Interview: All Time Low

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http://www.nervemedia.org.uk/2012/03/interview-all-time-low/

The Rise Of The Planet of Pop Punk

They say that everything comes back into fashion at some point, be it shoulder pads, crop tops or Noel Edmonds. But right now it’s the turn of pop punk. There is no denying that since the return of pop punk titans Blink 182, the genre has experienced a sudden surge in popularity. From Jimmy Eat World’s triumphant album shows which saw fans singing along to every single word of 2001’s smash hit ‘Bleed American’ to New Found Glory’s packed out Reading & Leeds warm up gigs championing their new T-Shirt slogan ‘Pop Punk’s Not Dead’, it is clear that these 90s icons are as popular as ever.

And talking of Reading & Leeds, this year’s line-up is scattered with more pop punk bands than ever before. Gone are the days when pop punk’s finest were restricted to Slam Dunk Festival alone. With New Found Glory, Jimmy Eat World, Panic! At The Disco, The Offspring and Decedents popping up across the weekend, 2011 seems to be the year pop punk creeps back into the mainstream. Even headline act My Chemical Romance could be considered inductees into the realm of pop punk with their latest, more upbeat, release Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys.

This year has also seen an unashamedly summery pop punk record from the sugary Simple Plan, featuring collaborations from Rivers Cuomo and Natasha Bedingfield no less, and a packed out tent for ‘popcore’ pioneers Four Year Strong’s headline performance at this year’s Sonisphere Festival. And it’s not just the old stuff making a comeback, with the relatively new kids on the block All Time Low and You Me At Six playing bigger and bigger shows across the world, its certain that there is room for fresh faced pop punkers on our stages too. You don’t even need a pair of Dickies and a blonde mohawk to listen to them either.

Why pop punk ever went out of fashion still remains one of life’s unanswered questions. Much like ‘why do Jedward exist?’ We’ll just never know.

But ‘why has pop punk suddenly wormed its way back into our hearts and onto our iPods?’ is slightly easier to consider. It could be that warm and fuzzy ‘getting drunk down the skate park’ nostalgia that listing back to classic records like Blink’s ‘Enema Of the State’ or Sum 41’s ‘All Killer No Filler’ brings? Or it could be that the genre is just generally a big ol’ barrel of fun? And who, apart from Alan Sugar, doesn’t like fun? Whatever the answer, let’s hope that the infectious hooks, huge sing-a-longs and teenage angst of pop punk continues to park its behind in the world’s festival lineups and iPod playlists for a while longer. New Found Glory for Glastonbury 2013! Just me? Okay…

Interview: Twin Atlantic

‘This is all a big blag’, not my words, but the words of Twin Atlantic front man Sam McTrusty. Following the release of their first full length album ‘Free’, the ‘blatantly Scottish’ band – again, not my words – have just completed their biggest UK tour to date. I caught up with them at Southampton Joiners to discuss such rock ‘n’ roll topics as Tom DeLonge’s shoes, cats and their ultimate goal; to show that real music still exists…

The UK tour is nearly over, how has it been?

Sam McTrusty (vocals & guitar): Outstandingly brilliant. Full stop. It’s been such a milestone for our band. We released an album and people started coming to watch us. We put music out there and people listen to it. We’ve done UK headline tours before and, not to take any merit away from them because they were as important, it’s just that this one has made us feel a bit more gratified. We’re getting something out of doing this now because more people are coming and were enjoying ourselves more.

You’re pretty far from home right now, what do you miss most when you’re on tour?

Ross McNae (bass, piano & vocals): My cats. They’ve all got rock names. Brody Dalle, Jesse James, Sid Vicious and then Lucky, she’s not named after anyone.

You have some pretty dedicated fans, does the reaction you get still surprise you?

Sam: Yes. I’ve always read about my favourites bands saying that they’re in this little bubble when they record an album and then when it gets released they don’t really realise it all blah blah blah. But that’s actually how I felt. We were so concentrated on making something and perfecting our art that now to be back in front of people and getting that immediate response, it’s amazing.

Ross: Yea because you can record a record and put it out and you only read what a magazine says or what someone says about you on the internet. But when they’re right in front of you, people can’t lie. You can see it on their faces if they enjoy it.

