Tag: rock

INTERVIEW: Motion City Soundtrack (USA), February 2010

Posted on by David James Young in Interviews

I’m always going to love Motion City Soundtrack. Sure, their last album was garbage, but they’ve always had a special place in my heart. Take me back to 2005 – if only for the excitement of listening to Commit This to Memory for the first time. What an adventure that was. This was a chat with Justin Pierre, who was lovely. I really enjoyed this chat; and I think this is one of my better-written articles from the time.

– DJY, April 2014

***

I’m calling from sunny Minnesota!” reports Justin Pierre, frontman of evergreen pop-punks Motion City Soundtrack. He can’t keep the act up: “It’s actually really cold and there’s snow everywhere”, he confesses in a lower tone.

As is revealed in our brief conversation, Justin can sway at any given time between seriously strange and strangely serious. Even so, it’s these traits that have helped his band make a connection with ironically-cheery outcasts worldwide, over the course of three well-received albums – and soon to be a fourth, with the January 2010 release of My Dinosaur Life.

The album itself has been a long time coming for MCS. Not only is it their first album on a major label, Columbia Records, it’s also the first new material they have released in nearly four years. The band certainly has not been slacking off, though. A legitimate injury sidelined the band during a crucial recording period.

”[Drummer] Tony [Thaxton] broke his arm, and we ended up having to push the whole thing back about half a year,” explains Pierre. “We wouldn’t be the same band without him, so we had to learn to work around his broken arm.”

Of course, the dedication the band has to each other is admirable, but just how did they ‘work around’ the situation? “Normally, what you do is record the drums first,” Justin says. “In this instance, we just used either programmed, crappy fake drums or the demo recordings that Tony recorded before he broke his arm. It was kind of awful listening to what we thought were pretty good songs with these really bad drums!” Thankfully, Thaxton recovered in time to finish the recordings and “bring the songs to life”, as Pierre puts it.

At the helm for My Dinosaur Life was blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus, whom had previously worked on the band’s 2005 sophomore, Commit This to Memory. At first, the band were uncertain about getting into contact with him, given his busy schedule on tour with a reunited blink. Strangely enough, thanks to Thaxton’s injury, the time-frame changed and Hoppus was available to work with the band. Pierre was desperate to work with one producer after collaborating with several on 2007’s Even If It Kills Me left him in the cold.

“We actually went in and worked on a song with this one guy which we enjoyed, but he wasn’t interested in working on the whole album”, says Pierre. He goes on to detail the issues that arose with Even If It Kills Me, and its multiple producers. “We’d gotten so used to working with Adam [Schlesinger, of Fountains of Wayne/Tinted Windows fame] and Eli [Janney], and then Ric [Ocasek, of The Cars] came on halfway through… we had to start over again and work out their new method,” he elaborates.

Ultimately, Hoppus became the logical choice. “We all thought about it and it just made a whole lot of sense for us,” Justin states after returning to topic. “The one thing we wanted to do with this record is that we didn’t want to over-think or worry about anything. With Mark, we knew exactly how he worked – it was really easy to get right back into it. All we really wanted was to do our thing, and Mark was a champion of the band – his whole thing was, ‘I like the band, so let the band be the band.’ The whole thing was really fun and easy.”

Pierre’s enthusiasm for the new material is infectious – particularly when he gets into detail on tracks like Pulp Fiction and Disappear. The former came about as a creation entirely by bassist Matt Taylor, an electronica instrumental with layers of keyboards and synthesisers.

“He sent it to me because he knows I like that kind of stuff,” says Pierre, “but I don’t think he ever intended it to be a Motion City Soundtrack song. I wrote some lyrics for it, and recorded them and sent it back to him; and then we played it to the rest of the band and they all loved the idea. That song is the most different from anything we’ve done, because it’s rooted in electronic music, and we sort of turned it into a rock song… I’m not even sure how to describe it.”

