Max Bemis (Say Anything) Interview

Interviewing Say Anything's frontman, Max Bemis, was an eye-opening experience. I'd only ever talked to him as a fan, and this gave me the chance to speak to him as something else - a journalist. The interview went incredibly well and I couldn't have asked for a better conversation.

What have you guys been up to concerning preparations for the release of the new album and your upcoming tour?

As a band, we’ve been rehearsing the new songs and rehearsing songs that we’ve never played from our older records. And personally, I’m going on tour with my wife so that’s exciting. We’re both really stoked to be spending all that time together and we both love each others' band.

Also, my role in the band is to take care of a lot of the business and the creative end of stuff so I’m on the phone all day setting up stuff for the new records because it comes out in about a month now. So, I’m approving all these t-shirt designs and posters, ya know, what stuff for radio and it’s just like, I feel like I have a full-on day job and it’s funny.

In regards to the new album,  was the writing process any different compared to In Defense of the Genre, …Is A Real Boy and even any of your other albums?

How was it different? Well, I mean my life was totally different. I guess compared to, it’s a lot more similar to the writing process for …Is A Real Boy because I wrote songs all the time by myself, and before I had a record deal and before it looked like we were gonna go on tour, I was just a kid who wrote songs, ya know what I mean? I was in Say Anything and we were talking to labels for many years, just having been a band from LA, but it was never like ‘OK, now you have to put out the record that’s going into stores.’ So, it was just like I wrote songs casually, there was no deadline, there was nothing.

Then when we got signed for …Is A Real Boy, it was like ‘Oh my god, I’m now on this label that I really like. They have this connection to all these bigger labels,’ and suddenly all these people were telling me that these two songs were really good and I was like, ‘OH MY GOD, now I have to write the debut record that’s good enough to be the debut record,’ because I’m such a perfectionist. And so, for …Is A Real Boy, it was this crazy period where I wrote all these songs and most of them were written during this time where I was like, ‘I gotta step it up.’ It came from the heart completely, but it was me challenging myself.

And then In Defense of the Genre was really written over the course of two or three years because we were on the road and just completely busy and my life became about music. And …Is A Real Boy did so well that we were just constantly on the road and constantly doing things and we were sucked into this really essential scene which is amazing because all of these people were really good friends of ours, but it was like – music, music, music; I’m no longer a regular person.

And then after In Defense, we had a lot of personal changes and I kind of became more focused on my personal life and I developed a lot as a person and we took a good amount of time off so I kind of became a regular person again. And it was really refreshing so by the time someone came around and was like, ‘It’s time. You gotta write your definitive record. It’s your third record, the third record is important for every band. It’s a time to really define who you are. Ya know, these were your first two records, it’s like being a teenager and now you’re a grown-up and you gotta be… So after that, I had already gone through this year of true inspiration so it was kind of similar to …Is  A Real Boy where I had a lot of these real experience to draw on and once I was kind of, the gun went off and it was like, ‘Go!’, it just popped out of me over a pretty short period of time and it was very, it had a lot of direction to it and a lot of enthusiasm and ambition.

Of the tracks you've offered to let fans hear early, it seems like your sound has returned to the days of ...Is A Real Boy and the even earlier Baseball. Was this done intentionally or do you think it's just Say Anything's natural progression?

It’s both. I mean, I try to look at life like, certain things you don’t think are intentional actually are and the opposite [laughs] because you sort of have to make your own life. And as a musician, you form your own identity and you create the art. So you can’t say there’s no direction or intention when you create art. You have to be a complete idiot or completely pretentious to say that this just comes out of my ass. No. You painted it. You wrote it.

So yes, there was deliberation involved but my life, so many factors that were out of my control came into my life and played into this so it really wasn’t all me. It was very much God, and Sherri, my wife, and little things, ya know? A friggin’ deer getting hit by a car in Ohio probably affected the writing of this record in some way. I believe in this thing called the butterfly effect where anything that happens in the realm of physical reality effects everything that happens. And that very much so is encapsulated in this record and how it’s a story that, although it comes directly from me, it’s about the universe.

