The Billions - On their Quiet as its Kept release
Jared Bowes and Sam and Dan Billen of Topeka, KS' the Billions have (whether they are fully aware of it or not) tripped upon the foundational recipe for making good music: honesty, intimacy, imagery, and servanthood to, and humility before, the craft (the pop muse specifically, in this case). Then there is the other key ingredient of unashamed vicarious song writing mentorship from the greats that came before (I.E. not pretending to be too cool to allow organic homage to their influences, such as the Beatles, Sting/Police, Pink Floyd, Byrds, Weezer, etc.). All three Billions play multiple instruments and write songs. And since their beginning in the summer of ‘98, they have gotten really good at writing and arranging songs, especially when you consider that their ages range between 17 and 22, and that the maturity present in their songs now is already heads above many of their elder contemporaries. Their first CD LP, Quiet as it's Kept, was produced DIY with the help of family friend, Kerry Livgren. Ordering info and such can be found at the band's website, www.thebillionsband.com.
MEET THE BILLIONS:
SAM : My name is Sam Billen. I am 19 years old. I have played the piano for 14 years, guitar for 4 years, and drums for 5 years. I was born in Oklahoma City but raised in Topeka. I also sing.
JARED : Johnny Jared Bowes. 17. Guitar, Drums, Keyboards, Vocals. Topeka, Kansas.
DAN : Dan Billen, 22. I play bass, guitar, keyboards, and I sing as well. I was born and lived my childhood in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and moved to Topeka, Kansas in 1987 where I was picked on for my country accent and cowboy boots.
MUSICAL BACKGROUND:
SAM : I took piano lessons from age 5 to 15. That gave me such a good start musically to last a lifetime. Also, our father raised Dan and I with a great respect for good music. I kind of just picked up the other instruments from having the basics already learned from the piano.
JARED : I was raised listening to The Beatles and Led Zep and a huge dose of Phil Keaggy. I started playing drums on a toy drumset i got for Christmas when i was 3 -- I remember playing along with my dad's Jimi Hendrix records -- I taught myself. I started playing guitar when I was 13 -- with the help of my dad (whom plays guitar) and about 8 hours of practicing everyday -- I got pretty good pretty fast. I have always kind of played around on the piano which was originally bought for my sister, but I wrote songs on it and taught myself to play.
DAN : My parents said I whistled before I could talk. They bought me a toy xylophone when I was 2 and when most kids were just banging random keys on those things I was playing "Chariots of Fire" -- harmonies and all! My instrument growing up was the big string bass. It was so huge it dwarfed me. I remember bringing it in the bathroom to practice (it always sounded better in the bathroom) and having to stand on the toilet to be able to reach the neck to play it. I picked up guitar and drums in high school. Sam and I were raised on the Beatles, plus a ton of other 70s junk. When we lived in Oklahoma City we used to go watch our dad play stuff like James Taylor, Neil Young, and Bread covers at his regular gig -- a pizza parlour called Crystal's (no joke).
WHEN AND WHERE AND WHY DID THE BILLIONS FORM?
SAM : The Billions formed in Topeka, Kansas in the summer of 1998. Dan and I had been in a band before that was not at all heading in the direction (musically or spiritually) that we wanted to, so we decided to break that up and form the Billions with our child-like, I mean child-hood friend Jared Bowes. We wanted it to be more like a family than just a band. At least I wanted to. And God has really brought us together as brothers -- of course Dan and I are biological brothers -- but He's allowed Dan, Jared, and I to share the bond of brotherhood in Christ.
JARED : We formed in the summer of '98 in the basement of Matt Gader, our first drummer's, house. We formed the band because me and the Billen brothers had grown up together because our parents were good friends -- and I guess they thought I might be good enough to play guitar in the new band they were starting (even though I was only 14 at the time) -- so they invited me to come jam with them one sunday after church. And it worked out well -- we got along and the music was great.
DAN : Before the summer of '98 I was seriously bummed out. The band I was in at the time was headed nowhere in many aspects and I was faced with having to give the big shaft to a couple of guys I'd shared so much with. I bit the bullet, broke up my old band, and from there it was almost like God completely took over. The Billions formed shortly thereafter and that's when things started to happen. The minute we gave it up to God was the minute the ball finally got rolling.
WHAT RECORDINGS HAVE YOU RELEASED BESIDES QUIET AS IT'S KEPT? HAVE ALL YOUR RELEASES BEEN INDEPENDENT?
DAN : We have a self-titled 5 song demo we released in '98, an album called LIVE / HOME RECORDINGS, which is exactly that, all done on a four track (released in '99), and our latest, Quiet As It's Kept, which we've had out for less than a year. All of these projects have been completely D.I.Y., and we have the bills (some still not yet fully paid) to prove it.
DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS/PROSPECTS TO SIGN WITH A LABEL?
SAM : At the beginning of this summer, I was planning on trying to manage the band (setting up shows, sending CDs to stores/radio stations, etc.). I quickly realized that doing all that stuff took a lot more effort (and $$$) than I thought. I think now we're at the point where we'd like a label to be able to fund our music, set up shows, and basically everything else they have experience with. We haven't had too many offers, so even if one doesn't come along we'll continue to do what we love to do. With or without a label, we'll continue to make music. There's a small label in New York that has been talking to us about releasing our album, that way we'll remain an independent band. From our conversations they seem like they are truly in it for the music.
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