Patience is one of the toughest lessons to learn in anything. The ability to overcome adversity and see something good through the rough is what separates the men from the boys.

Maps for Travelers of Kansas City are no strangers to that. Signing with No Sleep Records last year, and putting out a killer record shortly after, didn’t happen without hardships. Multiple member changes took place within the band which made recording hectic, but these guys have seen the sunrise. Now they’re on a hard grind of playing shows, reaching new grounds and perfecting their already superb live shows by testing new material out in front of fans.

Under The Gun had the opportunity to sit down with the guys (multiple times; cue laughs from MFT) and talk about what’s happening these days with the band. Also, make sure to check out a fresh recording of a new song, “The Natural,” after the interview, which was recorded live in Omaha at O’Leavers.

So the album has been out for about a year now. I know you’ve played a few new songs live. Where are you guys at with new material?

RL Brooks (Guitarist): We’re writing now. We’re trying to play as much as we can on this record. We’re looking forward to the second [record]. We’ve been trying to put a lot of time into getting the songs that we really want to keep. Like right now, we literally just had a breakthrough on a song we’ve been working on for about two months. So yeah, we’re getting through the heavy lifting on some of the writing process; it’s going to get much worse than this. But this is the beginning of the insanity, I guess.

It’s going to get worse, as in like the pressure of writing and the recording process?

RB: We have about six more songs to write that don’t even exist yet. We’ll be coming up with who knows what. But yeah, the end of the process, going to the studio; some people really enjoy it, and I really enjoy it, but all of us collectively had some pretty poor recording experiences. On our first record we had three drummers represented over a period of three years of writing and morphing into the band we became. It was almost a cram to get to the studio for the first record only to realize that everything wasn’t right and having to go back to the drawing board and re-cut things. It was kind of like a splice job.

Kevin Medina (Drummer): Coming up on the second record, this is the first time all four of us have written all the songs. There was like three drummers. Some of the songs that we recorded, I didn’t even necessarily write. So I was just playing stuff that was already done. So now that all four of us are here, we all come up with the ideas.

RB: David wasn’t on the first record either. Everybody has different strengths, weaknesses and perspectives. We’re looking forward to it. With No Sleep, the idea was really getting to the second record. We had a really hard time touring on this first record, it’s been difficult getting us out there. It’s funny, because we try everyday to get connected and get on tours, but it’s just been tough. It’s like that for everybody. I’m not complaining, we’ve played some really amazing shows. We have a little two-week tour coming up in the fall, including the No Sleep showcase in Brooklyn, and we’re excited about that. And we might be taking a short little trip to Austin to play an unofficial party for the Fun Fun Fun Fest; and might be doing a couple of dates with Bummer down there too. We’re hoping with this record we’ll be able to tour a lot easier. From like the label perspective, we’re not the only artist to not have management or representation. This is like No Sleep’s way of trying to push new bands out with bigger names, like John Nolan (from Taking Back Sunday) is headlining that night, along with Josh Scogin from Norma Jean/The Chariot [and now ’68]. It’s good for us. We can be like, “Hey, we’re going to be in Brooklyn, come check us out.”

What about the Midwest? Is your guys’ last show with Joyce Manor?

RB: No, we’ll be playing in St. Joseph September 26 and a friend of mine is in kidney failure and we’re talking about doing a benefit show for him with another band. And I just talked to Nathan Ellis from The Casket Lottery. He plays in another band called Able Baker Fox and they’re pretty underground; legendary stuff. He just called me yesterday and wanted us to play a show with them. We’ve got a lot of shows. If we can’t get out, we’re going to play around here, trying to figure these songs out, and work them.

What about 2015? Plan on starting to record?

RB: Yeah, the idea is to get in the spring. If we can, that’s the loose idea we’ve talked about with the label, with a fall or late summer release of the record. We’re not going to rush it, but time is of the essence; we need to get some momentum going and keep the buzz going about what we’re doing. It’s hard, though. You never know what’s going to happen.

KM: if you see us sometime between now and spring 2015, we’ll probably be playing a lot of the songs to try and perfect them.

I’ve heard people call Kansas City, and smaller, local scenes in lesser populated cities like it, a graveyard. How do you feel about that?

RB: I think it’s like anything. Anything can be a graveyard if you just sit and get comfortable.

KM: RL said to me one time, “You can break here and get really big, or come here and die.” It really shows if you’re on the decline. We have a good music scene, but I personally think it can be harder here than other cities. I don’t see us dying anytime soon, or the scene.

RB: It feels like there’s something bubbling up that’s coming out of the underground. With seeing the El Torreon opening back up, regardless of the circumstances. But the idea that maybe there can be an all ages scene that gets beyond house shows and DIY venues. What I would like to see is a place where all genres can get to an all ages level. More consistency would be awesome. The guy that is running the El Torreon now, if you think about it, it just takes one guy, as long as all the bands rally behind it. I’m putting my faith in that guy that he’s going to do a good job and bring in some diverse acts.

Getting exposure to all ages is huge.

RB: We all have the things we listen to as a teenager. I hear a song that I listened to in my youth, and it’s still awesome. [The band starts getting nostalgic and laughs at each other’s choice of music in their teen years]. I don’t know why I still deal with these fucks [laughs]. Kansas City is on the up. Three years ago I might have thought it was on the decline. But it’s coming around. The diversity of music and the amount of venues makes me think it’s growing.

Anything else for the readers and fans?

RB: We’re just a working band, writing songs and trying to get them out to people. It’s really simple. That will continue.

KM: We’re excited for the next record, and we’re hoping to get more people excited, too.

Interview written and conducted by Corey From — (follow him on Twitter)
Change Your Name is out now on No Sleep Records.

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Corey From

Corey From, from Kansas City, MO, when not thinking about or listening to music, obsessively thinks about Royals baseball, a platter of ribs (or BBQ in general) and cold beer. Nothing special really.

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