BAND: A Day To Remember
INTERVIEWER: Kayli Versteeg (Kayli@bandvibe.com)
INTERVIEWEE: Josh, Jeremy, Neil, Tom of A Day to Remember
DATE OF INTERVIEW: 05.15.07
BAND MEMBERS:
Josh- Bass
Jeremy- Vocals
Neil- Guitar
Tom- Guitar
Alex- Drums
BV: When did A Day To Remember first start?
Josh: 2003.
BV: How did you guys all meet?
Neil: Everyone was in other bands and so this one band ended and our old guitar player and our old drummer too they decided they wanted to start a new band, and they found Jeremy and then they got me and we had another bass player and then we had Josh. The drummer left and we got Alex from another local band…haha it just a culmination of local bands…
BV: So how old is everybody?
Josh: Neil is 19, I’m 20, our singer… who is knocking on the window of the van right now….is 21, our little drummer is 16 and our other guitarist is 18
BV: Who writes most of the stuff for you guys?
Josh: This last record was like, really refreshing because it was like a culmination of all of what we’re into…we all equally inputed into this record so it wasn’t just one person writing the song. Some person brought like a main part to the song and we just like picked it apart and finished it up.
BV: What is your writing process…is it lyrics first or chords first…?
Neil: Sometimes Jeremy will write like a chorus on like acoustic guitar or something like that, and he’ll bring it to practice and we will kind of write a song around it. And sometimes we will write music for a full song and then kind of write lyrics around it so it’s kind of both.
BV: How long did it take you guys to finish your last album “For Those Who Have Heart” that just came out recently?
Josh: We actually had just a few songs, not too many songs, and we got picked up by Victory. We were on tour with a band, just touring and people from Victory got interested and were like “Okay we need a record in a few months.” So it was about three months, and we rapped it up.
Neil: Yeah, we started writing before and then we actually had to start writing a month before the recording and come up with about six or seven songs.
BV: How did you come up with the idea for the music video you just released?
Josh: When you go to do music videos, I guess you can go into it with some ideas, but we had people from the label who thought that this idea, of having this like pop culture idol teach kids how to hardcore dance and then Tony, our label owner, was like “How about we get Ron Jeremy?” So we got Ron Jeremy, and that was it. Wasn’t really any of our ideas, but it just came out. We thought it was funny.
BV: Do you guys enjoy being on tour with Drop Dead Gorgeous so far, what has it been like?
Josh: Oh yeah, I mean we’ve played to a lot of kids. Thanks to those guys. They’re bringing tons of kids, but we haven’t had much of a chance to talk to them yet since we’ve only been on the tour for a few days now…they’re really busy.
BV: What inspired you guys to start making music? Was there anyone in particular that you heard or anything?
Neil: For me, I had this friend that was just AMAZING at guitar, and I was like okay I guess I’ll play guitar. That’s how I got into it.
Tom: There is this little band called Blink-182… I am like obsessed with their bass playing Mark. I dunno, I just love their band a lot and me and my friend John, he’s our merch guy, I was like, “Dude, you play the guitar and I’ll play bass because I want to be like Mark,” then I was like “No, wait you play bass and I’ll play guitar.” Because it was cheaper or something like that so we just started playing because I wanted to be like Blink-182.
BV: Who would your dream line up be with?
Tom: BLINK, New Found Glory. Jeremy would probably want Cold Play on board.
Jeremy: Yes…
Tom: Oh and Dance Gavin Dance, because of their new song.
BV: Which song?
Josh: The first song they play, you will hear everyone that’s on tour right now just walking around just singing it.
BV: Is it off their new record?
Tom: Yeah
BV: OH is it, “And I Told Them I Invented Times New Roman”?
Tom: Yeah yeah! That’s like the greatest song ever.
BV: Yeah that’s an amazing song.
BV: What do you guys do to pass the time when on tour, like while your driving around and stuff?
Tom: Sidekick III.
Josh: Thank god, I just bought a sidekick.
BV: How did you guys come up with your band name?
Tom: This kid that we let be in our band just so we could take his band name.
Josh: Yeah, basically.
Neil: Well, his girlfriend had made up this band name, “A Day To Remember” and we were like how about we let him in our band and we can call it A Day To Remember. And he was really bad at what he did, and he never played a full show, and he would always walk off and think he was the shit, so we kicked him out.
BV: What do you think sets you guys apart from the other bands that are out there right now?
Jeremy: I honestly think we are doing something different. A lot of people don’t appreciate it right now. Some people will be like, “That band is cliché” or call us emo-core. Honestly, nobody is playing Pop-Punk and Mosh and putting it together. Nobody does that. And I would love for someone to tell me a band that does that because I would listen to them.
Josh: I’m not saying we’re doing anything groundbreaking. I’m not saying we’re going to change music. It’s just its different.
BV: So you’ve only been on the tour for three days so far right?
Josh: Well, we were out alone with this band called ‘The Distance’ that everyone on earth should check out, because they are the greatest guys on the planet, and we did 4 or 5 days with them. Then we met up in Sacramento and we also met up with Alesana.
Jeremy: Oh my god…I saw your foot, and I thought it was a person’s leg underneath our seats.
BV: What is your craziest story that you guys have from being on tour?
Jeremy: I got it! This is true too! Neil made up a game one time. Aiden has this game where the driver climbs all the way to the back bunk, touches the wall and then climbes all the way back to the drivers seat. That’s Aiden’s game. Neil wanted to top it, so he went back, opened up the back two doors, went out onto the trailer on the metal bar and walked back in.
Josh: How fast were we going?
Jeremy: 70 miles per hour.
Neil: Okay I thought you were talking about like…hookers or something.
BV: If you were stranded on an island, what three things would you bring with you?
Neil: Um, a good looking blonde, a pizza hut where I could have whatever I wanted at all times, and um… and I dunno, Doom because he completes me.
Josh: Wait, am I doing my own now?
BV: Yes.
Josh: An ipod, a hot tub and I dunno a big screen TV and all the cable I could get.
Tom: That sounds like the worst island ever. You have an empty ipod because you didn’t ask for any songs.
BV: Well what would you bring?
Tom: I would bring a scientist and all of his crew to make all the things I want.
BV: Does that only count as one?
Neil: You can’t do that, you can’t bring his whole crew.
Tom: And I’d also like Carmen Electra, and the scientist would make an age defying potion to make me young forever and her young forever, AND the third one, I want Mark.
Jeremy: I would take an ipod, with the episodes of that bad ass’ dudes “Man vs. Wild” so I could actually like survive.
Josh: That’s two things Jeremy.
Tom: Well that’s only one, I mean my scientists come with a whole crew.
Jeremy: And then acoustic guitar and a knife I guess. That’s what that guy uses, he has like a knife and the clothes on his back and he survives for like a week.
Tom: He also has flint for fires though!
Jeremy: You mother f*ckers are bringing hot tubs, I’m bringing stuff to make me live.
Tom: I’m bringing scientists that can make me all sorts of bad ass sh*t.
Neil: Pizza Hut keeps me alive…
BV: Do you guys have anything else to say? Anything about your fans?
Jeremy: F*ck the fans. No, I’m totally kidding.
Josh: Make me the famous one! He’s being mean and I’m saying f*ck Jeremy for saying f*ck the fans.
Jeremy: I was kidding! Of course, I love our fans and thank you to all of you because you guys are the reason we are doing all of this.
For more official information on A Day To Remember, please log onto:
http://www.adtrrock.com
http://www.myspace.com/adaytoremember
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