Sam: Yea and it’s the first time we’ve had any sold out shows in England, which doesn’t really happen to us. I’m just waiting for our van to explode or something like that.

How was the recording process for the new album, ‘Free’?

Sam: Beautiful. Simple. It was just so easy. And I think that’s because we had such an experienced producer (Gil Norton - Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World, Pixies, The Distillers). We just had this focused drive towards what we wanted. We’d made an EP, then a mini-album. We practiced making an album in that sense, so we knew what we didn’t want to do. And when we got into those situations we glided right through them, whereas before, we would not know which direction to go in. Say we had a completely different opinion, we’d usually argue about it for honestly two days and it would just get in the way of the whole process but this time it was just obvious which route we needed to take. And with Gil being there, he just gave us this sense of self belief that we didn’t have before. I think part of it was because we had a mini-album called ‘Vivarium’, and that was essentially our band up until that point and the songs we thought were good enough to let people here. Where as with ‘Free’, we actually set a goal. This is what we want this album to represent. And we want it to fill this gap and be what music fans aren’t getting from British bands right now.

Do you have a favourite track on the new album?

Sam: Well I think there are songs that I’ve made big statements in with the lyrics so I’m proud of making them work in a song. But there are songs that I prefer the music to. So I can’t choose between ‘Free’ and ‘Edit Me’, or ‘The Ghost of Eddie’. I like playing ‘The Ghost of Eddie’, it’s fun, but those other ones are total mission statements for me. But we’ve all got different answers probably. Ross said ‘The Ghost of Eddie’ yesterday but it changes from day to day.

Ross: Yea and then today we played a song called ‘Yes, I Was Drunk’ at sound check and that’s now my favourite.

What songs have been getting the best reaction when you play live?

Sam: The song ‘It’s Time For You To Stand Up’, which is probably one of the most immediate songs on the record. It’s pretty rocking but it’s also really upbeat. It’s got everything. It’s like a short pop song but it’s still rock music if you know what I mean?

What’s the story behind the name of the album?

Sam: Any idea we have always starts as a joke. And we thought free was the cheesiest name we could give the record. But we also thought the song, ‘Free’, on the record was a real focal point. We didn’t really think about it much we just thought that’s a pretty obvious name so we’ll just go for the obvious name and see what happens. And then all those things came up about ‘what if people think they can get it for free? Wont that be confusing?’ But we were just like, well they can get it for free if they want. More people will get it for free than go and pay for it. So our response to that was to just make fun of it.

How do you think ‘Free’ differs from your mini-album, ‘Vivarium’?

Sam: Well, personally I think it’s better. Better songs, I mean. The song writing definitely took big steps forward, probably because we’d experienced a lot more and we were a bit more grounded as individuals. We’d broadened our horizons by travelling a lot and meeting new people every day.

Ross: Something as easy as being a little bit older, and having done music for a little bit longer. Just being two years further down the line of trying to be a professional song writer, they’re gonna be better. So we’re almost winning before we’ve started. Hopefully we’re all better musicians.

Sam: We also just tried less hard. We just chilled and had fun rather than trying to impress people. We just thought lets fucking make ourselves happy and then if people like it then cool. If not then at least we’ll be able to look back at it when were 40 and not be embarrassed.

You were originally planning to record a concept album, what made you decide to scrap it and record ‘Free’ instead?

Sam: It wasn’t really a concept record, it was more like a theme to a record. Because we’d never written an album before so it was like, lets write an album about something. Then I realised that that wasn’t going to work because I’d not actually experienced much death and stuff. That’s what it was about, the theme of being scared of dying. A pretty fucking grim topic, but I don’t actually have much experience of death in my family or anything like that where as I’ve got loads of experience of being 23 and loving music and getting to mess about with my friends and travel. So I just decided to write a record about that instead. It was a pretty straight forward decision. I think it would have been a pretty morbid album

You’ve done quite a few shows oversees, how was that?

Sam: We did more last year. I keep exaggerating this but I think it was about 20 countries. That’s new countries, because we’ve definitely been around the block once. Hopefully we get to go round the blobk a million times.

Ross: But sometimes you’re only there for a day.

Sam: Yea we’d drive through Switzerland or somewhere like that and say, yea that counts. But we also did a full North American tour and went to Canada which was fucking crazy. It felt like we were in one of those documentary films I watched when I was 14, like The Blood Money 2. We were with American bands which was so weird, playing venues that you’d see on drive through DVDs and shit like that. So it was pretty cool, but a weird experience.

