Baltimore band FIVES, made up of vocalist Marc Cashin, keyboardist Matt White, Nate Lanzino, Billy Toti, and Max Rosenstein, blend jams in a perfect meld of acoustic rock and indie pop (with some electronica thrown into the mix) with their sound. After a band Marc and Matt were in fizzled out, the pair started FIVES as their own project. “We wanted guys that would take the band seriously, and had really solid musical chops!”

FIVES just released their EP Heart and Thunder, which represents a change in their sound. "It has evolved over the past couple of years — more layers, more synths, drums that you might find on a current EDM track, and maybe a touch of the '80s." Today, they are  are premiering "Lovers in Lullaby" on Myspace. Hear it below!

Hometown: We all grew up in different parts of the country; Maryland, Indiana, New Jersey, and Hawaii. Most of us come from small towns so the Baltimore/DC area is much bigger and metropolitan.

Why are you called FIVES?

We laugh because everyone always asks that question, and we have such a lame answer. We keep saying that we should create a really crazy backstory - but the real answer is that each member of the band got to place three names into a hat and we randomly drew one. There were some pretty bad options in that hat - we narrowly avoided Chimp Overboard and Mourning Would!

Describe your music to someone who's never heard you before.

We have an acoustic influence underneath layers of indie pop and rock.

What's the story behind your EP  Heart & Thunder?

The words heart and thunder represent the good and bad parts of relationships. All of the songs on the EP are about love, but they aren't necessarily "love songs". We wanted to capture the emotions of real relationships, not the sappy perfect kinds of love songs that you typically find in pop music. Lyrically and tonally we wanted to show the ups and downs, the excitement of sharing that first moment of eye contact, the struggle to find love at the same time, and the fear of unrequited love and commitment.

What inspired you to write "Lovers in Lullaby"?

“Lovers” is lyrically sexy. It's about a passionate romance that was so intense it burned out quickly. Musically there is a lot of tension. The whole song feels like you're sneaking out to do something you're not supposed to do which is both exhilarating and nerve-wracking. We are currently working on a video for this song - it has been fun exploring some of these themes in a visual way and we can't wait for people to see it!

Who are your biggest musical influences?

We all have very eclectic tastes in music; we listen to The 1975 , Radiohead, Coldplay, The Griswolds, Gallant, Kanye. There's so much good music out there that it's impossible to be influenced by only one type.

You’re from Baltimore/Washington as a band; does that influence your music?

Not really. You would think that living in the nation's capital we would feel the influence of politics and the related craziness of the past year, but after you live here for a while, you become desensitized to it. It wasn't intentional, but our song-writing process for this album was very personal — we didn't leave much room for external influence.

Do you have day jobs? What do you do for fun?

Marc: I spend a lot of time on my Triumph Bonneville motorcycle, but outside of FIVES I'm also a firefighter with the Baltimore City Fire Department. I'm a member of our Special Operations Command. In addition to regular firefighting and EMS responsibilities, we're also responsible for rescuing people who get trapped in extraordinary situations. If a window washer gets stuck on a skyscraper, a person gets trapped under a collapsed building, someone drives their car into the water, or someone gets exposed to hazardous chemicals , it's our job to help. It's a dangerous and exciting job — almost as exciting being on stage.

If you were a hashtag, what would you be?

#yestherearefivepeopleintheband or maybe #FIVESnotTheFIVES

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