Here is my interview I did with Park when they were in town on Monday on June's recent tour. Go out and get their new album Building A Better ____, I promise you'll love it if you like things in the vein of Minus the Bear and Armor For Sleep.
Curt Baker: First of all thanks for doing this
Ladd: No problem
CB: You guys just released Building A Better ____, blank, fill in the blank, I don’t know. How do you even say that? Do you just say Building A Better?
L: Yeah. Usually we just say Building
CB: Okay. Anyways, are you guys happy with how it turned out and the response you’ve gotten so far?
L: Mhm. I think that the only problems I had with it is I didn’t finish a couple songs on it. I just got the lazy bug and didn’t follow through with it because it was supposed to be a longer album because the previous two had ten songs on it. There was such a gap between It Won’t Snow and the new record and I wanted to put more songs on it and it just didn’t happen. So that’s the only problem I have with it. I think it sounds….we’re really happy with how it sounded.
CB: What’s the meaning behind the title? It Won’t Snow Where You’re Going is pretty self-explanatory but, Buiding A Better ____ is..
L: Well, I was trying to find a name for it and I was asking these guys, “What about this,” “No,” and “How about this,” “No,” and uh..I thought of Building A Better Pirate and I just though it was funny because it didn’t mean anything. So we went ahead with that title and everyone we told it to didn’t like the pirate part. So I sort of took that part out actually it was Alex’s idea to take that part out and put in the noun part so people could put in whatever they wanted in there so we don’t get shit.
CB: Did you approach the writing of this album differently than your previous recordings?
L: Um yeah..a little…I wanted it to be a little bit more cut and dry, it wasn’t as riffy as the other two. But, Justin had kinda not helped as much with the songwriting aspect of it just because he was busy with other things..he was kind of not wanting to do the band anymore. I was a little happier I guess, I was in a better emotional place.
CB: While your lyrics can be classified as decidedly emo, your music definitely has a more complex and layered sound that steps outside the genre. Was this a conscious decision or just what came out when you started the band?
L: I think it just happened. When Justin, Miles, and Timmy and I originally got together we were really bad at righting songs with..i dunno..there were like 13 parts to a song so we had to like learn and I think it was really hard for me..I think it was really hard for me and Miles to learn how to do that because we were the ones trying to put all these parts in it and we had to settle down and just be like “Whoa,” and approach it from a different way. But, I think it just kinda happened by itself it was never a conscious thing.
Miles: It’s definitely that Ladd is writing more songs now, not just parts. Like before it was just we’d write a part and someone else would write a part and we’d just try to put all these parts together and try to make a song.
L: Yeah we’d have to try to tie that all together
M: And we’re like “How do we make this part go to this part,” and now it’s more song oriented. I mean Ladd always writes a few songs like usually like almost half the songs on his own and then the band kinda comes together and writes another five or however many songs it is. Ladd always tends to like the ones the band writes as a whole better and we tend to like the ones he writes better. So that’s why its always half and half but like it works out I think because then all the songs don’t sound the same it helps space things out and makes the record more listenable as a whole.
L: I think, back to the question you asked before, in regards to the writing on it, I think we approached it as more as, “Hey what’s right for the song,” not “How can we show off on our abilities,” or whatnot. It’s what works best for the song, you know what’s the best way to approach this song. If that made any sense. Fuckin ostrich fuckin a donkey.
Alex: I know what you meant
CB: (laughs) Okay, well you guys have a lot of intense songs like “
M: We haven’t played that one live yet. So…
L: It’s a tricky devil.
M: But I think “Dear Sweet Impaler” is pretty similar for you know for the last album and its feeling and emotion in it and every night we play it I’m always into it no matter what kind of show it is. And I think we like probably feel the same way about “Mississippi Burning” as soon as we play it. But, I mean every time I listen to it, it gives me the chills just knowing what it’s about I mean I’ve heard that from a lot of people who kind of know the story and the situation. It’s kinda freaky you know? It’s messed up to think about.