What was the reaction like from the fans abroad?

Sam: It’s been more immediate than the UK. I think being so blatantly Scottish, people immediately pay attention because they’re not used to that. So we kind of stood out I suppose. And especially in Germany, we’ve supported bands over there, and they just love rock music so as soon as you play anything with distortion they get excited. And Americans are just so over the top, they’ll come and chat to you for ages and want to buy you drinks and all that. They’re like the cheesy stereotypical music fan in America. 

You supported Blink 182 for their Scottish shows last year, were you surprised to get the gig?

Ross: Yea because it’s one of our favourite bands when we were younger. It’s weird because it was obviously a massive surprise but for some reason Tom DeLonge decided to give us some shoes from his company, I don’t know why, but he did. So I think it wasn’t as much of a shock because we knew that he knew who we were.

Sam: There were a lot of steps on the way to it.

Ross: It wasn’t like one day my mobile rang and it was Tom DeLonge, but it was a really good opportunity to get.

Sam: It was crazy! 30,000 people over 3 days got to hear us play all because Tom DeLonge asked us to.

What has been the highlight of the past year?

Sam: I want to say this tour. And I’m not even joking. It’s maybe been the biggest highlight of the band. Because we’re standing on our own two feet, people are taking us seriously, people are responding to our music as passionately as we did the first time we wrote a song. But also, the people that are coming to the gigs are music fans.

Ross: It’s not like all 14 year old girls and it’s not all really trendy people. There are some 50 year old men out there too.

Sam: And that’s the real indication that they just love music and want to hear honest songs. That’s why this is the highlight for me. We’ve finally reached a point that we talked about during our first couple of days as a band. This is what we want to achieve.

Ross: Also I think it’s because, not that we haven’t written any songs about relationships, but a lot of the songs have covered more universal things so there’s something for different types of people to relate to. It’s not just the one thing.

Sam: It’s not all ex-girlfriend songs and all that shit.

You all had opportunities to persue different careers when you were younger - Ross played hockey for Scotland in school, Sam passed up a golf scholarship to an American university and dropped out of a prestigious art degree at Glasgow University, Dummer Craig Kneale was doing a degree in graphic design and guitarist and cellist Barry McKenna played cello for the Scottish National Youth Orchestra, - do you ever wonder what life might have been like if Twin Atlantic didn’t exist?

Sam: Nah, we’ve kind of always just winged everything.

Ross: We’ve just taken every opportunity and not thought about the consequences.

Sam: That’s the way we’ve been living since we left school. We had pretty mediocre grades at school so we’ve just tried a bit of everything. So we don’t know any different really.

Ross: I think it was drummed into us by load of people. My dad in particular has always said just do what you’re gonna do. There’s never any pressure to do anything or make money and have a career.

You’ve been involved with the band’s artwork in the past, where do you get your inspiration?

Sam: Well for the artwork it’s usually the songs. Whatever mood listening to the record puts me in. And then I’ll get a picture in my head of something. Because things like that usually come to me really quickly and I don’t really think them through, which is probably why we’ve stopped using my stuff. I think we just make it up as we go along. This is all a big blag.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

Sam: Just playing as many gigs as we can and getting the record into as many new ears as we can. Just letting people know that we exist and there are still honest rock bands out there that sing something worthwhile. Basically to show that real music still exists, that’s out mission this year.

Interview: Not Advised

You wouldn’t have thought Hanson would be listed among the influences of the hottest new pop punk band in the UK right now. But Southampton five-piece Not Advised, who are personal favourites of You Me At Six, are not afraid to admit their love of 90’s pop, as well as deep fried food, comfy chairs and their blossoming bromance.

You’ve been together for quite a while now, how did the band come about?

Andy (drums): The band came about when we were 14 years old, just jamming in school practice rooms. I didn’t know Jack before I started secondary school, that’s where we met.

Jack (guitar): Rock brought us together.

Andy: Then we started playing as the band Not Advised with different members. Then we stole Jim and Ash from other local bands to make a supergroup and decided to go out on the road and start playing music.

Which bands influenced you to become musicians in the beginning?

Andy: Blink 182 got me into music.

