Kings and Counselors: An Interview With Write This Down

Starring:

Nate Rockwell: Guitar & Melodic Vocals

Johnny Ortiz: Screaming & Toughguy Vocals

Andy Kalyvas: Bass Guitar

Conducted by Tommy Rehbein

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon. I was sitting at the newly opened Beat Coffee Shop in Uptown Minneapolis sipping on an iced caramel latte awaiting the arrival of Write This Down members for the following interview. My computer decided not to work, so The Beat graciously let me use one of theirs. A few minutes later, three not-so-clean-cut but very smiley gentlemen strolled in and we pulled up some chairs. The following conversation is what took place.

TR: First off, Let’s talk about the MPLSSCENE.com message board controversy. Essentially, someone else used your name falsely to defame This is Morning.

NR: We love This Is Morning! Our first 6 months playing shows we played w/ them every month and we’re proud of their success. We’d never criticize them about their creativity. O’Hal makes me smile.

TR: People who use others’ names to shit-talk are kind of cowards…

NR: For sure, huge cowards. It’ll blow over. As long as we’re around there’ll be drama. Something you gotta deal with.

TR: So, for the record, that was not you guys talking shit. You say there will always be drama/controversy surrounding the band. Let’s address some of it. While you’re not a proselytizing band, you don’t hide your faith, either. Has this been an issue for you guys?

NR: Yes…

AK: It’s just difficult. People judge a lot. I guess we just kind of run into some people who think we’re more than we are. We are just people who make mistakes a lot.

NR: A lot of people of people criticize us for jumping on the “Christian bandwagon” because The Chariot, Norma Jean and Underoath are doing well, but our faith is our own.

TR: You’re obviously not using your faith to market your music to Christian kids. You rarely play straight-up Christian shows.

JO: That is just our background. Its something we live out in our lives.

TR: Do you catch flack from the Christian side?

NR: Even more from the Christian side, which is kind of sad.

AK: People live in kind of a box.

NR: We find the more secular the show, the more open the audience, and the more Christian the show, the more judgmental the audience.

TR: Kind of like the Christians hold you under a magnifying glass?

JO: Yeah, our tiny mistakes are magnified.

TR: People tend to blow shit out of proportion, huh?

AK: But there are people under the Christian blanket who are really helpful, too.

TR: Generally, if you get attacked by Christians, what do they go after?

NR: We’ll go to a show after-party and just chill, and some people think that’s wrong. But Jesus would hang out at the parties. He hung out with people the were looked down upon.

AK: I just want to love the people we’re around. If we can effectively love people, whether through out music, our actions, or hanging out, that’s what we want to do.

JO: We view ourselves as equals. We’re struggling with everyone. We just want to help people out and a lot of people help us out.

TR: You talk about Christiani and secular music - Do you guys consciously make a distinction between the two?

AK: If we’re selling shoes at a shoe store, we’re still Christians. If we’re making music, we’re still Christians. We write what we know about.

NR: Our faith comes out in our music because that a big part of who we are.

JO: But we’re not here to force anything on anyone. We’re just people.

TR: So, your background will inevitably come out in your world view, just like 50 Cent came from a rough part of Detroit; it comes out in his music.

NR: Write This Down is just like 50 Cent!

TR: Let talk about your CD. I’ve been trying to figure out if there’s a play on words in the title “Alarm the Alarm.”

NR:: Every song title is random and doesn’t mean anything. Our old practice space had a horrible alarm system that always went off and a poster there said “ALARM THE ALARM” and we were like, “What does that mean?”

AK: There’s no double meaning. I wish we were that smart.

TR: So, it was jut a funny poster and you thought it’d make a good title?

NR: Yeah, basically.

TR: It seems, like any band, you’re kind of sick of your first CD already and aren’t super into it anymore.

NR: Nah, it’s just… We recorded almost a year ago. Since then, we’ve been writing new stuff and our sound changed a bit. The CD is a little more poppy. There’s a slow song, more singing, etc. The newer stuff is heavier, more hardcore, not so sing-y. Once Johnny joined the band, our sound transformed to a heavier sound.

TR: That whole scenario seems common with a lot of bands and their debuts.

NR: This month we’re doing some new demos to get the new stuff out there. We only play a couple songs off the CD still.

TR: Who are you demoing with?

AK: Either Jonny B or Andy Toybox. It’s still up in the air.

TR: What are you hoping to accomplish with the new demos?

NR: Well, the main thing is so fans can hear our new sound. On the business side, we’ll put together press kits for labels and such.

TR: Do you plan on any touring?

AK: The majority of the summer we’ll be touring.

TR: That is a smart move. A lot of bands just sit around waiting for deals to fall in their laps.

AK: This summer will be fun. We definitely plan on having a lot of late-night BBQs and midday swims.

TR: Are you going to college again in the fall?

NR: Starting May, the band goes full time from here on out.

TR: It will be nice for you to get away from the oppressive NCU environment [North Central University – A very legalistic Bible college]…

AK: I don’t mind NCU. I don’t like it, but I don’t mind it.

TR: Well, ya know…

AK: We’re kind of a weird band in Minneapolis.

TR: How so, guys?

AK: We play with the metal bands, or like the Semester, and either people love us or hate us.

TR: I don’t think you’re that weird. Hybrids of metal-core and emo-pop are fairly commonplace. Anyway… So, we’ll wrap this up. The plan is to demo, shop, tour…

NR: Take it full time, maybe take a few showers.

AK: The grind.

NR: I think this past year and a half we’ve build our name up in Minneapolis.

TR: Time to hit the road before you kill your local draw.

ALL: That’s why we’re trying not to play Minneapolis much over the next couple months.

TR: That is a smart business move. Keep ‘em wanting more.

AK: Three of our band members are business majors, so…

TR: Well, there you go. Thanks for talking to me. Good luck with everything.

Tommy Rehbein (Small Towns Burn a Little Slower)

Below is our interview with Tommy Rehbein of Small Towns Burn a Little Slower and Cinema Eyes.

Why did you choose to do Cinema Eyes and what are your goals with the project?

Probably because Pat Brown is one of my closest friends and it just gives us an excuse to hang out more because we both have pretty awful schedules. That’s honestly probably the biggest reason. The goals of the project are to write some fun songs and play some stupid shows. We want to do some unconventional stuff, like we want to play in your dorm room, or maybe a bowling alley, dumb stuff like that.

Yeah we could probably get a show in my dorm room for like 10 minutes before it got shut down by my CA, but that’s your set so….

I think if we play longer than 10 minutes something is wrong. We wrote these songs and no matter what they turned out to be like 2 and a half minutes long. Whenever we play shows people are like (whiny teeny voice), “You only played three songs!” But, we don’t have time to write more, maybe this summer I’ll write some more songs and show it to Pat and Josh and see what happens.