CB: Where do you get motivation for your lyrics are they all necessarily things that happen to you or are some fictional or..
L: For the most part yeah. But on this album I tried to…like I said I wasn’t upset about too many things. There were a couple things that happened that inspired some songs but providing that “Mississippi Burning” was something that didn’t happen to me that I don’t know how it feels to have that happen to you…that was extremely hard to write. There wasn’t very many fictionalized songs on it there all like all things that happened to my life or pertained to my life so I didn’t really approach it any different way.
CB: You guys have a pretty intense sound, which now it seems in the scene you have to scream if you’re gonna have an intense sound. What do you feel about how the genre is leaning towards that because I feel like when you guys can still be really into it and have a really…not heavy..but you know what I mean it’s just really emotional, really intense. But, you don’t feel the need to scream on every track and how do you feel about how the genre seems to be going in that direction.
L: I think it’s more intense when you don’t scream. Like when you actually dial it down to the very bottom notch and like barely sing you know, like almost like a whisper. I think that’s more intense than screaming. I think that’s just…you know..screaming’s cool every now and a then but I think some bands use it because they see other people doing it and…it’s just lack of talent I thinkg some times.
M: They just don’t know else what to do anybody can do that
L: I would always use that as a last resort. Like, “Ugh I can’t think of anything just fucking scream.” And I think we’ve only got one song…one or two songs where we really scream.
M: Yeah, it’s definitely not screaming like it was on It Won’t Snow and even that was very kind of like..we used it very slim, we kept it to a minimum because we don’t want to be a “screamo” band and even with those few songs people were like, “Oh, Park’s going screamo now.” It’s like whatever.
L: I think there are very few bands that can pull off the screaming thing
CB: Well the thing is, it’s not gonna be around in five years.
L: Right, no, I don’t think it’s gonna be around in two years.
M: It’s pretty much done.
L: I think it’s gonna go out pretty quick.
CB: What’s up with “Olly olly oxen free,” in “Hide and Seek” why did you…
L: You don’t know what “Olly olly oxen free,” is?
CB: Well yeah I know what it is just why did you decide to put that in the song, it’s just really random.
L: I don’t know…
CB: I mean the first time I listened to the record I was like, “Wow, that’s awesome,” but “Wow, where the hell did that come from?”
L: I don’t know, I was sitting in his (Miles’) basement writing it and I was just like..I was trying to figure out..when I write sometimes I try to figure out…you know I’m always sitting there counting syllables in words you know like (claps) “Hap-py peo-ple,” you know like “I need five syllables not four syllables.” That just fit and it fit what I was trying to say so it just went in there. It thought it was stupid when I did it I was like, “This is really beyond gay.” But if everyone else likes it then that’s cool and I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on it.
CB: Yeah first time I heard it I was like “Wow,” but I really liked it.
L: I think it’s spelt wrong in the CD thing, it’s supposed to be um..I can’t remember..I looked it up online and it’s spelled fucked up.
CB: Yeah I looked it up online too actually they had O-L-L-Y then oxen..like an oxen.
L: Yeah, I didn’t do it like that..I did like Muhammad Ali. (laughs)
Aaron: They know what you mean.
CB: Alright, what further support do you have planned for the album, like upcoming tours..
Alex: I thought you said “sport” at first, but support..
M: Yeah me too, I was like “Hockey!” We’ll probably do a sweet table tennis tour then maybe a backyard pool volleyball tournament. But, other than that I think we’re just gonna have a DVD come out and tour around that next year and hopefully keep touring next year and I don’t know just continue this cycle of writing songs.
CB: Alright, you guys have played
M: Yeah
L: We’ve never played in a place like this place (Varsity Theater).
M: We played the Quest though, that was pretty nice.
L: Oh, I forgot we played the Quest.
M: We played the Quest and we played the Ascot Room.
CB: Ok, well what I was going to ask is this whole blog that I run is on the
M: Really? As long as the venue’s not cold. Last night it was so damn cold inside the venue.
