Cute Is What We Aim For

'There were rumours we got $500,000 to start this band,' dispels Shaant Hacikyan founder of emo quartet Cute Is What We Aim For. 'I wouldn’t spend $500,000 on a band; I’d buy real estate or something!'
In fact they may be 'pulling up in a van and trailer' to hone that point but the band, completed by Tom Falcone, Jeff Czum and Fred Climato, encountered a resplendent reception from the UK for their recent live debut.
Signed to the prevalent Fueled by Ramen label, the New York upstarts are just as much fans as they are peers of their label-mates - who include Panic! At The Disco, Fall Out Boy and touring buddies Paramore - and are fast-becoming as popular.
Music News met Shaant and drummer Tom to see what all the fuss is about.

MN: Did all this grow from a side project?

Shaant: Yeah. It started as something I was just doing on the side and then I quit my other band to do it. I was still by myself and then I got Jeff to do it and Tom to do it, so it was done. It did get out of control. And I intended on it but I never thought it would. Like aspirations, it just happened.

MN: What’s your lengthy band name about?

Shaant: It’s just an inside joke between my friend and I - we were losers as we grew up. It ('cute') just started as a word that kids caught onto and everyone started saying it in place of the word 'cool'. That’s pretty much it. It’s an ode to my friend.

MN: Do you think you’ll be dogged by it in the future?

Shaant: Of course. We’re dogged by it right now. But at the same time a lot of kids like it. I mean I like it, I really do. It’s caught a lot of eyes. But yeah of course your credibility is at stake with that stuff because older people get it and go 'what?', and you’re like 'all right, sorry'! Hopefully once they listen to the music they get over that.

MN: After the UK trip you have a lot of US dates in the diary.

Tom: From London we fly to Las Vegas.

Shaant: We fly the morning of the 11th (October) and the show is the night of the 11th and we don’t stop till December!

MN: Is that daunting to see such a massive list of shows you’ve got to play?

Shaant: Completely! I’m not going to sit here and go 'yeah it’s amazing' because it is but at the same time I’m not sleeping in my bed, I’m not seeing my family, that stuff always gets you. I just hope we can stay healthy because we’ve had some health problems. But we’re so thankful to actually have this opportunity because so many bands would kill to have dates in their own city, let alone around the world.

MN: Your record label boasts a roster of current emo favourites. Do you feel security from that or feel you have to stand out from your peers?

Shaant: I think we’re the happiest we can be. The label is our family. I know it sounds stupid but they’re my best friends. The bands on the label, I’m such a massive fan of. I just bought Panic!’s acoustic EP on iTunes this morning so I’m still this fan-boy. But we don’t need to stand out more just for that fact that we’re all after the same thing. People put us in the same group as Fall Out Boy, Panic! And The Academy (Is) and that’s the epitome of what we wanted and we’re so stoked on it.

MN: Emo took a blow from the British press recently. How do you feel about sub-genres being tagged as causing moral panics with emo accused of driving kids to suicide and self-harm?

Shaant: It pisses me off. Panic! wrote a record that sold above and beyond. Nowhere on that record does it say about hurting yourself or self-damage. And then with the My Chem (My Chemical Romance) thing that hurts me. I’m such a huge fan and listening to that record, watching him (frontman Gerard Way) live and hearing him speak out openly about suicide and how wrong it is. He’s openly helped millions of people on a personal level. And it’s upsetting for the fact that the whole record might be dark, I mean there are examples of self-deprecation, but he’s putting it into perspective so we can actually put a positive spin on it. And for people to totally take it really wrong - fuck them! It just really bothers me because I know what it’s like to be shit-talked and on that scale it’s huge and it’s wrong completely.

MN: You actually have a lot of positivity in your lyrics and music. What makes your pop 'powerful'?

Shaant: The sound is 'power-pop' just because it’s really energetic. We’re not going to do metal solos or anything like that. But Tom’s still going to fucking play his ass off. And I’m certainly not going to hold back and stand around. So power-pop is just the feeling we decided to call it as that’s how we feel it is. But the lyrics, I definitely set out to be positive. I know what high school is like and I know how you can doubt yourself. I just want people to know that they can be themselves because we (Shaant and Tom) both went through phases in which we doubted ourselves. You have to be you. That’s it.

MN: By addressing social pressures and sexual issues, do you think you’re completely in tune with your core audience as you’re still teenagers yourselves?

Shaant: That was my goal all along. I wanted to write a record that every kid that listened to it can relate to because I deal with the same things they do still. A lot of people write metaphorically and I might, too but at the same time very earnestly, very real and blunt. And I hope kids understand that it’s okay to have those feelings about sex but then it’s okay to put your foot down and not allow people to lie to you and just take advantage.

MN: At the moment you’re a young, accessible band, especially through the means of the internet. Will you be disappointed if your future success means you’re less accessible?

Shaant: Naturally it will but you look at Pete Wentz (from Fall Out Boy) and his constant effort and ability to keep that door open and that’s something I admire very much and take to heart. It will upset me but my goal is to not allow that to happen.

MN: Your debut album 'The Same Old Blood Rush With A New Touch’ is out now. Would you like to give it a plug?

Shaant: Yeah it’s out but we don’t plug. Kids will do what they want to do. And I don’t want to be that guy that’s like: BUY IT! If you buy it, you buy it, if you don’t, you don’t.

MN: What’s the significance of the title? It sounds intriguing.

Shaant: We’ll leave it at that. I like intrigue!

Cute Is What We Aim For return to the UK in January 2007.

www.cuteiswhatweaimfor.com