So we recently caught up with dark punk rockers Bayside in London who were over doing a few shows with New Found Glory.. here is a few highlights from our chat with lead vocalist Anthony.
WWR : So you've never done your own headline tour, do you want to?
B: Yea! We want to for sure the UK's always been a place where its taken us a while to gain traction and gain fans and really feeling confident in going to do that, but I definitely feel its getting closer and closer that's for sure
WWR : Why do you think that is?
B: I really don't know, its probably something political and something to do with being from the states and having a label from the states, you we are in a lot more press , magazines and TV and stuff and we are a lot bigger over there, for some reason in Australia we do really well for some reason we just clicked over there, I just don't know what it is over here..
You know when we got big in the states it took a while to get where we are now, it wasn't like a single launched us or anything it feels more real and passionate from the fans. So we are just building up something that's going to be genuine.
WWR : So SHUDDER released last year.. there were some more poppier moments on it I felt?
B: Yea! We wanted to be real simple in a good way, its definitely not a new direction, that's not what we sound like now its something we wanted to try and I feel like to be truly 'punk' doing something simple is almost like taking a stand you know what I mean?
WWR: Do you find that you have a really unique place in punk rock?
B: I mean musically were not the punkest band, we are loped in with NEW FOUND GLORY and ALKALINE TRIO, which is cool because we love those bands, but it think our attitude like lyrically or in interviews is a little more abrasive than bands we are associated with and I think that turns people off a little bit I think people aren't used to it, you know you not going to open Kerrang! And read about somebody in band giving an honest opinion about how something sucks and we do that!
WWR: so there's been some rumours about you guys possibly signing with alkaline trio's new label..?
B: Well we don't really know we have just finished our contract with VICTORY so we are free agents right now which is really exciting we haven't been unsigned for 6 years and it feels really nice, we are starting to write right now for our new record but we don't know who's going to put it out
WWR: Do you have a sound on that record yet?
B: Its going to be kinda like a WALKING WOUNDED sounding album, we want to make the heaviest album we've ever made you know, like with SHUDDER the concept was to make something quick and poppy and catchy and so this one will be more intricate and more solos and more orchestras and heavy!
WWR: Have you felt the impact of the 'digital revolution'?
B: Absolutely, there's good points and band points to it. We have felt the impact of both, the fact that we just played in Paris for the first time ever 2 days ago there were people singing along to our band you just have to thank the internet for that, I know there's not a lot of promotion for our band there , we aren't on TV there we have never been there before so that's the great benefit of it that people are going to hear about your band through the internet
So that's one side of it and so the other side is obviously you sell less records and with selling records then there is less money and its not just money in your pocket but its less money to do things!
There was a time when bands took an entire year to write a record, because they had the money to live of off or be in the studio for as long as they wanted and the equipment, so there's all those things but now its like you can only write for as long as you cant afford to go on tour, so there's an upside and a downside but I think the upside outweighs the downside. I think that anybody anywhere in the world can find a new band everyday is amazing! Its more important then money..
WWR: What bands can you recommend who we may not have heard of?
B: The Menzingers! They are unbelievable, they are on a label from Chicago called Red Scare Records with a whole bunch of awesome bands of that label.. Cobra Skulls and the Sidekicks , you know I feel like its really exciting, I hope you can tell just from me talking about it! Because this underground music thing this whole punk rock thing emo and hardcore has become so mainstream, I think things like fallout boy is great for what they do and they've opened a lot of doors for bands like us to be on MTV or the radio.
But then its all become so mainstream that there is all these copycats like Metro Station and Boys Like Girls so all these really shitty versions of something that was cool, so the whole underground has become so popular that there has to be a new underground developing under it and I think that's happening right now and its so exciting and I am so anxious to keep hearing all these cool bands, there's a lot of great bands about you've just got to look for them.
With Punk We all have taken this ride into the mainstream and have forgot about all this other stuff and so its cool there's a lot of good stuff out there!
Check out the audio below for more from Bayside on song writing, the music industry, touring life and more..
Huge thanks to Rey Rolden & Bayside
Interview By Ross Shroff
Words By Ricky Bates
Bayside's newest record SHUDDER is available now from Victory records
www.myspace.com/bayside
www.myspace.com/wrongwayroundradio
