SALT LAKE CITY — For the Signal Sound, playing together is their dream.

After releasing their music video for the alternative rock song, "Young Yet Impressive," the band is looking to build a bigger fan base and keep playing together.

The Salt Lake City band describes its music as alternative/adult contemporary/rock and was started by Mike Fralick.

Below, vocalist and guitarist Mike Fralick, lead guitarist and vocalist Merrill Tingey, bassist Colby Johnson and drummer Matt Metcalf talk about making music together.

What was the inspiration behind your video? Were you able to achieve that, or did it change?

Mike Fralick: The inspiration was simple: We needed a video, period. We wanted something that could represent the music that we’ve been working so hard on. I came in contact with Ryan Hender, who does great video work. Fortunately for us, he was a fan of our music and wanted to help us out. He came down to one of our shows and shot some great footage and made us a video. I think we achieved everything we wanted on this first video. The quality turned out great and it represents our live show as well.

What's your "origin story?" How long have you been playing music, what inspired you to create a band, etc.?

Mike Fralick: I've been writing music since I was in my early teens. The moment I picked up a guitar it was all about songwriting for me; it's just what came natural. I didn't spend much time learning the technical side of things, I just wanted to write songs. I would say songwriting ultimately is what inspired me to create a band. That's what I love about this band; they can really take the songs to a whole new level. Oftentimes, the songs turn out completely different and grow to something more than I could ever do on my own.

Give me the thousand-foot view of your sound and style:

Merrill Tingey: This question shouldn't be so hard to answer, but for some reason it is hard to come up with a way to classify it that feels right. We take a lot from our influences which span a wide range of genres, but you could probably just call it alternative rock. If you like bands like Jimmy Eat World you might like what we do. There's some '90s rock influence in there as well. Our focus is on creating the best songs we can, but for the most part we just try to play music that we love and hope that others will like it, too.

How did you find the members of your band?

Mike Fralick: I started singing a little bit with a band that Merrill was already a part of. After a brief stint with that band we parted ways. The music just wasn't right, and fortunately Merrill had a similar feeling so we decided to do something else. At this point we went on the hunt for a drummer.

We jammed with quite a few for a long time, but couldn't really land the right one. Matt is a guy I've known for quite a while and I've played music with him in the past. Life somewhat slowed down for him and he was able to make a commitment and decided to join the band. Our bass player Colby, believe it or not, we actually found here on the KSL Classifieds. He was looking for a band to play with, so we called him up. The response was really fast. I think he came over like the next day and jammed with us. It was an easy fit.

What inspires you? Who are your musical influences?

Merrill Tingey: It's cliché to say, but we really do have a wide variety of influences. We love Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters and that '90s rock- type stuff. Some of us like alt-country and blues. Bands like Taking Back Sunday, The Early November, etc. We like punk music, pop music, R&B — any music that is fun to listen to. We probably take a page or two from some of those books, but try to keep our music our own, too.

What do you tell yourself before a performance?

Matt Metcalf: I usually am telling myself, 'Don’t screw up!' No, really, I just try and remind myself to live in the moment and have fun. Playing live can be a little nerve-wracking because everybody is watching/listening to you. But at the same time it is awesome because there is a higher level of energy that just isn’t there when we practice. I also always wonder what it would be like to be in the crowd and hear our songs for the first time (for most people). So I just try and play the best I can and enjoy the brief moment that we get to be on stage and share what we have created.

Merrill Tingey: Just to make sure and have fun the whole time because if you don't have fun playing, it shows, and people don't want to watch you stand there and look bored with it all. Playing music with your friends is one of the funnest things there is to do, and I always try to remember that before going on. There are times we play to a small crowd on a weeknight, and if you take yourself too seriously you can feel like your music isn't getting the exposure you want. But if you make sure to enjoy yourself no matter what, you'll never have a bad show.

What is your five-year plan with your music?

Mike Fralick: We really just want this music to grow. That's what we ultimately want, is to start building a following. We've built a quality sound and we just want to be able to share it with people. We've done a bunch of recordings and we give it all out for free. No one buys CD's anymore, so we figured the best way to get our music out was to give it out.

Colby Johnson: Building a fan base and getting our music out to the public. Today's world is overflowing with media and music, so it can really be satisfying when someone tells you that they took the time to check out your music and that they really like it.

What has been the most exciting thing to happen in your career to date?

Matt Metcalf: The most exciting thing for me is hearing our finished recordings. It’s not necessarily this huge accomplishment, but to us it is. It’s honestly like Christmas morning when it shows up in your inbox — to hear a final, quality, mixed version of what you’ve been picturing and practicing in your head for months working on a song. Each song that we finish is really one of the most exciting things we do, and we love to keep that feeling by constantly writing and recording.

Who have you most enjoyed collaborating with, and who is your dream collaboration?

Colby Johnson: As cheesy as it sounds I would say this band. These guys around me are great musicians and really add so much to The Signal Sound. I love collaborating with them and working on new material.

Merrill Tingey: Our dream collaboration could go on and on, but if we had to name a few I would say Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, Jim Adkins or maybe Ben Gibbard? Jimi Hendrix in another life, of course.

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