By Elke Thoms
Trust us—this is an opening act you actually know. This Friday, June 27, American Authors are opening for OneRepublic and The Script at Jiffy Lube Live. Don’t recognize their name? That’s okay—if you’ve turned on your radio at all on your way to work during the past few weeks, you’ve probably heard their hit single “Best Day of My Life.” “Believer” is another recognizable tune, and both songs are off of their debut album, Oh, What a Life.
The alternative rock band’s four members—Zac Barnett (vocals), James Adam Shelley (guitar/banjo), Dave Rublin (bass) and Matt Sanchez (drums) met while attending Berklee College of Music.
“Zac was the first person James met when he walked into Berklee,” Matt, 28, recalls. “At the time, Zac was president of the Songwriting Club—nerd—and James was looking for someone to play music with. [Zac and I] met through mutual friends and had been playing in various projects together. Dave had been reaching out to various people on Facebook with the same musical tastes looking to play music. He ended up sticking!”
Back then, the band was based in Boston and went by The Blue Pages. Now the up-and-comers are Brooklyn-based and known as American Authors. The city change played a large part in the name change.
“We had just moved to Brooklyn about three years ago, and were inspired by all the new surroundings—artists, painters, sculptors, you name it. Our music changed because of all of that and we decided we needed a change as well. The Blue Pages was how we learned to play and write with each other, and American Authors is what we became,” Matt says.
Being a part of OneRepublic’s Native Summer Tour with The Script, “has been amazing, we are so lucky and humbled to be a part of it.” Matt says. However, he is not quite so humble when it comes to the band’s talents outside of music. “It’s not unusual to see an ultimate Frisbee contest between [OneRepublic, The Script, and American Authors], but we always win.”
When it comes to the show, every member of American Authors has a different favorite song to play live, but there’s one they can all agree on.
“‘Believer’ has been very special to all of us, especially since it’s our new single, and it was the first song we wrote as American Authors.” Matt concludes, “It’s amazing to see people’s reactions when we play it live.”