L: We’ve always been treated really nicely in
M: Yeah, we played at the CD Warehouse right down the street, a long time ago with The Higher, and then we played the Quest with (Hed) pe.
L: That was awesome dude.
M: (Hed) pe and Noise Ratchet then we played the Ascot Room with Moneen and Braid and Recover which was pretty sweet. And I think we played there one other time, but we’ve always had really good shows, we don’t get up here a ton, I guess we played Warped Tour in Minneapolis too.
L: We’ve played outside of
M: Uh…oh yeah..there used to be a café like Fireball or espresso café or something. Yeah we’ve played there several times to. But, we’ve always had decent kids come out and support us, but it’s just hard to route a tour up here sometimes. Even though it’s only eight hours away from where we live it’s still hard to work out.
CB: Okay, and what are your favorite cities to play and venues…I mean obviously
M: No, we don’t really play
L:
M: Yeah, Chain Reaction is awesome.
L:
Aaron:
Alex: I like
M:
CB: How about bands to tour with…any bands in particular…
L: Right now we’re playing with Tyler Read and they’re a lot of fun.
Alan: Tyler Read is awesome dude.
M: They’re like our new favorite band. We haven’t toured with Moneen in a long time but they were always like our buddies for a long time. Um…I don’t know there’s a lot of good bands but..
L: It’s hard to single them out.
M: Not that we would get the opportunity to tour with them..but whatever.
CB: And what are you guys listening to now, what do you recommend, what should all the cool kids be listening to?
L: ABBA. I’m serious.
Alex: The Cranberries?
M: We listened to the Cranberries today, Imogen Heap, whatever it is.
L: That Frou Frou whatever that shit you always listen to is…
M: Yeah, that’s pretty good. Well, same sound.
CB: Well Frou Frou is Imogen Heap’s full band project.
M: Oh, I did not know that. That makes sense, thanks for that educational..thing. Uh..what else do we listen to. I listen to Near Missile a lot they’re a smaller band but they have some really good songs.
Aaron: I listen to headphones..
M: Headphones? Umbrellas, is that what you like?
L: Is that that one you showed me?
CB: What are your guys’ influences?
L: (whispers) Metallica. That’s the reason I started playing guitar dude.
M: Why’d you say it like that?
CB: He was trying to be intense..you have to be quiet to be more intense.
L: Well I like Jawbreaker and Sunny Day Real Estate really influenced me a lot to be in a band and just writing and everything. Braid, I love Braid, awesome.
Alan: MXPX definitely dude.
M: I think Alex is gonna say Blink 182.
Alex: I was, I love Blink.
M: The first punk band I got into was like No Doubt probably, I saw them on the box and was like, Gwen Stefani is hot and Adrian Young is a good drummer. So, I was into ska for a while then just kinda got into other stuff after that.
CB: Let’s see..any tour stories you’d like to share..any good ones?
Aaron: Food fight? Or when you almost got shot? Either that or food fight.
M: The food fight is more..that’s a good one. We were on tour with One Way Letter and we stopped at a gas station and we go to the gas station and was like, “Oh what band are you guys in?” He gave us a bunch of stuff because he was like “Oh, I don’t need any of this stuff,” so he gave us like a bunch of lunchables that had expired and like sodas we had all this stuff. And they called us and were like, “Where you guys at?” and we’re like, “Oh, we’re like at exit whatever.” So they were right behind us we’re like, “Alright sweet.” So we come up and are like, “Hey roll down the window,” and I had eaten like most of this ice cream but there was still a lot in there, it was melting, it was summertime so it was definitely melting. So he rolled the window down and he had manual, so it’s not like he could do it very fast and I just take this thing of ice cream and I’m in the back seat, he’s in the front and I take my right hand and just throw it and it hits him right in the face. So then we’re throwing lunchables and I had said, “Oh I’m gonna throw shit at you guys,” and we had this chili…so I take it and it lands right on their window and they got all serious and called us and were like, “What did you throw on our window…..” So that was pretty funny.
1 comments:
Post a Comment