Jim (vocals): There are two for me. A band called New Found Glory and a band called Goldfinger, both got me into the rock circuit.

Ash (guitar): Hanson was the first CD I ever got. I listened to that a lot and I always wanted to play drums, but I wasn’t allowed.

Did you have the long hair to go with it?

Ash: Well, not straight away.

Greg (bass): Anyway, yea I think Blink 182, New Found Glory and, when we got a bit older, Fall Out Boy got us motivated.

Jack: Yea and I was big on my Oasis when we were first starting out.

You guys are from Southampton, just up the road. How is the music scene over there these days?

Andy: It’s alright. When we first started touring and playing properly, Southampton was a really cool place to play. Really great local bands and Joiners is a great venue. But I couldn’t really tell you now. We tour quite a lot so Southampton is just like playing any other town now. We obviously enjoy it because we get to see friends and stuff. We have friends in bands there. A band called Lost On Landing are really good. There have always been good bands in Southampton and I’m sure there still are.

Gary: People are doing well, you never hear of people not turning out to shows.

Jack: It was definitely a cool place when we were starting out. It definitely helped us as a great place to build from.

Where is your favourite venue to play in Southampton?

Andy: We’ve only ever played one!

Jack: Yea, Joiners has been great because we played out first show there and then we built up over the years and now it’s a case of Joiners being the smallest venue on our tour, which was a nice place to end it. It’s always been a cool place for us, it’s where we started.

Which UK bands are you guys excited about at the moment?

Gary: The guys we just took out on tour, Pegasus Bridge.

Jim: Canterbury as well, they’re really good.

Andy: Deaf Havana, Futures.

Jack: Out Of Sight, rest in peace! The You Me At Six guys have helped us out a lot too.

You’re quite good friend with You Me At Six and have supported them in the past, will you be bribing them for backstage passes for the Blink 182 tour this summer?

Andy: Yes.

Ash: That was the first thing we confirmed last time we saw them.

Andy: Nah, we tried in January but it didn’t work. The amount of people that will be calling them, pretty much everyone they know, plus a few others.

If you could support any band, who would it be?

All: Blink 182

Jack: They are the kings of pop punk. It’s the dream.

Andy: They came back at Reading and it was insane

Greg: I’d say Iron Maiden.

Jack: All those pop rock bands that can break out onto the radio really. Like Blink 182, Paramore, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy. Those sorts of bands are the ones we look up to. That’s where we want to be so any of those bands would be cool to play with.

Pop punk is quite a saturated genre, how do you guys keep your sound fresh and different from the competition?

Andy: We stop worrying about everyone else and just do what we want.

Jack: People call us a pop punk band but we never set out to write pop punk songs. I think if you just listen to our band without looking at us or the bands we play with, you’d probably just think we’re a rock band or an alternative band. We don’t have a problem with people labelling us but we never really care. We just write songs that we want to write and if people like them then that’s cool.

You’ve done a hell of a lot of touring, where is your favourite place to play?

Greg: Mine would be Newcastle.

Jim: Scotland is always good.

Jack: Scotland was really supportive early on. Now, we’re lucky that we have a good fan base so we have lots of nice fans everywhere. But when we first started touring, Scotland was one of the first places that caught on and really helped us out. I remember when we turned up and played our first show in Edinburgh, there was a big queue of people to see us even in the morning. And that had never happened for us before. So it’s always been really cool to go back there to see new faces as well as the people who helped us out from the start. It’s a special place for us.

Did you try any deep fried Mars Bars while you were up there?

Jim: Jack did!

Jack: Yep, I like everything deep fried, even haggis. No straight haggis.

What is your favourite track to play live?

Jack: The new ones I guess. Because we toured the EP ‘After The Fight’ quite a lot, we play those songs time and time again. So now that we’re writing the album we get to test run the new songs and that’s exciting not only for us playing them but also to see people reactions.

Andy: I still like playing ‘Right Now’ though.

Gary: I like ‘The World’s Not Ready’ as well because it always gets a good reaction.

Ash: Mine would be The A.R.K.

Andy: So to answer your question, all of them.

Jack: Anything that gets a reaction from the room. That’s the most important thing. So any time when people are jumping or singing, that’s the coolest part of the set.

Have you ever had any crazy fan experiences on tour?

Andy: We got a lot of gifts in Scotland. Jack, tell your story.

