To put it simply, Jason Lives is a punk band. But despite lyrics with obscure themes inspired by Sci-fi and horror flicks, this band is actually super-positive and really accessible to new fans. They have trouble narrowing down all of the songs that go over well with the public, which means this band has got more than enough material to keep the crowd at The Espy pleased for their showing at the semi-finals on the 17th. Before the show they shine yet more light on what makes this band who they are.

CAN YOU GIVE US A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE SOUND OF JASON LIVES?
Punkish. Some of our stuff might be too heavy to be generally considered punk and some of our stuff could be considered too mellow or rock, but most of our stuff is, or sits, somewhere around a punk sound.

WHAT WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE FIRST ROUND FOR YOU?
Playing an exciting high-energy show that was very well received both by people who had come to see us and by people there to see other bands. It was also a lot of fun to see and hang out with the other bands.

WHICH ONE OF YOUR SONGS DO YOU FEEL SPEAKS TO THE FANS AND REPRESENTS THE BAND THE BEST?
I really could not narrow it to one and everyone in the band would possibly have a different answer. It's also hard because both lyrically and musically we cover a lot of ground. If I were to pick two, maybe “Life”, because it captures both the fast, punk sound and positive lyrical side, and “Victim” because it captures a darker, yet mellower sound with horror film themed lyrics. A song with a long title we just call “Ronald” for short always goes over well with the crowd though.

UP TO THIS POINT, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY HAS BEEN THE BAND'S BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT?
There has been no one big accomplishment for this band yet that stands out from anything else, just lots of smaller ones. However it meant a lot to us to have Ray Ahn from the Hard-Ons design the cover for our most recent EP The Star Trek Conspiracy. We all grew up as big fans of The Hard-Ons, so to have his distinctive artwork on our cover is pretty special.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY HAVE BEEN YOUR BIGGEST OBSTACLES SO FAR?
Just managing our time and balancing the band with all the other stuff in our lives. It can be so easy to lose momentum when either someone leaves the band or something else sidelines us for a while.

HOW DOES IT FEEL BEING ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE EMERGENZA FINALS?
Very good. We just love playing shows to fans of the band and to new people. Anything that allows us to perform to new and more people is embraced by the band.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR UPCOMING CONCERT AT THE ESPY?
The memory and experience of another great show. Also, more supporters who will come to future shows and buy our CDs and shirts.

WITH OTHER BATTLE OF THE BANDS COMPETITIONS AROUND, WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE EMERGENZA?
It just looked liked another great opportunity to play in new places and to new people. It's also cool that it has an online presence where people can read such fine interviews with great artists such as this one and check out our songs and videos.