That's What V Said

Long Division may be a math term, but the first subject that comes to mind when speaking with the band is chemistry.

Their ages span from 18 to 26, Wes being the youngest and CJ being the oldest. However, when speaking to them before a show that Wes and Andrew (24) booked through their booking agency, INNERLOUPE LLC, at 37th & Zen last Thursday, the laughing was endless.

Doug, 22, said he was the lead singer, when the band is all instrumental. Doug said, “I try to play guitar.” Wes and Andrew also play guitar, Joel plays the drums and CJ plays the bass and trumpet. Without a singer or any lyrics, the band feels that allows the listener’s to interpret the music in their own way.

The band has been together for a year and a half. They self-released their album “Calm Before” on May 1. Long Division will be playing at The Taphouse in Norfolk on Saturday, July 31 with Churn.

“We did everything ourselves, no label or anything” Doug said. Long Division doesn’t currently have a label. They’re not really worried about finding one either.

“We’re actually not looking for one. There’s not a whole lot they can offer us that we can’t do for ourselves at this point,” Joel said.

“This day and age with accessibility to recording as well as distribution, well the way distribution has changed in the internet generation and the fact that people don’t really buy albums, the need for labels is less troubling,” CJ said.

Many of the band members have jobs and/or school aside from being in Long Division. They all agree that they are eager to tour but are now just booking weekend gigs.

“It’s not real efficient to go out and tour the country and take your entire vacation off of work, so we just head out on weekends, maybe out to Richmond then go a little further the next day then go home. We spread it out that way, all within a drivable radius from the hometown here,” Joel said.

Managing school and work and the band can be a hassle, but the band agrees that they do it for the love of music.

“We love music, that’s what we wanna do,” Wes said.

Despite the busy week schedules shared by all the band mates and only being able to do short tours on weekends, Joel said they do well. “We’re really fortunate in the fact that we actually have enough support here in the home, Norfolk, that we don’t have to come way out of pocket for a lot of our expenses. Things are going really well right now so everyone’s still willing to pay the sacrifices,” Joel said.

When asked who complains the most, everyone agreed that it was Doug.

“I complain about everything,” Doug said and laughed. “I’m a complainer.”

“Doug never complains about being tired, he complains about everything else,” Joel said.

Doug said, “I’m never tired.”

“You’re upset about everything else though. Maybe you should get some sleep,” Joel said.

Long Division gets along well, sometimes. Their chemistry is similar to the back and forth dialogue between Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in Wedding Crashers. They are laughing or debating.

“We do get along very well but we do have our differences. We’re all very opinionated people, especially Doug, Andrew and I,” CJ said.

“Sometimes that’s what makes it so good. I think we decided we can all collectively agree on three bands that we all like?” Wes said.

“What’s the third?” Doug asked, and then they all started laughing. The two bands they agreed on easily were Rage Against The Machine and the Beastie Boys. Weezer was iffy.

“Did we all agree on Weezer?” Doug asked.

Agreeing on the band name was a challenge, but Long Division was the winner because they all thought it was a relatable term, since many individuals can remember doing long division in elementary school. “People can connect with it,” Wes said.

During the interview, there was an interruption by Alex, a member of the band Shine Runner who identified himself as “Alexander Rob Mother Fucking Laws.” He had been in a serious car accident about four weeks ago.

“I know for a fact that I’m living because Long Division’s prayers kept my ass alive,” Laws said. “Amongst the music scene is this town right now, there’s many different friends that operate around this bar, and you look at me then you look at [Long Division], you would never think that we’re friends but we’re actually close friends.” Alex’s arms are covered in tattoos, his nose was pierced and he was wearing a belt buckle with Neil Diamond’s face on it.

“We love you Alex,” one of Long Division’s members said.

“We love you back. And by we, I mean me and, uh, my penis,” Laws said, as everyone started laughing.

After Alex left, the men of Long Division started discussing their music style. They agree that they don’t think they’ll ever get a singer, but if they did they would consider getting Will.

Will is the name of a guy from the band Digging Up Virgins who sang on stage with them when they were doing Battle of the Bands in November at the College of William & Mary. They all said they thought they would lose because he was basically doing “spoken word” and promising he would personally buy everyone Tombstone pizzas with his band’s winnings.

“He had an awful lot of a specific brand of crop that night. He was outright hilarious,” Joel said. Long Division ended up winning the Battle of the Bands.

When asked what their aspirations for their band are, CJ said, “I wanna play for 100,000 people…in Europe.”

Wes said, “I look forward to all the after parties from our shows.”

“To be able to create something with a lasting and meaningful effect on someone else or a group of people,” Andrew said.

“If you can affect someone’s life in a positive way by putting music out there, I’m down for it,” Doug said.

“I one day hope to be poor from playing music than poor from working full time,” Joel said.

Andrew and Wes’ booking agency can be found on innerloupe.com. More information on Long Division and their album “Calm Before” can be found on longdivisionband.com.