I’ve heard the majority of the songs you’ve released for this album so far. Concerning "Hate Everyone" and "Property," it seems like you threw some random humor into each song, where did that stem from and is it present throughout the entire album?

I mean, that humor is present in my life period. Even songs that don’t have humor, but there’s still some dark irony in it. I find it very hard to write a song that has no, uh, that is completely self-serious without any acknowledgment of irony or any acknowledgment of why life is sickly funny. I guess I have a very dark sense of humor. So, to me it’s hard to not acknowledge it and that’s, if you feel that there are things that link it back to Baseball, that’s one of the things that was introduced when we became, from the beginning, when I wrote songs. It’s always been that way. So, I try to instill it and encapsulate it in this record more than it has in any other record.

This album is your third major release so I was wondering why you chose to self-title it.

For so many reasons. I mean, it just felt on so many levels like a self-titled record to us once we got into pre-production and writing it and all the songs were into it and our intentions and our feeling and the place we were in our life, it was like this is the record that is gonna define who we are as songwriters and musicians and what we want to project out into the world. If you want the basic cliff notes to Say Anything, it’s like this is the record. And you can delve into whatever you want. I’m sure there will be tons of material after this and there’s tons of interesting material before, but it’s the record I would recommend to people if it was their first Say Anything record. I think that that has a lot to do with me coming into my own as a person within the context of what inspired the record.

So its like I finally, ya know, when I started writing songs I was 14, I was just getting into teenage, I wasn’t too cranky, there wasn’t really too much going on. So it was an encapsulation of myself and my identity. And a lot of things happened. Being a teenager and being an early young man is very traumatic for a lot of people and it’s definitely a growing process whether it’s traumatic or not. I mean, you kind of come into your own and I found in myself like a mixture of this whole new person that I didn’t even know existed and then the person that I was when I was really young. And that’s why it’s self-titled, because it’s a step forward but it’s really from the beginning, it has these facets of the very beginning of Say Anything and what it was about.

I can kind of see that in that the tracks that you’ve released so far. It kind of reminds me of the older stuff.

Thank you.

Well, now concerning more of the tour, the release of this album adds even more songs to the already expansive discography you guys have. How do you choose what songs to perform on tour?

Part of it is what we want to play, but most of it is what we think kids like. Live shows especially, is us giving back to kids who enjoy our and band and trying to make them have the best time possible. Because we love all our songs, we love performing all our songs and, ya know, ultimately, coincidentally, most of the songs that people want to hear are the ones that we are most interested in playing. So it’s like, picking songs that you’ve never heard before, we love doing that. We love playing songs that we haven’t really gotten the chance to sing to and run around to and the songs that are fan favorites are probably also band favorites because they’re the best ones.

Well, I've seen you guys live quite a few times and you always seem to have opening acts that don't seem to be as well-known as openers on other tours. How do you go about finding and choosing who goes on the road with you?

The truth is that half of it is what we think fits musically with us because we’re a very quirky band and we kind of fall into these categories of this like, very experimental sort of  band that older kids like and then a band that a lot of younger kids like so we try not to pander too much to either one. I mean there are completely random bands that we love that no one has heard of ever that we could take out, and then there are bands that are literally whatever kids really like right now that we could bring out and we try not to bring out either of those. ‘Cause then we end up in this weird position where there’s only a matter of like, a few bands that fit and feel right for every tour and feel right for that moment. Like, when we took Manchester Orchestra out on the last tour, there were plenty of bands that were much bigger than them that bidded for the tour and the some tiny bands that no one would have ever heard of that weren’t necessarily the right fit for the younger kids. So, we try to find the band that’s right in the middle that has some awareness of the band, that’s up-and-coming, experimental and unpredictable.