You also have done production for a number of projects do you want to discuss why you became involved in that?

It was just something I was interested in doing and just wanted to see if anyone wanted any outside help. I’m allowed to be really creative without having to butt heads with any of my other band members. It’s a good outlet for me to just work with a lot of different kinds of bands. You get this proud big brother feeling when you work with a band that kind of needs it and they get a lot better in a couple months and are using your ideas live. Early on I did some stuff with The Semester and Gloria and I think I might do some pre-production with Gloria again. Now that they’ve got Pat in the band I have some ideas about some call-and-response vocals between Pat and Webby. I want them to try some stuff they haven’t done before and see how it flies. I would like to do more of that, but we’ll see how my schedule goes, if Small Towns gets really busy then that has to go on the backburner.

If you could go back in time and give some advice to yourself and Small Towns as you were writing Mortality as Home Entertainment what would you tell yourselves to do differently?

Maybe use dynamics a little more, but at the same time it was our first full-length album. There’s not too many bands who put out their first album and it becomes their monumental, career making album. That album is where we were at the time and I’m happy with that. I got to work with some really cool people on it like Ed Rose and Justin Pierre. I guess I wouldn’t really change anything. You just have to learn by doing things and figure out what works and what doesn’t and what you can expand on.

Has the writing process this time around been any different?

It’s been drastically different. With that first record, I’d kind of write the basic song, bring it to practice then everyone would write their parts and then Danny would put some vocals over it. With this record, it’s super collaborative. With the first record sometimes we’d start writing something and someone would always say, “No, that doesn’t sound like us.” So we’d throw out a lot of really good ideas because we were worried about it not sounding like us. With this record we’re trying everything and as a result I think we have a much better record. I also think that lyrically it’s more refined. It’s at times a little bit dark and certain times if he has a certain lyrical theme, instead of just whipping it over the music, we’ll change the music to match the lyrics. There’s a couple of times where I’ve purposely put a really messed up discord and guitar part to match what he was singing.

What’s your favorite track off of the new record so far?

My favorite song is called “Rooftops Won’t Come to You.” It’s drastically different than anything anyone has heard from us before. It’s basically just a straight up pop song and it’s heavily influenced by early U2.

Is there a general vibe to the record or is it more all over the place?

I don’t want to say it’s a concept album because everyone is doing that lately, but I think there is definitely an underlying theme. The record is called So Begins the Test of a Man. There’s some dark subject matter in there surrounding Danny’s negative experience growing up with Christianity and sorting through that. We want to write it in a way that shows someone growing and learning from it instead of just bashing on religion because I think the generic thing is to just bash on a belief system. None of us have a problem with people having personal faith, we have more of a problem with people who exploit personal faith with personal gain, so that’s on there quite a bit. This band has just been through a lot of stuff in the past few years so a lot of it is just us going through that and coming out on the other end. But, it’s written in a manner so that anyone who is listening to it can apply it to their life, like whatever personal crisis you’re going through. It should test you and stretch you instead of destroy you as a person.

What would you like to see change about the local scene?

I think it would be cool if more people were throwing shows in basements and doing more fun, stupid stuff. I think most people are just trying to get on huge shows but aren’t willing to pay their dues or help other bands out. It’s really cutthroat right now and it just really sucks. I’m really sick of going to local shows where it’s four bands who have only been playing for four months and they’re charging $8 to get in and everyone is fighting over time slots and trying to get on the huge shows. Like why are you really playing? Are you really passionate about building a community and making friends or are you more caught up in having your 10 seconds on the stage? I think that’s got to stop. But, it’s a pendulum, it goes back and forth. I’ve been around long enough to see both sides to it. The bands who are just in it for the spotlight, when their band hits rough water they just break up anyways so it just kind of filters itself out. But, there are a lot of really cool bands out there too. Every negative I have to say about what’s going on locally there’s 10 positives I can say. It seems like every week there’s a new band sprouting up and there’s some really creative bands out there.

Do your best to equate a few Minneapolis bands to superheroes.

I’d like to say that Red Fox Grey Fox is like Wonderwoman. A little bit feminine but still strong and powerful and they all fly around in an invisible jet. Gloria is a little bit like The Incredible Hulk, most of the time they’re nice normal dudes, but every once in a while Webster turns Green and freaks out. They have their nice, poppy side, but they also have their tough guy side. P.O.S. is Batman because he’s just badass. Not like the shitty, campy 60’s Batman, but the badass, super tough Batman. Declare This An Emergency is Underdog because no one really knows about them, but they should. There’s this band out there.

If you could build a superteam from members of the Minneapolis music scene, not including members of Small Towns, who would you include?

Ian Prince would have to play drums because he is hands down the best drummer to ever walk the planet, he’s better than Dave Grohl. This guy is God. He plays in Kid Dakota and Story of the Sea. I think Noel Tate from Askeleton would have to play keyboard just because he’s really creative and he’s a weird dude and he’s fun to watch onstage. I think Noah Paster would have to play guitar. Noah is one of those guys who’s in like 800 bands. Every instrument he touches, he’s good at. Noah comes up with stuff that most people wouldn’t come up with, he’s a really unconventional musician and I think he could work in any genre. Josh Korea would have to play bass. Not many people know about Maiden Korea, but Josh is just a phenomenal bass player. Josh Cain would play second guitar because he’s another one of those guys who’s able to take really messed up parts and put them in a pop music format. For vocals I’d probably want that to be Darren from Kid Dakota. So basically you’d just have Kid Dakota plus other members..so let’s do a two singer band. So for second vocals let’s go with Kelsey Crawford she was in Vox Vermillion and she’s in a band called Themes. When she sings hotness comes out of her vocal chords.

What bothers you about the music industry today?

I think bands are more concerned about selling ringtones than selling records. Packaged tours really bum me out. The way it used to be is two really well bands that could fill up a room on their own would go on tour, then for openers they’d just put two local bands on the show. That was really really healthy for up and coming bands and for local scenes. Now there’s no national effort to nurture local scenes.

What are your feelings towards file-sharing?

That’s sort of a touchy one because I don’t want to preach on a soapbox and I know I sort of come off like that sometimes. But, I think people feel that when you download a record even if it’s some huge band like Britney Spears or Metallica they’re like, “Oh it’s not going to hurt anyone.” If you can’t pay $10 for a CD at Target, or better yet spend the extra few bucks and buy it at an independent store, maybe you shouldn’t have it. There’s a lot more people that worked on it than just some CEOs on some huge labels. There’s engineers that worked on that, there’s guys in a shipping warehouse that make probably $8 an hour unloading the pallets. You don’t think it hurts people, but it does. As far as indie bands go, management just looks at those bands numbers. If there’s a band you love and you’re file-sharing their record then those bands aren’t able to get on good tours because even if you have a lot of fans, if the numbers aren’t there you aren’t really able to prove it. Being in a band that’s been touring for the past few years on an indie label, it’s cool that people that come out to shows, but it sends a message to the record label that people like you and are supporting you if you buy the record. So if you’re not buying the record a lot bands don’t get to put out a second record or get on good tours. It’s a lot of things people just don’t think about.

