Driven Far Off

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Silverstein Interview March 4th 2006

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Silverstein

This interview was conducted in-person on March 4, 2006 in Richmond, Virginia at The Canal Club. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Shane Told of Silverstein.

– State your name and position in the band.

My name is Shane and I sing.

– Give a brief history of the band and the origin of the name.

We started about six years ago In Burlington, Ontario, originally as a side project. Our other bands broke up and this became the main focus. We got signed to Victory Records in 2002. We put out two LPâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s. The name came from the author, Shel Silverstein.

– How would you compare this current tour with the others?

Well this tour is a charity tour, The Take Action Tour, so itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s a little bit different. Everyone is putting the cause first before everything else. Itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s different in that sense. Itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s also a pretty diverse bill, thereâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s a lot of different kinds of music.

– How would you describe your live performance to someone who hasnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t seen you play live?

Well, we try to keep it pretty intense. But at the same time, we try to have a lot of dynamics and character between the songs. Some bands get up there and it sounds like theyâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re playing the same song for 45 minutes. So we try to switch it up but at the same time, keep it really intense.

– Which elements of a show do you think truly make the show stand out?

I just think energy and intensity, you know? It goes a long way.

– If you had to play one last show, what would you do to make it different than the rest?

When itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s your last show and you know itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s your last show, obviously there is a lot more emotion into it. We do the same tours, 40 days, itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s pretty much the same show everyday. So after a while it starts to lose its luster a little bit. If we played one last show, it will be intense, we would play all our songs. The last time we ever play â┚¬Ã…”Bleeds No Moreâ┚¬? , would be intense, insane.

– What are your feelings on being a part of the Take Action Tour?

I think itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s great. Weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢ve never done anything like it before. Everything we have done beforeâ┚¬Ã‚¦(stands up and shuts the door due to the sound check of another band). Well weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re really proud of being on it. You know, weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢ve never done any charity tours before. Our songs deal with suicide and stuff and a lot of our fans come up to us and asks us questions about it. We just want to take it back to that, help out suicide prevention as much as we can.

– What are your overall feelings towards how to record came out and what the fans thought of it?

Weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re really excited about the record, we think we made the best record we could possibly make. The kids are like loving it , so weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re really excited.

– In your opinion, which record showcases what Silverstein is about the best?

I think our new one because I think the songs are more well thought out and better written.

– More matureâ┚¬Ã‚¦.

Yeah. Everyone says more mature, obviously it is more mature. You know a lot of the songs on the first record were written when I was 19 or 20 years old and now Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m 25. So basically Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m a more mature person.

– What do you want the fans to take away from listening to your music?

Well, whatever they want to take away from it. I think the great thing about the music we play is like, people can kind of just kind of get out of it what they want. If someone wants to go and get out all their aggression on our music, they can do that. If they want to look for something just catchy and whatever, they can get that out of it. If they really want to dig into the lyrics and think about the meaning and stuff, they can get that too. So I think that is a great part of what we do that Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m really proud of.

– Which factors in everyday life influences the lyrics the most?

Well, right now, everyday life for me is being on the road and being away from your family, your friends, your girlfriend. Itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s really hard, it takes its toll on you. This last record there was a lot of, not really so much songs about that, but songs kind on the secondary level of that. Because Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m away from home, Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m having those problems and issues that I write about.

– In your opinion, what stands out the most about the band?

I guess we try to stand out by writing great songs. We donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t try to overdue our image or anything, we are just five regular guys from Canada and we just do our thing. We have a good time doing it. Weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re a real band, you know? Just five guys, weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re not trying to fool anybody.

– Not try to impress anyone like most bands do.

Yeah, yeah. Some of these bands with their make up and crazy images.

– Itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s all about your image and how many records you sell.

Weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re not into that so itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s good.

– If you could have any historical figure play a part in the band, who would you choose and why?

I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t know man. Itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢ll be cool to have a guest appearance by John Lennon or something. Thatâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s a funny question.

– What is the biggest misconception people make about Silverstein?

I think a lot of people label us as another â┚¬Ã…”screamoâ┚¬? band, all the time we get that. I mean, maybe that is not be entirely untrue but I think we bring a lot more to the table than just a screamo band or hardcore band. We write a lot better songs than the average band. Weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re not as into our image as a lot of the bands in that scene.

– In 100 years, how do you want the band to be remembered?

100 years, God I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t know. If in a 100 years someone can listen to our record and be like â┚¬Ã…”Thatâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s a great songâ┚¬?, thatâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s all I want. I think great music stands the test of time, no matter what the genre is. I think a good song is a good song and I think a hook is a hook.

– In your opinion, what is one of the biggest things people take for granted?

Well, Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢ll make a little statement about a lot of people in your country, America. People have it pretty good here in terms of being able to live safely and comfortably and a lot of people take that for granted and complain about all kind of issues. I think that is slowly tearing your country apart. So thatâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s one thing, everyday life you know?

– Which part in the bandâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s history has been the most difficult?

The most difficult times were right when we put our record out and we were on the road. We did a tour without a trailer. We did a tour with a U-Haul trailer and a really old crappy van with no air conditioning in Alabama, in the summer. You know, with shows falling through left, right, and center. You know, it was real hard. We didnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t make any money in this band, at all for the first year and a half that we did it. It was really hard in those days. Now, things have gotten better weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re riding in a bus now. Weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re just really excited now that we can do that.

– Which goals do you have set out for the band for 2006?

Weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re pretty much on tour the whole year, all of the world. Weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re going to go to Australia again and weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re talking about possibly going to South America. So weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re pretty excited to do that and anywhere we can go in this band.

– If you could change or erase any law, which one would it be and why?

Is this were Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m suppose to say, legalize it? Is that what Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m suppose to say for this question?

– Haha, no no. Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m not into that stuff.

Haha, I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t know. There are a lot of silly laws in this country that put people away in jail, good people, when they should stricter penalties on offenders and stuff. In terms of some drug laws, theyâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re a little over the top.

– Is there anything else you want the readers to know?

Um, just check out The Take Action Tour. Itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s a really great cause and we are really proud to be on it.

The Rocket Summer Interview March 5th 2006

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The Rocket Summer

I just wanted to preface this by saying thank you so much to the kind people at the Militia Group & Island Records for their continued support of websites like ours. I got an opportunity to dialogue with Bryce Avary (The Rocket Summer) and ask him some questions I’ve been curious about for quite some time; pop in ‘Hello, Good Friend’ and enjoy!

Michael: So why Island/Def Jam?

Bryce: It seemed like a really good place to be. The people there are all really cool. It felt right.

Michael: What made you choose Brat Pack as the next single from your record?

