Hailing from Kansas City, Kansas, Get Busy Living first jumped on the pop punk music scene in 2008 as KISS AND TELL and toured for a few years before changing up their line up and becoming Get Busy Living in 2011. Since then, they have put out two EPs on their own—‘Don’t Back Down’ and ‘All Good Memories Fade’—with their signature sound comparable to Four Year Strong, Mayday Parade, and New Found Glory. Get Busy Living continues to move forward with determination and will be recording their first full-length album in the fall at Standby Records’ studio and are hoping to tour full-time in 2015. Be sure to check out their upcoming show with The Ready Set if you’re around Kansas.

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Mike O’Keefe: How was growing up around Kansas City? Describe your hometown a little bit.

Chase Petersen: Well, growing up around here, Kansas in general, sometimes is a little low key. It’s not as big as other cities that you could live in. We’ve got a lot of good barbecue though, so that’s good. The music scene, pop-punk has always been around. It’s a good place to grow up, a good place to raise a family.

Photo courtesy | Zach Werner

MO: What would you suggest a first-time visitor to see or do?

CP: I would suggest going to one of sports games for sure. Going to Kauffman Stadium or Arrowhead Stadium. Then in downtown Kansas City there is the Power & Light District, which are basically two huge levels of bars. They have huge acts coming from all over the place. Right next to it is Sprint Center Arena. For or five months ago I saw Kevin Hart there. There’s lots of good stuff down there.

MO: Definitely sounds like a great time. Who are some artists that you can credit with influencing your music?

CP: The early Nirvana, Green Day of course, Weezer, Blink-182, A Day to Remember, Fall Out Boy and Hit the Lights too — all that pop-punk stuff. We get into some 80’s hair-metal bands.

MO: Yeah, some things will never die. They just keep on going. Describe playing Warped Tour. What was that like?

CP: Oh man, the experience was great. It’s crazy. There were so many kinds of people there, so many kinds of bands. We hope for next year to try and do more of that. It was definitely something that I wanted to do since I was a young kid. My brother took me to my first one when I was younger. He, my dad and my wife got to be there so it was a cool thing. It was a really good experience.

MO: That’s awesome! You also toured with Rookie of the Year this past summer?

CP: Yeah, it was a hell of fun. We’ve known Ryan from Rookie of the Year since 2009. It was kind of like meeting up with an old friend we hadn’t seen in a while. He’s a phenomenal artist. Definitely partied with him pretty hard. All around it was great to go around the country with him into the Midwest area. It was all-around fun to get out and about, to get out of Kansas.

Photo courtesy | Neil Kremer

MO: Out of all the cities that you’ve performed in are there any that stand out in terms of crowd atmosphere?

CP: To be honest, one of the best times we’ve had was actually back in 2010, we weren’t named Get Busy Living then, but we played in West Hollywood at the Viper Room. It was our first time out there. It was a decent crowd. It’s a small venue, but people loved a pop-punk band from Kansas rolling up there. It was just really cool to be in the Viper Room. As far as Get Busy Living, it was Warped Tour. People there are very open to new bands.

MO: I would have to say sometimes even the smaller shows are the best. The atmosphere is completely different. It’s more intimate.

CP: Yeah, it’s very intimate and sweaty!

Photo courtesy | Christopher

MO: Yeah, that’s great. When visiting a new location what’s the first thing you guys try and do?

CP: We basically go to the venue, check it out and then we’ve got to find some place to eat. We always ask where’s the best local food. We don’t want to get anything that’s a major corporation that we can get anywhere. We always try to find something that’s different. In Chicago we went to this nice little Pilipino restaurant that was pretty dope.

MO: How does music and travel fit together?

CP: It’s a bit interesting, I can tell you that. It’s very interesting to be able to do that. I think it’s part of the way. To be in music [travel] is part of everything. You’ve got to do it.

MO: What is the first destination that comes to mind when you hear the word “vacation”?

CP: Oh man, I would say Hawaii. I had an interesting time there when I was right out of high school. My brother lived there. I love to surf and the beach is where I want to be. I’m a fish. I’m definitely not staying in Kansas long.

Photo courtesy | Sunova Surfboards

MO: Yeah, just paradise. Everyone has a bucket list. What are three destinations on yours as musician that you want to play?

CP: I would love to play in Sydney, Australia. That’s where my wife is from and I know that they love pop-punk. I would love to also play over in the [United Kingdom]. Then somewhere in Brazil — somewhere down there. I love those areas of the world. They’re really supportive of pop-punk and music in general.

MO: It ties in to the cultures there. When creating music where does the inspiration come from?

CP: Every day life and anything from our past that we’ve been through. The dumb things we did in high school and all the fun times we had. Political stuff – anything that would make us feel a certain way. As a musician and an artist you should definitely be writing your own stuff so people can relate to it.

Photo courtesy | Andrew Fysh

MO: Lastly, to wrap it up, are there any trips or tours planned coming up?

CP: Right now, our booking agent is working on our tour. We’re going to start in Nashville, Tennessee. We’re going to make our way up towards you guys [in New York], then coming back down the East Coast. We’re trying to land warped tour, and then we’ll be everywhere. For personal, for Christmas 2016, we’re planning on going back to Australia, instead of staying here in the cold.

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