Jack: Well I was sat upstairs in Glasgow, minding my own business and Ash text me saying I’ve got to come outside the venue. So I go downstairs, not really knowing what to expect, and this lovely girl had made her own Jack hoodie. She got it printed with ‘I <3 Jack Fairbrother’ on the front and a picture of me on the back. That was the most ‘out there’ thing that I’ve ever had. It was really quite sweet.

Jim: There are actually two girls coming here tonight who have come all the way from Edinburgh, which is insane.

Jack: I sound like a fatty, but food! We get a lot of food. We get baked goods like cookies and cupcakes and Danishes and sweets.

Ash: We’ve also got some scrapbooks of every time people have seen us play and what we mean to them.

Jack: And globes as well. We shot a video which involved a globe and so people make globes and bring them to the show. That’s really nice.

What could you not live without on the tour bus?

Jack: We drink lots of vitamin water, play Tiger Woods, and watch films.

Andy: Ash smokes quite a lot out the window.

Jack: We’re not really fussed about the travelling; it’s all about the gigs.

Andy: On the last tour we just did, the travelling wasn’t that long because the dates were planned quite well. So I think we mostly just watched Pineapple Express.

Jack: And some Star Wars. I think it’s gone from not what features the van has but to how comfy the seats are. If you get a nice leather recliner like we had on the last tour them I’m set.

Andy: We talk quite a lot too I think.

Jack: We just amuse ourselves with stupid in-jokes. We’re all good friends. It’s a bit of a bromance.

I understand that Ash had to take over vocal duties when Jim got ill on tour last year, are you all quite multi-talented in the band?

Ash: Definitely. If Greg can’t make a practice or something then Jim steps in on the bass

Jack: As well as playing drums, Andy writes loads of the initial guitar parts, which is quite unusual for a band I suppose.

Andy: Yea, we’re all really multi-talented.

Jack: We’re actually the best musicians, times about five.

Greg: I play every instrument. Even the oboe.

Andy: Nah seriously, when I first started in the band, I couldn’t play guitar or anything like that. I think it’s just the fact that you’re around these instruments so much that even if you just pick it up and mess around on it for five minutes a day, you end up playing those five minutes so many times that you’ve probably played guitar for about three days straight.

Jack: I think I’m the exception to the rule. I can’t play drums. But I think it helps with writing as well because when people pick up an instrument that they’re not used to, they’ve got a new perspective and come up with ideas that perhaps we wouldn’t normally think of.

Talking of writing music, how is the new album coming along?

Jim: It’s going really well actually. It’s in full flow now.

What can we expect from the new record?

Jim: Tunes. Absolute tunes.

Andy: Chugging riffs. More of the same feel and emotion that we put in to our songs but maybe in a slightly different way.

Jack: It’s cheesy I know, but it is a natural progression really. There’s more depth and more going on. But we’re not trying to be anything else, we just thought, lets write some songs and see how it comes out.

Andy: We still always go with the songs that when we’re jamming and we get that funny tingling feeling inside and we start smiling. And we all stand there smiling at each other, again it’s a bromance. We tell each other “You’re the best! That riff is the best!”

Greg: We’ve got some monster riffs on this record.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

Jack: We’re on a tight schedule to get this album done. So we’ve postponed summer and we’ve just been sat in our practice room trying to get the songs written and ready for the studio. Then we’re going to record in early summer and hopefully tour. But the focus is the album so next year we’ll be doing all the stuff we’ve missed out this year.

Andy: I think we’ll be doing a few support tours in the summer and do an even bigger headline tour in October/November time when the album comes out.

Jack: But for now we just want to get the CD right. We’ve got a strict deadline that we’re working towards.

Andy: We’re about a third of the way through with enough time left.

 

Interview: You Me At Six

2010 was the year of You Me At Six after the band scored a Top 10 album. I caught up with them before their sold out show at the B.I.C to talk about their successes… as well as Dragons Den, Fifa and ‘curry-gate’.

2010 has been a huge year for you, but if you could have done anything differently what would it be?

Matt (bass): I think everything has shaped up the way we wanted it to be.

Dan (drums) - now with bleached blonde hair: I would have dyed my hair earlier on in the year. I should have thought about it earlier because I’m quite fond of it.