Justin talks up the latter for the emotion it conveys. “I feel like Disappear is one of my favourites just because it’s straight-up mean and angry,” he notes. “It’s a very violent-sounding song, and I like that because there was nothing like that on our last record.”

He speaks on behalf of the band when he says how excited they are to finally have My Dinosaur Life raring to go, in addition to playing the songs live. Despite a couple of bad memories from their last tour here (“I had to make a lot of calls home, which ended up being really expensive!”), Pierre is very happy to be a part of the 2010 Soundwave lineup.

There’s also no question to whom he’s most looking forward to seeing – when asked, he quickly lists his top four of “Sunny Day Real Estate, Sunny Day Real Estate, Sunny Day Real Estate and Sunny Day Real Estate!”

Jokes aside, he also mentions Faith No More (“I never got to see them, and Angel Dust is one of my favourite albums of all time”) and The Weakerthans (“Mister John K. Samson is one of my favourite lyricists”). For a guy who cuts to the core about how crap things can get, he seems pretty upbeat for now – a good note to end on and a great attitude leading up to what could be the band’s most popular release yet.

INTERVIEW: Every Time I Die (USA), January 2010

Posted on by David James Young in Interviews

“This ain’t my first rodeo!” Actually, this was – I’ve interviewed members of Every Time I Die four times, and this was the first of those. I’m pretty sure it was Keith Buckley who answered the questions. This was for the Boys of Summer tour – remember when that was a thing? Another emailer; this was pretty sweet as I was just getting into these guys. I finally got to see them live in 2013; and their headliner ended up being one of the best shows of the year. Now, on with the show.

– DJY, April 2014

***

Welcome back to Australia! Have you been looking forward to coming back?
We absolutely have, especially because where I live there’s about four feet of snow on the ground. Now I’m out here sitting pool-side. When I go home, I’m gonna be the cats pyjamas! But we also love being here because the shows are amazing. Everyone is super nice to us. Sometimes aggressively nice. That’s sometimes a bad thing, but it’s rare.

Looking back on 2009, what were some of your favourite moments?
I got married, which was pretty monumental. It was a good year for us. We’ve been touring a lot on the newest record and did our first legit headliner for Epitaph. The reception was better than we could have hoped for.

My little brother has fond memories of Keith getting nailed by bottles at Sydney’s 2009 Soundwave. Did this kind of stuff happen at every stop?
I tried to encourage it as much as possible. We want to make the people watching us feel like they’re a part of the show. Since the stage was so big and we really weren’t close to them, I wanted them to come to us. It kept me on my toes too. I’m a lot faster than anything thinks.

You must be upset that Trap Them are no longer on the bill?
I am indeed. I’m an enormous fan of that band.

What do you think of the other acts you are playing with on the Boys of Summer tour?
I think they’re all really cool. They have a lot of support from the kids coming out so it adds a great element. They’re familiar to people. The guys are super nice too.

Many bands speak of how gruelling touring schedules can be. Has that ever been a difficulty in the ETID camp?
No man, it’s just a part of the job. You know what you’re getting into when you sign up. Well, at least you did years ago. If people complain, it’s because they put their music on the internet and got signed before even playing a real show. Either it took them by surprise or they’re just spoiled and didn’t realise that the instruments they bought with daddy’s money didn’t come with a ‘Get Out Of Jail Free’ card and they’d have to suffer for their art.

What have recent set-lists consisted of? Is there even a slight chance of playing at least one Burial Plot track?
There is ZERO chance of a BPBW song. Haha. It’s a good mix, about four songs from each record.

Can you tell us any more about what’s happening with The Damned Things?
I just did some demo/pre-production right before leaving for Australia. Things are coming out splendidly. A lot of solos; a lot of huge choruses. My dad heard a song and said it sounded like Foreigner. That’s a real good thing.

