Steve Paige (of Hope for Now) – An Xperience Interview

By Rob Smittix.

RRX: So is it Steve or Steven? What do you go by?

SP: Whatever, you know? Every day is different. I respond to both, so …

RRX:  I mean, it’s your call.

SP: Steve’s cool. 

RRX: Alright, we’ll go with Steve. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. It was suggested by Mike Valente of Empire Underground and various other things that we reach out and talk to you guys. And that doesn’t happen very often, just so you know. So I figured there must be a very good reason for that. 

SP: I’m flattered and honored then.

RRX: Hope For Now is the band, and I agree with that. There is hope … for now. I know you got a big show coming up on July 18th at Empire Underground. Tell us about that show. Who’s playing with you, and what’s going on?

SP: It’s our first headlining show at Empire Underground. We’re playing with Oceans & Ghosts, Eyes of Apathy, Iced Over, and Nice Try Kid.

RRX: Nice Try Kid, that’s a cool band name. That’s fun.

SP: I played with them a couple times. They’re good dudes.

RRX: Nice. So, how would you describe your music?

SP: I mean, I always describe it as melodic metalcore. I grew up on Slipknot, Kill Switch Engage, and stuff like that. We all kind of come from different realms, but I describe it as melodic metalcore.

RRX: There are so many different subgenres of metal these days. God, I think there’s probably more subgenres in metal than there are in anything else. I can’t keep up. I just listen to what I listen to, and if it’s melodic, even better. Now, I’m looking at the flyer for the show, it’s kind of cool that I can read all of the band names. I like that.

SP: (Laughs) Yeaahhhhh! Who doesn’t appreciate a good death metal font? 

RRX: Some of those flyers, you need the “They Live” glasses to read.

SP: It could be troubling at times. I mean … I was on a deathcore kick for like five years, so I kind of just grew accustomed to reading it, I guess.

RRX: So, as far as yourself and your bandmates, what do you do in the band? And who else do you got?

SP: I do vocals. I’m responsible for the yelling and the occasional singing. Evan Colon plays guitar, and he produces, mixes, and masters all of our music. Christian Colon, his brother, plays bass, and he also does all of our live sound engineering. He sets the tracks together, sets the click tracks and the backing tracks for the synthesizers, and stuff like that. He pretty much keeps us grounded and on task, and also kind of acts as a bit of a manager, which is very welcome. It takes a lot off everyone else’s plate; he manages it pretty well. Then we have Kyle Frechette, he plays drums and listens to Hinder, and that’s about what he does. And we have our band wife, Shelby Frechette; that’s our drummer’s wife. She does all of our merch. She does all of our designs and orders, stuff like that. It’s just a ragtag group of peeps.

RRX: Yeah, that’s such a great thing to have a band wife that’s actually involved. And this goes for guys, too, if it’s your wife’s band, you know?  You gotta pull the weight a little bit and help out with the merch and all that stuff; it’s like an unwritten law. When we’re done, I need to make sure I have everyone’s name correct. I went to Albany High, I can’t spell for s***!

SP: Schenectady High graduate 2010, I feel it!

RRX: 2010 graduate?

SP: Oh yeah.

RRX: So, you’re obviously a young man. Is it the same age group for the rest of the band as well? 

SP: Yeah, we’re all within three or four years of each other.

RRX: So yeah, roughly about the same age. Because I know some of those groups out there have that one old guy. It doesn’t sound like you do. 

SP: Nope.

RRX: What music do you have out?

SP: We have our first EP on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, and everywhere that you get music. It’s got a bunch of oldies on it. We have a couple of singles out, and then we’re gearing up to release our first single as this lineup of members on July 18th or sooner to gear up for the headliner with a music video and all that.

RRX: Oh, nice. So basically, this show is also gonna be a release show for you.

SP: Yes. July 18th marks this new era of Hope For Now, and hopefully everyone likes it.