Interview: Geoff Rickly of Thursday

Thursday

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

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

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

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

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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