INTERVIEW: Jonathan Boulet (AUS), December 2009

Posted on by David James Young in Interviews

Ahh, Jono. This is the first time we ever crossed paths – we met properly sometime later in 2010, I believe. I met the Parades guys not long after, and up until his relocation to Berlin I would see Jono around the traps quite a bit. He’s a wonderfully talented man, and someone that I am constantly inspired by. Anyway, I won’t go on too long about this one – I think my excitement is pretty reflective in the writing; as well as Jono’s non-chalance. We’d get a lot more comfortable as the years passed. He’ll have a new record out this year. That’s exciting. This is way back when the first one came out – what a time to be alive!

– DJY, April 2014

***

The contrasts that exist between music and its musician remain as glaring as ever. Take twenty-one year old Sydneysider Jonathan Boulet. Speaking over the phone on an early Friday afternoon, he is shy and somewhat reluctant in his answers – a tough egg to crack, if you will.

Listening to his debut self-titled album, however, we are treated to a display of bright, exuberant and boisterous confidence that slips through every aspect of the music itself. It’s the musical equivalent of a student doing their homework on the bus, handing it in just as the bell rings, and getting full marks. Boulet may be exceptionally late, but he just might have put together the best Australian debut album of 2009.

“I’ve been making music by myself for a long time,” he explains. “Whether it’s been more electronic or more heavy, it started by just playing around on a keyboard. After getting more recording equipment and developing a few more recording skills, it started directing towards what I’m doing now.”

Indeed, Jonathan has had his finger in a variety of different-tasting but equally delicious musical pies. Even for someone so young, he has managed to work his way through a variety of genres and subsequent gig circuits.

“With the [Sydney band] Parades guys,” he makes note, “we started out in a kind of post-punkish band.” The sound? “It was heavy music, but we didn’t really want to sound like everyone else. We’d turn up to gigs in board shorts when everyone else was in tight pants and fringes. We didn’t think we fit in, but somehow we did – it was really weird.”

After working his way through a variety of bands, Jonathan’s creativity has shifted to focus on music under his own name. The album, consisting of songs written over the years up to now, was recorded in Boulet’s garage – he wrote, played and recorded the entire thing on his own.

“I guess the record was free to make,” he comments sheepishly, “but all-up the gear I was using cost about $1500.

“I think independence does help – the whole studio thing is a part of the industry you could just bypass and get a better result,” he responds when questioned about how important his D.I.Y. ethics have been in getting his music out there. “Of course, if you were on a major label backing, you wouldn’t care – you’d have the massive studio and the dollars to afford it. But I think it’s better, doing it yourself – you have more control and you’re more satisfied with the end result.”

It might have taken a while to get the whole thing together, but Boulet’s 2009 certainly hasn’t been garage-bound for its entirety. You might have seen him playing with W.A. wunderkinds Tame Impala or Queensland joy-bringers The Middle East earlier this year, in addition to a handful of his own shows.

He enthuses that Tame Impala are “”just the nicest dudes ever”. “We’d all be happy to play the shows and encourage each other,” he said, before laughing and adding: “We tried to get one of the guys to stage-dive, but they sadly never took the bait.”

He also shares a surreal experience backstage at Sydney University’s Manning Bar, opening for The Middle East. “Before they went on, they went downstairs to do their vocal warm-up. They started singing [Backstreet Boys hit] Backstreet’s Back – and they were doing it in perfect five-part harmony! It was sort of beautiful because it was ringing all the way up the stairs and back down again – it was just amazing.”

If it wasn’t in the live arena, perhaps YouTube may have guided you to the breathtaking video made for Jonathan’s brilliant lead single, A Community Service Announcement. The colourful video was filmed over in New Zealand, an experience Jonathan describes as “amazing – I couldn’t believe how different it was, two hundred metres from where we were standing!”

If this experience wasn’t great enough, imagine finding out that Kanye West was not only happy for you and would let you finish, but also thought you had one of the best videos of all time? West linked the video on his blog, Kanye Universe City, with the all-caps headline “WATCH THIS VIDEO, IT’S FUCKING AMAZING”.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Jonathan coolly comments in what could be the understatement of the year. “There’s not much more you can say about that. It’s funny, though, how some people don’t care until someone says they should. But, yeah…It’s cool, I’m happy – and the Special Problems guys [who created and directed the video] are getting some exposure out of it.”

