Local band The Second After has recently been making waves. The band consists of Michael Greason (vocals), Ryan McDonald (drums), Nolan Shambley (bass), and Alfred Williamson (guitar/vocals). Originating from Durham, NC, the pop-punk band has been making music since 2015. At the end of 2017, The Second After signed to Revival Records and released a new EP, Treadmill at the Finish Line. They are currently on a West Coast tour with SayWeCanFly. I was able to interview band members Michael and Alfred and ask about their lives as musicians.

How would you describe your sound?

Michael- Energetic.

Alfred- It’s pop-punk if you were to put it into one category. It’s kinda different too, we try to make them really boppy. Right?

Michael- Yeah, boppy is good. Boppy pop-punk. We want people to be able to jump.

Alfred- We want it to be really fun to go to a show. We’re just trying to make it our thing.

What artists do you take inspiration from?

Alfred- Four Year Strong, Knuckle Puck, Neck Deep, State Champs, early All Time Low.

Michael- Acoustic stuff I get inspiration from Death Cab for Cutie, is a big one. Say You Can Fly,

Alfred- Say You Can Fly, just gotta plug that in because we’re on tour with them.

What is your favorite part of being a musician?

Michael- Seeing people be happy when they hear it, and be happy at shows and have a good time.

Alfred- Yeah, that’s the most pleasure I get out of it.  When we’re at a show, and just meeting everyone that all had a good time with us.

Michael- Yeah, it’s the best feeling.

Alfred- Especially new people who have never heard of us.

Michael- And hanging out with the boys, of course.

Alfred-

What has been your best experience as a musician so far?

Alfred- I remember, for me, one of our best moments was our first headliner, at Cat’s Cradle, and finding out a couple days before that it was almost sold out. That was a crazy feeling. And also this tour, being our first tour as an opener on a good package every day, making good friends with everyone.

Michael- Especially after touring a lot and now we’re touring on a bigger one and it’s…

Alfred- professional every day.

How do you hope to impact your audience?

Alfred- It’s mostly about positivity and being happy, having that outlook on life and being able to come to a show to express that with everyone around you.

Michael- I just want people to be so genuinely full of joy that they want to tell other people about us.

Alfred- If the show can give you that mindset and feeling then you can put that everywhere in life.

What are your goals as a band?

Alfred- Just keep on getting to the next level. Now, I’m really really happy with where we are and I obviously wanna keep growing.

Michael- Yeah.

Alfred- I feel like being really really happy with the state we are now and with the climb to where we’re trying to get to next is super important.

Michael- Just writing new music all the time that we love, and that other people will hopefully love.

Alfred- It’s growing together as a group and growing with people who like our music.

When did you realize that you wanted to be a musician?

Michael- I was probably in 8th grade. I’d been playing guitar for a while and I was having some home troubles and so I would just lock myself in my room and write songs.

Alfred- Yeah it’s kinda the same thing for me too. In 8th grade I figured out that I really like music and think I went to my first concert when my parents let me in 12th grade, I saw All Time Low and I was just like this is so much fun, it’s so much fun interacting with everyone, I just want to do that.

How do you deal with performance anxiety?

Michael- 2 years ago and I fell on the drum kit and I just remember looking up and Ryan was playing the drum kit and just seeing him looking at me and smiling while he was playing and I was like “Man, this is the worst thing that could ever happen, so I’m pretty much good now.”

How did you become The Second After?

Michael- We played probably like a year or two as a hardcore band, and then every time we wrote a song I’d always joke around and write a pop-punk song. Eventually, we started playing pop-punk. We probably played shows for three months or so and we ended up having to drop one of our guitar players so Alfred, this guy right here, sent me a message on Facebook.

Alfred- We hung out and I learned one of their songs… It just clicked the first day. And then I thought that everything was going super well. I never had a band like this, so this is gonna be great. But the last thing was if we play a show, is it gonna be good? And then we played a show! We played with Say You Can Fly- the best show of my life at that point. Everything clicked, this was going to be the Second After.

Can you explain your songwriting process?

Michael- We all write on our own but we try to get everyone involved as we can on the songs.

Alfred- We literally listen and critique every part of it

For the people reading this, what’s the best way to check out your music?

Alfred- Spotify, Apple Music, Social media…

Michael- Come to a show!

 

Keep up with the band on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Prime!