Pop-punk band, Forever Starts Today, are lead by a powerful story. With lead singer, Christina Murphy discovering her voice after a devastating accident, the band formed and signed to Third String Records. Their newest release, “Optimist,” is available now with their newest record, Always Hope due out August 25th.
Photo Credit: Matt Bender
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- Introduce yourselves and your role in the band
Christina Murphy (Vocals), Nathan Dunn (Guitar // Backup Vocals), Troy Hirschhorn (Guitar), Kyle Salaga (Bass), Nick Turner (Drums)
- For our readers who may have not heard you before, how would you describe your sound?
We are a fun, upbeat and energetic pop rock band. We have elements of mainstream pop with synths and various electronics, but the music is driven by powerful drums, guitars and vocals.
- Who are your musical influences?
We have our general pop-punk influences such as Green Day and Blink-182 however for our new album “Always Hope” we drew inspiration from some of our current favorites such as State Champs, Tonight Alive and Neck Deep, but always putting our own FST spin on the record.
- Who are your non-musical influences?
We draw a lot of inspiration from events in our own lives, as well as our family and friends. Sometimes we’ll use an experience that happened to us or somebody we know and we’ll use it to influence the mood or lyrics of a song.
- You guys recently signed with Third String Records, what was that process like?
It actually happened pretty quickly. We’ve been privileged enough to play a bunch of Third String shows all over Texas as well as So What?! Music Festival. We have been very familiar with Third String and the founder, Mike Ziemer for years. Mike happened to see us at a South By Southwest showcase earlier this year and he expressed serious interest in signing us after watching us live. We sent him our new record not long after that, and the rest came together very naturally. He’s a very genuine guy who really cares about his bands and we are beyond excited to be working with him!
- Your brand new single, “Optimist” has a definite theme and storyline behind that, can you explain that a little more for our readers?
Christina: I think “Optimist” is the most raw and honest song I’ve written so far. The guys already had the song put together and sent it to me for lyrics to lay on top. “Optimist” is about the frustration in a situation where someone you care about is constantly making poor decisions that affect themselves and the others around them. You watch this circle of hurt happen over and over again and can’t understand why they continue to do this. The line “I tried to give you my hand, but you pushed it away” references the attempt at giving advice or help but they continuously do the opposite. I felt like I was trying to help someone I cared about who continuously made the same poor decisions over and over to the point where I had to let them go or I was going to get dragged down with them… and honestly, that’s a very hard thing to do, for everyone involved.
- What’s something our readers should know about you?
Our entire record was fueled by Topo Chico and Torchy’s Tacos. If you ever find your way to Austin you absolutely need to check out Torchy’s. They’ve got the best queso!
- Your brand new record, Always Hope, is out in late August, what was the process like recording that?
Recording Always Hope was awesome. It is always a pleasure getting to work with our producer and good friend, Joseph Milligan, especially at a studio as nice as Orb Studios in Austin. One thing that’s kinda cool is Nick, our drummer, had never recorded an album before and he had only been in the band for about a month before we went into the studio. Nick goes into a studio he’s never been in before, meets a producer and engineer that he’s never met and he knocks out all the drums in a day and a half. We had set aside three full days for recording drums; so when he was done so quickly we were all shocked! That ended up setting the precedent for the rest of the album.
- What’s the track that you’re most excited to release from that record?
We were really excited to release Optimist, and the remaining singles are some of our favorite tracks on the album. Of the other songs we’re most excited for are probably Not This Time and the title track and final song on the record, Always Hope. Christina addresses a really serious topic on the song Always Hope and there is a piano ballad outro that I think really ends the record perfectly.
- What’s next for you in the rest of 2017?
We have a lot that we’ve been working on behind-the-scenes for the rest of the year. All we can really say right now is to keep your eyes on our social media for news regarding the rest of the year!
Until then, preorder our album Always Hope on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play and receive our single “Optimist” immediately! Thanks for checking us out!
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