Every aspiring artist knows the difficulty of building a career in music. As they know, the road to success is one that involves sacrifice, commitment, and passion for music.
Take it from up-and-coming American boy band, ‘Why Don’t We’ who’s recent success stems from a sincere devotion to music, long hours of practice, and a good understanding of pop culture.
Why Don’t We was formed back in 2016 with band members, Zach Herron, Daniel Seavey, Corbyn Besson, Jonah Marais, and Jack Avery. Since forming two years ago, the band’s released three EPs and five singles.
Their latest track, ‘Trust Fund Baby,’ was written by Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter, Ed Sheeran and has reached Top 3 in the overall Billboard iTunes chart when it released earlier this month.
Currently, the band is on its biggest tour to date — ‘The Invitation Tour,’ which holds shows across North America and is set to wrap up late April.
But before their tour ends, INQPOP! got a chance to talk to Zach Herron from Why Don’t We about his music, his experiences on The Invitation Tour, his plans for the band, his ideal girl, and his message for Filipino fans.
Here are the 5 jaw-dropping details we got from our interview:
Ed Sheeran was a major inspiration for Zach Herron’s music
When we started our interview with Zach Herron, the first thing we asked him was who or what inspired his music. And immediately, he replied that the British singer Ed Sheeran was the source of his inspiration.
Herron tells INQPOP!, “A lot of our music for me personally, is inspired by Ed Sheeran — just because I’ve looked up to Ed a lot recently. And he actually wrote our song, ‘Trust Fund Baby’ which is very crazy because the first song I ever learned [to play] on the guitar was ‘Thinking Out Loud.’ So, he’s been an inspiration for me and just writing music. [I’ve] always looked up to Ed Sheeran — he’s a great writer, [and] a great person.”
So when Herron first learned that his idol, Ed Sheeran, was the man behind their 2018 hit, ‘Trust Fund Baby,’ he admits he and his fellow bandmates were starstruck.
“I think we all just screamed really loud. [And] I ran for two miles! But honestly, just to have Ed Sheeran write a song [for us] was insane. I freaked out and I called my parents and was like, ‘Guys, you won’t believe this!’” Herron recalls.
Like many of us fans, we understand how Herron felt knowing that Ed Sheeran wrote one of their songs. Hopefully, this won’t be the last collaboration between the band and Ed Sheeran!
‘The Invitation Tour’ challenges Zach Herron as a performer
Why Don’t We went on two tours prior to The Invitation Tour. However, Herron tells us he felt a bit more challenged in The Invitation Tour, as they had more songs to present, more outfit changes, and more people coming in to watch them perform.
“We didn’t really have production and music to show [before], we just had one EP out — it’s only 5 songs. Now, we have a full hour and 15-minute set. Actually the first day on-tour, I got nervous because there’s a lot of people [watching us]. And the main thing on my mind is that we have a couple of outfit changes that we do throughout the show. Those scared me because obviously, you go off stage and you have a certain amount of time that you have to change. So, being on stage, there’s a lot of pressure on me to change real quick,” Herron shares with INQPOP!
Although this was a hurdle for Herron, he says he’s gotten through it and it’s made him a better performer for their succeeding shows.
Additionally, he credits his fellow bandmates in making his experiences on-tour that much more memorable.
“Being in a group, being in a band is a big thing for me because you get to share your experiences with four other guys. When we get offstage, we all just talk about things that we did on stage. So we laugh about things together and it’s just better to have four guys to experience it all [with].”
Why Don’t We hopes to release new music and videos in the near future
After The Invitation Tour wraps up in April, Herron says the band plans on going to Europe and possibly releasing more music.
Herron teases, “after the tour wraps up in April, we actually go on to our Europe tour. And then while we’re doing our tour out there, we’re recording stuff, which I can’t say yet. Then, maybe after the tour, we’ll be releasing an album.”
We sure can’t wait to see what Why Don’t We comes up with, in the coming months!
Zach Herron wants a girl that he can easily ‘connect’ with
The interview wouldn’t be complete without asking Herron what he looks for in an ‘ideal’ girlfriend. To our surprise, Herron candidly says that he simply looks for a ‘connection’ with a girl he likes.
“If a girl can make me laugh and just seriously make me happy then, we’re good. That’s the main thing for me — if we just connect instantly, [like] right off the bat, then it’s meant to be. Then, she’s the one,” he explains.
We’re pretty sure girls everywhere would be swooning right now with Herron’s statement!
Zach Herron is thankful for all his Filipino fans
Finally, our interview concluded with Zach Herron’s special message to Filipino fans:
“I see you guys (Filipinos) everywhere on the internet, on social media. Every time I get on [social media], you guys are just blowing up my notifications. [Because of this] I can’t wait to go to the Philippines and just to see you guys ‘cause I see you guys on my feed all the time. You guys are just freaking out over our music and always sharing our content. So, I just want to say, thank you guys for all that, and we love you!”
Fans in North America can catch ‘Why Don’t We’ on The Invitation Tour from February 27 to April 25, 2018!
For more details, visit the Why Don’t We website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.
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