I think we’ve done a good job of that so far. I mean, we often bring out bands that are kind of on their way up or have a kind of niche, cool audience that’s really dedicated to them. We’ve brought out Circa Survive before they were, it was one of their first tours. Manchester is now pretty successful, Biffy Clyro is doing well. And now Eisley, these are all very cool bands that have a lot of potential.

I know how intense Say Anything's live performance is, but for those that haven't had the opportunity to see you guys live before, how would you describe it?

It’s pretty hard to do, it’s weird. We’re a pretty intense band on record but there’s a polished element to it because when it comes to recordings we look up to bands like Queen and The Beatles and later bands like Green Day and Weezer who, although it’s loud, the music is very proficient and polished in the studio and controlled and there’s a lot going on and we want you to hear it on record, ya know what I mean? It’s where I pour my emotion, especially vocally, there’s a lot of raw stuff that goes on behind the scenes vocally when I record a record, but especially the instruments, it’s polished.

And then live, it’s sort of chaotic. It’s very much so channeling the raw emotions of every single song and it’s very crowd-participatory. That’s something that I would want fans of our music, especially someone that hasn’t seen us live know, that it’s a total… we try to harken back to the kind of shows that people were more enthusiastic about, things that I was when I was younger that a lot of people, younger people especially, that there isn’t that much of that out there right now. There’s nothing that’s mature really out there, but that also has a crazy participatory live show. It’s kind of either or right now, ya know? You’ve got your All Time Lows and Metro Station and then you’ve got your Arcade Fires and it’s kind of like you’ve got, ya know, we try to be somewhere in the middle. And be great musicians live and we want you to sing back and we want you to live like, ‘this was one of the best nights of my life.’ And that’s what I have to offer from the bands that I grew up listening to whether it’s At The Drive-In or The Get Up Kids or Saves The Day or Alkaline Trio, back when those bands were the bands that had call-and-response mixed with chaos and a stadium-rock type show and there aren’t that many bands doing that anymore.

Yea, I would definitely agree. I mean, your shows are always like… I’d say they’re probably some of my favorite shows that I’ve been to. Just the energy and the feedback from the crowd, I love it.

Thank you, thank you so much.

Well just to wrap this up, I’m based in Philadelphia and I know you guys have been here quite a few times so I was wondering, what do you think of our city?

I love it. I really like it. I mean there’s a particular area, I think it’s called South Street?

Yea, South Street.

Yea, I really like it. I know it’s like, the trendy, really popular area but I love it because there’s such a cool comic book store there and there’s really cool shops there and there’s cheesesteaks. I mean, I’m a really cheesy guy when it comes to Philly. [laughs] I like the tourist-y stuff but it’s cool, I love it. It’s a great vibe, the people are nice, we know a lot of people from Philly, bands that we’re friends with and ya know, it’s always been one of the best markets for us and I hope it always will be.

Alright, well that’s pretty much all I’ve got.

Awesome.

Thanks so much for talking to me.

No problem, thank you!

And I’m hoping I see you guys at the Philly show on the first of November.

Awesome. I hope so, too.

NOTE: As long as this interview is, there were so many more questions I had to ask that I was unable to. I was only given 15 minutes and I felt that these were the most relevant questions for the article I have to produce.

Dream come true? I think so.

Say Anything is my favorite band of all time and Max Bemis is that band's frontman. From the moment I heard their music for the first time, I was drawn into Max's bluntly honest lyrics and his angry voice that he once referred to as "the drunken sailor routine." The first time I saw them live, I was completely blown away at their intensity and how they and their fans seemed to transform into one passionate being.

Since May 20th 2006, I've had the pleasure of seeing Say Anything live 11 times. That first show completely blew my mind and only helped to permanently place them as my favorite band. After that show, my best friend and I got the chance to talk to a few members of the band. We spoke with guitarist Jake Turner for a good 10 minutes, and then had the opportunity to give Max a quick hello as he sat in their tour van. From then until now, I had the opportunity to talk to them about 5 times and every conversation got better. The fact that a few of the members recognize me and sometimes approach me before I approach them has made loving this band a sometimes surreal experience.

