Meet National Product and Win Their Debut Album "Luna"!

Drea got the chance to chat with Danny Casler, lead singer of our fave new band! Meet National Product, six dreamy dudes from Hawaii that rock out with complete charisma. Aloha! We love their debut album Luna and we're hooking up 10 lucky ladies with a copy for their listening pleasure. Check below for deets.

GL: How did your band get together? How did ya meet?

Danny Casler: Long story short, the band was formed in Hawaii so we grew up going to high school together. Once we started to get out of high school everybody got really into music. And so we thought it’d be cool to start a band since everyone is really passionate about music..

GL: What it’s like living in Hawaii. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to anyone living there and it looks awesome.

DC: It’s incredible. Hawaii is amazing. Besides the obvious blue skies, tropical-ness, and all that, the culture is amazing. There’s such a mix of different people, ethnicities, cultures... It’s also very family oriented too. It’s really an awesome place.

National Product's Danny Casler

GL: So how did living there influence your music? I know you've said that it was hard to break free from the traditional reggae sounds that come from there. Did the punk-ish kind of feel come naturally to you guys? How did that happen?

DC: Well, I think all of us grew up with dads who are all sort of classic rock, but then you grow up on the island and the majority of the music is reggae. It’s got that kind of ethnic true to it’s culture kind of fan. But I think just the different experiences from growing up on the island and having those kind of sounds influence your music because it just keeps you open minded to different types of music. I think that’s the part that influences what we do.

GL: I've already listened to Luna and I love it. I don’t think I’ve taken it out of my CD player in my car since I got it. But for those who don’t know, what should they expect from your debut album?

DC: They should just expect very passionate music from six guys that love making honest music. The music is definitely straight from the heart and is designed to give into your soul. And it’s also to help make you think about your life and inspire you to be better and do bigger things. That’s what it’s about.

GL: If you could sum up your sound with a few words, what would you say it’s like?

DC: I would say neurotic, honest, passionate, and…big.

GL: Now is there a difference between the Hawaiian and mainland fans.

The only difference is the separation by water. I mean were from Hawaii so in a sense that’s our home base. But a fan is a fan. We really don’t try and differentiate our fan base. We make our fans more like our family. We don’t segregate them from us. We’re no different from them because we’re fans too. We don’t hang out backstage or do any of that. We like to hang out with the fans and walk around and watch the other bands play. We’re just like them.

GL: What’s one message that you are trying to get across with your music?

DC: We just want to inspire people to be better and to rise above their circumstance. To think about the other person and just not themselves. To think about charity and putting themselves in scenarios that are bigger than their situation. That’s what our bands always been about—helping others and rising above any situation that you have in your life and bettering yourself regardless of how bad your circumstances are.

National Product!

GL: What would you say your favorite song on the album is?

DC: I always get asked this one, but they're all like my children…it’s like taking my three dogs and asking me which one I like more. But if I had to say, I really like Sad Excuse. I think it’s a really fun, dance-y track. And I really like Quay. Those two are really fun to watch kids in the crowd shake their shoulders to it.

GL: I’ve seen that you’ve gone on tour with Rise Against and Saosin, who are two of my favorites. Who was your favorite band to tour with and why?

DC: We don’t really have a favorite band. I’d have to say that touring with all that bands has been an amazing experience. We’ve learned so much from them. It’s just all been great.

GL: Where did your band’s name come from?

DC: When we were going through names, in the very beginning we were very conscious of everything that was going on around us. I come from a military background so my whole entire family has gone to war—from my grandparents all the way up. When we were young, well I don’t want to say young because we are young, but when we were younger and going over names, we wanted our name to be symbolic and we wanted our logo to be symbolic. So the name National Product has a lot to do with what the band is about. It’s kind of like a tongue and cheek way of saying stop being a product of your environment. Let’s say you come from a family where you were abused, hurt, or come from a family of drug abuse, it doesn’t mean that you have to suffer for the rest of your life. It’s about getting out of your circumstance and bettering your life so you can better the people around you. It’s about affecting people positively and just not being a product of your environment. So in a nutshell that is what National Product means.

GL: What are your future plans and goals?

DC: Our future plans and goals are to obviously tour the world. We’ve toured the entire United States, as well as, Mexico and Canada. My personal dream is to go to Japan and we’ve just found out that our record is doing insanely well in Japan. So we really want to get out to Japan, Austrailia, the UK, and really all parts of Europe. I think we just want to in a sense be a modern day U2. We want to be organized with charities, help benefit other people’s lives, be able to make music and stay best friends and just to continue to do what we do.

GL: When do you plan to have a second album out?

NP: Gosh, we already released this one and I wish we could be back in the studio recording again because it’s that much fun. I love the recording process. You’re probably not going to see another full length from National Product for another year or even longer because we are really going to push this record. I want this record to be something that stands the test of time. But we have been talking about doing an EP of six or seven songs that is going to be all covers. It’s going to be an influence EP, which is basically like every member of the band is going to pick one band and one song that we want to cover that really influenced their life. Then the bands going to learn the song and we’re going to record it. And then we’re going to do one or two songs that we are going to let the fans pick.

9/17/2007 12:31:07 PM