Bryce: I had a good concept of what I wanted the video to be like for the next single and of all the songs it seems like Brat Pack was the best one to fit the video concept. It’s also a song that seems to connect with a lot of people.

Michael: What should fans expect from you on the upcoming tour? New songs? New members?

Bryce: Neither really. We might play new songs but you can definitely expect aԚ  celebration! It’s always a good time, you can count on that.

Michael: You just made a pretty extensive trip to Japan, what is the scene like over there compared to the US? Are fans more/less receptive?

Bryce: They are just as receptive, they definitely freak out more though. It’s a special thing for a band to go over there. We tour America around the clock but I haven’t been to Japan in over 2 years. It feels more special since it’s not as often.

Michael: It’s quite evident in some of your songs that you maintain a spiritual relationship, without me defining it any further for you, could you explain that and how it plays into your music?

Bryce: I think because I’m a Christian and it’s a huge part of my life, its only natural for it to influence my songwriting. I definitely enjoy singing about that beautiful part of my life.

Michael: Your song, Good News, has been incredibly powerful in my life, could you tell me the story behind it?

Bryce: That song is actually inspired by a situation when I was in Detroit. There was a guy that I got into a conversation with and he wanted to see the show. He was a homeless man in a wheel chair. I carried him down the stairs into the venue to see the show. He wound up getting really drunk and the venue wouldn’t allow him to stay any longer so I had to carry him back out.

Michael: In writing/recording music full band by yourself, is there anything method you’ve found to be most successful?

Bryce: I use one method the whole time. When I finish writing I record the song on 4 track and start messing around on top of the song adding guitar parts and other layers to the song.

Michael: Did the process change for Hello, Good Friend from Calendar Days?

Bryce: Its always the same process for me.

Michael: When you choose your tour support or look for a band to support, what are your decisions based on?

Bryce: We really look for music that we like and think will be a good match with us on tour. As far as us opening for other bands, we are open to playing with almost anyone. I try to play in front of as many people as possible and always take that opportunity.

Michael: Seriously Bryce, what type of equipment do you use?

Bryce: It’s a pretty extensive list actually… On tour I usually use Fender guitars, Marshal amps, Yamaha keyboards, C & C Drums. On the records I use ALL different types of equipment.

Michael: You have been considered ‘The Rocket Summer’ solely as Bryce Avery for quite some time now, do you ever plan on adding members permanently to the roster?

Bryce: I’ve definitely thought about it. If I came across the perfect group of people it would be very possible. Right now, I’m having fun having with my friends tour with me. It’s really up to them when they want to go on the road with me. For instance, my drummer is going to school so its pretty casual right now but the next record might be different.

Michael: What’s life like as a touring, married musician?

Bryce: It’s interesting, it’s definitely way different than most marriages but it’s a lot of fun. We try hard to take minutes out of each day to not be The Rocket Summer but a lot of times that’s hard. It’s good to beԚ  with each other though.

Michael: How supportive have your parents been of your chosen career?

Bryce: They have been really supportive. I was so young when I started that they had a few reservations like most parents would. As time went on and they saw how hard I was working and things started happening they are became extremely happy for me.

Michael: What is the best gift you’ve ever received from a fan?

Bryce: In Japan we got lots of great gifts. Actually a few nights ago I got a cool banner that was written in Chinese. It read The Rocket Summer is sexy. That’s been the most recent one.

Michael: any albums or bands you want to plug?

Bryce: Mindy Smith. She’s really awesome.

Michael: Thanks Bryce!

Paramore Interview (2) February 17th 2006

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Paramore

Since finishing their run on the Warped Tour this past summer and releasing their stellar debut album, Paramore have constantly been on the road. I caught up with them at home in Nashville, TN to see how things are going.

Trevor: First off, let’s get the obvious out of the way. You’ve had two member changes since the last time I talked to you. How is that working out for you?

Josh: It’s amazing.

Hayley: It’s…terrible.

(Laughter)

Jeremy: It’s so good!

(Laughter)

Hunter: It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to Paramore.

Hayley: Jeremy was actually at the last show you interviewed us, watching.

Josh: He was there wishing he was back in.

Jeremy: I was the original bass player, and then I left and..yeah.

Zac: He does a lot of smart things like that.

(Laughter)

Josh: It’s been awesome, amazing, and incredible, so yeah.

Trevor: You’ve done a lot more touring since the summer. Now be honest. How much fun are you guys having on tour?

All: A lot.

Josh: We’re so blessed to be able to show up at a venue every day and do what we love doing.

Zac: It never gets old.

Josh: It never does, but it gets cold.

(Laughter)

Trevor: What are some of the new friends you’ve made while you’ve been touring?

Zac: The Lashes.

All: The Lashes.

Hayley: Forever Changed.

Josh: We didn’t tour with them, but we met up with them and got pretty close.

Hunter: Amber Pacific. My American Heart and Halifax.

Josh: Every band we’ve been on tour with.

Jeremy: Yeah, we’ve become close with pretty much everyone.

Trevor: How did you guys hook up with Shane C. Drake for the “Pressure” video?

Hayley: That was sort of John Janick’s idea. He knew him because he had done some stuff with Fall Out Boy and Fall Out Boy was with Fueled By Ramen. So he was like, “I’d really like to see what Shane could do with you guys,” and it worked out perfectly. We’re hoping if we do a new video, he’d be interested in doing it with us, because he’s incredible.

Zac: Yeah, now that he did us, it’s just going up from here. He’s doing Panic! now and we started him off on his career!

(Laughter)

Trevor: Who came up with the concept for the video?

Josh: We all kind of did. We sitting in the van and it was all kind of sprung up on us. It was kind of rushed, so we didn’t have much time to think about it. We love the video and how it turned out, but we’re just going to make our next one a whole lot better.

Trevor: I go into my school’s university center all the time, and they’ve always got MTVu playing. Almost every time I walk in there, the video is on.

Hayley: Oh weird!

Trevor:So how does it feel to know that your exposure is steadily growing away from the internet crowd and is slowly getting more mainstream?

Hayley: It’s really evident at shows. We’ve been able to tell the difference from the Warped Tour crowd last year, and even before that, the Bamboozle crowd. You can tell a lot by the way the kids we used to play for never would scream that much. Then the new kids, I don’t know; after we did the Simple Plan tour and on the Simple Plan tour, you could just walk on stage and everyone would start screaming.

Jeremy: It was like their eyes were going to pop out. They were like, “AAAAH!”

Hunter: Everyone’s just so much more enthusiastic. It’s a good feeling.

Trevor:Are you planning on releasing a new single any time soon?

Josh: We’re hoping to. We don’t know which song, but we’re hoping to some time soon.