What’s up next for Small Towns Burn a Little Slower? When is the record going to be out and do you have any tours lined up?

Right now we’re trying to relearn all the songs we recorded. We went into the studio and tried lots of crazy stuff and now we listen to it, but we have to figure out how to do it live, so we’re just going through that process. I think Josh is going to have to start playing to a click and we’re going to have to bring an extra person on tour with us. We’re figuring out who’s going to put out the next record, but I’m not really allowed to talk about that. But, we’re hoping for a fall release so we have all summer to promote it. I think we’re aiming really high and hopefully everything will fall into place. I really hope when people hear it they’ll like it and notice growth in the band, but won’t think it’s too weird and won’t like us anymore.

Declare This An Emergency

I sent Declare This An Emergency some really dumb questions and they were gracious enough to answer them for me. If you haven't all ready, go over to their myspace page (www.myspace.com/declarethisanemergency) to find out about upcoming shows and hear music by this great, underappreciated local band. Enjoy! - Tommy R.

1) Name/Instrument/Stats

Tony/Vocals/4.79 lifetime E.R.A.

2) What is the Emergency that you’re declaring?

This.

3) All bands debate about things. What do you argue about the most as a band?

We argue a lot about who gets the last beer. We almost broke up once over a bottle of Schell Caramel Bock.

4) How would you describe your music to an older relative who has no concept of punk or indie-rock?

I'd pretty much just make it clear that we're not a metal band. Older people often assume if you're in a band, you play heavy metal. To them there's 2 kinds of bands: heavy metal and not heavy metal.

5) How would you describe your music to a scene-kid who was no concept of punk or indie-rock?

Describing your music is always hard. I usually just say that we're a 5 piece melodic rock band. We're not heavy and we're not too mellow.

6) You recently got to play with Sparta. What went through your mind when you received the phone call/e-mail asking you to support that show?

It was a pleasant surprise. I think we were all a little nervous. It was very exciting. Sparta rules.

7) List three reasons why people who have never heard you before should listen to you. The stipulation is that the first reason has to involve peanut butter, the second reason has to involve mountain goats, and the third reason has to involve a deity.

First reason: The enjoyment you get from listening to Declare This An Emergency is the complete opposite of the enjoyment a person who is allergic to peanuts gets from eating peanut butter.
Second reason: No mountain goats are ever harmed in the making of our music.
Third reason: God listens to Declare This An Emergency. He/She may even own one of our t-shirts.

8) Do you find it difficult to break through to new audiences being people who grew up in “the DIY ‘90s”? What major differences do you see between young bands/audiences now compared to when we were that age going to shows? What are some similarities? In addition, what do you think we can collectively do to improve the music community?

I guess it's been a little bit difficult. We have bands getting signed now. The Twin Cities are getting a little more attention and I think some bands might be focusing more on trying to get signed and not enough on having fun and making friends. When I started playing in bands about 8 years ago, bands seemed a little more willing to help each other out. It wasn't about "scenes" and there were no "rock star" attitudes. There seems to be a little bit of that now, which sucks. We're all the same. We're just people who love music and we want to play our music for as many people as possible. Our local scene almost feels like a competition sometimes. We need to work together and help each other out as much as we can. There's no reason why all of our bands can't succeed.

9) Regarding cereal cartoon characters: Will one of the characters eventually go batshit on the kids who keep him from his tasty breakfast? Which character will be the first to lose it? What will happen? BTW, what cereal do you guys enjoy the most?

I'm pretty sure that the Trix rabbit would be the first to lose it. I imagine he'd dig holes, bury the kids up to their necks, and starve them to death. He'd probably sit and eat Trix in front of them until they died.
They stopped making my favorite cereal. It was Rice Krispy Treats cereal. It was great. I miss it.

10) Using your band name’s acronymn (DTAE), give us four words that perfectly explain yourselves as a band.

Down-to-Earth
Thankful
Ambitious
Emo............haha.

The Aesthetic Interview

www.myspace.com/theaestheticband

You guys just released The Last Great Escape, are you pleased with how it turned out?

Stu: I haven’t actually heard it yet

Dave: I think we’re very pleased with how it turned out. It sounded dynamically unique and it really represented us very well.

Paris: Having an album out definitely brought us to the next level, it seems like it’s a new level for local band.
Have you guys got a lot of positive feedback so far?

James: We’ve gotten some very positive feedback. Especially since we did it ourselves and a lot of people were impressed with the recording quality and how brilliant the sound is.

Paris: James has been getting more recording jobs because of it.

Is there any symbolism behind the title or did you just think it was sweet?

James: All the songs are based around life situations that bring you to a point where they need to get away and take some time for themselves and start fresh.

There have been some rumors floating around about you guys and labels, care to discuss anything?

James: We talked to one a little bit, but nothing recently. We’re just trying to get our stuff together.

I mean do you plan on shopping this around?

James: Absolutely, absolutely

Paris: We’re in the process now of getting a really good press kit together so we can send that out. We’re getting closer every week.

Where’s your favorite place to play in Minneapolis?

Dave: We love to play the Toybox because it’s a very dynamic crowd, a lot of different people and groups play there. It’s always all ages.

James: As far as non all-ages venues go, I think my favorite is the Fine Line just because it sounds amazing.

Nate: As far as all-ages venues Andy runs the Toybox really well. For an all ages venue that’s really small, it’s great for local bands.
So what’s next for you guys? Are you going to tour, shop this around, record anything else?

Paris: In March and April we’ve got a bunch of shows coming up just to push our album and promote it locally. Most of them are in Minnesota and Wisconsin and hopefully some in Iowa. So we’re going to try to get a good local following. And while we’re at the practice space, we’ll all be here at least three days a week, we’ll be working on new stuff. We’re actually hoping on getting out a full length this summer. But at the same time shop this around, see what kind of response we get from labels.

Nate: We’re basically going to be stretching ourselves as thin as possible. Covering all bases at the same time.

What should all the cool kids be listening to? What are you guys listening to?

Nate: I listen to Say Anything a lot.

Stu: I don’t know. I don’t have a car so I don’t really listen to music anymore.

Paris: As far as local bands I really like Declare This An Emergency.

Nate: Yeah Declare definitely, and Lies In The Effort. They have some new stuff coming out that’s really good. James is a big fan of Spirit of ’76.

