Pop Music Band Antennas Up Knows How to Have Fun
Antennas Up Pop Music Band
Inside Scoops and Fun Revelations
Like any rising pop band, Antennas Up has already socked away some fun memories. Lead singer and bassist, Kyle Akers, shares a few pearls.
Quirky experiences and imaginative dreams are the chills up the spine of dedicated musicians everywhere. But when the musicians themselves are quirky to begin with, as Bo McCall, The Ryantist, and Kyle Akers of Antennas Up are, their reflections of their musical journey and can be unique with a capital "U."
Antennas Up on Views From the Stage
TS: What's the funniest thing you've ever witnessed from the stage?
Akers: I’d have to say it was a show in Lawrence, KS. We were playing in a small room that held only about thirty or forty people, which for that room meant it was wall-to-wall packed, and all of a sudden this guy walks in wearing a full green spandex bodysuit. That’s all he’s wearing, so it’s this all-green man walking around. He starts dancing, and I think he was singing along with the music by the way his mouth and chin were moving, but I can’t say for sure. But I give so much respect to that man, for his outfit left nothing to the imagination as far as his body was concerned, absolutely nothing. And that has to require the utmost confidence, or something else I can’t identify, to pull off. I give him kudos€¦I think.
Antennas Up on Modern Day Cussing
TS: The Antennas Up debut album has been called "a gem," but are there any topics you won't write songs about?
Akers: Well, we try not to make bold, outlandish statements on subjects that might alienate half the population, like religion or politics, but as far as song lyrics go, we do try to be as open and honest with ourselves as we can be. We’ve had talks about whether swearing was necessary or not. Profanity can really end up being more of a burden than actual artistic expression, so we pretty much steer clear of anything that would have to be censored on the radio. It’s not necessarily that it can’t be artistic, but it can just be more trouble than it’s worth. I guess we try to be pretty civil people.
Antennas Up on “Twilight Zone” Experiences
TS: Antennas Up loves sci-fi. Have you had any sci-fi experiences of your own?
Akers: Yeah, I think this definitely qualifies. Early on, we used to drive around in this van we called Thunderdome. We drove it for a couple of years, then it finally broke down, burnt out, and we salvaged it to a salvage yard and got the cash to put toward another van. We moved on to something else, then a few weeks ago we pop on Craigslist to look for another van to replace the second one, and we see one that’s pretty similar to our original one. We go over to take a look at it, only to discover that the person who had it at the salvage yard rebuilt it and put it up for sale. It was actually our van! We sometimes give out DUM DUM POPS® at our shows, and we found DUM DUM wrappers in the cigarette trays. And Bo drives a lot, and he chews Trident®, and there were Trident wrappers in the driver door pockets. So you guessed it, we were trying to buy our old salvaged van. The lady who was selling it on behalf of the salvage yard was kind of worried because the armrests didn’t go down, so we said, “Watch this”. And we showed her how to make the arm go down by punching it first. All the little intricacies and subtleties that you learn from having a vehicle were all there. It was so weird, so surreal. So if we get it, we’re thinking of calling it Beyond Thunderdome. I mean The Ryantist and I were in the van, and we were trying to act all professional, like “would this be a good van to drive” and “how’s the fuel economy”. But in truth, we were unable to even think straight because this was our van. I mean how do we say if this is a good or a bad thing? Is it the hand of fate? It was goose-bumpy bizarre, but maybe we just aren’t meant to live without old Thunderdome.
Pop Music's Antennas Up and the Future
It’s hard to keep a great band down, and the trio of musicians that are collectively known as Antennas Up proves it. They work hard, play hard, and live and breathe great music that comes from some inner well of unique musical insight.
The future looks promising for this quirky, contemporary pop band, and as they venture forward, it’s probably a safe bet that their journey will continue to be. . .out of this world.
photo used with permission from Antennas Up
The copyright of the article Antennas Up Pop Music Band is owned by its author, Tricia Spencer.
Permission to republish any part of the article in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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