You went to America this summer for Vans Warped Tour, how do American tours differ to here in Britain?

Matt: There’s a lot more driving. Everyday you’re driving for like 8 to 10 hours. There are always travel days where you’re literally driving all day long. Whereas in the UK you travel for four hours and that’s long. You’re like ‘Oh four hours? Really?!’ Then we went over there and its 10 hours every day. That sucks. But there isn’t really that much difference. I guess the fans are different because maybe we’re not as well known over in America.

Dan: We’ve been touring the UK for like the last three or four years whereas in America we’re just kind of starting out again. That’s really fun though.

How was getting to play with Paramore on their recent tour?

Matt: Paramore were really good dudes… and girl. They were really fun to go on tour with. The shows were always massive with them as well because they’re like the biggest band in the world at the moment.

Dan: Yea it was fun that we got to go out to Europe. We’ve only headlined out there and it’s always been really small. So the chance to support someone like Paramore in Sweden where I think we played to like six or seven thousand people, that was incredible. It was a really good opportunity for our band and hopefully it paid off. I think it did.

You guys are going to be supporting Blink 182 on their European Tour in the summer, how does that feel?

Matt: It’s like a dream come true. My two favourite bands when I grew up were New Found Glory and Blink 182. We did a tour with New Found Glory about two years ago and were doing a tour with Blink next year so I’m losing my mind basically. It’s like the best Christmas present ever!

Dan: At Reading Festival I actually got to meet Travis Barker and I was freaking out. I was full on shaking and I couldn’t speak properly. And then I got invited on stage and was sitting about two feet behind him when they were playing. It was the best day of my life. And now we get to play with them every day!

Is there anyone else that you’ve ever been star struck over?

Matt: I don’t think we’ve properly been star struck.

Dan: Yea with Travis Barker I think that’s the only time in my whole life that I’ve ever been star struck or seen someone and just been shaking. Because he’s like a hero to me. When I was younger, he was one of those people I always looked up to.

Matt: I’d probably be star struck if I met Will Smith or Brendon from Coach Trip. I think he’s awesome.

Dan: Brendon from Coach Trip?

Matt: Have you not watched Coach Trip before?!

Dan: No, what’s that?

Matt: It’s the best thing ever!

Dan: I’d be star struck if I met Eminem. Or Jay Z. That’d be sick.

Matt: Basically A List celebrities.

Dan: If Notorious B.I.G. was resurrected. That’d be sweet.

Clearly you have done pretty well at getting high profile support slots but is there anyone you would love to support that you haven’t had the chance to yet?

Matt: Well my number one in the world was Blink 182 to be honest.

Dan: I reckon it’d be sick to support someone like Green Day or Linkin Park. Just because we like Linkin Park. The other day we put the old album on and were just rocking out.

Matt: We still know all the words to Hybrid Theory.

Dan: Every single word.

Matt: From being 12 years old listening to it in our bedrooms.

How are you going to cope with nerves before supporting Blink 182?

Dan: I think it will probably just be the first show we’ll be a bit nervous. We’ve done arenas before so it should be alright.

Matt: Yea we played Wembley with Fall Out Boy so we’ve played big venues but we haven’t played anywhere as big as The O2. So it’s gonna be scary. But it’s even more scary when your parents are watching you. When you’re playing to a load of random people it’s not actually that bad but when you’ve got all your family down, you feel like you have to be good.

Dan: Yea, like Leeds Festival, I just had a great time and didn’t even think about it when there was like 30,000 people there. But then at Reading Festival, because my mum and my sister were there and my auntie and my cousin, I was pooing myself.

You guys are with a major record label, but some bands, such as Enter Shikari, are now going back to independent labels. Do you think bands do better with a major label?

Dan: I think there are pros and cons. We were on an independent for quite a while, Slam Dunk Records. We sort of made it up with our manager. That didn’t quite work out so right not we’re trying a major label and its going quite well. I think they have the financial backing and they also know people in the industry so they can open up doors for you.

Do you think the business side of the music industry has a negative effect on music?

Matt: Well the business side of the industry is full of arseholes.

Dan: There are always problems with everything. Like if you’re on an independent you’re gonna find problems and if you’re on a major label you’re gonna find problems. That’s something you have to realise quite early on otherwise you’ll kill yourself.

