The Ohio-based band NEEDMORE stopped by WOBN 97.5 FM for a live on-air interview before their concert at Skully’s Music Diner in Columbus, OH last week. The band talked about their new album, “Back At The Start” and they performed a live acoustic version of their upcoming single “Too Late.”

First off, congratulations on your new album “Back At The Start.” You’ve worked with Grammy-winner Jeff Juliano (John Mayer, Train, Lifehouse) on this album. What was it like to experience having him in the studio when you were creating this album?

Garrett McArthur: Jeff has been a friend of ours for while. He started when we recorded “Lost My Way” and we’ve been in contact with him ever since and he’s offered priceless advice and just really helped us hone in on sounds, mic placements and engineering. He was just able to really take everything that we gave him and turn it into the masterpiece that you hear on the record.
Mark Siegel: I think what’s exciting for us is the fact that especially on this album we took the time to self-produce and really get to hone in all of our production skills. This was our baby, this was our masterpiece and for us to be able to send it off to somebody like Jeff and see what that masterpiece comes out like is pretty cool.

What does the band name stand for?

Garrett McArthur: The band name is kind of ambiguous and up to the listener, the friend, the family member, the fan, anybody to kind of take on their own meaning.
TJ Hartmann: We took weeks and weeks to deliberate about a new band name because we were under a previous name that had copyright rights on it and we had to come up with something different. It was kind of one those where we had to kick around hundreds of names that nothing worked, we all hated all of them and we were driving home from the studio one day and one of us was like, what about NEEDMORE? Garrett and I grew up in Dayton, OH and there’s a major road in Dayton called Needmore Road.
Garrett McArthur: Also, we strive to be a transparent band. You can read the lyrics and draw your own conclusions to what they mean and we just really try to be as transparent as possible and that’s helps fuel what you drive the band name to be.

For your single “Lost My Way” where did you film the music video and what is the real meaning behind the song?

Garrett McArthur: The single has actually been out for a while now previous to the record being out and it was such an important song I think because it really shows our new sound and it’s a very positive departure from our last record. We shot the music video in Nashville, TN with one of our good friends and videographer, Patrick Tohill and his vision is amazing.
Mark Siegel: What’s crazy too is that video took 16 … 17 hours worth of shooting non-stop and the whole thing was done. We started early in the morning one day and went through until 2-3 a.m. the next and it got done. All of the shots were done with one camera which is amazing and he had it edited within a couple of days and ready to go.
Garrett McArthur: We have a brand new single coming out called “Too Late” and we just shot another music video for that in Nashville and we’ll be releasing that sometime very soon which was also done with Patrick Tohill. We can’t wait, that’s single is going to be pushed really hard and we’re excited.

NME online magazine has actually named you as a “Breakthrough” artist and the No. 1 rock band by MTV’s OurStage. How does it feel to be recognized by MTV and NME?

Garrett McArthur: I don’t want to say it was a competition but It was one thing that you submit for, so our publicist submitted and everyone just voted and we were able to walk away with one of the “Breakthrough” artists titles, which is really cool.
Mark Siegel: OurStage has always been amazing to us because we literally just released this album and “Too Late” within the first couple hours of it releasing was already hitting top 20 in four different cities on MTV’s OurStage. OurStage has really always backed us and really supported us and pushed our music.