| You are all relatively young: is there much pressure to do things other than the band like school/college, “real jobs,” etc.? I’d imagine you would have to have pretty supportive family members to do the touring that you’ve done, particularly with Haley being 16? Hayley: Our families are totally supportive. Zac and I are still in school, and we do it while on the road. Sometimes, I wonder what it'd be like to wait tables or make quesadillas at Taco Bell... but there is no pressure from anyone for us to do anything but have fun making music. All We Know is Falling is an excellent album rather than just a collection of good, but disconnected songs. Is this coincidental, or did you set out to craft the album as a finished, polished piece? Haley: This record sort of just… happened. We rushed to get the writing done for it so that everything could be recorded and finished before we left to play Bamboozle last year. We’re so thankful that it came out the way we wanted it to. I don’t think that we would have it any other way. Do you have any particular song writing method? Lyrics first then instruments or the other way around? Josh: The way it usually works out is I write music and bring it to Hayley, sometimes with a few lyrics or a melody, and Hayley will write lyrics and melody. If either of us get stuck, we will help each other out. Then we bring it to the band and together we create the dynamics and shape the song. How has crowd/fan response been to your live performance? Do you find you’ve got a following that’s coming to see you in particular? Josh: Yes, lately we've been told by many people that they've come just to see us. The crowds have been great! Everybody sings along and occasionally they will crowd surf or mosh. What do you think about online outlets like MySpace / Purevolume / LiveJournal? Prior to the internet, many very deserving bands went unheard because they simply had no way to reach a mass audience. Do you think these new resources have helped you reach more people and expand your fan base? Are any of you reading posts, comments, etc.? I think most fans hope they are reaching you personally when they leave a comment, you know? Haley: We absolutely love what the internet has done for our band. People from all over the world are hearing our music, and some of these places don’t even sell our record! As far as MySpace goes, we read just about every message, bulletin, and comment that is posted to our page… and we do our best to reply to all the messages and stay involved with our fans. What bands (other than yourself!) are you all excited about? Heard anything that’s really blown you away lately? Josh: There is a band from our hometown, really good friends of ours, called Cecil Adora. They're just finishing up their EP, and it’s unbelievable. I love their music. I am also excited about Panic! At The Disco. I just recently bought their record and it’s UNREAL! Let's talk equipment… are you all particular about what you play? Some musicians get a guitar and play it for 30 years (B.B. King) and others don’t care as long as it makes noise (Nirvana)… how about you? Josh: I love Gibson Les Pauls and SGs. I also love Fender Telecasters. It took me five months of hard work to pay off my guitar, so I will definitely be playing it for as long as it will last. Hunter plays Gibson as well. Jeremy plays an Ernie Ball Sting Ray 5... it's a five string, extremely cool bass. Zac plays Gretch drums, and Hayley sings through a Shure Beta 87 microphone. How did you guys come to be part of Take Action Tour? Haley: We were invited to play the tour and there was no way we were ever gonna pass it up. It's awesome to be on a tour that really stands for something important. The Take Action Tour site acknowledges that some people have different reasons for being interested and involved with this tour: whether for the mission of preventing suicide or simply for enjoying good music. Is this a cause that is particularly important to the band or one that you are just happy to support? Haley: To be honest, we weren’t fully aware of everything that Take Action Tour is involved with. Since joining the tour, we’ve learned about all the causes they stand for and how hard they work to help people – young people, especially – live healthy and happy lives. We are really excited that this is the first tour we’ve ever been on that actually stands for something. Hopefully, after this tour we can take part in more things like this. |