(The second time I met Max [but my first opportunity for a picture] after their Myspace Secret Show at the North Star Bar on May 23, 2006.)

The point of voicing all of those things was to help make whoever reads this better understand why this past Thursday afternoon was an exciting, nerve-wracking and practically mind-blowing occurrence. On Thursday afternoon, I was given the opportunity to interview Max Bemis.

I can honestly say that I felt like I was going to throw up because my nerves were so bad as I waited for Sony Records to call me. I stumbled over my words as I tried to get out the first question, but as soon as Max started talking, it felt like I was talking to an old friend and I immediately relaxed. Talking to him as a journalist was an entirely different experience than talking to him as just a fan. He answered every question thoroughly, even rambled at times, and the nerves that plagued him when fans would bum rush him seemed to never have existed. He was humble, funny and terribly sweet, and I don't think I could have asked for a better interview.

I'm currently in the process of transcribing that interview and will post it soon. Before the interview or the article I'm writing from it goes online, I felt that I should let everyone know how much it meant to me to talk to my favorite singer/songwriter. Call me crazy if you wish, but there's no musicians I love more than Max Bemis and his band.

Throwback!

I uploaded a bunch of old CDs to my laptop a few weeks ago to make a playlist for my birthday. After a discussion with my best friend of what should be included on that playlist, we decided that it was necessary that our boy band days be honored. Yes, I used to be a crazy fan girl when it came to boy bands ('N Sync specifically, haha).

So, as I was looking through my CDs I found my copy of O-Town's self-titled album. I immediately uploaded it to my laptop and hit play to hear the first track on the album, "Liquid Dreams." It was hard not to laugh while I listened to it, especially because I knew every dance move to the chorus (ok, so maybe I still know them).

I listened to bits and pieces of other songs until I reached track 5, "Love Should Be A Crime." That song was probably my favorite on the album, and after listening to it again, I still consider it to be a pretty incredible song.

Don't believe me or curious as to why I think that? Lucky for you, someone uploaded it to youtube:

Seriously, just listen to it and THEN you can give me your opinion. You actually might be pleasantly surprised. And then if you STILL don't like it and find me to be ridiculous for even thinking such a thing, you can go right ahead and give me all the crap you want. Good deal? ;)

I actually like Paramore. *gasp*

I decided to download Paramore's new album, brand new eyes, yesterday because I had read a range of articles that pretty much praised the band for it. I also watched their music video for "Ignorance" and kind of dug the song from my first listen. The new album leaked the other day so I figured what the hell, why not give it a chance?

After only getting through the first half of the album, I already liked pretty much everything I had heard. Their sound has definitely matured from the days of "Pressure" and even "Misery Business." Even the video for "Ignorance" portrays the band in a different light and it's pretty obvious that they've growing up. Haley Williams' voice is stronger than it's ever been and the lyrics on every track are ones that I feel I can relate to.

I had always been one to admit right off the bat that I just did not like Paramore. For some reason, female vocalists just don't seem to appeal to me when it comes to this genre and Paramore immediately fell into that category. However, brand new eyes has proven to my ears that this band is a lot more talented than I had thought and I might just be tempted to give their other releases a more thorough listen.

I guess I might as well also admit that I totally love "crushcrushcrush" off of Riot!. Not only that, I loved the video as well.

Whether you're a Paramore fan or not, I definitely suggest picking up the new album. It hits record stores on September 29 and the band can be caught at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia on October 17 (with The Swellers and Paper Route).

A Night at the Rock Show

Almost a month ago, I saw Blink 182 live for the first time.


(check out my pictures of Blink here)
I was weary of what to expect, especially with all of the things that I had heard when the band went on a "haitus." Apparently, it wasn't a very pleasant break and I for one never thought I'd see them together again. However, that night at the Susquehanna Bank Center my mind was completely changed.

