Local Spotlight: On Your Marks

 Long story short, Keep Calm and Carry On will now feature kickass local bands.  To find Madison's full statement on why this is super important to us, click here.  If you're not into that, just be sure to read Keep Calm and Carry On's first Local Spotlight, featuring the incredibly hardworking and cool guys from On Your Marks.

Keep Calm and Carry On: How long has On Your Marks been playing together? How did the band start?

On Your Marks: On Your Marks has been together since late Summer 2010. It actually started from another shitty local band we had at the time and we decided to start fresh with On Your Marks. Freddie and I (Alex) have been in more terrible bands you can count though before we started this one. We've never NOT been in a band together haha.

Keep Calm: How have the bands you listened to growing up influenced your bands sound?

OYM: Well, when we were all learning how to play our instruments and whatnot, we learned how to play songs from bands we liked so I guess it ultimately shaped the way we play live and write. As for our sound, we really just love to jam all together and make the music that we want to hear as kids who are just fans of punk rock bands.

Keep Calm: I know some of you are still in school. How do you balance school and the band? Do you ever have to sacrifice one for the other?

OYM: Two of us are in high school and the other two are full time college students, so we definitely try to find the perfect balance. We also need to work to help fund the band at the same time, so scheduling conflicts are just a part of the reality. We definitely need to sacrifice sometimes.

Keep Calm:On Your Marks is a part of The Mayflower Collective. For people not familiar with the local NJ punk scene, what is The Mayflower Collective and how has it helped your band?

OYM: The Mayflower Collective is a collectivist DIY media and entertainment group. In simpler terms, us and Cross Town Train found that cooperation between bands creates better and simpler results for everyone, by working together as friends in bands for years. As our bands began to branch out of our scene and tour the east coast, we thought maybe it would be possible to apply this principle on a slightly bigger scale. Thus, The Collective was born and we just wanted all our friends on it because they are the best musicians we know. The Mayflower Collective releases physical and digital material as well as putting on shows in Central Jersey. Our main goal is to boost our scene in New Jersey so we try to bring out bands both in and out of The Collective to the shows we put on. When we add bands to the Collective family, it's not us helping them out, it's everyone helping everyone out. Since there's no money put into The Collective, each band must be financially self-sufficient and everyone benefits from the massive combination and network of  contacts, ideas, press, and peer mediation that naturally comes with a grouping of hard working bands with the common goal of bettering the music scene. 

The Mayflower roster is as follows:
CROSS TOWN TRAIN(NJ): https://www.facebook.com/CrossTownTrain?ref=br_tf
ON YOUR MARKS(NJ): https://www.facebook.com/onyourmarksnj

NORTH RUNNER(NY): https://www.facebook.com/NorthRunner?ref=br_tf

A WILL AWAY(CT): https://www.facebook.com/AWillAwayOfficial

THE STOLEN(NJ): https://www.facebook.com/thestolennj?ref=br_tf

SAVE FACE(NJ): https://www.facebook.com/savefacenj?ref=br_tf

HAVE A GOOD SEASON(NJ): https://www.facebook.com/HaveAGoodSeason?ref=br_tf

You can follow what we do here! 

https://twitter.com/MayflowerCOLL
https://www.facebook.com/mayflowercollective?ref=br_tf

Keep Calm: This Spring has been super packed for you guys, opening for a lot of cool national tours. What do you think of the crowds response, especially from those who might not have heard of your band?

OYM: We've been super grateful for the shows in our area in the past few months. When we played with Knuckle Puck, Neck Deep, Light Years and Creating Clementine about a month ago, the venue took down the barrier the day of so we had a stage diving contest during our set, which was sick. There were a ton of kids who didn't know us there who seemed to like us so we'd say it's definitely been a positive reaction. 

Keep Calm: GameChangerWorld recently opened up in Central Jersey and you guys have already had the chance to play there. What do you guys think of it and how do you think it will affect the local scene in the long run?

OYM: GameChangerWorld is a cool space. We initially wanted nothing to do with it because it seemed super reminiscent of Jersey Shows from back in the day, who ultimately killed our scene. The way they treat national bands at GameChangerWorld is great, and our experience there was definitely a good one. The main thing about this place is that it came out of NOWHERE in our community. No one was waiting for the next cool venue that can host bands that don't go through the Stone Pony but are still not at the point of playing Starland, etc. because we already have the Asbury Lanes(Our favorite venue) for that. That being said, this venue seemed to pop up and want to take over the scene that we were making here with our bare hands in basements every weekend. After playing/seeing some shows there, it's safe to say that as it stands, we have no problem with GameChangerWorld at all. And as long as they don't start making everything pay-to-play and monopolize our scene for profit the way Jersey Shows did, we can keep it that way.

Keep Calm:Any touring plans for the summer?

OYM: YES. We will be touring as much as we can this Summer so please keep updated when we announce dates and come to your town!

Keep Calm: Anything else you want to add?

OYM: Only thing we want to add is a HUGE shoutout to some of our friends that deserve support who aren't in the Mayflower Collective. Check out Batten Down The Hatches, Back and Forth, Head North(NY), Survay Says, Random Holiday(VA), Giants At Large(NY), The Black Sox Scandal, Gin War, Franchise, Day In Day Out. Support your local scene and don't be afraid to do shit by yourself.

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*All questions answered by Alex Piraquive and Freddie Koechlin

Find On Your Marks on Facebook and be sure to check out their Bandcamp. 


Huge thanks to On Your Marks for talking with Keep Calm and Carry On.  Hear them this Friday at 9pm on 91.3FM WTSR.



Know a band from the NJ/Philly area that deserves some attention?  Email us at keepcalmwtsr@gmail.com with "LOCAL SPOTLIGHT" in the subject line.