Trevor: I heard you were demoing some new material.

Hayley: Yeah.

Trevor: Do you have a target date to actually go in and start recording a new full length?

Hayley: No, not really. I think we wanted to be able to record new stuff, but after we came back out on tour this year, we saw how much different the response was, and how much better it was. So we want to keep this record a chance to keep growing, because I think it’s only going to get better from here. We’re actually going to play two new songs tonight.

Zac: Yeah, we play the new stuff, because there’s no set thing for it. Maybe after Warped Tour, though, we’ll play a whole new set.

Trevor: Since the summer, a bunch of fan sites have popped up and they’ve got really, really rabid readers that contriubte something every day; whether it be pictures, videos, or whatever. Did you guys ever think that would happen to you?

All: No way!

Josh: They’re crazy man. They bring us stuff to shows. They brought Jeremy a pinata for his birthday and filmed us breaking it. The brought him cake.

Hayley: Oh! What about the girl that brought us gingerbread cookies that looked like us?

Zac: Oh man, those were good!

Hunter: There’s so much candy and everything.

Zac: For some reason, I guess we’ve done interviews like, “What’s your favorite food?” and I say, “Candy I guess,” so they read it. Then they’re like, “I heard you guys like these!” and we’re like, “Thank you!” They bring the candy you like and you’re like, “Oh gosh!”

Josh: I guess it’s just hard to fathom that someone you don’t know will buy you your favorite candy just because they like your music. It’s awesome, but at the same time you’re like, “Why are you doing this? I don’t deserve this.”

Jeremy: It’s cool, though, because I love it.

(Laughter)

Zac: I swear, they’re going to put poison in it one time and I won’t care, because I love to snack!

(Laughter)

Trevor: How often do you catch yourselves wishing you were home?

Hayley: Uuuh…(laughs) I think..I think..ah..too often.

Josh: I think towards the end of a tour, everyone’s anxious to get home, but then when you’re off for a week, you’re itching to get back out on the road again.

Jeremy: Yeah, it was like today. We got here at 6:30 in the morning, we all went to sleep, and then like, we all met up for lunch. We all hugged eachother and were like, “I miss you!”

(Laughter)

Jeremy: I mean, seriously, we were hugging eachother and were like, “I saw you like what, five hours ago!” I’m not even kidding, it was the weirdest thing ever and we’re all like, “Aaah!”

Hunter: You hang out for every second of every day and then you’re gone for two hours and you’re like, “I’m so happy to see you!”

(Laughter)

Trevor: What have you been taking out on tour that keeps you sane and occupied on the road?

Hayley: Pillows.

Zac: Scooters.

(Laughter)

Josh: Movies and stuff.

Hunter: Steroids.

Josh: Haha, yeah, our daily vitamins. Hayley’s trying to get a little swollen.

Hayley: (Laughing) No! They make fun of me, because I take vitamins a lot.

Zac: Steroids.

Hayley: (Laughing even harder.) No! I just take vitamins a lot because I’m extremely paranoid about being sick.

Josh: She’s a health freak.

Trevor: I heard earlier in the week, there were a couple of rude guys at a show. So I guess I’m directing this at Hayley. How often do you have to deal with that, and when you do, how do you deal with it?

Hayley: Every night. Lately the way I’ve been dealing with it is just through our music. At the end of “Here We Go Again” we have this, I don’t want to call it a breakdown because we’re not a hardcore band, but I guess this musical outtro, and it’s pretty heavy. I just make up lyrics that kind of pertain to what’s happening. The other night, that’s kind of what happened. I just got super fed up with it. The only thing I can do is sing about it, because that’s the platform that I have at the time. I mean, I’ll say things back to them every once in a while. Like, that one night, I was like, “Why are you here?”

Josh: Yeah, she was like, “Do you even like our band?” and they were just like, “You’re hot!” and they don’t give up. So they kept on yelling and I was like, “SHH!” and they stopped.

(Laughter)

Zac: It’s cool sometimes, because like the other night we were somewhere like, Tucan, Washington or something..

Hayley: Tucan?

(Laughter)

Hayley: Tucoma.

Zac: Tucoma, Tucan, who cares?

(Laughter)

Hayley: Go on.

Zac: Somewhere in this world, we were playing, and this dude was like, “Hey play Skater Boi!” and Hayley just totally like killed him, dude. She was like, “Hey, no. We played that on our last tour.” Then the guy was like, Oh,” and at the end of “Here We Go Again” she just starts, “He was a boy, and she was a girl!” and we were on stage playing and we were like, “What is she doing?” I was like, “I’ve heard that before. Oh wait! That’s Skater Boi!”

Jeremy: You could tell that everyone was laughing at those dudes because she was like, “You should have been on that tour! It was awesome!” Then she’s like, “This song’s called Complicated!” and I was like, “What’s she doing?”

Josh: I’ve got one more story. That one night in Detroit, that was probably the worst night we’ve ever had, but they were like, “Let me touch your hand! Give me a high five!” and Hayley’s like, “You know what? No.” and everyone’s like, (All the guys) “Ooooooh!”

(Laughter)

Hunter: It was like 8-Mile.

(Laughter)

Hunter: We were there. The venue in 8-Mile.

(Laughter)

Hayley: I’m sorry, we’re definitely not sane right now.

Zac: We’re having a good time in Nashkill!

Hayley: For real, though. We’re just excited to be home, and you’re an old friend, so it’s just fun.

Trevor: (Laughing) So what are your plans for the summer?

Josh: We have Warped Tour. We’re actually going to Japan in about a week, then in April, we’re going to the UK. But yeah, after that it’s Warped Tour.

Trevor: Are you playing the full Warped Tour or are you just playing select dates?

Zac: I think a month.

Hayley: We’re playing South by Southwest also, next month in Austin Texas. That’s going to be cool.

Zac: Which isn’t the summer at all.

Hayley: Yeah, but it’s up and coming. I’m excited because Thursday is on that bill and I like Thursday.

Trevor: You’re going to get starstruck. You know you are.

Hayley: Oh, totally. (Laughter) No, see the thing is, we saw Geoff Rickley at CBGB’s when we played there last time. I don’t know, it was in New York, but he was there. We know people from labels that know him and I wanted to be like, “Hey, my friend says she knows you,” but I was so scared.

Zac: He’s a cool person, and he smells like cigarettes.

(Laughter)

Hayley: Yeah, but after that, we don’t know.

Paramore

I’d also like to give a shout out to:

Paramore.org

And to:

Paramorefans.com

These kids work hard on these sites and feature the content from Driven Far Off, so I’d just like to thank them for that and tell them to keep up the good work.