First of all, I was lucky enough to get a photo pass for the concert so I was right in front of the stage when the black curtain dropped. Mark, Tom and Travis appeared on stage with more energy and enthusiasm than I could have imagined and completely blew me away. Mark and Tom cracked jokes at each other like nothing had ever happened and Travis performed one of the most insane drum solos ever.


(I took this video that night. Insane!)

This entry doesn't compare to what the show actually was, but it's not meant to. I just felt like sharing the fact that it was probably the best end-of-summer concert I've ever been to and I highly doubt another will ever compare.

Check out my Flickr for pictures of Weezer and Taking Back Sunday as well!

Blessthefall @ Starlight Ballroom

(photo taken by me)

Blessthefall returned to Philadelphia this past weekend to support August Burns Red's headlining tour along with Enter Shikari and Iwrestledabearonce. These guys totally killed it as they usually do and performed an amazing set to an adoring audience. They played fan favorites like "Rise Up" and "Guys Like You Make Us Look Bad" along with new tracks off of their new album to drop this fall, Witnesses.

To see all of my pictures from the show, visit my Flickr.

Charm City Devils Interview with John Allen

On July 19, Charm City Devils will be coming through the Philadelphia area at Crue Fest 2 at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, NJ. I spoke with front man John Allen via phone from his Baltimore home to find out more about the band, how it feels to be going on tour with Motley Crue and what to expect if you have the chance to catch them live.

Charm City Devils (John Allen is center)

Behind The Barrier: I was doing some research on you guys and there really isn't that much out there yet. Could you give me a little background on how you guys started?

John Allen: I mean, we're a pretty new band and the line-up is only about two years old so that's probably why you couldn't find much info on us. I played drums in a signed act prior to this and the singer and myself built a little studio in the basement of my house. He had a place in LA and he would stay at my place when he was on the East Coast. On one of his trips back to Los Angeles, I went downstairs and was tinkering around in the studio and I was like, 'I better learn how to use this stuff,' and that's where I first recorded "Burn, Baby, Burn" and it was just a real rough demo with not much forethought put into it. That rough demo actually is what's on the recording. It's very kind of low-fi, like White Stripes-ey, kind of a real garage-ey type vibe and ya know, when I wrote that song I really just wanted to get it down to hear it. When I finished I thought, 'I think I may be onto something here, I'm not really sure what but I think I might be onto something.' So I played it for him when he got back and he was like, 'This is cool, we should do this,' and I said, 'No... I think I'm gonna keep this one, this is gonna be mine and I'm gonna build a band around it.' And basically that was the start for me to come out from behind the drum kit and start fronting a band. Ya know, that song turned into three, that turned into six and that turned into a whole record and I just kinda built from there.

BTB: So, the other guys that are in the band, did you know them? Were you friends with them? How did you put the band together?

JA: Everybody in the band has played with me one time or another except for the drummer because I was always the drummer. These guys I knew from around town and respected as players so yea, it's really cool. It's like a bunch of friends that I was able to get together and put a band together with after knowing them for years and playing on and off with them for years. It really, really works... I think that you've got with friends and a good mix of personalities, when you're touring... we just did a little run down south and we were all in the same van together in like 100 degree heat and so if we're gonna be smelling each other the whole summer, it's better to start off at least getting along. [laughs]

BTB: Yea, I would say that makes sense!

JA: Yea.

BTB: Where did the name "Charm City Devils" come from?

JA: We were kicking around names, we had like 500 different names. I was trying to come up with something that spoke to our origins, ya know being from Baltimore, and we were kicking around different names with Charm City in it. Nikki Sixx, the president of our label, actually came up with the name. And I was like, 'This is great, this is gonna work out.' It had just as many syllables as Silversun Pickups so that's why we chose it.

BTB: Well, speaking of Nikki Sixx, how does it feel to be the first band signed to his label?

