Life can be difficult when you are in your teens and are juggling duties in the popstar world. For the three brothers that make up Before You Exit, Connor, Riley and Toby all agree that teenage life is somewhat compromised now that they are touring and busy with their careers in music.
“I don’t know if I miss it, but I never went to a school dance or prom. But, at the time, when all my friends were going to prom, I was on tour. It’s worth it, I’m playing shows every night,” frontman Riley McDonough said in an interview with Popspoken on Saturday at the W Hotel.
And going on tour, the boys definitely are — they just wrapped up being the supporting act of Cody Simpson’s Paradise Tour as well as on Olly Murs’ tour this year. The band are in Singapore to close the CIMB Color Run and headline their very own All Access Party for Singapore radio station 987FM — both showcases happened on that same day.
With their mother standing on one side and watching the media interview her sons, all three brothers were jovial despite their packed schedule that day. Jokes aside, the band were thankful that they were now beginning to be recognised for their music instead of covers that they upload to their YouTube page.
“It feels like we have been around for forever, but this has been our start for the past year and a half. Before, it was playing small shows and birthday parties,” said Connor.
Since the band’s inception in 2007, Before You Exit has gone through several changes in their lineup. Connor was the founding member, with Thomas Silvers and Braiden Wood forming up the band orginally. Now, Connor says Braiden has exited the picture to pursue his own interests while Thomas and new member Chris Ganoudis are now “live members” who accompany the band on tour. Connor says there are no hard feelings towards old and new members.
“They are all super-talented musicians and our best friends in the world. We’ve been doing the music ever since the beginning; it was a group decision but we were all super stoked for what was ahead,” said Connor.
And yes, we had to ask Toby to explain his “twerks for a living” phrase that is on his Twitter bio. Ever the sport, he says that he rolled with the punches after “Twerks For Toby” jokes made it to social media.
“People would always say, “Twerk Toby, twerk”. I just went along with it and on stage, I’ll turn around and try to do it. (The fans) will all get mad at me because I don’t really know how to do it,” said Toby.
“He doesn’t twerk on command. He has to have that feeling,” Connor interjected.
“Will I twerk in concert? Erm… no,” Toby continued.
Unfortunately, that promise fell flat on its nose at the 987FM All-Access Party, where some 100 lucky fans won tickets to catch an exclusive showcase by Before You Exit and, yes, Toby twerking with 987FM DJ Dee Kosh.
http://instagram.com/p/dI4suwPFo3/
When reporters asked the band which artiste they wanted to collaborate with, the boys — being, well, boys — lit up when one name was broached.
“Selena Gomez is cute. When we’re ready, we can go get the tour,” Toby said, cracking a “Come and Get It” joke.
The band said that they are now back in the studio writing for news songs and revisiting unreleased songs to piece together their next musical project. We can’t wait to see what Before You Exit comes up with for their next effort!