Amber Pacific Interview February 15th 2006

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Amber Pacific

This is my interview with Greg, bassist of Hopeless Records’ band Amber Pacific. Make sure to head to takeactiontour.com and learn about this incredible tour the band is a part of!

Please introduce yourselves, what is your name and role in the band?

I’m Greg, I play bass and wiggle around on stage all wierd like.

Letï¿Â½s start from the beginning, you used to be called Follow Through, correct?

Yea, that was our original name, we had to change it cause some homeboy in NY would sue if we used it. He owned the rights to it, even though the band had broken up. I think they were a hardcore type band sorta like Bane, except it wasnt good haha.

You guys signed with Hopeless Records before doing any major touring, how has that played out since?

Well we have been touring pretty much non-stop since then. We learned fast and are still learning. We’ve definetly paid “dues” since we’ve started touring, maybe not as much as other bands but we have had our share.

Your first tour was the warped tour, I know you guys had a great experience with the tour, tell us a little bit about it.

HOT! haha it was a blast, it was tons of hard work, tons of fun, tons of hot, bright sun. Its something we will never forget, it was just an amazing experience. We were on it the year after that and will be on it again this year. Summer doesnt feel like summer anymore if we arent on warped, its like I’m missing part of me if we arent on it.

What was it like being fresh out of high school and touring the country?

Well we all did a couple quaters of college too, but its amazing. Its a dream come true for me, i know im truely blessed every night that i stop onto a stage and theres kids out there ready to have fun.

Your debut EP and Full-length were recorded with the same producer, what made you want to go back with him?

Yea we did both of them with Martin Feveyear at Jupiter studios in Ballard Wa. We went back with him cause hes the man, hes going to make anything we want sound the way we want it. He has a rad british accent and hes just an easy going guy and knows his stuff. His sound board is amazing too.

Your one of the rare Seattle bands to not record with Casey Bates, is there any reason why?

There’s no real reason. We found Martin when we were trying to record a demo/ep that wouldnt sound like it was recorded in a garbage can and he was able to do that in the 4 days that we had to do it. We knew he was easily capable of making stuff sound way better if he had more time so we went back. All of casey bates stuff sounds good, we just never really wanted to go with anyone other then our boy Martin.

How did you connect with your drummer, Dango?

One night we flew to Nashville and put a Big Mac under a net and waited for him to take the bait then we caught him and made him one of us.

Tell us about the recent departure of one of your founding members.

Jusin wasnt actully one of the founding members, Will is the only founding member in the band still. Justin just felt he was meant to go back to school and move on from the band. We all still love the guy, people just sometimes need to do what they want/need to do.

How is your relationship with Hopeless Records? How many more records will you be releasing with them?

We love em : )

You have an opportunity to be a part of the incredible Take Action Tour this year. How do you feel about the tour, the cause, and the other bands youï¿Â½ll be touring with?

We are so excited about it. Its an amazing cause, helping those in need when they need it the most. everyone should check out www.takeactiontour.com to see everything that its about. I think I’m most exctied about Paramore being on the tour cause we just did a tour with them and i love all of them, my brothas and sista from anotha motha, so it’ll be great to see them and go to dennys and all that good stuff. Im excited to hear the new stuff the early november and matchbook romance too. Im pumped to see the boys in Chiodos too, super rad guys and good tunes. Theres so many more awesome bands on this tour like silverstien too, everyone just needs to go to takeactiontour.com and see all the good stuff that is going on in and around this tour!

Tell me about the video you just shot, youï¿Â½re very discrete on the website, can you give out any more info on it?

Im not really sure why we are being so secretive about it… but i guess i should keep being hush hush so nothing bad will happen to me in my sleep haha. We are super happy with it though, we did with Morgan Phillips down in hollywood and it was so much fun and everyone that worked on the video was super nice and rad. All i can say is that the video is rad i guess haha… ohh and you should see it popping up on fuse and different places end of feb early march… thats all i can say for now…

Any last thoughts? Comments?

Please come out to any of the take action tour dates and support a good cause, we will be there hangin out like always so come say hi!!

Armor For Sleep Interview February 2nd 2006

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Armor For Sleep

I got to sit down with Ben Jorgensen from Armor For Sleep in Nashville, TN.

Trevor: What’s the tour been like so far?

Ben: It’s been awesome, man. Every show has been sold out so far, so we can’t complain. It’s been really good.

Trevor: Are all the kids reacting well to every band on the tour?

Ben: Yeah, it’s like a package tour. We call it “The Invisible Sideshow” and not the “Armor For Sleep Headlining Tour” for a reason. We knew it’s about all the bands. Every band has their own thing going on and it’s more about the power of all the bands together than it is the power of just us.

Trevor: Are there any crazy stories from this tour yet? Has anything really random happened yet?

Ben: We played a show in New York City. It was the biggest show we ever headlined in New York before, and our management got us a stretch limo. We had an afterparty at this super hipster place. It’s strange. We got out of the limo at the club and everyone like, moved away and there was a red carpet for us to go on. I was like, “What the fuck?”

(Laughter)

Trevor: Speaking of crazy stories, there are plenty of them on the DVD that just came out. Now, why did you guys go ahead and decide to release a DVD?

Ben: Because, we’re kind of sick of bands being bands and there’s always a barrier between them and their fans. The fans think they know them based on their songs, but every band is full of five or six real people. We just wanted to show everyone who we really are. We’re just four normal dudes from New Jersey who just happen to be in a band that plays music. We wanted all our fans to know we’re real people, and we wanted to film ourselves being idiots.

Trevor: Do you prefer to play the old songs or the newer songs? Do you even have a preference?

Ben: There’s gratification in playing both. On this tour, we’re bringing back a couple of old songs that we haven’t really gotten to play, and that’s cool because I know people might want to hear those songs. At the same time, we’re playing a couple of new songs that we never got to play from this album that I know people are going to be stoked about. I’m excited for both. We’re never going to be one of those bands that justs forgets about our old songs.

Trevor: Why did you decide to do a more developed concept album this time around.

Ben: I think that’s just the way we write. I think an album, the albums that I like, kind of tell a story or a piece of history. They’re more than just a collection of songs. They’re a state of mind. I don’t think it was any different than the way we did “Dream to Make Believe.” Maybe it’s a little more story-oriented, but it just has common threads running through it. I think at the time, that’s the kind of album we wanted to make. I’m not saying we’re always going to make concept albums, but that’s what felt right.

Trevor: Even though it’s been out for almost a year, do you think the new album is still gaining momentum?

Ben: Yeah, I mean if anything, I know we’re selling more records now than we ever have on this record cycle. Shit’s kind of picking up for us on the more mainstream front, so it’s not dead by any means. Things kind of take a while for an album sometimes.