James: Yeah, I love Spirit. I feel like I was supposed to be born in that era; the hair, the tight clothing.

Everyone: What?

Paris: The new Cue The Doves stuff is really good too. I can’t wait to hear it when it’s completely done.

Nate: The new City of Sound song is amazing.

James: As far as famous bands go..

Paris: James only has like three bands in his iTunes.

James: Pretty much. I have Thursday in there, Thrice, Saosin.

Nate: I think everyone should start listening to Cave In personally.

Paris: I listened to Third Eye Blind in the shower today…

Amber: What!?! Edit.
What would you change about the local scene?

Nate: A bowling league.

Paris: No, a kickball league where all the bands play each other. The loser has to carry the winner’s gear.

Well this is actually from Jonny…What does slayer mean and why has daveisgay69 lost the lead?

Paris: Well if you look at the TV in front of you that’s a pretty good example of that.

James: We don’t even practice our music, we just play Halo all the time. Slayer is when I kill Dave.

Dave: (laughs) right.

Nate: For a long time we were thinking of having the Halo music as our intro at our shows.

Paris: We learned not to play Halo with Gloria, they get very angry.
Someone else wanted to know whether you would rather want to drink a cup of blood or a cup of urine.

Nate: Urine

Paris: Urine

Dave: I’m going to go with blood. I think it’s healthier.

Nate: Well is it someone else’s blood?

Dave: I think if you drink a cup of urine you get pretty sick

Stu and Nate: Urine is sterile!

Paris: I would rather mix them.

Amber: That was from the same guy that posted “The Aesthetic does not care about black people.”

Nate: That’s my favorite poster. That was my favorite post of this century.

Boys In Bands: Gym Class Heroes Interview

I got the opportunity to interview Gym Class Heroes when they were here for the Jingle Ball in mid-December. They had a lot to say about a lot of things, as you'll soon find out. I have give a huge thanks to their tour manager, Joe, and the people at Fueled By Ramen for making it work in their tight schedule on such short notice.

Yvonne: So introduce yourselves and say what you do in the band.

Travis: I’m Travie and I’m the lead singer.
Matt: I’m Matt and I’m the backup singer. Just kidding, I’m the drummer.

Y: Okay, so you guys just released your video for “Cupid’s Chokehold.” Why did you decide remix that song and redo the video?

T: Blame Milwaukee.
M: Yeah, blame Milwaukee. They did it to us. I think that song is capable of a lot & then since moving up to Atlantic [Records], we had access to put it out to a wider audience, you know? It’s a pretty good song. I think people should hear it. So when it was proposed, “Do you guys want to do this as a single possibly?” We were like, “Yeah!”

Y: That’s good. I’m just floored with how popular you guys have become. This [KDWB’s Jingle Ball] is like a Top 40 radio show.

M: Yeah, we had no idea either. I mean, we’re still your little Gym Class Heroes and I think radio play doesn’t determine everything, TRL doesn’t determine everything. We’re still cool dudes who make music for ourselves and our friends, you know what I mean? [To Travis] Do you have anything to elaborate about this?
T: Underground hip-hop bands be some whiny-ass bitches. I’m just kidding. It’s crazy that we’ve gotten a lot of backlash from being on the radio. The thing is that I sympathize, I’ve been that kid. I’d find out about a band and I’m like, “Oh, this band’s amazing,” and then when everyone else starts talking about them, I’m like, “Oh, now I need to find a brand new band.” So I know how it works and it’s been like that since the beginning of time. But to be on the receiving end of that, it’s a little strange, but at the same time, if someone wants to stop listening to us because someone else is listening to us, fuck ‘em. As harsh as that sounds, you’re obviously only listening to us to get some fuckin’ cred points anyway, you know? To be that only person that knows about us. Anyone that’s in the music business that loves to make music doesn’t want to put a cap on what they do. No one wants to put a glass ceiling over their head. They want to reach as many people as possible. Once that starts happening, there’s a weird sentiment. Kids are like, “All right, now I need to find a new, most underground band that no one knows about so I can say I was the first to discover them.” So I know how that works and I sympathize with them. At the end of the day, I’m not losing any sleep over it because people who are in it for the music will stay our fans.
M: Even with mainstream music, some of my favorite bands are like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, 311, The Flaming Lips, and like that stuff. You know, bands that have stood the test of time & have been able to put out quality music. That’s the kind of band that we aspire to be.

Y: So I’m guessing you had something to do with the Red Hot Chili Peppers cover for Punk Goes 90s?

M: I guess it was just an obvious one. Definitely, we wanted to do a song and put our own twist on it.

Y: So are you re-releasing As Cruel As Schoolchildren because you’re now on Atlantic or…?

T: No, no. What it is, is not a re-release, just a re-pressing. Because what happens in the industry when you press, you only do so many copies, so you have to re-press it to suit demand. So it’s not a re-release, it’s just a re-pressing. I mean, when we do eventually re-release it, there will be a lot of bonus shit: A DVD, some b-sides.

Y: So I know As Cruel As Schoolchildren came from some very personal experiences, so does it ever get hard to perform some of the songs at all? Or do you write them in a way that makes it possible?

T: Well, there are some songs that are like… we have this song called “Pillmatic” from our last record and I wrote that when I was like at a really, really dark time in my life and I was just self-medicating to try to get through day-to-day things and deal with day-to-day pressures. And it seems, in a sense, like a cool song, but the stark reality of it is was that I was in a really bad slump, so for me, that song is kind of hard to perform, but at the same time I’ve been approached by so many people that have told me the song has helped them get through that, so I kind of….[looks over at one of Brooke Hogan’s dancers] like her legs. But I think twice now, you know. What might not strike me as something appropriate might hit somebody else in a different way. I try to keep an open mind usually when approaching situations like that.

Y: So were you trying to send any kind of message in “The Queen & I”?

T: Yeah, well, not necessarily a message, it’s just that fact that I find myself a lot of times in relationships with females who consume a lot of alcoholic beverages. There’s this old saying that you’ll eventually marry your mother. As weird as that sounds, it’s like you’re going to marry someone that’s pretty much your mom and my mom’s an alcoholic and I find that I get into these situations with these females and I would see these similarities that would freak me out. So that song kind of helped me get through that situation. At the same time, it’s just this unspoken thing that I have an attraction to girls who are just like, “Let’s get wasted!” I’m out of that phase now. My girlfriend is straight-edge. She kind of helps me [glances down at drink]… I mean she keeps me in line.

Y: “New Friend Request” personifies the myspace revolution basically. Are you guys as attached to myspace as it might seem?