Is Jonathan Boulet nervous? Overwhelmed, perhaps? Or just shy? Whatever personality traits he shows, don’t worry about it for a second – once the music of this baby-faced pop whiz graces your ears, not a great deal else is going to matter.

INTERVIEW: The Living End (AUS), November 2009

Posted on by David James Young in Interviews

A quick one – I had the chance to email some questions over to Andy Strachan; and he answered them all within about 90 seconds. Super-easy; although it doesn’t make for the most gripping read. I dunno, I’ll always love this band; regardless of the quality of their more recent output. This is the band that got me into Australian rock music. Hell, this is pretty much the band that got me into rock music. Their self-titled changed my life. I can’t say that about a lot of records. Anyway, enough waffle.

– DJY, April 2014

***

Congrats on a mammoth touring year. What were some of the highlights for you?
Thanks! I think playing the Reading and Leeds Festivals was pretty special. The Big Day Out was amazing as always too.

Splendour was an interesting one, being the last minute replacement for Jane’s. How did you guys feel about that one?
Yeah, that was a bit different. Most of our gear was still over in Europe from the last tour so we had to scrounge around and put together enough gear to get by and pretty much jump on the next plane. Once we got there and got our heads around what was going on it was great, we just got up and played and had a ball! Hopefully we didn’t offend too many Jane’s fans!

Do you feel like you’ve been cemented as Australia’s “festival” band; given just how regularly you appear on lineups? And how comfortable are you with a tag like that?
I can think of worse tags to have! We’ll take it.

Chill Island will be your first festival appearance of 2010 – are you looking forward to another year?
It will be our first and last of 2010! We will be writing for a new record so that will be our only show for the year. We’d better make it a good one.

The festival’s in a pretty unique location. Where do you think is the strangest place you’ve ever played in your time as a band?
Wow, there has been a few. I would say playing at the NRL grand final in the middle of the oval was fairly strange.

You’ve got a 90-minute set as the Chill Island headliner. Any plans to try out some new material?
You never know. We’ll be working on new stuff by then so we might want to test drive something.

Anyone on the bill you’re particularly interested in checking out?
Bob Evans, great guy, great songs – can’t wait.

Once the White Noise tour is over, what’s the plan? Straight back into the write/record/tour schedule or a bit of downtime from it all?
We get home mid-December and do a couple of shows before having Christmas off and pretty much jump back in to the rehearsal room after that.

INTERVIEW: Trial Kennedy (AUS), January 2009

Posted on by David James Young in Interviews

Not many people gave a shit about Trial Kennedy in the ten years that they were together. This year, people started giving a shit – indirectly, at least. Tim Morrison went on The Voice; and although he didn’t win, he certainly won himself an entirely new fanbase. Funny how things work out like that, isn’t it? Anyway, naturally I was one of the few who gave a resounding shit about TK, particularly around this era; when they’d just dropped one of my favourite albums of 2008 in New Manic Art. This was an email Q&A – admittedly, not ideal at the best of times; but I was fairly happy with the responses given. Worked out alright. Wish I’d properly interviewed them, though. That would have ruled. Ahh well, life goes on.

– DJY, July 2013

***

You had a massive year in 2008. What were some of the highlights in retrospect?

A definite highlight for last year was getting our record New Manic Art out, that’s got to be a lifelong dream for any young upstart. But all in all, the real memorable thing about 2008 was spending plenty of time on the road meeting heaps of people who got into the record and starting to get our creative caps back on to pump out the second record. Trial Kennedy are a band that like to keep busy.

How did you spend NYE? Was there a celebration for a great year, or were plans already being made for the next tour?

Two of the lads spent it up the Eureka tower looking down on the fireworks from above, our guitar tech and our drummer spent it down a beach having a laugh and I played a little fill in cover gig in town. Nothing for TK, but we did have a festival on the 3rd of Jan that was a bit of fun.

