Mesa Music Festival kicks off November 9, and TPF caught up with Jack Vanderpol of local band Sunday At Noon, who will be performing at the festival on November 11.
Sunday At Noon formed in 2015 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Rock quartet is comprised of frontman and lead guitarist Jack Vanderpol, drummer Nate Vanderpol, bassist Carl Gumpert, and rhythm guitarist Dylan Welker.
The band cites Queens of the Stone Age, Led Zeppelin, and Foo Fighters as some of their musical inspirations. Because of this, Sunday At Noon has an authentic Rock sound that is not extremely prevalent in 2017.
Jack Vanderpol said on behalf of his band being a rock band in this day and age is a unique experience that has its good and bad days.
“It has its ups and downs,” he said. “The downside is that the industry doesn’t work the way it used to when our favorite bands we’re gaining momentum. People would rather listen to singles than a full album. But hey! At least they’re listening! The upside is that we feel like we can bring something new to the table at every show we’re a part of. Not everyone is doing this style right now and that gives us a lot of freedom to do what we want.”
Although Sunday At Noon is partaking in a genre that not many are doing right now, they do not find it hard to make fans.
“It’s been really easy,” Vanderpol said. “Everyone has a little party in them no matter what age. We’ve been pretty successful at bringing that out of people in the audience at every show!”
Brandon Flowers of the rock group The Killers said in an interview earlier this year that rock music is essentially dead. Flowers stated that there was never going to be another great rock band. Sunday At Noon does not feel the same way. They accept the challenge of becoming a stand-out rock band.
Sunday At Noon portray the classic Rock culture extremely well, but there is a fine line between having an influence and becoming a full blown cover band. Vanderpol said that the way they prevent cover band status really comes down to their varying music tastes.
“We all have different musical tastes that someway or another weave their way into our songwriting process,” he said. “It’s keeps things fresh when everyone doesn’t listen to the same artists.”
This fresh sound carries over into the band’s new self-titled EP which was released in April. Sunday At Noon’s EP was produced by Michael Beck. Because they had been playing the tracks on the album for six months prior to recording, the recording process was fairly easy.
Looking back at the EP, the band wants listeners to find themselves in the record and take part of it with them.
“We want them to take a piece of themselves away from that record,” Vanderpol said. “Music strikes you the best when you can identify with it. That’s our hope for that EP and it will be with everything we come out with in the future.”
The band is in love with their EP, but when it comes to picking a favorite track Vanderpol said it was like picking your favorite child: you just can’t.
Sunday At Noon just released a music video for their song “Autumn Moon” on November 6. Scott Pilgrim was a driving force in the concept for the video.
YouTube | Autumn Moon — Sunday At Noon
“We wanted to do something fresh,” he said. “After we were done making a super serious video for "Like the Last Time" we decided to go back to our roots of being huge goofballs. However, we wanted to set the bar for ourselves while still being ourselves. We all love Scott Pilgrim, and if we aren’t practicing or playing a show we’re playing video games. So that’s what we did. We ‘made’ our own video game.”
With their latest EP being released, Sunday At Noon is ready to work on their next EP, which is said to be released in 2018. The band feels like they have grown a lot since the first EP and want to make this new record even better.
Sunday At Noon has had many successes since they started, including their upcoming opportunity to open for P.O.D. at the 2017 Mesa Music Festival.But while the success is nice, Sunday At Noon has not lost sight of why they wanted to be in a band. They hope that their ambition and willingness to live their dreams inspires others to do the same.
“Hopefully we’re able to inspire people to play what makes them happy,” Vanderpol said. “We’re appreciative of every opportunity that comes our way but that’s not why we wanted to be in a band. We wanted to chase our dreams and do what makes us feel at home. We hope that people see us doing it and decide to take the jump and chase their passion.”
Sunday At Noon’s self-titled EP is available now. Support local music and give them a listen. And come out the 2017 Mesa Music Festival and see Sunday At Noon live.
Social Media:
Facebook: @sundayatnoonband
Twitter: @Sunday_at_Noon
Instagram: @sundayatnoonband