M: No! We, me and Trav, not too long ago, came to the realization that unless it’s for your band, we just didn’t need to be on there. I think that in doing Gym Class Heroes, our personal lives are put out there so much as it is that myspace only would make it more weird.
T: We started this campaign called “Erase Your Face” and it’s basically just trying to get people to erase their myspaces and give the person you really want to talk to a call. I feel like myspace and text messaging will ultimately destroy the phone conversation. Or the…
Y: Face to face?
T: Yeah, conversations. As opposed to texting someone or writing in a blog how you feel, call somebody up and tell them how you feel. So look out for “Erase Your Face.”
M: Erase Your Face!

Y: In “On My Own Time,” you wrote, “I write the greatest lines at the strangest times.” What are some of the strangest times that you’re talking about?

T: For one, I actually wrote “On My Own Time” in the shower. I actually came up with the idea for the melody in the shower. So that personifies that.
M: I actually remember that because I was outside or in the living room when you were in the shower and then you came out and you had this melody.

Y: Which songs have been the most fun to write?

M: “On My Own Time” was so fun to write.
T: Here’s a funny thing: I wish I could play you the demo of “On My Own Time” because basically what happened was right as I got out of the shower, I was like, “Holy shit!” Disashi had written this song, this music and I was like, “Dude, I have this melody and this idea.” I went right to my room and just started humming like… [hums] and every now and then a word would pop up so that song had about three legible words in it as a demo. I actually had to go back and fill it in. At first, just me being lazy, I wanted to call the song “The What” and just put it out as is with random garble. But I was just like, “That’s just a fucking cop-out.” So I took it and wrote a song about how hard it is to write a song sometimes.
M: The demo we had, Travis literally doesn’t say a word through the whole thing; it’s just a melody for future reference for a song. But I think we should release that a b-side.
T: Our friends, they liked the demo more than the actual song. It sounds fucked up, but it’s just a lot of notes that I hit and a lot of adlibbing shit that I was doing that was so beautiful.
M: It had a really raw feel. And I remember even when we were cutting the song in the studio, we were like, “Yeah this is cool, but can you make it more like this, how we had it on the demo?”
T: It was really hard because I wasn’t saying anything, I was just going [makes random noises].
M: So that’s where all the distortion on the vocals came from.
T: Yeah, I did that myself.

Y: So what kind of changes have you guys gone through since For The Kids?

T: Shit… I got like 50 more hairs on my chest. A lot of those songs I wrote when I was like 15 years old.
M: If you think of Gym Class Heroes being 3 phases, there was the high school phase, the college-aged phase, and the awesome phase. That was As Cruel As Schoolchildren. For The Kids…
T: I’m trying to find a word now that defeats “awesome.” I’ll make it.
Y: That might be tough.
T: You know who the fuck my father is, girl? …Colin Powell.
M: For The Kids was all songs that we wrote in 9th through 12th grades and it’s hard for me to listen to, but…
T: It’s so cute.
M: I’m really impressed by it.
T: I think for like 15 & 16 years old, it’s like, “Wow.” Granted, I was all nasaly and I hadn’t hit puberty, but it’s still cute for what it is. And we even hit some fucking serious topics like police brutality. We wrote about some shit to be so young. I think we could put that record out now and it would be considered relevant to now.

Y: What kind of influences & experiences have led you to evolve like you have?

T: Being on the road, relationships, family… fucking garbage. You can pretty much write a song about anything. Like…
Y: Writing a song.
T: Haha, yeah. That’s the thing: I wrote a song about writing a song; people made a movie about snakes on a plane.
M: I think for the most part we write about stuff that we know. Our personal lives are constantly changing and it’s constantly new ground. So we explore. We’re not like one of those groups… I think there’s this preconception you get about a lot of mainstream hip-hop that it’s all about cars and girls and money and stuff.
T: It is.
M: But we’re like the opposite.
T: So we’re getting interviewed by this girl in Florida and this girl is completely out to get me. From the moment we started the interview, I realized that she was out to make us look bad. I completely took advantage of it and she wasn’t expecting it. So she was like, “Hip-hop started out as this positive thing and was all about empowering and political, it’s all politically charged.” So I said, “First off, sweetheart, your history’s all fucked up because Sugar Hill Gang and acts like that had no idea what they were doing. It was pretty much like, ‘Hip, hop, the hippity hippity hop hop.’ I mean, what the fuck does that mean? How is that in relation to anything political?” So she was like, “Well, you know, what about Public Enemy?” I’m like, “Here’s the thing: basically what it boils down to is you should be doing this interview with Rise Against because we’re not a politically charged band, you understand?” We write about what we go through. We write songs about… I personally am more into fucking Fruity Pebbles and Cartoon Network, but that’s just me. I think people have this strange misconception that hip-hop should be political or should try to change the world. Music has the power to do that, but I don’t. I’m more concerned with paying my rent… not saying that I make music to pay my rent, but making sure that people around me are happy and making sure I’m happy. It may sound selfish, but that’s just the angle we took. That’s the angle we will take. I’m not concerned with pollution. I’m not concerned with George Bush. Fuckin’… it shows that you can’t always do something. My vote didn’t work. [points to Matt] His vote didn’t count. At the end of the day, I try to have fun with the time allotted. It was just so funny that she was just so adamant about me not being political. You know, “What have you done to change the community?” I was like, “I don’t have to tell you this, but I taught art at a Boys & Girls Club for 3 years. I don’t want brownie points for that. It’s just something I like to do. In fact, I feel like an asshole for telling you that because I feel like you’ll think I’m trying to win you over, but that’s not the case at all. I just want you to know that you’re approaching this whole thing all wrong and I’m going to try to make you feel like an asshole.” And I did. I’m not trying to freak you out, it’s just the weirdest interview I’ve ever done. It happens. You get pushed by people who really want to delve into what it is that really sets you off. At the end of the day, we’re just big kids.

Y: Do you guys agree with the emo/hip-hop label that has been placed on you?

T: I don’t agree with any label anybody puts on us for the simple fact that they’re all wrong and they’re all bullshit because until we come up with a label for ourselves, nobody else can because we make the fuckin’ music. We make the music.
M: I think that there’s no telling what direction we’ll ever go in for a record. We don’t want to make the same record more than once.
T: I’d equate it to Quaker Oats coming up with a new cereal and us deciding what the name should be. You can’t do that.
M: I think the confusion is that there’s a lot of emo kids that listen to us and our music is rooted in hip-hop; it’s not the standard, conventional hip-hop you may hear.
T: I think the emo kids think it’s fresh, refreshing. I think for the most part people are sick and tired of hearing songs about girls who’ve broken their hearts. Granted, I’ve written my fair share of songs about broken hearts, but I would never write a whole record about that. I would never wear eyeliner.
M: You’ve worn it before.
T: Dude, it’s not my shtick. I wouldn’t keep our music from anyone. I wouldn’t say, “You listen to Aiden, so you can’t listen to us,” or, “You listen to Motion City Soundtrack, you can’t listen to us,” or, “You listen to T.I. and Young Jeezy, so you can’t listen to us.” I would never do that.
M: I think that’s the bottom line with the whole radio/TRL thing. We would never want to…[Travis yells about Jay-Z to the rest of the trailer]
T: Sorry.

