Q&A: Titus frontman discusses upcoming set, song written for Dance Marathon
The L.A. rock band Titus will be performing Saturday at UCLA’s Dance Marathon. Proceeds from the band’s newest single, “Together We Are Strong,” will be donated to the Pediatric AIDS Coalition.
(Titus Music)
By Emily McCormick
April 17, 2015 10:10 a.m.
After being brought together as a band in 2014 through what Brendan Flavin called a lucky strike with Craigslist ads, Titus has performed in venues from the Roxy Theatre to the Mint to the Viper Room. The rock band’s members, Flavin, Caroline Cirone, Blake Baldwin and Sean Woodman, are preparing for an album release and West Coast tour later this year and will also be performing at Dance Marathon.
Flavin said Dance Marathon and the Pediatric AIDS Coalition served as the guiding light for his group’s latest song, “Together We Are Strong,” with proceeds from the song’s sales being donated to PAC. The Los Angeles-based band will debut this composition and join Dance Marathon’s diverse musical performance lineup Saturday at 8 p.m.
The Daily Bruin’s Emily McCormick spoke with Flavin, the founder of Titus, about the band’s style, set for Saturday and support for the Pediatric AIDS Coalition.
Daily Bruin: How is playing at an enormous event like Dance Marathon different than playing in a more intimate concert setting? Do you feel that you’ve had to adjust your performance approach at all?
Brendan Flavin: Our shows always want to be big. We just can’t always accommodate something like that at a club or anywhere like that. So we really sort of seized the opportunity to make a really big show. We got dancers involved from UCLA: My sister is part of the ICARUS (dance group) and she helped me get some people to perform with us, so we have a big visual concept too.
DB: How would you characterize your band’s sound?
BF: When I first started out, I had a very Muse kind of style. But since everyone else got in the mix, we started getting a lot of indie rock influences and funk. Caroline has a jazz background from CalArts so she’s got a lot of really busy bass lines. Blake has a metal background but also has an indie rock style going too. Everyone brought in their own sounds from the beginning.
For Dance Marathon, we only get to play 30 minutes, so we’re bringing our fanciest and funkiest stuff. It’s a little appetizer plate. We put our more ballad-based and intimate songs to the side for Dance Marathon, because it’s a big party.
DB: You wrote the song “Together We Are Strong” specifically for Dance Marathon. What is this song about and what inspired you to write this piece?
BF: We’re trying to send a message of what we can accomplish as a community when we all work together towards a good cause. Being a performing artist can be kind of a selfish and self-indulging career so I really try to look at it from the audience perspective – how they feel when they get done seeing a performance. And I know I’ve seen performances that just blew me away, not because of the technical skill or anything like that but because they really connected with the audience. We’re trying to pass that message on, in a way.
DB: What makes Dance Marathon’s cause special to you?
BF: I did a lot of reading on (the Pediatric AIDS Coalition) and researched what it was all about and who this was really benefiting. For kids to be going through that is just kind of horrific, and the main thing that can stop it is education on the subject. It’s having the preventative action before it even starts: That’s the best way to deal with it, and that’s why we’ve wanted to get involved.
DB: What future plans do you have for Titus?
BF: Right now we’re working on writing more songs. We have a lot more material that we’ve put on hold because of Dance Marathon, but we’re going to get back to that afterwards. We’re planning on finishing a 10- to 12-song album, and then we’re going to print it and sell it by hand and really try to build a foundation for our band. And later this year we want to plan a West Coast tour, or a few of them. Start small, and then expand as we go.
DB: Overall, what can we expect from your Saturday performance?
BF: Definitely to be blown away. Our goal has been to put on the biggest show we could possibly afford, really. And I think we have some really special elements that will really touch people’s hearts.
Compiled by Emily McCormick, A&E contributor.