JA: It's surreal, man. I've been reading The Dirt and the stuff that those guys have been through and lived to tell about it and ya know, to be under his wing and on his label is such an incredible honor for us. It's surreal at the same time, ya know, these are guys that we as kids looked up to and idolized. And then just two months ago, when we made the announcement for Crue Fest 2, that night I got up with Motley Crue at Madison Square Garden as did all of the other singers from Crue Fest - the guy from Godsmack, singer for Theory of a Deadman and the singer for Drowning Pool. We all jumped up on the song called "White Trash Circus" and I tell ya, for one to be on stage at Madison Square is an incredible event in my life. But to be up on stage with Motley Crue, I would never guess that would happen in a million years. I'm standing there next to Vince Neil, arm-in-arm, and I looked over at him and he looks at me and I just completely forgot where I was. [laughs] I stopped singing for a second I'm like, 'What is the song?' I completely lost my shit, ya know?

BTB: So, are you guys pretty excited to go on tour with Motley Crue and the rest of the bands on Crue Fest 2's roster?

JA: Oh, totally. It beats the hell out of playing a small, smokey club. That's for certain.

BTB: The kick-off date is actually in Camden, NJ this year - do you guys have anything special planned for the first show of the tour?

JA: I think I will try not to fall off the front of the stage. No, I mean, the show is just gonna be a blast. It's gonna be the first one so we're gonna be so amped up, ya know? We'll probably, our drummer will probably play everything 10 or 15 beats per minute faster than the record and he'll be finished before the rest of us even walk on stage to play the first song.

BTB: That's awesome. Well, I'm definitely going so I'm excited.

JA: Cool, very cool. I love Philly, man... ya know, as a kid I used to go up there with a friend of mine and run around South Street and Center City and stuff so I've always loved Philly.

BTB: Yea. I love it, too. I love being here. So, you guys are the opening band for Crue Fest with a 5 o'clock performance - for people who haven't had the chance to see you guys perform before, why should they make sure that they get to the venue to see you guys open up?

JA: Ya know, I think they should get in to see a new generation of dirty, high energy, gritty, blues-based rock along the lines of bands like Aerosmith, AC/DC, with a little bit of Iggy and the Stooges thrown and White Stripes thrown in there. And I also think they'll thoroughly enjoy the show. We've been turning crowds on I think throughout the beginning of our own tour here, since the record's been out, going down south. We've played to a lot of audiences that haven't seen us before and people have been really, really responsive and flipping out and it's great to see that. We played in Atlanta last week and no one even knew we were on the bill because we were added the week of the show. And people were singing the songs along with us and we were the only band out of a four band bill that had a pit going which is crazy because I don't know if we're really that kind of band. But some of the stuff is really high energy so you can definitely get your aggression out. But I think people really dig it.

BTB: You guys have a more old school, rock and roll sound - are there any specific bands that you guys are influenced by that led to that?

JA: Well, I mentioned two of them a couple minutes ago. Aerosmith, I'm a huge fan of AC/DC and a huge fan of Jack White and the White Stripes and old blues music. I mean, I'm a history geek so I've done my reading on who Led Zeppelin were influenced by and Eric Clapton, they all cited this blues man Robert Johnson. So I went back and checked him out and the story behind him and the story of Robert Johnson, he's the guy that apparently sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads. If you listen to his recordings, they're pretty amazing. I think they were recorded in 1938 and there are some places where it sounds like there are a few guys playing guitar instead of just one so I can see where people are influenced by this guy. He was like the Eddie Van Halen of his era and just blew peoples' minds. So all that stuff, I think that's really influenced me. All of the mysticism and that's the roots of rock and roll right there with Robert Johnson.

BTB: Well, that's all the questions I had but is there anything you want to add or think I should know?

