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Hey Pop Music Scene fans! I was lucky enough to get the chance to interview OneRepublic and get a little feedback on what fame is like for them along with info on their newest album, Waking Up, which is being released today! Be sure to look for it on store shelves or check it out on iTunes. Check out the interview below!
PMS: After you guys rose to fame with the release of your single "Apologize", are there times when you feel completely overwhelmed and want a break from it all?
OR: We’ve definitely had our moments of exhaustion on the road, but doing this for a living is a lot of work, and getting the chance to do so is a lot like winning the lottery. A break every now and then is always nice, though.
PMS: How has your life been affected the most by the success?
OR: I think that a lot of the things that have come along with the success of Dreaming Out Loud have really refined my perspective and my outlook on life in a way that I definitely didn’t expect. Being able to travel so much of the world and experience life as it is for such a broad range of people or cultures can be the best education one could imagine. It’s also been enlightening to lose sleep over more important things than being flat broke or getting dropped from your record label. We’ve all learned a lot about ourselves and a lot about life since we put that out, and I can’t think of anything more important than that.
More after the jump!
PMS: Everyone seems to be waiting for your album Waking Up to be released. What’s the biggest difference we can expect from this one in comparison to your last album, Dreaming Out Loud?
OR: Waking Up is the record that we all wanted to make. We’ve been playing the bulk of Dreaming Out Loud for five or six years now, so when it came time to write this one, writing a bunch of mid-tempo ballads or straight ahead pop rock songs was the furthest thing from anyone’s mind. We didn’t want to try and write another Stop and Stare or Apologize. We wanted to make a record that would hit harder and break down prettier and move the listener more and maybe shake an ass or two. We wanted to do something bold because we felt that anything less would be disingenuous. 
PMS: What’s the inspiration behind the Waking Up cover art?
OR: Jerrod Bettis, who played drums for us before Eddie, saw a trash can with a beautiful Jackson Pollock-looking splatter on it one day while he was walking around in Seattle. He took a photo of it and painted it with a bunch of different colors and we knew right then that we had found our cover.
PMS: Is there a track on the new album that you just felt particularly connected to?
OR: Missing Persons 1&2 might be my favorite track on the album. I’m especially proud of that one making it on there. There was also a moment in London while we were recording the orchestra on the title track that Ryan and I almost started sobbing. We looked like little girls.
PMS: You guys recently released the album’s lead single, "All the Right Moves." What do you guys like most about it, and was there anything in particular that inspired you to write it?
OR: The disconnect between what you have, what you want, and what you thought you wanted is a theme that appears throughout Waking Up, and it sort of originated with All the Right Moves. We’ve been playing that one live for about a year now, and I still love it every time, so I guess that’s a good sign.
PMS: Are there any rituals that you guys do before shows?
OR: A few of the guys ceremoniously drink a little scotch right before we hit the stage. I like to stretch out on the floor and do a bit of yoga if there’s time.
PMS: As a band, are there any musicians or other bands who inspired you musically?
OR: So many. We’ve got five pretty scattered musical backgrounds but we all overlap where it counts. Queen, Beatles, lots of Britpop, Classical music, film scores, Hip Hop, Beach Boys, Beck, etc… We listen to almost anything.
PMS: What has been your biggest challenge since making a name for yourselves in the music industry?
OR: Trying to get what I would consider good music back on modern radio is a bitch! Seriously though, maintaining a name in music is just as hard as making one. Short of being Bruce Springsteen, you’ve got to keep working and pushing forward all of the time.
PMS: How did you guys come up with the name OneRepublic?
OR: We played for years under the name "Republic" and then added the One to make the name more reflective of our original goal to make music that was everyone’s. That and it rhymes with our alter ego band, "Wonder Puppet".
PMS: When you guys aren’t traveling around the world or recording music, what do you like to do?
OR: Record more music? We like skiing and snowboarding and bicycling and spending time with our families. We rarely ever get any time off, so spending time with the people we care about is really the only thing we get to do outside of music.
PMS: Finally, can you give a shout out to Pop Music Scene fans and let them know why you should by their album?
OR: Don’t buy our album because anyone says it’s this or it’s that. There’s way too much of that out there. That being said, I think Waking Up is awesome and we would love for all of you to give it a listen and see what you think.
Images used with permission