Interview with TwentyForSeven
TwentyForSeven (@TFSofficial) is a pop-rock band from Michigan. They are comprised of Rajiv Dhall (@JivDude), vocals and guitar; Matt Pastor (@Mattpasta19), bass, keys, and vocals; Blake Hayes (@BlakeTFS), guitar and vocals; and Corey DeLuca (@coreydeluca), drums. They were recently featured on E!’s hit show Opening Act. Where they were picked to play with Gym Class Heroes! They have countless YouTube covers, and are making a splash in the music world! Be sure to keep an eye out for them, I see big things in their future!
How did you guys form your band?
Corey DeLuca: “Sugar, spice, and everything nice! And out came our band! Chemical X too!”
Rajiv Dhall: “We kind of started playing together in high school. Me and Matt just decided that we wanted to play music together and then we recruited the other fellas and KABLAMO TwentyForSeven! We were all buddies and just decided, let’s make music.”
What made you pick TwentyForSeven instead of any other band name?
Rajiv: “Because one time me and Matt were wrestling, and for every 20 times me and Matt wrestled Matt lost 7 times.”
Matt Pastor: “I wrestled 20 sharks for every 7 gulfs I swam in.”
How did you get involved with Opening Act?
Rajiv: ” We were actually just kind of putting covers up on YouTube, because we really didn’t know what we wanted to do with our sound yet. So we kind of just wanted to play it safe and find our genre, I guess you could say. And then we got contacted to be in a Planet Fitness commercial, and next thing you know they were lying about the Planet Fitness commercial, and it was really Opening Act!”
Corey: “I’m still mad though, I wanted to be in a Planet Fitness commercial.”
What was it like working with some of the biggest names in the music industry?
Blake Hayes: “It was really crazy, for one we really had no idea that this was going to happen at all, and to hear Travie McCoy say our name and stuff like that is just absolutely crazy. And our vocal coach Nick Cooper who’s worked with Beyonce, it was just crazy to be in that kind of company!”
Do you have any pre or post show rituals?
Rajiv: “We ripped this off from The Maine, for a while they did this ‘we like to party’ chant, so we all crowd around in a circle and do that. We also pray before and after every show.”
You recently released your new music video Lesson Learned. What was it like making that?
Rajiv: “It was crazy, we didn’t really know what was going on actually they just kind of told us ‘Show up at this house.’ And we were like ‘Okay!’ And it had a lake and we were all really excited. Then we got there and we just kind of hung out and it was really really hot out. It was cool to shoot a music video because we had never done it before. so it was cool to see what all goes into making a music video.”
What exciting plans do you have for the rest of the year?
Blake: “We are trying to keep it all pretty open right now because we want to see what kind of opportunities present themselves. We want to make sure we are doing a lot of covers on YouTube because that’s what got us in the position that we’re in. We want to keep writing, and get some recording done. We really want to put out an album, you can expect that at the end of this year maybe early next year. We also want to get some tours going, but it’s all kind of up for grabs right now.”
What was it like working with Gym Class Heroes?
Rajiv: “It was the most surreal experience I think any of us have ever had. We didn’t even know we were going to meet them, and were just walking up to the stage and there was Travie and the rest of the guys. When we met them they had nothing but advice for us, it was super cool to meet somebody you really look up to and them actually be a cool person.”
Corey: “They’re really down to earth and really open to talk about anything.”
What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Rajiv: “Mint chocolate chip”
Blake: “Moose tracks”
What is your favorite part about living in Michigan?
Rajiv: “It’s really cool that we get all 4 seasons. We get to go up north and spend time there. There’s lakes in the summer so we can enjoy the water, while at the same time we get snow in the winter and get to go snowboarding.”
Corey: “It’s shaped like a mitten!”
Matt: “We also have the largest fresh water supply in the world!”
Rajiv: “IN THE WORLD!”
Is there anything else you would like to say to your fans or new potential fans?
Rajiv: “We are always down to reply or respond or talk to any of our fans on Twitter, and to take requests for cover videos. We try to stay real personal with our fans and we like meeting new people so you should check out our music!”