Trevor: Are you writing any new material yet?

Ben: We actually have our whole next album written. We’re going to go record it as soon as this tour is over.

Trevor: Well that takes care of the next question. (Laughter) Is there anything that you have to bring on tour. Is there anything that you HAVE to have while you’re on the road?

Ben: My iPod. Now that we have a bus, my X-Box. It’s my second life. We brought our recording studio out here with us. This is where we’re going to be making demos of our whole album. We’re a pretty high tech band. We all have Sidekicks and iPods. We keep up with the times and we try and utilize 2006 for whatever it can bring us. We all have laptops, and we update our Myspace pages. You know what I mean? Everything that a normal person has nowadays, we have.

Trevor: If you could set up a dream tour with any bands you could play with, who would it be?

Ben: Probably Nirvana and Radiohead..Say Anything.

Trevor: Oh man, yeah. If they ever get back on the road..

Ben: They will. Max is a good friend of mine. They’re going to kick ass this year.

Trevor: Yeah, they’ve got the re-release of the album coming out and with the right push, they could be huge.

Ben: They will be, man. They’re one of the few bands that we get to tour with that I think really change the landscape of music. Max is one of my good friends, and it’s really weird, because when I talk to him I’m a really huge fan of his songs; but at the same time I’m still his good friend, so it’s cool.

Trevor: Finally, what are your plans for the summer?

Ben: Warped Tour. Full Warped Tour.

Trevor: Are you guys playing Main Stage?

Ben: A little bit. We’ll dabble in the main stage and see how it feels.

(Laughter)

Trevor: All right. Thank you for sitting down with me.

Ben: Oh, no problem man.

Green Carnation Interview January 15th 2006

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Green Carnation

Given the time differences between the US and Norway, guitarist Tchort of Green Carnation e-mailed me answers to a few questions.

Were there any member changes since the last GC release? If so, who’s gone and who’s new? Did these new members affect GC’s decision to create an all-acoustic album or had this been a goal of the band from long ago?

Anders Kobro (drums) was replaced with Tommy Jackson after the recording of The Quiet Offspring. You could say that was because of “musical differences”, but all in all, it was a decision made to keep up the quality of future recordings. Kobro had been in the band since the year 2000, and during this period, he got more bands, got more kids, full job, etc. so it was hard for him to find the time we required of him. Tommy is a long time friend of the band and knew most of our material by heart already, so the change was a smooth one.

Regarding the decision on making an acoustic album, that came from the fact that Green Carnation had its 15th anniversary in 2005, and we wanted to do something special for the fans. Since we already had released a full length album earlier the same year, we decided on doing an acoustic album, which would be a new thing for us as well as the fans.

The strings on Acoustic Verses are beautiful. Did you bring special guests or is there a member of the band who was talented enough to write and record those string parts? Have you ever considered adding a strings instrument (violin, viola, or otherwise) to your line-up and/or touring show?

The string arrangements were written by the band members, but performed by friends of ours who own and play the violin and viola. Due to our strict deadline during the recording of the string section, we had to use a sample for the chello, but its hard to tell, when its mixed with the violin and viola. Adding a string trio to our live shows, would be great, but we have a hard time as it is already, just to have the promoters to accept the 8 people that we are (6 band members + 2 technicians) hehe However, we are planning on doing something special in the summer…

On your upcoming tour of North America, will you be playing your usual metal live-show or will you be busting out the acoustic instruments and toning it down with some tracks off of this new album?

We dont know yet, but i imagine that we will do both, but how its going to be specifically, we dont know yet.

Given the characteristic thrashing guitars of metal, how do you think the tranquility of Acoustic Verses will go over with your fanbase? Were you thinking of the fans when you wrote this album? Do you have a different target audience for this album or are you trying to diversify the music of your established metal fanbase?

We have been blessed with a open minded fan base (but i guess you have to be open minded if you want to be a green carnation fan) and they have been very acceptive of all our albums and our changes. The acoustic album is a lot different – again – but on the other hand, i believe it captures the essence of Green Carnation; atmosphere, Progressive and melodies. Maybe in even more now than on the other albums. Its sometimes easier to bring forward the essence when you only have an acoustic guitar and vocals. Its easy to drown stuff when you have 26 drum tracks, 8 guitars, 6 different keyboards, pads, etc.

we have done some acoustic versions of our old songs, that were used as bonus material on the DVD we released 2 years ago, and we got some really good feedback from the fans on those songs, so i not only think, i am sure that they will enjoy this album as well Smile

I’ve never been a fan of metal ï¿Â½ heavy, death, or otherwise ï¿Â½ but after listening to your acoustic album, I decided to check out some of your older stuff. To my surprise I wasn’t cowering in the corner, covering my ears and wishing I could reach the stop button on my computer. In fact, I’ve found a pop element in your songs on the internet that I quite enjoyed. Do you think your acoustic album will be a crossover that will help introduce people who were previously afraid of anything termed “metal” to your music?

Much possible, if they get the chance to hear the album, that is. Metal people are usually very open minded when it comes to music, but “normal” people are not so open-minded when it comes to metal music. I think the album can appeal to both sides of the “fence”, at least thats what we`ve been told by media and those who have listened to the album already. To us, its an album that we approached in a different way, but put just as much effort and time into, as we have done with any other album. I believe that we managed to capture the soul and heart of Green Carnation with this album.

Can you remember first album that you ever got (purchased or received as a gift)? Do you still listen to the band or music like it?

I cant remember exactly, but i am guessing it was a Kiss album (cassette). I later collected all they released up to Crazy nights. I still listen and i still like Kiss a lot!

What would you say is the one album that has most influenced or inspired you to create music?
holy cr**… Thats a hard one! I think maybe i would have to say Deicide / Deicide. I got a real kick from it, and i wrote a lot of music after hearing it. It opened a new world to me. Anyways, its not an album that could see in connection with what I am doing in Green Carnation today hehe

Spitalfield Interview December 14th 2005

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Spitalfield

I sat down with Mark from Spitalfield a long time ago..well..back in December. I’ve tried several times to get this interview up, but every time, something has gone wrong. Here it is, finally! Sorry it took so long, guys!!

Trevor: So how’s the tour going so far?(theAudition, Dropping Daylight, Plain White Ts)

Mark: The tour has been awesome, actually. Even the weeknights have been awesome. Every stop so far has been pretty good in some way. We’re really having fun with theAudition and the T’s. It’s some Chicago love. Dropping Daylight were on the tour until two nights ago and they were pretty cool, too. It’s a pretty good vibe going into the holidays. Everyone knows that when this tour is done, we have a little time off for Christmas and New Year’s. It’s a very optimistic tour.

