This
is the longest gap you have had between records, what took so long?
Well, we put in a LOT of time
pulling it together - We started the record without the knowledge of what label
it was going to be on. It'd had been so long since both "Career
Suicide" and the self-titled EP that we had to move forward by ourselves.
My take on the situation is just this; we wanted to continue recording
ourselves after the EP, but we wanted the next full length to match up with the
fidelity of that of the Blasting Room - In case you didn't know... recording
gear is not cheap by any means. We had to tour our asses off in the middle of
the recording to develop not only the quality of the record, but also the
quality of the songs themselves. In the long-run, there was no other way around
taking this long, and it was a labour of love for each and every member of the
band.
You
recorded Partycrasher on your own and in your own studio, was this the plan all
along? To go in and just listen to yourselves and no outside influence?
It was always the plan to
record at Black & Blue... Trevor and Mike are very passionate about
advancing as producers/engineers. As for having no outside influence on the
last record is absurd. No great musician will ever progress off their own
steam. It takes the outside influence to become a better player and songwriter.
What
did you do on Partycrasher that you have not done before?
I feel like, lyrically it's
the most sing-a-long-ish thing the band's ever done. I feel like Trevor
progress from (already being my favourite lyricist in our genre - I felt that
way before I joined the band) previous records to find a solid ability to write
some great "hooks" within his already introspective lyrics.
What
did you learn about yourselves when making Partycrasher that you didn’t know
before?
That our band can drink almost
as much coffee as Bill Stevenson/Descendents.
Calling
the record Partycrasher, does it signify your return to music after seven years
away?
Not really, it wasn't the main
idea behind the title. (We have a song called "Partycrasher" that
will hopefully at some point see the light of day. ALTHOUGH - that preconceived
notion is RAD, and I will start telling people that if the question comes up
again.
Trevor
has been known to be the principle songwriter in the band, did that change this
go around?
Mike really stepped up his
songwriting game on the record, there are 2 tracks that he pretty much wrote
the entire song/lyrics... I won't tell you which ones. But I think anyone who
likes the songs should give him a nice big hug and tell him that
"everything is going to be okay".
Even
though there has not been no new material, you still tour your ass off, as you
get older, do you still love touring like you did?
Well, we're all in our 30's,
life's changing, priorities have changed - there's houses, fiances, kids... all
that stuff, but the way that I look at it is that we've kinda reverted back to
the original thought of just loving to get up on stage and have fun. Those 30
minutes to an hour that we'll play still mean the same to us as they did when
we were all 16.
This
is your fourth album under the AWS name, four albums in, what are your
influences?
Personally? Debts. Booze.
Family. Love. Respect. And Rush. As a band? Same thing. Minus Rush.
This
band has a cult like following of fans all around the world, where is your
favorite place to play? Outside of New Bedford of course!
Groezrock in Belgium. The Fest
in Gainesville. No doubt about it.
Playing in front of
so many different faces and crowds, do you notice a difference in audiences
around the globe?
Not really! They're kids who
love punk rock, and love music. I think our fans are the nicest, most polite
kids... they don't mind saying hi, we don't mind saying hi back. It feels like
most of the kids that come to our shows are people that I'd sit and have a
beer/go bowling with.
What are your
plans for 2014?