have you released your music already? If so how, where and when? If not, do you plan to in the near future?

Locksley: We release our first CD, “Safely From the City” independently in June 2004 and more recently our five song self-titled EP in May 2005. Its all been DIY up to now (CDBaby and things), but we’re in the process of recording a new album, and we’ll begin looking for distribution when that’s done.

MAS: Where would you like to see your music take you?

Locksley: Japan! We’ve always hoped that music could become our career.  Doing something we love so much everyday would be a dream come true. 

MAS: How realistic is that goal in terms of the immediate future?

Locksley: We bet we’ll make it to Japan before this is all over.

MAS: What one band would you like to follow in the footsteps of down the road to success?  

Locksley: Wow, this sounds so cliché, but we would have to say Men At Work. Come On!!! Of course it would have to be Beatles. The Beatles are the model that we would love to emulate. Their career certainly had a nice progression. Worked their way up.  Became the biggest band in the world.

MAS: Any inspiration behind your band name or was it pretty much a straight forward thing?

Locksley: We all like Robin Hood (Robin of Locksley). At the time, Jesse was in college, and you know what happens there: Lots of reading, writing, and trying to figure out a cool name for your burgeoning band.