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The LA indie pop band tells us their favorite shows and Warped Tour moments.

When The Heirs were asked to be part of this year's Vans Warped Tour, they were more than stoked to be part of the longtime touring festival. But considering their pop songs like "What You Want," they weren't too sure how they would fit in with the harder rock bands on the bill. However, after touring around the country, it seems the Los Angeles band have found their place in the circus that is Warped Tour.

"The tour is amazing," singer Savannah Hudson tells Myspace. "We seriously didn't know what to expect because we're more of a pop band. But we've had a great reception from the fans and the other bands and other cool people. And we've had a lot of fun so far."

With all the bands on the roster, Warped Tour has been a way for The Heirs and other acts to reach the masses.

"It's like a carnival," bassist and keys player Eian McNeely explains. "So every day it's like you're setting up for a festival, perform, tear it down and move to the next place. But aside from that, the way it works is like half of it is see your favorite band and then the other half is more of a discovery platform."

Before finishing their time on the road and heading back into the studio in the fall, we had the chance to catch up with The Heirs after they performed at the Holmdel, NJ, stop at Warped Tour.

 

Brandon Hudson

Age: 19
Instrument: I play guitar, and I sing.
Band or Album That Inspired You to Become a Musician: Some albums that made me want to play music -- Abbey Road by The Beatles, The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, a lot of Michael Jackson, a lot of 80s rock and roll.
Favorite Song to Perform Right Now: Our single "What You Want," and the B-side to our single, which you could exclusively get on Warped Tour is a song called "Lungs." That's another fun one along with "Skin."
Best Show You've Been to: I will have to say each year it changes because I see a lot of bands. But it will have to Coachella this year. It was an unreal experience overall.
Best Show You've Played: I have been growing as a musician, and I've been getting tighter and tighter at this shows on the Warped Tour. I feel like [the shows in] Maryland, New Jersey and the one before Maryland, which I can't remember right now, those were the best ones I've played. I felt like I was performing as well as I could as well as playing.
If Warped Tour was a circus, I would be: I would be one of those ringleaders that wears those crazy top hats and suits with their faces painted with a skeleton and with a cane.

 

 

Savannah Hudson

Age: 17
Instrument: I sing.
Band or Album That Inspired You to Become a Musician: Fleetwood Mac. Stevie Nicks inspires me. I wanted to sing like her and dress like her. Barbra Streisand is another one. She was actually my first concert with Liza Minnelli. So lots of different things. Also, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones were huge inspirations to me growing up, and fashion icons for sure. 
Favorite Song to Perform Right Now: That's a tough one. I have two. I like playing our cover of Kanye West's "Love Lockdown." It's a really fun one because we have a rock outro. That's a lot of fun for me. "Lungs" because it has a super powerful chorus, and I like it. It's very specially to me when I wrote it.
Best Show You've Been to: It would either be Fleetwood Mac or Florence + the Machine at Coachella in 2015. She's so great. I cried watching her. She was the most incredible performer, running around like a gypsy. It was great.
Best Show You've Played: Either Maryland or the Roxy last year. That was a very special to me as well.
If Warped Tour was a circus, I would be: I would want to be a contortionist.

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Flagstad

Age: 23
Instrument: I play guitar, synths and do background vocals.
Band or Album That Inspired You to Become a Musician: Technically speaking the first answer would be my dad. I grew up watching him play guitar. We had this little music room in our house, and he turned me on to Van Halen. So pretty much the whole Van Halen discography can be attributed to why I want to play guitar today.
Favorite Song to Perform Right Now: Toss up between "Lungs," the B-side to our single, because I get to run around stage a lot. I've been having a lot of fun running to the other side to the stage that we're technically not playing on. Or "Lies," our last song so there's a lot of guitar [playing] which is fun.
Best Show You've Been to: Probably Lollapalooza 2011. I saw the Foo Fighters at a headlining show, and it was pouring rain like a torrential downpour. But Dave Grohl was still going into the crowd. It was so crazy and super fun. So that one.
Best Show You've Played: I think we're still riding the high off of our show in Maryland. We had a really great time there. Today in [New Jersey] was super, super fun, too. I also did a battle of the bands with my high school friends. We did some ridiculous stuff that I probably will never get to do again.
If Warped Tour was a circus, I would be:
I would probably be the lion tamer. The guy with the chair and the whip that's just taming.

 

 

Eian McNeely

Age: 23
Instrument: I play bass and keys.
Band or Album That Inspired You to Become a Musician: Gorillaz's Demon Days got me on bass guitar. That was the first album I could listen to and play without having to look up too much on how to play it. It was the first one I'm like, "Dang, I'm kind of a musician." And that was in high school; so that was cool.
Favorite Song to Perform Right Now: "Skin" because I'm on bass the entire time. I can run around onstage and just go wherever I want.
Best Show You've Been to: I'm going to say LCD Soundsystem at Coachella. I'm a diehard LCD Soundsystem fan. I mean after they left five years ago, I've learned the entire discography since then.
Best Show You've Played: Our show in Maryland yesterday was really fun. I had all my pedal switches down to a tea.
If Warped Tour was a circus, I would be:
I feel like me and Brennan collectively would be the two kids who would stand on top of each other inside a trench coat, and I would be the head since I'm shorter.

 

 

Brennan Benko

Age: 20
Instrument: Drums.
Band or Album That Inspired You to Become a Musician: My uncle played a couple of punk, old emo bands like Stratego and This Machine Kills. Watching the videos of him playing, and he did some tours in Japan -- that made me want to start playing the drums. I was about eight years old.
Favorite Song to Perform Right Now: I've been saying "Lungs" in other interviews. But as of today, I'd have to say "Lies." I get to show more of my abilities in that one.
Best Show You've Been to: The Decemberists at The Greek was really great. I did see an Issues and Sleeping With Sirens show a while back, and that really stuck with me because I was a huge Sleeping with Sirens fan in high school. So watching them at that moment had an impact on my life. But probably to date, it would be The Decemberists.
Best Show You've Played: I don't have an answer for that one. Honestly I've been playing so many shows throughout my life since I've started playing the drums. I don't have one single answer for that.
If Warped Tour was a circus, I would be: Probably an elephant or a giraffe -- one of the animals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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