Trevor: I’m sure that it helps being with friends so close to the holidays.

Mark: Oh, definitely. Yeah, things are good.

Trevor: You went overseas a couple of months ago. Do you have any stories from that? Any crazy things happen to you?

Mark: Well, it was our second time there. We did the UK last February with Fall Out Boy and we just went back with Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, and Bayside. I mean, there’s a lot of crazy stories because you have two bands to a bus. They’re like double-decker busses. I mean, we’re all like, real tight friends. All the Victory bands; we’ve all toured together before. I mean, we had a lot of fun, no doubt about it. Individual crazy stories? Our bus driver’s name was Norm Crapper. That was actually his name and he rocked. We brought him out on stage one night in place of me. He’s a super huge guy and was wearing our “Snakebit” t-shirt with a red-rocker wig. He came out and was like, “Hello Birmingham!” and no one knew who he was. We had security come and take him off the stage, and then I came out instead. So it was pretty good.

Trevor: There was a drastic change in sound between your last album “Remember Right Now” and your new one “Stop Doing Bad Things.” Do you attribute that to anything?

Mark: Not really. We’re the same band, but it was just two years of being on the road and maturing, so we wanted a slightly different sounding record. We went with a different producer and the material itself was a little more rock-and-roll, a little more raw. That’s what we were going for. I don’t think I can blame it on anything except being on the road. The first record we wrote, we had toured before, but had never toured like this. It wasn’t until we spent the greater part of two years on the road that we started writing the way we’ve been writing.

Trevor: Since the album dropped, you guys have been on tour supporting it for pretty much the whole year. Is that paying off for you?

Mark: Yeah, overall I’d say so. The whole point of being on tour all the time is to be hitting markets again and again. We’ve been on a range of tours, ranging from headlining like right now to support spots. I mean, hopefully we can press on as the same band. We’re going to have some time off and start demoing for our next record before we go back out in February with Silverstein. We stay busy, but I’d say the hard work pays off. We’re definitely the tightest as we’ve ever been right now. Our fanbase is probably the highest it’s been.

Trevor: TJ left. He had some family troubles. Now how has that affected you guys live?

Mark: Of course at first, you know having someone else on stage is a different feeling. We’d been playing on stage with TJ for almost three years. I don’t know. It was different at first and it took a little getting used to, but we try to be professional and deal with what we have. Since then, I think we’ve really come together with “new TJ.” I think that we’re actually doing quite well. We’re definitely moving past the change.

Trevor: How does the touring affect you guys during the holidays, being away from home and everything?

Mark: It can be tough. We’ll be home for Christmas, which is good. We’ve never really had to miss Christmas before. This past Thanksgiving, we were also able to stop home and have a few days off. It’s tough because you see everyone and you want to be home for a little bit and see your friends and family. You don’t want to just say, “Hey, how’s it going?” You want to be able to hang out. You want to be able to be around and sleep in your own bed, go see movies, and sleep in. But we chose this lifestyle and we love it, so it’s okay.

Trevor: Do you guys have any new videos in the works?

Mark: Nothing really. We might want to do a live video next, but no planned videos for this record. We probably won’t be shooting another real video until our next record.

Trevor: Do you have a target date to start writing for your new album?

Mark: We’ve been writing. We’re going to do some demoing in January. Hopefully we’ll be in the studio by late Spring, and then over the Summer have samplers for it, and have it in stores late Fall. Hopefully next September or October.

Trevor: Are you guys going to try and play Warped Tour this year?

Mark: Always. We always want to play Warped Tour, but we’ve never done it. Fingers crossed, we’ll get something this year.

Trevor: Any other tours lined up for the new year?

Mark: The only thing we really have scheduled besides some college shows here and there, you know to keep busy during our time off because we want to focus on writing; The next tour we have lined up is Silverstein, us, Stretch Armstrong, and theAudition. That’s in late February.

Trevor: Great. Thank you for sitting down with me.

Mark: Oh, no problem man. Anytime.

Christopher Gutierrez – Industry Interview

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Christopher Gutierrez

As part of our decision to try and expand our content a bit, I’ve interviewed Christopher Gutierrez. He has a new book called “On the Upswing of Life, Love, and Regret.” Trust me, this one’s worth reading.

Trevor: For those who don’t know who you are, could you please tell us a little about yourself?

Chris: My name is Christopher Gutierrez, I recently self-published a book called, “On the Upswing of Life, Love and Regret”. Most people know me as the dude “Hey Chris” from the Falloutboy song ‘Grenade Jumper’.

Trevor: You got your own website this year, AskHeyChris.com. What inspired you to do so?

Chris: Years ago, FOB had a contest that I judged. My internet contact info was posted for thousands of 14 year old shut-ins to abuse. My instant messenger often froze my computer so I started my livejournal as a tongue-in-cheek response to their questions. I would paste the link in the IM window and ridiculousness ensued. Over the years I managed to fool thousands of people into thinking I know what I’m talking about. The website is merely an extension of the LJ.

Trevor:This past year, you completed the Chicago Marathon, crossing something off your list of life goals. What else is on that list?

Chris: Haha. Every year I add more goals to the list than I scratch off. Its my “list of stuff to do before I die”. There’s everything from learning how to play the piano to doing the running of the bulls to watching the entire Star Wars trilogy in one day. Learning how to do that breakdancing move the helicopter is definitely at the top.

Trevor:What was the process of getting your book into the form that we can see it in now?

Chris:First you have to have a rabid fan base of bored teenagers assault you with requests for a book. Then you come up with story ideas. Then you make your life sound as cool as you possibly can without lying. Then you sit back and marvel at all the time you just expended dredging up those emotions and you hope that its enough. Then you find 2 amazingly intelligent people who will work for damn near next to nothing named Adam, who is a honors english creative writing teacher and Sara, who is a copyright editor of text books proof read and edit your 3rd grade chicken scratch. Then you spend twice as long editing the stories as you did on writing them. Then you get an wonderful girl named Lindsey to take a bunch of sensitive artist pictures of you in a shady alley. Then you find an out of work graphic designer named John do the book layout for you because he feels sorry for your broke ass, you pay him in pizza and Thai food. Then you find a printer online who will print your self-absorbed little stories into a little book at a cost of thousands of dollars you don’t have. Then you convince a few people into believing in your crappy dream of publishing your own book and you borrow more money than you’ve ever had in your bank account at one time. Then you send out all the files to said printer and wait for your proof to be sent back to you. Then you approve the proof and pay an extra $400 for rush shipping so hundreds of grubby little lurkers can get their paws on it by christmas. Then because you can’t trust your neighbors in your apartment building you have 1000 books shipped to your work. Then when they arrive you frantically tear open a box, grab the book, hold it up in front of your face and let out the longest sigh ever.

