We the Kings talk philanthropy and touring
While the weather this past week has had its up and downs, pop-rock outfit We the Kings is definitely happier with its ups.
The sun-soaked beaches and balmy Florida nights, imprinted so thoroughly in childhood, leak into the upbeat, catchy sound of these Bradenton natives; it only makes sense then that bitter East Coast winters present some challenges for the members of the band.
Nonetheless, We the Kings signed up for the Take Action Tour, a charity tour that emphasizes leukemia awareness while hitting all the coldest places in the United States at the same time.
"It's the first time that We the Kings as a band has been able to use its success to help a charity tour," Travis Clark, the redheaded front man for the band, said. Hundreds of miles away in Chicago, over a fuzzy phone connection, he still managed to exude earnest concern over the plight of terminally ill children.
"I've said since day one, if we can help save one kid's life, then the whole thing will be completely worth it, and even if we don't at least we're helping spread the awareness of the charity," he said.
Each year, the non-profit organization promotes a different cause (last year it dealt with bringing awareness of teen suicides to the public), though the theme - youth involvement in charities - remains the same. The 2010 line-up champions leukemia awareness and promotes signing up for the Nation Marrow Registry.
The tour, sponsored by the non-profit organization Sub City, supports of We the Kings' second album, entitled Smile Kid.
The record fully embraces the idea of hope and the triumph of young love over all obstacles - if the music industry were a video rental store, We the Kings would fall firmly under the category of Disney movies, promulgating the eventual success of goodness and true love with a nod towards reality and cynicism.
"It's just with everything else in the world, I'd rather write a happy song versus a sad song or a break-up song," Clark admitted. This is a valid choice, one supposes, when the world at large is taken into account. The immediate concerns of a struggling economy and an uncertain global stability have touched even this ginger-haired artist.
The sun-soaked beaches and balmy Florida nights, imprinted so thoroughly in childhood, leak into the upbeat, catchy sound of these Bradenton natives; it only makes sense then that bitter East Coast winters present some challenges for the members of the band.
Nonetheless, We the Kings signed up for the Take Action Tour, a charity tour that emphasizes leukemia awareness while hitting all the coldest places in the United States at the same time.
"It's the first time that We the Kings as a band has been able to use its success to help a charity tour," Travis Clark, the redheaded front man for the band, said. Hundreds of miles away in Chicago, over a fuzzy phone connection, he still managed to exude earnest concern over the plight of terminally ill children.
"I've said since day one, if we can help save one kid's life, then the whole thing will be completely worth it, and even if we don't at least we're helping spread the awareness of the charity," he said.
Each year, the non-profit organization promotes a different cause (last year it dealt with bringing awareness of teen suicides to the public), though the theme - youth involvement in charities - remains the same. The 2010 line-up champions leukemia awareness and promotes signing up for the Nation Marrow Registry.
The tour, sponsored by the non-profit organization Sub City, supports of We the Kings' second album, entitled Smile Kid.
The record fully embraces the idea of hope and the triumph of young love over all obstacles - if the music industry were a video rental store, We the Kings would fall firmly under the category of Disney movies, promulgating the eventual success of goodness and true love with a nod towards reality and cynicism.
"It's just with everything else in the world, I'd rather write a happy song versus a sad song or a break-up song," Clark admitted. This is a valid choice, one supposes, when the world at large is taken into account. The immediate concerns of a struggling economy and an uncertain global stability have touched even this ginger-haired artist.
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