We’ve got a couple of really key tours left and then we’ve really being trying to get our heads into writing for the next record and keep the ball rolling.

How do you feel long-time fans (people who were listening to Pictureframe etc) have responded to New Manic Art’s success and the subsequent newfound support from radio and television?

I hope Trial Kennedy fans are right behind us in all of our pursuits. We are a band that obviously want to make music and this band our career but we’re going to do it with our musical integrity and creativity well intact so I hope that people that get into Trial Kennedy at any certain stage will see that.

A while ago, you posted a MySpace blog talking about every song on the album and their lyrics. The special edition of NMA also comes with a making-of DVD. Relating this to the old saying “A great magician never gives away his tricks,” do you feel a need to be perfectly honest about your music and what it’s about; or are there parts of the behind-the-scenes creation of Trial Kennedy’s music that is best left unspoken?

Some people like to hold their cards close to their chests and that’s cool, but we aren’t afraid of showing people how we create our music, we’re proud of it and we don’t use any secrets or tricks. I think each band is unique because of the members that make up the band and the way that they write, that’s their own formula and recipe that probably wouldn’t work for other bands.

We also personally love seeing how our heroes write the great music they do – check out the Classic Albums series, it’s amazing.

I have to ask about the sample used in Mississippi Burn. I believe it is Anton Newcombe from the Brian Jonestown Massacre talking, but others beg to differ. Where is the sample from and what is its purpose in the song?

The sample in that song isn’t Anton Newcombe, but that’s a good little rumour to put out there. The actual voice that you hear on that song is a guy called Tom Tapley who was an assistant engineer at Southern Tracks studios in Atlanta where we recorded the record and the words he speaks are words from an interview with Jeff Buckley talking about art. That song is a lyrical and musical sort of ‘pay your respects’ to Jeff Buckley and how he inspired us and so many others on so many levels.

The Not So New Manic Art tour is currently underway; what prompted this tour on so shortly after coming off the road with TBE?

Like I said before, Trial Kennedy are a band that like to keep busy and we really wanted to get back to some of the towns that we stopped off with TBE and get our full set to them. You have the luxury of longer sets on your own headliners so you can play some album songs and play with a few other little musical interims and stuff, keep it fresh and interesting for the punters and us.

We’re out with Birds Of Tokyo in March and then we’ll most definitely be writing our arses off and pump out a 2nd record. It’s all about momentum and capitalizing on that momentum so this all involves hard work and as much touring as possible.

Do any of you have a Colour Day Tours story of your own (ie wife, children, family, etc) when it comes to touring?

No one in Trial Kennedy is married or have any kids yet but touring is a time that you spend away from your loved ones and you do miss them but we’re lucky in that they all understand that we’re following something that we’re passionate about and maybe one day we can make a career out of it.

After experiencing so many different places on tour throughout the country, would you say you’ve located a most dedicated fanbase somewhere? I know Melbourne may seem an obvious choice, but perhaps there’s somewhere else?

Yeah, I don’t know what it is, but Newcastle and Adelaide always give us plenty of love. Sydney and Perth are close behind and we’ve got Brissy tonight so we’ll see if that changes anything in our favourites.
I’ll keep you posted

Weirdest gig (ie unfitting support slot, drunk crowd)?
We played a gig this year up at Mt Hotham that was a Rock, Skate and Pole party. Young kids skating and stuff, us playing in the middle and then a beautiful pole dancer. Funny stuff!!!

What’s the next step for the band? More shows, or maybe recording? Perhaps even a well deserved break?

No rest for the wicked. As soon as we finish the Not So New Manic Art tour we’re doing Melbourne Big Day Out and a big show out the front of Parliament House on Australia Day, then writing all Feb, out with Birds Of Tokyo in March then write April and hopefully get in the studio as soon as we can to pump out a killer second album.