JA: People, please hit us up at the show. We come out and say hello. We'll come out and meet friends and fans after every show. Hit us up on Myspace (www.myspace.com/charmcitydevils), we have Facebook and Twitter as well. Track us down at one of those places, we always answer.

BTB: That's awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking some time out of your day to talk to me.

JA: No problem. Thank you, Ashley.

Don't miss Charm City Devils at this year's Crue Fest 2!

Silverstein Interview with Shane Told

On April 19, Silverstein brought their headlining tour through Philadelphia in support of their recently released album A Shipwreck In The Sand. A few hours before the show, I sat down with vocalist Shane Told in the Trocadero to get some more insight on the band's new album, their tour and their unexpected fan base in Peru.

Visit my Flickr to see more photographs from the show.
(all photographs taken by me)

Behind The Barrier: Your new album was just recently released - how would you compare it to your other albums?

Shane Told: Well, the approach we took recording and writing this album was completely different. The last three records we did, we did kind of the same way where we just got in a room and jammed out the songs and that was it. And I was in charge of writing the words so I did that and later on after, we decided what order it would be and stuff. And this record is a lot different because the first one that we did was like a story, and then a whole concept for the record kinda followed so then it went like: concept, idea and then the music kinda went around that and then the lyrics tie into the story. So it was a little bit backwards but it was also a lot more creative to do it that way and we planned it out a lot more. So in terms of sound, I don't think it's too far off. But when you write it as an album instead of just a collection of songs, if that makes any sense, it's just a different... I don't know it makes it sound different because you're focusing on this big long piece of music that's 40 minutes, not three and half minutes.

BTB: Did you like it better, having it all planned out?

ST: In some ways I did but it was a lot harder because when you're trying to follow a concept, it's like you're constantly going back and forth and being like, "OK, does this make sense to what I just said in this song?" It's a lot harder. I'm happy we did it, and I'm really happy with how it came out and I'm actually amazed at how well it came out. But I mean would I do it again with the next record? I'm not sure.

BTB: There were some bonus tracks - you guys covered The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Saves the Day and NOFX - what made you guys want to cover them?

ST: Well, we... generally when you do a record these days, you always do extra songs, like B-sides. But, we didn't want to do original songs because it was kind of weird to do a concept album and then have it be more songs that don't have to do with the concept and so we decided to do some cover songs. So everyone in the band picked three that they might want to do and then we went through them all and these ended up being the ones we've got.

BTB: I really like the Fleetwood Mac one. I was like, "Ah, this is so good!"

ST: I'm glad you like it.

BTB: Yea, I like them all a lot.

ST: And then the acoustic ones, I just did in like an hour or whatever. That was kind of my thing.

BTB: So, this tour has been... a couple weeks now? Or has it been longer?

ST: It's been longer. What's today?

BTB: Today's the 19th.

ST: The 19th? Yea, it's been... almost a month now.

BTB: How does this tour compare to other tours that you've done?

ST: It's kind of an average, pretty straight up tour. All of the bands are really nice. We're friends with the guys in blessthefall, so it's good to see them again. It's been pretty mellow, like there hasn't been any kind of... like we've had weird drama between bands and stuff like that. And this tour has just been really chill. It's been good, the shows have been good and everything has just gone super smoothly.

BTB: Would you say that your live performance has changed at all since you guys first started out up to now?

ST: I think the most obvious thing is that we've gotten a lot better. A lot better at playing our instruments and a lot better at putting on a live show. To like, convey that energy and everything that goes with it. Um, we play a lot more songs nowadays. We used to do... it's hard because you keep putting out albums, but you don't want to stop playing the old songs so you just add to it. So now we've been playing, some nights we've played like 20 songs. That's just long, ya know? So that's kinda changed. Other than that, I don't know. I just try to give a lot of energy and just enjoy it.

BTB: I just read your article in Alternative Press and I read that you had some pretty crazy fan experiences in South America. How does it feel to have that kind of fan base so far from home, especially in places like Peru?

