Last month, I participated on the judge panel for the “Athens Unsigned” battle of the bands event at Livewire Athens. That night, The Space Time Travelers did a live performance that scored highest and moved onto the finale. After their immense success in this local competition, it seemed only fair to inquire about their continuing success in the industry.

This past Sunday, I met up with Austin Green (Guitar/Vox), Ian Mastrogiacomo (Bass/Vox), and Zack Falls (Drums), at Hendershots to discuss their music career and aspirations over coffee.

The three young men seem to have one thing in common: they want to stay true to themselves and play music for the passion as opposed to the fame. When asked about their experience at Livewire, Ian said, “it was a great experience, you know, we got a lot of production for super cheap, we got two shows with really awesome lighting and sound, and the guys working over there were super helpful. I’m not trying to be a diva or anything, but it’s nice when you can just be like, 'hey, can I get a water?'” Zack then added, “We’re not super huge fans of competition, but I guess it’s good to be in that environment and deal with the pressure.”

Needing water makes you a live performer, not a diva! However, it was refreshing to hear how grounded this funk rock band's outlook is on their career.

I asked what venue was their favorite to perform at so far, and the Georgia Theatre was a unanimous decision. According to Austin, “It’s a rare opportunity and you get to play with a crew of people. The sound guys and crew at the Georgia Theatre know what they’re doing, so you don’t have to worry about anything. It was a great crowd, a huge stage, and a lot of fun.”

Austin even said later in the interview that his musical inspiration is John Mayer, who also got started in Athens.

After some discussion on the type of music the band plays, which can be found on SoundCloud, I asked about their vision for the band in the upcoming years. Zack said, “The bottom line would be to sustain ourselves as musicians and make a decent living to the point where we can continue to go on the road, play shows, make music and live a life doing that and it’s really to do hard these days.” He took a few seconds, and then added, “You know, at the top would be to win Grammys and be huge and world-renowned.”

It’s safe to say that The Space Time Travelers has the support of Athens music lovers!

You can check out some clips from the interview below: