First of all, can you state your name and what
you do in the band?
-My name is Matt, and I play drums in
August Burns Red
Being from Pennsylvania how are you feeling the
weather down here in Florida?
- I love it, it's great, we spent the morning at the beach yesterday, we got
to Florida, I guess Tuesday night, and had a show Ft. Lauderdale and just
hung out at the beach for 3 or 4 hours.
What beach did you go to to?
-Ft. Lauderdale beach, ha ha, I don't know the name of it, but we got a
little sunburned while we were there.
Where was your band before coming to Florida?
-We were actually in PA, Pennsylvania, where we are from, we came straight
here, we actually started our tour out here in Florida.
That's what I thought. How is the weather like
up there compared to here?
-Actually, it's pretty nice, it's probably like 10 degree's colder up there
but it's still sunny, but we got to Florida, and I called my mom, and she
said it was pretty nice up there.
-We are only a couple days into the tour
"Yeah, I know, I was looking that up and that
it was pretty awesome that you guys got to come down here right when the
weather went from kind of chilly to really nice"
-Definitely good timing on our part
I know this tour has just kicked off but, how
are you feeling about it so far?
-It's going great, I know all of the guys in A Day To Remember, and
Enter Shikari from doing our European tours, and it's nice coming
into a tour and knowing some of the guys that you will be hanging out with
for the next 7 weeks, that said, everything else has been running pretty
smoothly for a beginning of a tour, it always takes a few days to get the
kinks out as far as stage production and what is expected, but thus far it
has been nothing but smooth.
Can you tell us a little about the video you
just shot for Mariana's Trench? Like what the inspiration was, what the band
put toward the video, and what the influence was?
-I guess the story is, that our record label hooked us up with the guy, and
prompted towards doing something
Tim Burton esque., kind
of a creepy eerie Edward Scissor Hands kind of thing, but that it was going
to be stop motion, like clay motion stuff going on, so we didn't know
exactly what to expect from it, but I'm pretty happy with the way it came
out. It's definitely unique for us, we don't have anything like it.
Did you have a lot of influence in it?
-We kind of gave them free reign over it, we may have elaborated a little
what the lyrics meant, but that was about it, we kind of put the ball in his
court and said, do what you will.
What are your hopes for this tour, what do plan
on accomplishing with this go around?
-I would just like to reach out to a new fan base, I just know that some of
A Day to Remembers fan base may be ours, but a lot probably are not, and my
hope is that those kids will here us, and at least remember our name, and if
they see us touring through the area will come out and support us. I just
hope to build on our fan base, and am just looking forward to going to new
places and seeing these new faces there. We are going up to Canada and
places in the Pacific
Northwest, and am just looking forward to playing these new places,
and it's going to be a lot of fun.
After putting out an album last year, are you
writing new material, and is there any different direction you are looking
to take?
-We have started writing, and have a couple of songs in the works, just bits
and pieces. I wouldn't say that anyone should expect anything too
different, but at the same time I would like people to think that we are
always going in a slightly direction, musically and lyrically, and that we
will probably be a little more dynamic, a little bit slower tempos and some
cleaner parts, just getting older and making a
natural progression.
How do feel that your music has affected some
of the younger generation, considering how long you have been around for
now, knowing that older guys are into you as well still?
-That's a good question, I think it is important to stay relevant, write
music that you like listening to, as well as like playing, and that's
something that we have done, we have never written a record we didn't stand
behind, both musically and lyrically. We try to be as real as possible, and
I think as long as you have that, kids might latch on to that, what's real
and original, and I think that is what bridges the gap between the older and
younger.
Now, knowing that the majority of you are
Christian,
but you do not consider yourselves a Christian band, how does that affect
you guys when you tour with a non Christian band?
-I think that our faith is very important to us, it helps me understand why
people do what they do and say what they say, if anything it helps the
chemistry with touring with a band, whether they are Christian's, atheists
or agnostics, I think that we all have a level of respect for each other,
and we are not going to preach about our faith, if a kid wants to talk to me
personally about, than I have no problem with it, just getting personal
about it, instead of going at it on stage, and I think that has a lot more
impact.
I like that you guys can separate your beliefs
from your music, so as not to make kids have to say that they do or do not
like you, just because of your beliefs! They can like your music, and still
not have the same values, or vice versa.
-We just want kids to like us, first of all because of our music, but if
they want to read and really listen to our lyrics, and hopefully they do,
they see that there is something to be found in it. And hopefully it is
synonymous with how they live their lives, it's not just to sell records,
it's actually real.
And you are here basically, for your fans. If
someone wants to come and talk to you about what they are feeling and what
they believe in, you are completely open to that?
-I go to the merch table, and just hang out and go around the sidewalks
sometimes and just talk to kids, it's great, and I know that Jake goes out
to the merch table every night after we play and sign stuff, and talks to
kids, and sometimes he is out there for like 2 hours. And that's cool, we
played here like 2 months ago, and I'm sure some of those kids are at this
show, and I know that they can come to us and ask us questions about
whatever and know that Jake will be there to answer their questions.
I appreciate all of your time, and have really
been looking forward to speaking with you, just one last thing, if there is
anything that you want us to look into or check out?
-Well I guess, something that is on my mind, I have a friend who is from a
church here, he knows about this company called "Come and Live" they're from
Nashville, it's more like a mission record label, basically it's run by this
guy named Chad Johnson, and he signs these bands and you can go on the
website and download the music, and donate money if you want, and it's all
very purposeful, and the music all has a mission. If you can just check out
www.comeandlive.com, check out the
music on there.
Awesome man, Thank you so much for your time
and consideration, and I look forward to watching you guys perform tonight!