Y: It’s okay. So do you guys think you have a bigger fan base from bridging the gap between hip-hop and rock?

T: Our fan base is crazy. It runs from 13-year-old screaming girls to 45-year-old sexy women. There are a lot in between and I’m all about all of them.

Y: Do you think touring with not all, but mostly, rock acts has helped you in that genre?

T: If anything, I think it’s opened up those audiences to a wider variety of music.
M: Yeah, that’s kind of how I feel. I feel like it hasn’t helped us, it’s helped the audiences. I can remember in middle school wanting to be in a band and being into mostly rock bands, then meeting Travis first day of freshman year in high school and getting all into hip-hop .
T: Matt was more into rock shit when we first became friends & I was definitely into rock, too at the same time, but a little more hip-hop. But at the same time there were a lot of fusion bands out there that you couldn’t really put into categories. Bands like Sublime, Black Eyed Peas, early Black Eyed Peas that were just onto some other shit. And that was hard to market, hard to categorize, but at the same time it was beautiful music. And it really bridged gaps. Maybe it didn’t catch on, but we definitely caught on and it fueled the fire for doing what we do.

Y: You guys are on Fueled By Ramen & you’re kind of the odd band out…

T: Black sheep.
M: I feel like lately, though, Fueled By Ramen has some good bands on there that also don’t sound like anyone else, like The Hush Sound. Their sound is kind of out there, you know? It’s cool because Fueled By Ramen is a completely diverse label and I really like that.
Y: But being so diverse, it’s still really a family unit.
T: It totally is. It’s totally a family unit. I feel like, not to shit on Victory Records… yeah, yeah, to shit all over Victory Records, you can call me on that.
Y: All right, I will.
T: Fuck Victory Records. I feel like when there’s a label like Victory Records, they kind of just fuckin’… not to get all, whatever… what’s the word I’m looking for?
M: Mad?
T: No, not mad, not to get all... whatever, I feel like Victory Records is the kind of label that just puts 80 fishing poles in the water in hopes that one catches. You know what I’m saying?
Y: Yeah.
T: I feel like they catch onto what’s working and find 50 million bands that sound like that and hopefully one of them will catch. Obviously and apparently a couple have. But I feel Fueled By Ramen is like, they’re not just signing bands to sign bands. They’re signing bands and they love their music. They’re signing bands that are doing something different, bands that are willing to fucking bust their asses to make it happen. Not necessarily fuck Victory Records then. I’m more like, fuck Tony Brummel.
M: Yeah, yeah.
T: Tony Brummel doesn’t care about black people. Big jerk.
Y: I’m not even going to touch that.
T: Yeah, here’s the thing: Victory Records is a fucking money-making machine.
Y: You sure you want to say all of that?
T: First off, Tony Brummel can’t beat me. Second off, he can sue me if he wants but I’m broke as a motherfucker. All my money goes to sneakers. He can try to take my sneakers but he’ll get his ass whooped in the process.

Y: How do you guys keep up that family vibe while on tour?

M: The thing is with Fueled By Ramen is that you’re going to tour your ass off. That’s half the reason we even signed to them in the first place because we were interested in that. We meet up with all the bands on the road and stuff. I remember in Austin we were playing at the same venue as The Hush Sound and they brought out this band called This Providence, which was just signed.
Y: Haha, I just interviewed them.
M: Yeah, yeah. I remember meeting those guys and instantly feeling like they were my boys. It was the first time that I met them. It’s how Fueled By Ramen works. Our record, you see Patrick appear on it and help produce stuff and William appear on a track. It’s kind of like it’s all in the family. Everyone on that label as far as I’m concerned has a certain quality about them and it’s really, really great to be associated with other honest music.

Y: Do you think that the success of some of the bands on the label has attributed to the success of the other bands that have come around?

M: Well, definitely. That’s something that really can’t be helped.
Y: Especially with the position Fueled By Ramen is in at this point. They’re like the new Drive-Thru.
M: Yeah, I mean, hopefully they would have a little more merit and… Yeah, I don’t really want to touch on that. It’s a good label and hopefully they’ll be a good label. I feel like they’ve used the success to their advantage, but not milked it. Like Travis said, they’re not putting a bunch of fishing poles in the water. They’re using their success to have people put out their music. I think it’s all good.

Y: What are you looking forward to doing in the new year?

M: Conan O’Brien Show!
Y: Oh really?
M: January 12th. The thing is, when I learned how to play the drums, I can remember being in my living room playing along with the music, pretending I was on the Conan Show. I watched the interviews, everything. As a musician, my life goal was to play on that show.
T: When we did Jimmy Kimmel it was like, I was kind of bummed that we didn’t get to play “Cupid’s,” we played “The Queen and I” because it has more energy, but people say & call in, “Oh we’re gonna do ‘Cupid’s’ or ‘The Queen and I’” and I’m just like, “Sure, sure,” then we get a call in from Conan and I’m just like…[babbles]. And then working on Letterman.

Y: So what kind of plans do you have for the year? Like what kind of tours?

M: We’re doing a headlining UK tour & we’re bringing out Hangar 18, who are our friends.
Y: Were they on the Cobra Starship tour?
M: Yeah, they were. They’re awesome. And after that in late February we’re doing a headlining tour here and we’re bringing out Rx Bandits & P.O.S., who’s from Minneapolis.
Y: Yeauhhh.
M: And we’re bringing out a Canadian emcee named K-OS. I can’t even believe this guy is on the tour. The bill for the headlining tour is stacked. Its like the USA Dream Team when David Robinson was on it.

Y: Okay, since we’re in the Twin Cities, not necessarily Minneapolis, but close, I have to ask you those obligatory questions. Like, what do you like best about here?

T: Minneapolis? Prince is from here. Fuck the Mall of America. It was cool the first couple of times, but now I’m just like… yeah. First Avenue, first time I went, I was like, “Dude, they shot Purple Rain here.”
M: I think Minneapolis is a great musical city. There are a lot of bands from here that are… like in NJ for a while there was such a big scene, in Long Island there was one specific scene, but here’s it’s Prince and Atmosphere and Motion City Soundtrack, Soul Asylum, and the band that wrote “Closing Time.”
Y: Semisonic?
T: Soul Asylum?
M: Soul Asylum is from here.
T: [sings “Closing Time”]
M: I read his biography last year, it was good, the drummer of Soul Asylum. They are from here right?
Y: Yep. What do you dislike the most? I suppose I don’t really want to hear that…
T: Ugg boots.
Y: Thank you.
T: Every interview that I’ve done, I’ve fucking shat all over them. People need to stop wearing them.