ST: Yea, it's weird. Totally weird. The weirdest thing with that is that we don't even have records out there. It's all just like the internet and Myspace and kids downloading the record. It's so bizarre that that spread as far as it has. I remember even us just, our first tour like going out to California, being that far from where we live and just having people know the songs there. It was weird. And we go to Australia and Japan and it's crazy to have people know the words and be excited. But that was rad. We didn't know what to expect and when we got there it was just crazy. Complete craziness from the second we landed until the second we took off. Do you know what I'm talking about, Josh?

Josh Bradford: South America?

ST: Peru. Peru especially. It was like really weird. They put us in this bus to take us from the airport to the venue, but I don't know why they did it now. It was so sketchy, they like drove us around the city for an hour. And we thought we were getting kidnapped.

BTB: For no reason?

ST: Yea, for no reason. We thought maybe that the show wasn't ready so they were trying to stall, and they told us the highway was closed. It was really sketchy. The two drivers didn't speak English at all.

BTB: Do you guys have any big plans for this year?

ST: I think we'll just support the album now. The hardest part is done, it's out. People are really excited about it and that's great. And now we'll just keep touring. We're doing the Warped Tour this summer for two weeks, we're going to Europe again. And then probably later in the year we'll hit up some of the other countries I mentioned and it'll be fun.

BTB: Is there any country you like touring the best?

ST: Australia. It's amazing. It's the best country. It's the best of everything put into one place.

BTB: I was always ask this because I love Philly - what do you guys think of Philadelphia?

ST: I like Philly. What I like about it is that its got a lot of character. It's still nice and a pretty clean city. I don't know, I enjoy being here. People here are really awesome and passionate about music. And our shows here, every tour we do the best show is Philly. People just go crazy.

BTB: Well, that's all the questions I had but is there anything else you want to add or think I should know?

ST: I don't think so. I mean, we have a new record out and I just encourage people to check it out.

To read my review of the show, visit Campus Philly.

The bandaid herself.

Hi, I'm Ashley and I love music.
Scratch that - music is my life.

Explain? Gladly.

When I was 7 years old, my dad made me a cassette tape with Poison's "Unskinny Bop" on it. It was my favorite song at the time and I'd take the tape with me everywhere. Around that same time, my dad also starting taking my sister and I to concerts. Although they consisted of popular country artists of the time (like John Michael Montgomery, Brooks & Dunn, Little Texas and Travis Tritt), I was introduced to live music for the first time - and I absolutely loved it. I'm not particularly proud of the "country phase" that my dad went through and got me involved with (luckily that's all long gone), but I have to admit it was fun while it lasted.

My dad obviously played a huge role in developing my love for music and had me listening to bands like Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Van Halen and Poison since I was in diapers. As I've grown up, those bands have remained some of my favorites and I've been lucky enough to see a few of them live (again, thanks to my dad).

So what was the point of explaining all that? - I want to make music part of my career.

I'm a magazine journalism major in my senior year at Temple University in Philadelphia and my dream job is to work/write/photograph for Alternative Press magazine. They've been my favorite music publication for as long as I can remember and I've subscribed to them for the past 5 years. I love everything about the magazine and would move to Cleveland in a heartbeat if they ever offered me a job. Here's to hoping that someday happens! *fingers crossed*

So what's the point of this blog? - I want to share my photographs and writing involving music.

Since January, I've had the opportunity to attend a ridiculous amount of concerts thanks to my internship at Campus Philly. I was the entertainment editor from January through May and got the chance to review concerts, photograph them and even interview a few well-known bands. Although it was a lot of work on top of 5 classes, it only helped me realize even more that music journalism is exactly what I want to do with my life.

So here's to hoping that this blog helps me get my name out there and that it possibly becomes a place that people come to for concert coverage in the Philadelphia area. Spread the word! I'd really appreciate it. :)

Every Avenue - Take Action Tour 2009
(February 21, 2009 - Theatre of the Living Arts)