Florida friends perform at Mojo's

By Stephanie Clark

Published Sept. 18, 2007

Florida rockers We the Kings will be part of a pop-rock sandwich at Mojo's tonight. They will be playing with Valencia, Metro Station and Just Surrender, kicking out the jams like it's 1998. Named after King Middle School, where each member attended school in their hometown of Bradenton, Florida, the band formed only four years ago.

It is comprised of Tyler Clark on vocals and guitar, Hunter Thomsen on guitar and backing vocals, Drew Thomsen on bass and Danny Duncan on drums. Although young, the band already has its first record coming out for the respected indie record label, S-Curve, on Oct. 2.

Bradenton, a coastal resort town in Southeast Florida located in Manatee County, is the inspiration behind the vast majority of the band's music. Songs from its debut self-titled album such as "August Is Over," "Skyway Avenue" and "This Is Our Town" were inspired by the band's hometown and the people who live there.

Because of the mass tourist population and their community experiences over the summer, the band members met new people and formed new relationships every year but had to say goodbye at the end of the season. But the band's closeness is what influences their songs the most.

"We all went to the same middle school, and we've grown up together," Clark said. "Even our tour manager is from that middle school. We've been friends this entire time."

Having been strongly influenced by bands including Blink 182, We the Kings takes more of a pop-rock approach toward its music. Clark classifies the band's style as Blink 182 meeting The Beatles. Although it still was unsigned with any record labels, a few of its songs had already been ranked at the top of the Purevolume charts. The band later went into the studio to record its debut album in 2007 after signing with S-Curve records.

"The song on the album that means the most to me is 'This Is Our Town,' which is a piano-acoustic song," Clark said. "We wrote it about our hometown. We used the heritage name Old Bradenton, and we talk about Bradenton as a person. We used personification to represent everything that Braden has to represent."

Although the band is on a nationwide tour with Valencia, Just Surrender, and Metro, they've previously toured with bands including Boys Like Girls, which has a Top-40 hit. We the Kings has also performed with Cobra Starship.

Clark said he hopes to bring energy and a performance that its audience will remember.

"I sang my heart out on the record," Clark said. "But, on live stage performances, we try to be as wild as possible and give people a show worth coming out for."