Y: I agree. I know you guys have played a lot of the different venues around here. You’ve played the Quest, Triple Rock…

M: Yeah, we just played there. It was awesome because I’m really into Dillinger Four, who are also from here, right? One of the dudes owns the bar. But yeah, we’ve played at First Ave as well.
Y: What’s your favorite one?
M: The Quest, for sure. That was really cool. Hopefully we’ll play there on our headlining tour.
Y: Um, it’s been closed for a while.
M: All right, so we’re not going to play there, then! Maybe First Ave would be cool. We’ve only played the small room, so maybe we’ll play the big one.

Y: All right, so do you have any questions for me before we end this?

M: Yeah, how’s it going? Are you going to watch our show?
Y: Yeah, but I have to leave right after.
M: Why? Don’t!
Y: Okay, well maybe I won’t.
M: What’s your favorite Gym Class song?
Y: I’d say either “On My Own Time” or “7 Weeks” I think.
M: So you’re into the newer stuff.
Y: Yeah, but… that’s hard.
M: Have you heard the old album?
Y: I have all three.
M: Even For The Kids?
Y: Yes.
M: How?
Y: It’s not legal.
M: You downloaded it?
Y: Of course.
M: Here’s the thing: that we’re completely cool with because we’ve toyed with the idea of putting that out, but we’re so busy & we don’t have the time to try and get that prepped, so we’re really, really into kids downloading that. Even if you download the newer stuff, it’s all good. As long as you’re listening to the music and you like it and can take something from it, then that’s awesome. I would rather leave behind a legacy of awesome music that people identify with and love rather than financial gain.
Y: Like making a bunch of money on one song.
M; Yeah, that’s cool too if it’s a really good song. I’m not against making money as long as it’s an honest, quality product. You know what I mean?
Y: Yeah. Well thank you!
M: Thank you, too.

Circa Survive Interview

Below is my interview with Colin Frangicetto, guitarist in Circa Survive.

Since the blog is on the Minneapolis music scene I must ask the required question; what do you think of the city and how's it been when you've played here in the past?

It's always been really good here. The city itself I haven't seen enough of yet but we have a day off tomorrow so I think we're gonna go to the Mall of America and just hang out. Every time I've
been here it's been fun. I think the only I ever did is I went to a bookstore or something. But, we're kinda boring so I don't know what else we would do.

Where did you guys get the name "Circa Survive"?

It was actually something where we had a lot of different names. We were writing a lot before that and we didn't even really think about the name thing. When we were signing with Equal Vision, they even signed us without a name. By the time everyone else joined the band it just came time when we had to name it and there were some names floating around and it just kinda stuck out to us. We're kinda big on following intuition, we go with gut instinct a lot and for some
reason that just became our name. Now in hindsight it makes so much sense. It's really creepy actually how much sense it makes and beautiful at the same time. We like that it's an abstract pairing of words and that it can mean pretty much whatever anyone wants it to mean. It keeps evolving, but to me it means surviving and era or a time to focus on survival. That just makes a lot of sense to me now. It's sort of a mantra of sorts for our band. Ironically it's taken it's shape and that's all we care about, getting by and creating art. We live in a house together and it's a really great thing that we don't have to break apart when we come back from tour and seperate
like most other bands do. We just decided to make it like a family or tribe-like situation. Some of our girlfriends live there too, it's definitely like a big family.

The album is named after the Roman goddess Juturna. Why did you
decide to name the album that?

It was another one of those things. It was mainly a thing between Brendon and Anthony. They just sort of stumbled across a story and everyone just really liked the way it sounded, it just kinda rolls of your tongue and sounds strange. It didn't have a really obvious meaning. It was just the idea of the goddess of springs. Water is the essence of life of sorts, so the goddess of the springs controls the flow of life.

You could also say it could tie into your band name too with survival...

Definitely it's that, but at the same time Juturna was also associated with birth so we saw it as us giving birth. This was the thing we had been creating for so long and waiting for it to be out
there. And springs, wells, they're all kind of related, you know, magical weird stuff.

What's the symbolism behind the album's artwork? Is there a
story to be told if you look through the book?

You tell me. I hope everyone can make up there own story to it. I don't know if there was a specific story in mind that we all shared. You just sort of make a story out of it when you look at it. The basic premise of it was a dark fairy tale, that was what we wanted. Esao is just amazing and fits our band. We definitely just wanted something different than what was out there.

Why did you name the hidden track "House of Leaves" after the book by Mark Z. Danielewski?

Well I know it's one of Brendon and Anthony's favorite books. I've read bits and pieces of it, it's mind-boggling. I really appreciate it for what it is, I just haven't gotten through the whole thing yet. But, we didn't even really name it that. We eluded to the idea that we did, then it became it. We had kinda leaked it out that that's what it was, and I'm sure there's little hints here and there. It wasn't officially a name until people started saying it.

You guys are touring with some huge bands this time around, Thursday and Rise Against, how has the tour been so far?

It's been awesome. It's been different. We just got off a headlining tour so the transition between playing an hour plus to going back to like 30 minutes was awesome. After getting off that tour where we were playing a very complexly put together set we just let this time be loose and let there be silence between songs. We never used to do that, we always usually had samples running. We just thought because it's a short tour and we're in a weird, creative process right now anyways, which is just a break from writing, we just thought we'd let it be loose and let the set be what it is. We even did a cover song which is really weird for us. Like tonight we did
Duran Duran, it's a weird song, but it's awesome. It's actually been a dream of mine for so long to cover that song. It wasn't even my idea to do it, but I thought it would be awesome.

Is it different playing at larger clubs instead of smaller venues where it's more intimate and more on the crowd.

Yeah it's definitely different. We tend to like both. We love small, intimate shows and we also love huge rock shows. They're both equally fun and fulfilling to play. We kinda had our cherries popped during the My Chemical Romance tour so this even seems kinda small now after doing that.

Why did you guys decide to start the side project Moshtradamus?

(laughs) I don't even know what that is. No comment.

After you finish this tour, you're going back into the studio with Brian McTernan and why did you choose him as your producer again?

We weren't 100% positive we were going back to him, but when we sat down with him after our headlining tour and talked for a while it was extremely obvious that we were on the same page with how we wanted to approach the record. Also, the way he felt about the stuff we were recording, we just saw eye to eye. So it was just like "Yeah, we're definitely going back to him." He has a new studio space which is really exciting, so we'll be in Baltimore for at least two months doing that. It's gonna be awesome. Can't wait.

Can you give me any details on the album?

