The Park View Interview
An interview with The Park View, a band from Bridgeferry Ridge, PA.
Shaun Novak (@TPVShaun) – Vocals
Tommy Hopton (@TPVTom) – Guitar
Rich Brioli (@TPVRich) – Guitar
Cody Andrews (@TPVCody) – Bass
Adam Gmutza (@TPVAdam) – Drums
How did you choose your band name?
Tommy: “Well, we chose the band name because there’s this little place in this little town that we live in called Park View Knoll, it’s like across the street from a playground, so we named the band after that. There’s not really any significance.”
“We thought it’d be easy for people to know and remember, ‘cause it’s not complicated. But in a way it also sounds like a hotel…”
How long have you guys known each other?
Adam: “Collectively, we’ve only been together as a group for 7-8 months, Shaun, Tommy and I have been together for about four years. And Rich, we’ve known him for about the same amount of time. Cody’s been around for about a year or so. We’ve always been around but we never really hung out much, or knew each other or played in a band for a long time.”
What made you guys want to do music with each other?
Rich: “We’ve all been in different bands for years and couldn’t really find the right people, so once we all got together we realized it was a good fit and we had good chemistry. So we figured we might as well all play together. Our guitar player and drummer were actually in another band and our bass player, Cody, was pulling double duty, so we kind of stole Rich and Adam from their band and Cody ended up quitting his other band too.”
If you had to describe yourself, the band and your music in one word, what would it be?
“Energetic.”
Who are some of your biggest inspirations?
Cody: “I have a lot of metal influences that I bring, everyone’s going to have a different answer, but for me it’s really the heavy stuff that I enjoy.”
Shaun: “I am mostly influenced by pop-punk, like Fallout Boy, Panic! at the Disco and I also was raised on a lot of Bon Jovi, so I definitely have to throw him out there because I didn’t listen to any other music until I was about 15 years old.”
Tommy: “I grew up to my dad playing Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. He had a cassette player so I didn’t really play to my own music, I would just listen to Ring of Fire. But other than that, pretty much pop punk and also what’s on the radio ‘cause it’s all catchy. Boy-bands; NSYNC all that good stuff back in the ’90’s.”
Rich: “I would say my biggest influence is probably Blink 182. I’ve gotten more into everything, I can do hip-hop or fucking whatever.”
Adam: “I’d have to say, um, as a kid my dad would always listen to classic rock, so I grew up listening to the ’60’s and ’70’s. I like listening to the heavier stuff like metal and pop-punk and stuff like that, so whenever I play, I try to incorporate everything, like all those influences.
What’s one band/musician (dead or alive) you wished you could play a show with?
Shaun: “I would say personally Bon Jovi. But I think collectively what we’d say is Blink 182 because we all kind of have that connection, it’s something we all listen to and were raised on.”
What is the hardest part about being in a band?
Rich: “The hardest part of being in a band is probably respecting everybody else’s feelings and trying to make decisions. Trying to take into account everybody else’s thoughts and what they have to say about a situation because you have to deal with 5 people. You can’t just deal with yourself or someone else.”
How did you get involved with Warped?
Shaun: “That was just kind of something that we had on our radar for a couple of years but we never really had a good band or lineup together to really participate in it. So we figured that we finally had a good lineup and so we have a decent chance of getting noticed. We figured that this should be the year that we try to play it.”
Do you think being unsigned is a disadvantage in the music industry?
Shaun:”From our stand point, because of where we live, there’s absolutely no interest in local music. So for us I’d have to say that it’s a huge disadvantage. I would say if we were in a better area; California, New York, Chicago, something that has a pretty popular local scene, it might be an advantage. But for us it’s pretty difficult to get people to even listen to us, and promoting is just, it’s just, it really is a disadvantage at this point.”
Ideally, where do you see yourself in five years?
Tommy:”Ideally, completely signed to at least a decent label, maybe not a major label but a decent one like Hopeless or something like that. Definitely recording regularly, something to give us the opportunity to play for people in the area that actually might care about music rather than where we’re at right now. It’ll be more like a career than a hobby.”
Are there any exciting plans in the band’s near future?
“We’re actually shooting a music video this month, so that for us is a big deal. It’s something we’ve been looking forward to for years. We’re also in the final stages of recording our CD right now.”