Senses Fail Interview
Portsmouth Wedge – 19/4/09
Hannah Mahony for WWR
Key : H = Hannah, B = Buddy, JB = Jason Black
B: I’m having a great time
H: Despite being hungover?
B: Yes.
H: And wanting to cry?
B: I just wanna cry because I get like mentally retarded when I get hungover, and I just wanna be normal again (laughs).
JB: Are you really crying?
B: No. Because I was shoving my computer into my (pushes his apple mac into his head). Ok.
H: Ok. So, how are you?
B: Good.
H: You’ve only just arrived in the UK and you played Norwich last night, how was that?
B: Was good. It was um, weird. The show was good, but the kids were a little strange. They didn’t look like they had a good time.
H: No? Why?
B: I dunno!
H: Were they young kids or...
B: No they were medium kids. It was fun though it was fine, it was a good show, we hadn’t played there in 6 years are there was about 307 kids there so I was excited about that?
H: How do you think this tour will measure up to your past tours here?
B: We’ve done one other headlining tour here and it was really good, only it was really short it was only like 5 days. This one so far has been really good I mean tonight’s show is almost sold out, so that’s cool, that make’s me happy.
H: What’s your favourite city to perform in in the UK?
B: I don’t know, for some reason I really like Bristol. I don’t know why, I don’t know what it is. I kind of like the city.
H: I’ve never been there.
B: It’s a port town, there’s a lot of sailors and occasionally there’s Somali pirates. Who kidnap Americans and take them on their boat and the US Navy sails blow out their brains.
H: And then the captain gives himself up?
B: Yup!
H: Cool. But surely Portsmouth is a sailing town?
B: Yeah but I don’t see as many sailors around here.
H: Yeah that true.
B: Right?
H: You don’t many typical sailors.. What was playing Groezrock like?
B: It was.. we showed up and played so it felt like I was on acid or something, but it was fun. Yeah we had a great crowd and there was a bunch of our friends we hadn’t seen in a while so that was fun. The beer garden was ... interesting, it was good, I had a great time. I like that festival a lot.
H: Did you get to see many bands you liked?
B: I watched Thursday and they were awesome and that’s about it, I wasn’t really in the band watching mood. Just cos we just showed up that day and I was out of it.
H: You’re recording process is different from other bands, you record demos and then you go into the studio and..
B: Pretty much change the demos a little bit and then just record it, we come prepared into the studio because it works better.
H: Do you think you improve when you get into the studio, or from when you do the recordings first?
B: I’d say the demos first because you know what you’re doing and you write the song and it makes sense, you have more time to prepare. So that when you go to record it in the studio you just bang it out and it’s easier I think. It works better, it’s smoother.
H: And what was the recording process like for the new album, was it all smooth sailing?
B: No. It was intense ‘cos we didn’t do demos, we decided to right everything in the studios for the most part and that was a mess. . which turned out good, but was really stressful and I don’t wanna ever do it that way again.
H: How long did you spend in the studio?
B: 2 months.
H: Did you go in with any ideas?
B: Yeah, we had mainly 5 songs and everything we wrote in the studio was just intense.
H: What’s your opinion on the current state of the music scene?
B: You know it’s weird. There’s a lot of bands that suck, there’s a lot of bands that are good and there are a lot of people that like the bands that suck and unfortunately those people that like the bands that suck spend money on them to go to their shows so they become more popular therefore taking more fans that would come to our shows away from us which makes me diss them back and upset. But that’s a selfish view of the music industry from my point of view, there’s a lot of good shit though and there’s a lot of bad shit but that’s the way it’s always been.
H: Do you think that with the economic crisis is affecting the quality of music out at the moment?
B: I don’t know if it’s affecting the quality but it’s definitely affecting the amount of kids who go to shows because they just don’t have the money to blow.
H: Have you noticed a decline in people not being able to go to shows?
B: Yeah. Definitely.
H: Obviously you have that statement you made about Brokencyde. What do you think it is that attracts kids to Brokencyde if they’re so awful? Do you think the current generation of kids have lost a ]sense of good music because there’s nothing on there?
B: I think that’s one thing and I think two, it’s really easy to listen to, you don’t have to think about it. It’s just background, it’s just... i think.. honestly, I have no idea why people would listen to them. I don’t know, I couldn’t give you a legitimate reason why people would like them, I can’t.
H: How do you think Heath’s changed since he’s joined the band?
B: Ask Heath!
H: How do you think you’ve changed?
Heath: Uhh I dunno. How I’ve changed personally? Since when?
H: You joined.
B: Oh. I think I’m pretty much the same dude. Fun at parties?
H: More fun at parties?
Heath: Probably
B: You don’t party as much but when you do you go for it.
Heath: I go for it. I’ve always been kind of the dude. I don’t think I’ve changed much.
B: No I don’t think he drinks as much but when he does he drinks A LOT.
H: Do you see yourselves getting any bigger or smaller in the next foreseeable three years?
B: Um, I dunno. I mean if we had put out a shitty record then we’ll definitely get smaller. If we write a really really good record I think we could potentially get bigger, but probably won’t. I don’t really for see that in the future. I’d have to, do you have a magic 8 ball? Just (does a 8 ball shaking movement). I don’t know what mine would say. I mean it all depends on the record you put out, if it sucks it sucks and people don’t like you.
H: You’re pretty much packed up until August, other than taking a good rest afterwards, what you see yourselves doing?
B: I’ll probably go home and do jujitsu, its gunna be awesome because I haven’t been able to do jujitsu in almost two and a half months.
H: How long have you been doing that for?
B: Going on a year and a half, two years.
H: Are you gunna record anything new or go touring for a while?
B: We’re probably gunna go home and not talk to other until warped tour because we’ve all been around each other for two and half months.
JB: I’m not talking to you guys.
B: I’m gunna go to the beach, I’m gunna do jujitsu, I’m gunna work and my step fathers law office and my step brother’s gunna be home so I’m gunna see him. I’m pretty much just gunna hang out and wait until we go on warped tour.
H: Are you looking forward to Warped tour?
B: Yeah it’ll be fun, it’ll be fun.
H: Have you had a listen to the bands supporting you tonight?
B: No I have not, I have not listened to them.
Thanks to Senses Fail & Ian Cheek
www.myspace.com/sensesfail
www.sensesfail.com