Trevor:You’ve been informed by “Borders Books” that they will be carrying your book in their stores. Did you ever picture something like that happening?

Chris:I sent the book in to Borders on a whim. I figured the book would go straight into the trash, that was until I received a phone call at work from a representative telling me they actually liked my book about stupid boy pee pee antics. Currently i am whoring myself out to distributors, asking them to carry my book as Borders will not purchase books from individuals.

Trevor:You’re doing readings at schools now and are looking to do more. What all will these sessions be consisting of?

Chris:The readings at the schools will consist of me nervously standing in front of small groups of people desperately trying to entertain them with childhood tales of mayhem. I’ll read a couple of stories from the book, a couple from the upcoming book, and a handful of journal entries. Then I will stand back and pray that no one throws anything at my face.

Trevor:What are some of your favorite stories from the book?

Chris:Well April, 1983 was cathartic for me because as my fingers were moving and I was staring at the screen I could believe what I was writing. A lot of suppressed memories came out and at times was a bit difficult to get through. While Young, Poor and Snotty is my least favorite story I love reading it because it takes me back to amazing and desperate times fueled by sex and general anarchy. It’s written like shit and there is absolutely no continuity, but as I get older and those nights begin to fade, I’m just glad I managed to put it all down before its all lost to alzheimers.

Trevor:How did music affect the way you looked at life?

Chris:Music not only affected the way I looked at life, it changed, altered, and strengthened my views on damn near everything I was ever taught. from the Sex Pistols to the Dead Kennedys to Los Crudos to Propagandhi to Youth of Today, there are songs by these bands that I hold as pure gospel. I’ve learned more from some records than from entire religions. Although the music is merely the vessel for the message, the message of this philosophy is one of pure fucking heart and if you dont see that, then you dont fucking get it.

Trevor:If you could have any three defunct bands(dead or alive) tour together, who would it be?

Chris:Minor Threat. Black Flag. Van-Halen with David Lee Roth. But not together. I would lose my shit.

Trevor:What is your opinion on the state of the music industry today, such as the RIAA lawsuits?

Chris:Eh, thats tricky. I can only assume your question is directed at file sharing. From one stand point I understand how as a band you put so much blood, sweat and tears into creating music and something you love and you would hope to get paid for it and to not have people “steal” it. But it is “art” I suppose and how do you put a price tag on that? There are small bands who may get hurt from this, but as a positive, sharing files is just that, sharing, which is also promotion. Personally, I think fuck big bands. to me its ludicrous that people make millions from playing music, just as I see it ridiculous that sports players make millions, but thats another rant altogether. So when Metallica bitches about someone downloading ‘Battery’ I say fuck you, fuck you in your fucking mansion, driving your ferraris and living in the top 1% of people in this world. how dare you look at struggling college kids who actually LIKE and support your band and sue them? what these greedy bastards dont realize is that for every song someone steals, that stolen song is an advertisement for at least a handful more people and can potentially turn more people into fans.

Trevor:What do you have planned for the coming year as far as the website and a new book go?

Chris:The website is difficult for me to update as much as I would like. But as far as other projects; by the summer I would like to have my new book out. It will be similar to the first book as far as content and style only longer, beefier with better stories and written better. The release date is the beginning of warped tour. After that I will be putting out an audio book so you can hear my juvenile ass tell my childish stories. A 3rd book is already in the works and is completely different than anything else but keep that on the downlow.

AskHeyChris.com
Livejournal

theAudition Interview December 15th, 2005

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The Audition

I sat down with Ryan, the drummer for theAudition, at the Masquerade in Atlanta, Georgia.
I can’t urge you enough to listen to this band. Their album is amazing, and they sound even better live.

Trevor: Alright. First off, why are you guys so damn catchy?

(Laughter)

Ryan: I have no idea. I don’t know. We put a lot of work into our vocals. Danny and I write the lyrics. Then we write the song with all the instruments and we work really hard on vocals until we’re happy with them. We like catchy songs. We write what we like. We like all kinds of different types of music. We like pop music. We like writing things you could sing along to, basically. That’s probably the best answer for that.

Trevor: What was the recording process like for “Controversy Loves Company?

Ryan: We started writing about November of last year, after we got signed to Victory. We wrote for about three months, then we went into the studio in April for a month. We tracked drums, then guitar, bass, and vocals. It was a long process but we recorded with John Naclerio who was our producer and he made us feel really comfortable. He did other bands like My Chemical Romance, Brand New, and Just Surrender. There’s a lot of pressure when you go to write your first CD, but John just made it really easy for us. We hung out and it was a lot of fun. A lot went into it, but it was easier than we thought it would be.

Trevor: Shance C. Drake did your video for “You’ve Made Us Concious.” Were you guys attracted to him? What made you want to work with him?

Ryan: Basically, we’d seen the videos he’d done: Hawthorne Heights, Fall Out Boy, Paramore. Seeing the work he’d done before, we thought he was great. He wanted to shoot our video and agreed with the concept of it. He helped us out a lot. He’s a cool dude. He’s really chill and a lot of fun.

Trevor: Were you guys pleased with the outcome of the video?

Ryan: Yeah, you know. You look at it and you say, “You could’ve done this.” or “You could’ve done that,” but at the time it’s a music video and you’re pleased with it.

Trevor: I’ve probably watched that video a million times.

Ryan: You like it?

Trevor: Yeah, it’s very well done. I think I first went to that website for the Paramore video.

Ryan: That video is awesome.

Trevor: Yeah, they’re good kids. I saw your video on there, though and was like, “Oh, I didn’t know they had a video for this song. That’s awesome.”

Ryan: Thank you man, we appreciate it.

Trevor: You guys have been on the road with Spitalfield for a couple of months now. How are the kids responding at shows? How often did you play out of Chicago before you got signed?

Ryan: Before we got signed, we did a lot of mid-west stuff. We never really went to the West Coast at all and we never went to the East Coast at all. We did Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, but we never went into Minnesota much. Getting out..we’ve been on a few tours now, and a bunch with Spitalfield. It’s really cool, because those guys are awesome. We’re sort of the same style of music, so it fits well, and the kids are getting into it, so that’s cool.

Trevor: Are you a Bob Nanna fan?

Ryan: I listen to Hey Mercedes. I liked Hey Mercedes back in the day when I was a little bit younger, but Bob’s a cool guy.

Trevor: You toured with City on Film, right?

