PropertyOfZack had the chance to interview the lovely sisters in Eisley just a week ago while the band was right in the middle of their fall headlining tour. Sherri, Chauntelle, Stacy, and I discussed their new record, album, and future touring plans. It’s a great interview so read up!

For the record, could you state your names and roles in Eisley?
Stacy: I’m Stacy and I sing and play keyboard.
Sherri: I’m Sherri and I play guitar and sing.
Chauntelle: I play the guitar and sing a little bit.

You’re a few weeks into the Over The River And Through The Woods Tour. How have you been enjoying it so far?
Stacy: It’s been fun.
Chauntelle: It’s been really nice to see people coming to the shows just because we haven’t been out in so long. We weren’t sure if people were still going to remember us. It’s been great.

The band did a Midwest tour this summer but haven’t really been on the east side since the Say Anything tour last year. Is it nice to hit some spots that have been missing out on you?
Sherri: Yeah, it’s really fun. Long Island, where we are today, we haven’t played in about four years probably. Is that right? Yeah. It’s nice being back here. We’re still at the beginning of the tour too, so we’re just getting warmed up.

How was the Midwest tour this summer?
Sherri: Really fun. It was pretty quick. It was like two weeks.
Stacy: It was like a breeze.
Sherri: I think we were still kind of trying to wrap our heads around what it’s like to tour again because we hadn’t done it in so long.

What’s the general mix of songs you guys are playing night in and night out?
Chauntelle: We’re doing a pretty broad range of material from all our records.
Stacy: Yeah, I think we’re doing about three new songs. It really helps us emotionally be able to perform better because we’ve got some new material and we’re not just playing the same old songs that we’ve been playing for like ten years.
Sherri: We are playing some old stuff too. Some off of our first record.
POZ: Have the fans been receptive to the new material?
Sherri: Thankfully.

So in the beginning of the year Eisley announced that it has officially left Warner Bros, your long time home. Eight months later, how does it feel to still be “free” as you guys called it?
Sherri: It’s awesome.
Chauntelle: It’s great.
Sherri: We’re not officially off. It’s in the last very little workings. The show we had in New York we were kind of meeting with, we can’t say who, but it’s going to happen.
Stacy: We had a label date.
Sherri: We had a label date with our new indie label who are amazing. We’re really excited to work with them. We basically met the whole label last night. It’s a small group, but they’re so personable and they know you and you know everyone. It’s very refreshing.
POZ: So that’s pretty much set in stone?
Sherri: Oh yeah.
POZ: You guys are a family band, obviously, so is it nice to be on a smaller knit label?
Stacy: Yeah, definitely. Family’s a good word, because they are like a family unit. They work together, it’s small, everybody knows what everyone’s doing. It’s not corporate by any means.
POZ: It’s got to be nice not to be just a number.
Chauntelle: Right.
Sherri: It shouldn’t be done any other way. Unless you’re on the radio and are making millions and you need all that big kind of corporate machine to compete. Otherwise I don’t why you would do it any different.

So the next record will definitely be released on that label?
Full band: Yes.

What is the status on the new record?
Sherri: It’s done. We finished it. It’s mixed and everything now.
Stacy: It’s just sitting there, waiting.
Sherri: It’s done and we’ve been mixing it. We have to summon it now.
POZ: When did you guys get done with it?
Sherri: We finished mixing it just this month I think. But we finished recording it last…
Chauntelle: Last summer.
POZ: So is that really frustrating?
Sherri: You have no idea.
Stacy: Yeah, it’s a definite stall. Your life is basically put on hold.
Sherri: It’s hard in the creative industry too, to keep your inspiration kind of flowing whenever there’s that kind of stuff stifling you.
Chauntelle: It’s hard to keep pacifying fans and say, “It’s coming, really, it’s coming.”
Sherri: We’re the ones freaking out wondering if it’s every going to happen. We’re going to have to go get a job at…Taco Bell and figure out a new path with my life. I’m kidding [Laughs]. We’d keep doing it no matter what.

Should we expect it to be released in the first quarter of 2011
Sherri: Yeah, for sure.
Stacy: Spring, early next spring.

How was the writing process for it in terms of previous material?
Stacy: Kind of the same, I want to say. Kind of speedy and easy.
Chauntelle: All the songs kind of came out really fast.
Stacy: I’m speaking for the writers; I don’t write.
Sherri: You write your stuff. Melodies and guitar solos.
Stacy: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Chauntelle: I don’t even remember writing it, actually.
Sherri: It all really came really fast. We went through this kind of crazy period in our lives and I think that gave us all this miracle inspiration and all this stuff kind of tumbled out and it was basically written. We went and recorded it and yeah.

Since there has been so much downtime since the album was finished up have you guys continued writing?
Stacy: I do.
Sherri: I honestly haven’t written anything since we finished. It was such a blow when we got all done and they were like, “We’re probably not going to put this out.” So I was kind of like, “What am I doing?” I haven’t written anything, but Stacy has.
Stacy: It definitely bothered me, but I’ve written stuff.

Eisley released the Fire Kite EP this time last year. How was the reception to that?
Chauntelle: Well, from the response we’ve been getting live when we play “Ambulance,” I think so.
Sherri: That song has gotten a lot of positive response.

Nothing else is on the books for touring after you finish up Through The Woods. When should we expect to see some more dates?
Sherri: There probably won’t be anymore touring this year because the holidays and all that stuff.
Chauntelle: When the New Year comes around we’ll definitely be on tour.
Stacy: We’ll have tnew songs to play.
Sherri: We’ll be able to play a bunch of new songs live. It’s gonna be great.

Would you guys like to do more headlining tours for that?
Sherri: Headlining tours are good for your moral because people are coming to see you.
Stacy: You have time on stage. You can hang out all day and play your show.
Sherri: Opening on tour is fun too though. It’s just different. It also is less pressure and less stress. You go in and play your 45-minute set and it’s so short and then it’s done.

Would you guys possibly like to do Europe sometime next year?
Stacy: Don’t even say it.
Chauntelle: We want to so badly.
Stacy: We get so many requests from everywhere. I’m talking Indonesia.
Sherri: I’m talking China. Brazil. We get so many requests from Brazil. Brazilians, they love the American music.
Chauntelle: I want to go to Paris.

Is there anything else from the Eisley camp we should know about? Maybe a new song off of the record?
Sherri: Yeah, we maybe will do that. Release some kind of a song to maybe set up the record. Maybe release a Christmas song or something. I don’t know.
Chauntelle: We’ll probably release something.
Sherri: Now that we’re on a label we can do whatever we want. Our new label…they’re so nice.

When might we see the label announcement?
Sherri: Next couple weeks.
Chauntelle: Maybe on this tour.

Thanks so much for your time!
Full band: Thank you.