According to Gone By Daylight frontman and songwriter Eric Paquette, 2012 is shaping up to be an exciting year for him and his bandmates.
Though the current lineup—Paquette, Jeff Lynch (lead guitar, vocals), Jordan King (bass, vocals) and Shaanan King (drums)—has only been together since 2011, the group has already completed an encouraging run in The Break contest sponsored by the Bamboozle music festival. And recently, the Westfield rockers were named the winners of Radio 104.1 WMRQ’s Homebrew Battle of the Bands, held at the Scorpion Bar at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut.
Paquette says, “The Break contest was an awesome experience. We had a great time, and were able to get our music out to thousands of people that wouldn’t have heard us otherwise. Although we didn’t win with the on-site votes, we did get high remarks from the judges. That’s always nice to hear.”
And the band isn’t stopping there. Next up is the release of an Axe Body Spray commercial that the group filmed at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City.
“We heard about a casting call for the commercial and figured we would give it a shot,” says Paquette. “The actually filming was a blast. It took a full day to film over at the Bowery Ballroom. The crew was super-friendly. We spent most of our time talking to the extras, making friends and fans and handing out CDs. They also had it catered with Chinese food, which was a plus.”
Unfortunately for Pioneer Valley fans, the commercial is scheduled to be aired only in Latin American countries. But Paquette acknowledges the material will probably end up on YouTube at some point. The experience was a bit of an eye-opener for a bunch of guys who first started jamming together in the sixth grade.
Though the band began as more of a pop-punk project covering Blink-182 songs, Gone By Daylight eventually evolved into more of a rock-based unit spurred by such inspirations as Tom Petty, the Beatles and Ryan Adams.
Says Paquette, “We always had a classic rock influence from our upbringing. Eventually the rock would take over, but the melodic sensibility remained.”
Currently, the group is continuing to write and record material at studios in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Los Angeles. There are also plans to film a music video at The Elevens in Northampton on May 10.
“We are constantly in the studio, and always will be for as long as time allows,” says Paquette. “We have about 30 songs right now and plenty more in the works. As far as a release goes, we are streaming [our material] online via Facebook. We aren’t going to release anything until our production deal is complete and we see what everyone wants to do with the best of our works. The ultimate goal would be to present them in demo form and try and get a record deal.”
Gone By Daylight performs May 10, The Elevens, 140 Pleasant St., Northampton. For more information visit www.facebook.com/gonebydaylight or www.facebook.com/TheElevens.
