Featured Rock the Vote Artist

Song Name	Artist	Album	Genre	Time
1. Grow So Wild & Free [Explicit]	White Wives	Happeners	Alternative	3:21
2. Indian Summer, Indian Summer	White Wives	Happeners	Alternative	5:16

White Wives

As answered by Roger Lawrence Harvey

Tell us about your first concert experience:


The first show I have a clear memory of attending was on Halloween
 night 1996 at the Center For The Arts in Erie, Pennsylvania. Erie is
 about 20 miles east of the small farm town I was raised in. I was ten
 years old at the time and had met some older kids through music that 
invited me out to the show. It was a costume party. The were lots of 
bands, fog machines, and loud electric guitars. 

I remember feeling at home for the first time among all the strange
 creative kids. Everyone was so much older and seemed so individual and
 the thought of an abstract community like the one I had discovered
 that night was very comforting. I felt like I finally found a place 
where I could be myself.



If you couldn’t be a musician, what would you be doing instead?


There are lots of ways of living. I have found a lot of peace in 
sharing songs and feel that it is a way of spreading compassion and
 effecting situations around me. It sometimes can be frustrating being 
involved in a lifestyle that is considered counterculture. In the
 sense, that I find myself in situations often times when people are
 very intrigued by a life built in traveling and singing songs. I 
believe in this life more than anything but also hate to see
 lifestyles considered more simple or more ordinary thrown by the 
wayside because of the attraction of what's unfamiliar.

 I believe that lifestyles should not be discredited but rather that 
perspectives should be changed. There are many ways to live and many
 ways to positively effective the world around you. You do not have to 
be the President Of The United States or a famous singer to make the world a more gentle place. It's just important to bear the right perspective and believe in the things you surround yourself with.



If you could collaborate with one artist, living or dead, who would
 it be and why?


Neil Young. His consistency with his songs as well his radical social
 agenda make for a songwriter that is not only well-versed in his craft
but also has remained absolutely relevant over the years. Mainly, I 
want him to teach me how to play the electric guitar through all those
 inconsistent amplifiers of his. He recorded Mirror Ball with Pearl 
Jam. White Wives are into collaborating if Crazy Horse ever gets busy.
 That's all I'm saying.



If you became President, what is the first action you would take?


Engage the American Public the most disengaged country in the Western World.



What social cause is closest to your heart?

Women's equality is very prevalent in my everyday lifestyle since I
 was young. I come from a predominately female family and all my
 sisters had a profound effect on me when I was growing up. Stereotypes 
of gender roles are very skewed in my mind and I take a lot of pride
in that. I live with 3 women that are my best friends. Reflections of machoism and chauvinism are very offensive to me and hard for me to understand.

 Intolerance and reactionary violence there of destroys the world around
 us. I do not accept intolerance based on gender, nationality, sexual
 preference, or class. But I do believe that understanding these issues
 is just a piece of the puzzle for a kinder world. Kindness and 
acceptance are two of the most powerful qualities we can possess. That 
does not make them easy for everyone to accept and learn to understand but does make them most definitely worth fighting for.



What does the right to vote mean to you?


Voting is the most simplistic way in the American political construct to get
 involved. It is not the means to an end but by all means is a proper introduction 
to organizing and initiating change. The west has a way of excluding 
the people (i.e. not the politicians and law-makers) from the
 political process. This has created an atmosphere of disinterest and
 distraction. Unfortunately the youth, like myself, get the most 
sidetracked. They raise us to feel empty and helpless. 

I believe in the power of youth. It is so important for each and
 everyone of us to invest ourselves in the processes that positively 
effect the world around us. Something as simple and powerful as our
 right to vote should never be taken for granted.



What bands or artists did you listen to when you were in high
 school?  And which bands or artists influenced your style the most?


A childhood friend of mine (Nick Oshlick) gave me a cassette tape when 
I was 14 years old that our traveler friend Steph had made for him. Steph was older than us and had seen half the world by this point.
 Nick passed it down the line to me. On it was lots of albums in
 inconsistent track orderings depending on what songs Stephanie had liked the 
most. 

Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
 The Weakerthans - Left & Leaving
 The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
 Pedro The Lion - It's Hard To Find A Friend
 Desaparecidos - Read Music. Speak Spanish.
& Cursive - Domestica 

At the end of the 90 minutes the tape just cut off mid-song, like
 something that was never supposed to end. I listened to that mix tape 
religiously until my Dad's player ate it for keeps.



What activity or group were you involved with in high school that 
might surprise people today?


I was very lucky to be homeschooled for the majority of my high school
 education. I spent only 4 months in the 10th grade. And spent the rest 
of my high school education writing papers from the road on tour with 
my friends bands and later playing in bands myself. My Mother was very
 skeptical, but very supportive. I was kind of a wild child.



What's the biggest obstacle that you had to overcome in high school?

I think the construct of the public school system is very challenging
 on a lot of levels, especially for creative kids. I was always 
struggling with how I fit in or if I fit in at all. I was always the
 smallest kid in class. I always felt like my presence was a little too
 confrontational for a lot of my classmates. The truth is in high school
 weather your a skinny indie kid or the star running back your struggle 
is very similar. It's your reaction to that struggle that is
 different. I embraced my sensitivity for sure, that didn't make me
 very popular.



Do you do any volunteer or community work when you're not on tour?


I stay involved in my community as much as possible when I'm not on 
the road. I’m very lucky to be a part of a very progressive and
 productive neighborhood in Pittsburgh. The North side. 

I help with different community events and run an open mic at a local
 coffee shop that doubles as a community center for local artist. As I
 mentioned before I believe in positive change and progressive living 
in many forms. The most important step is staying involved.



What change would you like to see in our society in the next year?


I'd like to think we are in a better spot with the last presidential campaign. I do believe that Barrack Obama has made steps in the right 
direction for the most times archaic American political system. A 
progressive direction. It is not the end of the fight it again is just 
the beginning but I believe if we, in the coming years, as the public
 can stay focused on our progressive goals and reward ourselves with
 our accomplishments along the way positivity is bound to keep coming.
 My fingers are crossed for a more kind and more gentle society.