Matt: Yea stuff is always going wrong. Stuff is going wrong the whole time.

Dan: I’m sure even in Paramore’s world there’s times when they’re pissed off about something or something is going wrong.

Matt: Yea and when stuff is going wrong, people don’t know it’s going wrong. Like on out first album, the first 5000 copies that went out were missing a page. You open it up and it was white behind the CD.

Dan: Yea we were going crazy about that.

Matt: We were going mental but everyone was like ‘Oh it’s probably supposed to be like that’. And we’re just like ‘Nope’. So if you do have ‘Take Off Your Colours’ with a white bit behind the CD, that one went wrong.

Dan: You could almost say its limited edition.

What is your favourite song to perform live?

Dan: I think mine has been ‘Stay With Me’.

Matt: Yea same. We go off and then come back on for our encore. We don’t say anything and then there’s the first note and the lights and stuff. It looks pretty cool.

You’ve spent a lot of time travelling all over the world together, how do you usually pass the time when travelling on the tour bus?

Dan: People have been playing Fifa for money the past two days. Josh is up like £400.

Matt: Yea one of our friends from America came over and he and Josh were playing £100 games. Josh beat him basically every time. Then he went to the casino and won again.

Dan: And then everyone was like ‘Matt, Dan, why don’t you join in?’ and it’s like ‘Because I don’t want to just give you my money because you’ll clearly beat me’.

Matt: Yea we suck at Fifa.

Dan: I’m alright but I probably wouldn’t win. We’re fans of Call of Duty more than Fifa. Chris is wicked at Call of Duty.

Matt: Chris is already level 50

Dan: And Max is good

What could you not live without on tour?

Matt: A fridge to put the beers in.

Dan: A bed.

Matt: No the fridge, I could deal with sleeping on the floor if I’ve had too many beers.

Any particular food you can’t live without?

Matt: Well I always have curry but someone ate my curry last night. It’s stressed me out basically.

Dan: He’s been going mental for the past three days because someone stole his curry.

Matt: Twitter is going crazy. If anyone knows where my curry is by the way let me know. There’s a cash prize.

Dan: Yea £5000. We think it’s Max though.

Matt: Last night we got really drunk and I was like ‘Max, did you eat it?’ and he said ‘Actually, I might’ve eaten it’. And I was like ‘Well did you?’ and he said ‘I dunno’

Dan: Basically, he admitted to eating it

Matt: He’s the curry thief.

Dan: He keeps talking about it so I think he’s guilty.

If you ever have any major arguments, what or who is usually the cause?

Dan: It’s usually really little things.

Matt: I get stress out when I’m like ‘Are you ready to go out now?’ and everyone’s like ‘Yea yea yea’ And then we’re just about to go out and someone goes ‘Oh will you just wait for me for five minutes?’ and 15 minutes later they come and them someone else goes ‘No wait for me I’ll be like two minutes’ and then another 15 minutes later someone goes ‘Wait for me!’ and I’m just like ‘No. I’m done’ and they start stressing out that I’m not gonna wait for them. And I’ve been waiting for like two hours. You can’t get everyone together. There’s 24 people on this tour travelling with us and so getting them all together is probably the hardest thing in the world. That stresses me out.

Dan: I don’t get that stressed I don’t think. I like to wind Matt up quite a lot

Matt: Dan stresses me out a lot actually.

Dan: I do it on purpose though because I know exactly how to do it. Like yesterday he was like ‘Are you gonna come to the room’ and I’m like ‘Yea I’m gonna go in about 10 minutes’, and he’s like ‘Well why don’t you come now?’ and I’m like ‘I’m just gonna come in 10 minutes’. And then I turn round to him and I’m like ‘Do you need me to hold your hand?’ and all this stuff. And he’s like ‘Fuck you man, fuck you’ and walks off and gets so stressed out

Matt: The only reason I wanted him to come was because I was gonna go swimming so I was gonna wait for him in the room. Then I waited for like 15 minutes just sat there and he just weren’t coming.

Dan: I think he needs anger management.

Did you get to go swimming in the end?

Matt: I did actually but the jacuzzi was broken

Dan: And then you probably got more stressed out about that because it was broken right?

Matt: Yes

Dan: There you go.

You must do a lot of press, is there a particular question that you never get asked but wish you would?

Matt: You’ve put us on the spot now. Now I feel like we’re interviewing you!