All I can really tell you is that we've been extrememly creative and productive. We have a lot of ideas we're working with, a LOT of ideas. We haven't really been refining anything and just letting it be what it is, then we're gonna sort everything out in the studio. I'm so proud of the material so far, as far as the way it sounds, I can't really say because I'm so biased towards it. I think it'll definitely be a surprise for everyone.

Did you approach the writing of this album any differently than Juturna?

Yeah, we definitely kinda knew what we were doing this time around. For Juturna we were kinda doing everything for the first time. Even though we'd all been in bands before, when this band started, everything was different. We almost over-rehearsed for the studio last time and spent more time the material to be tight rather than using all of our time to be creative. This time we just took every approach we could possibly take, at least so far, we still have at least a
month of writing when we get home. We've just been trying all different pairings of writers. Sometimes it'll just be Brendon, Nick, and Steve that come up with a great blueprint for a song, other times it'll be just me doing and idea, or just Brendon, or just Nick, musically, then Anthony puts vocals to it. Some ideas are just Anthony playing guitar with vocals, then there's full band stuff. So we did all these different pairings and tried to keep the amount of cooks in the kitchen to whatever felt comfortable at the time and it worked out great because we came up with these great songs and anyone who didn't work on it initially would put their spin on it. Rigth now we're
working on around 50 ideas and a lot of that stuff is really rough, but I've never been in a band before where we could be that productive. We were definitely somewhere else when we wrote that, now I don't mean drugs or anything like that, but we definitely found our center and everyone just came to a place where we were just all working together cohesivelly. It's a very inspiring time.

Anthony Green Interview

Here is my interview with Anthony Green of Circa Survive and The Sound of Animals Fighting. Enjoy.


What was the inspiration for the lyrics on the album, or you main inspiration?

Well, inspiration came from all over the place. But, I would say there were a couple of main sources they were coming from. Thematically, I think the time of the year we were writing the record greatly influenced the feeling that the songs got. They took on like a fall/winter feeling and that has a lot to do with when we were writing it. Movies that I had seen around that time, art, everything that was going on in my life at that time, pretty much everything around us
became part of our inspiration.

Why did you include references to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?

That movie had a huge affect on me. The concepts and the themes that go throughout that movie got introduced to me in a time in my life when they were so prevalent and meant so much. The idea of memory and how your memory is distorted by facts and biases. The love
story behind it and how you remember people in a different light when you look back on stuff and when you look forward towards stuff. I think the reason I made so many references to it in the record is that it meant so much to me.

This is definitely a different tour for you compared to your last headlining tour. You're playing at much larger venues. Do you prefer playing tours like this or smaller, headling tours?

I prefer playing smaller shows. But, you don't usually get what you prefer, you get what you get. We'd prefer to play smaller shows, headlining or not, just because of the feeling you get with a
smaller show. But, you have to do both to get the feeling for it. I'd rather do smaller shows, but I love them all, it doesn't matter.

Colin was kind of mum on your side-project Moshtradamus. Are you
gonna leak anymore on that?

I say nothing other than it's not a side-project.

(laughs) okay...So you also do The Sound of Animals Fighting and how does that project differ from Circa Survive?

With The Sound of Animals Fighting, shows and the project itself are mainly based on improvisation and creation in the moment. The first record was recorded all in one day, improvised, all on the spot. With the second record, same deal. But, with Circa there's more
passion, more time on my end. Because I know that the Rx Bandits and I know everyone that works on The Sound of Animals Fighting put so much of their own personal energy in it. But, my personal energy is spent directly on Circa. That's what I love doing. But, The Sound of Animals Fighting is such a fun project to be a part of though.

You guys are recording your new album after this tour, so can you give me any details on that?

We have a bunch of demos already done and I have a bunch of songs I need to put vocals to still. So we'll go home from this tour and finish up all the stuff we have to do and go into the studio
January 1st. Hopefully the record will be out by the time spring is coming.

Wow.

Yeah man, we aren't wasting any time dude.

So did you approach the writing of this album any differently than Juturna?

Oh way differently. With Juturna I had just met Steve, Nick, and Brendon. We were coming together and were like, "Let's make an album," having not known each other or played a show. Now, we're like two years into our personal relationship with each other, we're two
years into our business relationship with each other. We know what we want to do live, we know what we want to do, period. We know what we want to do as a band, we know why we're making music. So, we're going in the direction of growth that's being taken from us naturally, being
drawn out of us. Whereas the first record, a lot of it was give and take, some people did this song, some people did that song. There'd be no vocals and I'd put vocals to it. Now I'm writing a lot of the songs, Brendon and Colin are writing full songs, all by themselves. Steve will come up to me with lyrics, ideas, like, "Yeah or I love this line or check this idea out about a robot doing some messed up stuff." Steve comes up with some great lyrical ideas. Actually, Steve helped me write "Holding Someone's Hair Back," lyrically. So, writing-wise it's completely, 100% opposite of Juturna. We're trying every avenue we can possibly go down.

You've been involved in a ton of different projects, everyone knows what they are, we don't have to name them, but why is Circa Survive the one that you're most passionate about, like the one that gets you?

Well, I think that back in the day when I was in high school and right out of high school, I wasn't trying to make music for a living, I was just making music. When I joined Saosin I was making
music for a living, officially. And the whole concept of that band went from, "Ok, let's make music and be a band," to, "Let's be huge rock stars," really quickly. Saosin came to me in a time of my life where I didn't want to be on a major, I didn't want to sign my life away for the next seven years. I didn't know anything about music. All I knew was you've got to treat it with sincerity, with honesty, you've got to give it the space to grow, the chance it deserves to be everything that it is. When I left Saosin, I left primarily because I didn't want to sign to a major label in that band, I didn't want to make that same type of music anymore, like singy/screamy, Anthony-emo type of stuff, which is awesome and they do it amazingly. Their new record is unbelievable, but it's not what I wanted to be a part of.

Well yeah I think your voice definately fits Circa Survive way..

Better. That's the same way I feel. This band means more to me than anything I've ever done just because of the people involved in it. I love Steve, Colin, Nick, and Brendon more than I've loved any men in my life ever. I would do absolutely anything for them. Creatively, I respect them more than I've respected anybody that I've ever worked with. So those are just two of the top differences between this and all the other stuff I've done. This is for real.

Well yeah, you guys are obviously tight because Colin said you guys all live together in the same house. Why did you decide to do that and how does that work?

We chose to do it because it seemed like the most appropriate thing to do. We're all trying to be creative together and get to know each other and have those dynamics come out in our creation, in the music, in the art. So, why would one person want to be here, one person be there, the next person be here. It's like, "Let's all get at the same spot so there's never any question about when we have time to fuse.” So we can just make music at any time of the day, night, whatever.

Well I think that's all I've got for now..so thanks for doing it.

No problem man, thanks for paying attention to our band.