INTERVIEW: The Bronx (USA), December 2008

Posted on by David James Young in Interviews

It’s the Bronx, you guys. They impale weak fucks for a living. They don’t take no shit from nobody. They’re AWESOME. I learned the easy way – been following these guys and their music since 2004, and they just continue to destroy all in their path. I interviewed Joby Ford and it was… well, it was interesting. I kinda got the feeling that he didn’t like me at the beginning, with some curt and blunt responses. Eventually, though, he warmed up – and we got into a decent enough chat. I love this band, and it was super-cool to chat to Joby. Good times.

– DJY, July 2013

***

“You know how when you put a CD into iTunes, it automatically categorises it?” Joby Ford says in a low-key, slightly bemused drawl. “Our records don’t do that.”

And why is that? “Because of that reason.” To not be categorised in iTunes? “Exactly.”

Odd? Certainly – but it’s what we’ve come to expect from the band Joby Ford plays guitar in, The Bronx. The band have just released their third self-titled record (hereby known as The Bronx III ), which sees the anarchic Californians beef up both their sound and their line-up, thanks to the addition of a second guitarist, Ken Horne. Ford maintains that, despite having a second axe on board, the songwriting process for III really was not all that different.

“Anything you do to a band – changing a member or instrument – changes the musical spectrum completely,” he readily admits. ”[Former bassist] James [Tweedy] is no longer with the band, either; so there was two new members and we had to try and figure out where we fit sonically now.” And did it work? “We took our time and made sure everything was the way it needed to be. And it’s great,” Ford states enthusiastically, before laughing, “Another guitar player means I only have to do half as much!”

The Bronx III is also a departure for the band in terms of the way it was released. The band released this record entirely independently, under their label White Drugs. Ford, especially, seemed especially proud to discuss the band’s independence in regards to the record.

“There’s a lot less crap you don’t have to deal with,” Joby confirms as he weighs up the pros and cons out loud. “It’s a lot easier to do what you want, because you have no one to answer to; but you also have to pay the bills too, which is not always fun.” Regardless, Ford remains largely content as he makes a statement very few bands can honestly make. “I couldn’t be more happy with our place in the musical world right now.”

On the back of The Bronx III, the band is preparing yet another visit to our shores. The band have returned on the back of every single release since 2004, and have even filmed their first live DVD here (Live at the Annandale). The connection that Australian audiences have with the Bronx is not only a boisterous one, but also a somewhat inexplicable one.

“To be honest, I have no idea. I couldn’t tell you,” Ford confesses when asked why Aussie audiences in particular love the Bronx so much. After a momentary silence, he forges a makeshift explanation. “I think, maybe, we respect music and that could be it. The pedigree of music that comes from that country is, pound for pound, some of the best rock, garage and punk I’ve ever heard in my entire life. So to be accepted into that country… I’m not gonna lie, it makes me feel pretty good.”

The band not only has a handful of east coast shows on their Australian agenda, but also an envious spot atop the Meredith Music Festival line-up. “Matt [Caughthran, vocalist] is especially excited about the race – The Gift,” Ford says. “I dunno if you know what that is, but he’s really stoked to see that. He’s got the video camera charged.”

Ford is also quick to praise down under, even with the music put aside. “It’s a wonderful, wonderful country full of very interesting things. You know what the funniest thing about Australia is? I don’t know if you’ve ever been to the UK, but the fact that Australia was deemed a prison island for that country speaks absolute mountains about that culture. The UK? Not great. Australia? AWESOME!”

Of course, the life-on-the-road touring schedule of the Bronx does have its drawbacks. “I’m the only one in the band with a family,” Ford explains. “I have a 17-month old daughter. It’s driving me nuts not seeing her.” Despite the time away from his family, Ford still bravely and admiringly shows dedication to his band. “I cannot wait to go home, and I miss her so much. But you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.”

So if you’re hungry for some sweaty, unorthodox and decidedly interactive punk rock from five guys who love our country, the Bronx happily welcome you along to their show.