Dan: I would love to be asked the question ‘My best friend is Zooey Deschanel, would you like to go on a date with her?’ That would probably be my favorite question.

As five guys in a rock band, how do you cope with all the female attention?

Dan: We don’t get any because we’re losers

Max (from across the room): The only female we have in the band is a curry!

Matt: Max, shut up. This is our interview alright?

Max: Sorry, I’ve got curry on my mind

Dan: We don’t get much female attention.

So you don’t get any knickers thrown at you or anything?

Matt: Well we do but Dan doesn’t see them because he’s at the back and they can’t throw that far. No, there’s not that much female attention. It depends. If we were to go out to a rock bar after the show then there are people who know who we are. So we tend to go to dance clubs and dance like idiots.

Dan: The other day there was 30 of us from the tour, everyone was out going crazy and dancing like fools.

Matt: Yea, Max fell over. He got so drunk.

Dan: He not only fell over but he face planted as well.

Matt: Yea I’ve got a feeling he was two-stepping to JLS or something and he slipped and face planted to the floor. And Bob from The Blackout was stomping around past all these 30 year old chavs. It was pretty funny actually.

Dan: Yea, if there was a small group of us they probably would have just beaten us up but because there was 30 of us they were all just looking over like ‘Who are these guys? And why are they in a massive circle having a dance off?’ It was brilliant.

This year was obviously huge for you but which bands would you like to see have the same type of success in 2011?

Dan: Canterbury

Matt: Yea they are the best dudes ever.

Dan: Their songs are amazing and they deserve it. And they’re amazing live. I’d love to see them get massive.

Matt: And a band called Not Advised, I really like them as well. They’re from Southampton. They’re really good, you should check them out.

Dan: And Tibbin as well.

Matt: Oh yea, DJ Tibbin. He’s DJing inbetween the bands tonight and he’s sick. He plays drum n’ bass and dubstep. He mixes pop with dubstep.

Dan: His Twitter is @TibbinAKATibbin

Matt: Tweet him

You are already writing the third album and I’ve heard there will be some exciting collaborations. Can you divulge any now?

Dan: Oh really? I don’t know.

Matt: Well, we’re doing one song with Eminem.

Dan: And another song with Rhianna

Matt: And Britney Spears was begging us to do a song with her but we said no.

Dan: We said ‘Do one! You used to be bald’.

Matt: And Dr Dre also was like ‘I want you to come round my house’ but we were just like ‘Sorry Dre’.

Dan: No, Dre is gonna produce it now I think.

Matt: I don’t know if I want him to. I don’t know if he’s good enough.

Dan: No, but seriously though, we have no clue.

Matt: We’ve demoed 4 songs.

Dan: It’s probably just Josh chatting rubbish on Twitter.

Matt: Yea, he likes to cause a kerfuffle.

A few of you are quite entrepreneurial as you run various clothing labels. But if you were auditioning for The Apprentice, how would you try to impress Lord Sugar?

Matt: God I don’t know.

Dan: I’d just say ‘Alright mate? Like this T-Shirt?’ Wanna buy it?’

Matt: If it was Dragons Den, because they’ve got all the money in front of them already, surely if anyone is clever enough when they go for their interview they’d just take a gun and say ‘Give me your money’. And then everyone gives you their money and then you win. You don’t even have to give away a percentage.

Dan: Yes you just walk in and hold the gun at them and they’ll be like ‘Oh so what’s the business?

Matt: ‘My gun to your face’

Dan: ‘Give me your money. Now’

Matt: Yea I don’t know what I’d do on The Apprentice but I know what I’d do on Dragons Den.

If you were freshers, what would your ideal student night out involve?

Matt: We go on freshers nights out all the time! Well, not freshers nights out but we go to student nights at clubs, because we basically are students. We’re the same age as everyone else.

Dan: We just don’t go to uni. We blag ourselves in there.

If it was a fancy dress night, what would you wear?

Matt: The last fancy dress night we did was Halloween and I had a full chimp suit. It was literally Thorpe Park material.

Dan: I was a bear and I looked like a gay bear

Matt: I’ve been dressed up as a fairy before. That was funny, and a bit gay.

Dan: My mum says we’ve got a full Superman outfit in the attic so I’m gonna wear that next time I dress up.