Capsize give away guitars in hopes of inspiring fans to start bands

Southern California post-hardcore rockers Capsize are heading out on Warped Tour this summer and gearing up for their new album with a “pay it forward” mentality. The guys launched a series of instrument giveaways encouraging their fans to start their own bands and follow their dreams just like they did. AP talked to their vocalist, Daniel Wand, about their newfound philanthropy.

[Photo Credit: Ashley Osborn]

Where did the giveaway idea come from?

We were doing cross-promotion with a company called Legator Guitars, who at the time had been offering to do an endorsement with us and [sent] some guitars. So we took what they wanted to give to us and did a guitar giveaway. Recently, we did another [giveaway] with a guitar we had in our trailer as a backup. We didn’t have any real use for it, so we wanted to get it in the hands of someone who would.

Who do you want to win?

Before this band, and as we’ve progressed, we haven’t gotten hookup after hookup with endorsements, and as kids, we were working to earn money to get instruments. It’s been one type of work after the other to get to the next phase and be musicians for a living. Now that we have the opportunity to give kids a jumpstart, we want to take advantage of that. Hopefully whoever they ended up going to, it inspired them to pursue music harder than before when a guitar may have been out of reach.

Did these themes come into play on the new record?

It’s more a continuation of our band in the sense of I’ve accomplished everything I’ve wanted to with the creation of this band, but we’ve even gone beyond that. So we’ve had the chance to make music and have the platform to get our stuff out there, I didn’t want to just make a record for myself and [see] if other people were into it. This new one is more for the younger me who never got things like opportunities to win free guitars from bands and who was looking for a reason to be inspired by something that wasn’t already right in my face.

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I see you’ve been able to tour with some of the bands that inspired you, how was that?

It’s wild for sure. We did a tour with Silverstein, who were one of the first 10 screaming bands I’ve ever heard. Being on that tour I didn’t want to fanboy to dudes who were openly being my friend. At the same time, I would go back to the van at certain points of the night and be mindblown. For that to come all the way around, where I get to play my music then watch a band who impacted me enough to start a band, I wanted to do that for someone else.

It’s perfect that you’re doing Warped Tour this summer. You can look at the young, impressionable kids in the crowd and say, “Hey, I used to be you.” It’s a nice way of the tables turning.

I really like that you said the phrase, “I used to be you.” That’s been in my mind for the last 48 hours or so. I’ve been trying to think of the best ways to interact with these kids. At the end of the day, “I used to be you” is what makes it fun for me to be there in front of everyone.

“If at some point down the road some kid said to me, “You gave me this guitar and then I made a band.” I can’t even put into words how rewarding that would be.”

Who knows, maybe one day you could tour with the kids who won the instrument giveaways.

Yeah, that would essentially be the best that could ever come out of this giveaway situation. I haven’t been reached out to yet by the people who have won, but if at some point down the road some kid said to me, “You gave me this guitar and then I made a band.” I can’t even put into words how rewarding that would be. That is the point of it. I’m not looking to be thanked up and down by these kids, but the idea that we could possibly be someone’s spark that makes them go from liking music to playing it is exactly what I’m looking to do.