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Collecting some of the historical AbsolutePunk.net content. Music Mends Broken Hearts
SORTED BY: INTERVIEWS

Interview: William Beckett of The Academy Is…

The Academy Is
AbsolutePunk

I recently spoke with William Beckett. The Academy Is… have recently just gotten back together for RIOT Fest and are now ready to kick off their Ten Year Anniversary tour of Almost Here.

Was coming together for RIOT Fest the only reason the band started to talk again, or was it something that was in the back of your mind?

Well; RIOT Fest was always a bucket list goal being from the Chicago area. It’s potentially our favorite festival and I’m not sure if our band was cool enough to get it in the past. But the offer came up and we all got on the phone; Adam, Mike, and I, and we discussed it. The consensus was we really want to do this for the right reasons. Our tour with Jack’s Mannequin, we cancelled and that was not the ideal circumstance. When the RIOT Fest email came in we talked it over and always wanted to, it was like a festival in Chicago, where were celebrating Almost Here ten year anniversary and it just felt right.

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Interview: Chuck Comeau of Simple Plan

Simple Plan
AbsolutePunk

How’s it feel to finally have your new song, “Saturday,” out?

We’re excited! It’s been a long time since we’ve put out new music. The last thing we did was like this little EP that was a little bit of a b-side, I guess, quote, unquote — songs that were leftover from the Get Your Heart Onalbum. We take a little bit of time in between records because we go on tour for two, two and a half years on each cycle. Then we stop for a few months, catch our breath, and then we start writing and we write for a long time. We wrote for like a year and a half on this album. We wrote like 70-75 songs. It’s definitely exciting. People have been waiting and we’re finally able to give them something they can listen to and get stoked about the album. It feels good to feel like, “Okay, we’re kicking up in gear,” and we’re slowing switching from writing, making the record, and recording it, to actually having music out and going back on tour and planning some shows and the album cover and all that. So it’s exciting that we, as a band, have the luck and the privilege to be doing it for a fifth time.

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Interview: Chad Gilbert of New Found Glory

AbsolutePunk

I love most genres of music, but I have a special place in my heart for hardcore music – Terror, Hatebreed, etc. You know who else loves hardcore music? Chad Gilbert from New Found Glory. I thought it would be cool to sit down and talk about one of his favorite hardcore bands, Madball. So we went to Starbucks in Portland, OR and talked about exactly that – Madball, and memories he’s had with them. If you’ve never listened/heard of Madball before, definitely give this a read and check them out.

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Interview: Adam Lazzara of Taking Back Sunday

Taking Back Sunday
AbsolutePunk

On March 18th Taking Back Sunday releases its sixth full-length record so we got on the phone with vocalist Adam Lazzara to learn more about it.

When did you start writing this record?

We started writing not too long after the self-titled record came out. Just because we all live in different states, whenever we got home from tour we would get together to write and find a place that was kind of out of the way so there weren’t many distractions.

This time I noticed you went with two producers, Marc Hudson and Mike Sapone, instead of returning to Eric Valentine like you did with the self-titled.

That kind of happened haphazardly because we had done a round of demos in Michigan with Marc Hudson and then we did another round of demos in New York with Mike Sapone. When it came time to actually record the record we thought things went so well when we were demoing with those guys, so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. We’ve had a relationship with Mike Sapone since the band started so that is one reason we went back. As for Marc Hudson he’s been touring with us for years so it was just two guys we felt really comfortable with because they were our friends first. There really wasn’t much of an outside influence.

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Interview: Geoff Rickly of Thursday

Thursday
AbsolutePunk

Thursday will go down as one of the iconic bands of our generation amongst the hardcore and punk scene. Whether you think they’re not underground enough, or don’t play enough hardcore for your liking anymore, they’ve certainly proven themselves time and time again on record, and more importantly, within the community itself. On the heals of their next album, No Devolución, this will be a sharp left for many, but long time fans will see the band shine at possibly their brightest moment yet. Stripping themselves of most of their hardcore elements, the album still packs an elegance and driving force that made us all fall for the band’s music over a decade ago. On the second night of their tour with Underoath, Geoff Rickly sat down with me over chips and guacamole to talk about the last ten years, the scene and how proud he is of the band’s next album.

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Interview: Jacob Bannon of Converge

Converge
AbsolutePunk

Axe to Fall has just been getting rave reviews. You guys have certainly cemented yourselves into that hardcore band, surviving about two decades now. What do you have to say about that?

I guess you can say that. I don’t really know. It’s flattering when people say that. It doesn’t effect us as a band. It doesn’t drive us as a band. It doesn’t change the way we perceive our music, and how we write music. We just think of ourselves as four guys from Massachusetts who play music we enjoy…If it’s influential and people appreciate it, that’s cool. If it’s not, that’s okay too. We just want to play stuff that’s truly meaningful to us. That moves us. Songs about our lives and our experiences that challenge us. Anything outside of that is not that important.

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Interview: Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy

Fall Out Boy
AbsolutePunk

Let’s start with the new record – what’s the vibe like in the Fall Out Boy camp based on the reactions to the new song, the buzz around the viral campaign and so forth? Does it feel as big as everyone’s hoping for?

I guess there’s a question these days of “Why put out records anymore?” you know, like, “Why even bother?” I wasn’t really interested–I don’t think any of us were really interested in getting rich and famous–and, by virtue of putting out a new record, we will probably get more rich and famous, you know? [laughs] Which is not something I want really. So like, why really [put out an album], right? It’s because you want to say something. You want to express yourself. You have art that you need to get out. So that was really my only purpose in making a record and I’m totally stoked on it the way it is now, for sure.

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Interview: Andrew McMahon of Jack’s Mannequin

Andrew Mcmahon
AbsolutePunk

In early December of 2007, I went into the studio with Andrew McMahon in Santa Monica when he was finishing up the new Jack’s Mannequin record. We originally shot a video of the interview, which you can watch here,1 but I’ve also transcribed the full text of the interview since many of the questions were left out or edited in the original video.

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  1. We no longer have this footage.↩

Interview: Jimmy Eat World

Jimmy Eat World
AbsolutePunk

On their recent tour stop in Newport, Kentucky, I had the chance to sit down with Zach and Rick of Jimmy Eat World. We discussed items related to the record and upcoming release of Chase This Light, and also had time to go back and discuss some other topics. Like what really happened with Mark Trombino? And what do they think of everyone being all over Clarity’s balls? Read on to find out these answers and more.

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