Ryan: Yeah, yeah. It was us, them, Down to Earth Approach, Somerset, and Spitalfield. It was a good tour.

Trevor: For me that would be overwhelming. I don’t know. I’m a huge Braid fan.

Ryan: Yeah.

Trevor: He’s been doing it for a while now. Just the fact you guys were touring with him. I don’t know. I’d get like, starstruck or something.

Ryan: Yeah. It’s not like that because he’s such a normal dude to me.

Trevor: He’s from Chicago, so I’m sure that has something to do with it.

Ryan: Yeah, definitely. He’s from like, two towns away from me. He’s a really cool dude to tour with.

Trevor: Any weird tour stories? I read one about some kid breaking into a house..?

Ryan: Oh yeah. We were staying..where were we? We were on tour with Aiden, The Hurt Process, and the Junior Varsity back in July. We were in North Carolina, I think, and this kid invited us to his house afterwards. We walk into this house, this big mansion. This nice, huge house. For this eighteen year old kid to have, we’re all like, “This is kind of weird.” So we’re just hanging out, partying kind of, and we look at the pictures on the wall. His face wasn’t in any of the pictures.

(Laughter)

Ryan: So we figured he was squatting on the house, and like, broke in or something. Any other weird stories, though? I was just thinking about this today and now I can’t remember. A lot of weird stuff happens, though. I don’t know. I can’t think of any right now.

Trevor: What are you planning for the holidays?

Ryan: We play in St. Louis the 20th. Then we’ll be home the 21st in the morning and we have to practice all day the 21st. We have a show with our friends theAcademyIs…, The Hush Sound, and The Junior Varsity at “The Metro” in Chicago on the 22nd. Then we have a week or so off. We’re playing a show in Detroit then ending the year in Chicago on the 30th. So we have like two weeks off, then we start a tour off with June, Small Towns Burn a Little Slower, and Forgive Durden January 6th.

Trevor: Anything planned after that tour? Anything for the new year?

Ryan: Yeah, we’re going on tour with Mae, right after that. It’s more of a West Coast thing. We’re kind of booked up until March.

Trevor: Are you going to do Warped Tour any this year?

Ryan: I’m sure we’ll do some Warped Tour. It’d be awesome.

Trevor: Warped Tour is another one of those things where you’re probably going to get starstuck at some point.

Ryan: Oh for sure. All of those bands..some from ten years ago. Bands that are huge now. There’s going to be a ton of people. We’re looking forward to it and spreading our music through more kids.

theAudition
Victory Records

Taylor Gahm Industry Interview

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Taylor Gahm

Here is our first interview in our Industry series where we interview people throughout the music business. Filmmaker Taylor Gahm was nice enough to give us his views.

Could you give us your name and what it is you do?

My name is Taylor Gahm and I am a filmmaker from Texas.

When did you know that working with multimedia was something you wanted to do with your life?

About 3 years ago. I got a late start because I was sidetracked by the glamour and prestige of pursuing my post high school dream of being a career waiter at “Los Cha Cha’s” Mexican restaurant.

How did you start off as a cinematographer? What were your initial projects?

I started helping a friend of mine with his wedding videography business. I eventually bought my own gear, shot a documentary for a TV show called MXTV and then won an award for it. This was all within 9 months of picking up my first digital video camera, I guess it just made sense to me.

What do you think the difference between ordinary cinematography and digital cinematography is?

They are very similar acquisition formats. Film is so expensive but the resolution is second to none. Digital is cheaper, more forgiving and can give you similar results if you know how to set things up from pre to post production.

What kind of planning goes into shooting a tour dvd and a music video?

A tour DVD consist of me grabbing my gear and going. I bring clean underwear and jeans and then steal tees and hoodies from the merch table- it’s a good deal. After that I just shoot everything and figure it out in post.

Music videos are a bit different. It’s usually a juggling act between the expectations and ideas of the label, the band, and myself.

How do you go about coming up with treatments for the videos story, etc?

I usually just copy everyone elses ideas- it seemed to work for me in high school…. I don’t really know to be honest. I think it usually hits you when you first hear a song. You initially get an amazing conceptual idea that is so incredible and progressive that a solemn tear forms in your left eye then you take a look at the budget, laugh and go with a performance video.

Interesting. What person has had the biggest influence in your career?

Steve Bache.

Who is Steve Bache?

He is the drummer for He Is Legend.

Really? How is it that he has had such an influence in your life?

Well he hasn’t really. We just have a sweet deal where we mention each others names in press interviews. Sup dude?

Okay then…. Um, How much input does the artist have on your projects?

It depends. I have helped a couple bands sign to major and indie labels. Generally the unsigned bands come to me with a check and tell me to do my magic.

The Project 86 DVD was a bit different. It was kinda like “idea pinball” during the whole post-production process. I would put clips together online, and then adjust the edits accordingly to feedback.

I am currently working with He Is Legend and Dead Poetic on their DVD’s and they are a bit different. They are pretty much just telling me to do my thing. There really is no “right” way. My take is to just adapt to the ebb and flow of the tour and have fun.

Do you need to be trained collegiately in film to suceed in the business?

No, but it wouldn’t hurt a bit to be trained in business to suceed in film. The same goes for bands’ I think a course or two in marketing or economics would do more good than courses in music theory.

Do you feel that it is important/benetifical for an artist to get signed to a record label?

Sure. But the reality is that most bands look at a record deal as an easy way out. Landing a deal is a ton of hard work and dedication. Landing a deal is benificial, but it isnt totally necessary to be successful.

What does it take for you to work with an unsigned artist?

Talent. And money.

So do you have any advice for the upcoming filmmaker?

Get your hands dirty. Make your own movies. Forge your own path. Don’t wait for opportunity- create it. Don’t listen to negative people- they are jealous and they are wasting away their lives. Cling to those who inspire and support you. Glean from others- keep what you like, discard what you don’t. Brush your teeth. Please don’t drink and drive.

Where do you see the film and music industry going in the future with all of the technology making things easier?

Dude I have no idea. I am sure you wanted something better than that but I got nothing. I am still eagerly anticiapting flying cars like in Back to the Future II.

What do you see yourself doing in the future whether it’s continuing with cinematography or moving on to something else?

I am pretty much counting on marrying a doctor. Once that happens I will probably play a lot of golf. If that falls through, then I would like to be directing music videos for the next few years and then move on to feature films when the time is right.

I am also in the process of starting a non-profit organization to benefit touring musicians. I am hoping that it wont be too long before it is making a difference in this business.

Thanks for your time and insight on your thoughts of the industry. We hope to hear more about you in the future and wish you the best with your work.

Thanks for having me. Take care.