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Pep-Rock: If I could get you guys to introduce yourself for the readers
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| Heath: Hi I’m Heath |
| Mike: And I’m Mike. |
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| Pep-Rock: With the troubles that went on with the first album even being released how much did it play on your mind that you may not even get round to releasing a second album as a band? |
| Mike: I dunno. We went through a lot of stuff but it did just gave us a lot of time to get out of what we wanted to get out of the second record. It gave us a lot of time to think about it. Lots of bands put out records and then a year and a half later they are ready to put out their next one. We had a lot of time to write this one and figure out where we wanted it to go. However, it was nice to get this record out on a timely schedule. |
Pep-Rock: Was the time surrounding the problems of the first album a frustrating time for the band?
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| Mike: At the time yeah it was. We weren’t sure exactly what to do. We were really confused and all we wanted was to get our record out and we didn’t care how, It just came to a point where after six months of the album being on the ‘shelf’ we decided to leak it. |
Pep-Rock:Lots of rumours circulated at the time regarding the full story of what happened with the record labels. From your side of the coin what is the ‘true story’? |
| Mike: It was really just that Geffen wanted us to do things we didn’t want to do. By the time they got round to talking to us about the record it was already about eight months after we had recorded it. At this point they were asking us to do things we really didn’t want to do and we just wanted to release the album because we were happy with it. It was simply a difference of opinion on certain things. |
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Pep-Rock: Is there any truth behind the fact they were asking you to write a ‘single’ for the album? |
| Mike: That’s something that major labels traditionally like to do. They didn’t dislike our record. They way they saw it was they wanted a hit and I don’t believe there is such a thing as a hit. It either happens or it doesn’t. They simply think that recording with certain producers changes things but it really doesn’t. |
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Pep-Rock: How do you feel you have progressed as a band having gone through all of that? Was it a big learning progress and growing up as people just to even get an album out?
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| Mike: Of course. We learned a lot and Heath has learned just as much with the other bands he has been in. It’s a big learning process but it just makes you stronger in the end. |
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Pep-Rock: You are currently part of the Taste of Chaos 06 tour. For a band of your style is this where you want to be? What is it like playing tours with these bands and to such vast audiences?
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Heath: Its really great being on package tours like this especially when you are in a foreign country. There is less pressure on them due to the amount of bands on the tour. The usual things like ‘are you going to draw a crowd in?’ don’t apply. |
| Pep-Rock: How has the reaction been on the current tour? Are you picking up many new fans? |
Heath: I’d like to think so. We were in Australia and we had never been there before. We did a bunch of signings and at one of the signings we were there for almost two hours. Some of them knew us from before but some of them had just seen us play. I’d like to think we won them over. |
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| Pep-Rock: What is the best part of being on a tour this size? Anything different from normal everyday touring? |
Mike: It’s a lot easier. On normal tours you have got to go find food yourself. Just things like that. Also every band uses the same backline and that is all in one truck so they just get that all onto stage and we just plug in and play. |
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| Pep-Rock: You guys have now done tours with many bands including Finch, who you last toured with in the UK. Is there any bands you are thankful that you have toured with and just generally been influenced by? |
Mike: I dunno. When we started out there were bands like Fairweather, Alkaline Trio and Saves The Day that influenced us. As far as bands we have toured with I’m really not sure. The whole experience has been amazing. Especially is the case when there are bands that you look up to and you finally get to go on tour with them. Even on our first tour we learnt a lot. We were opening a big tour and people were putting us in our place. After that we did a co-headlining tour. We didn’t have a tour manager or anything so that was a big learning curve and we found out how to keep things going on a tour. You learn a lot from other bands. |
| Heath: You definitely learn from other bands but the only way you really learn is by doing it yourself. Like Mike said those first couple of times going out without a tour manager you learn what goes on at the end of the night, where the money goes and all that stuff. Just learning how to not get cheated. |
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| Pep-Rock: I’m guessing you even find this with people you thought would be on your side? |
| Heath: Yeah! Like the promoter at the start of the night is always nice to you but you realise at the end of the night he is trying to get a couple extra hundred or thousand bucks out of the settlement that doesn’t belong to him. |
| Mikes: Its true. We’ve played shows where the promoter has said there were 300 people there and when we had counted there was 650. They then try claiming these kids were in the building for another show in the next building. Its crazy. They will lie to you to try and make the extra money for themselves. |
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| Pep-Rock: Is that a common occurrence? |
| Heath: It’s certainly something you have to keep your eyes peeling for, especially as a young band on tour. When people see a young band come in they feel that it is an easy mark. They feel it’s easy to take advantage of. |
| Mike: One thing that really helps too is when you get a good booking agent. They deal with the promoters so much that they make good relations with them. They know the ones they can trust. |
| Heath: If they have bigger bands too that helps also. If the smaller band goes in and does a show and rips them off the booking agent will refuse them other bands. |
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| Pep-Rock: You have now been to the UK a couple of times for tours. How do you find touring over here as opposed to touring elsewhere? |
| Mike: I certainly enjoy it. I know this is Heath’s first time over here with us. Its cool, it’s got a very similar vibe to America except smaller. Its just that bit different. Lots of cool things to see whilst over here touring, which I like. We certainly want to come here more often and establish ourselves as a band |
| Pep-Rock: Is it a big target for the band to crack the UK crowds? Do you feel you have something to prove? |
| Heath: Definitely. |
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| Pep-Rock: The new record certainly takes on a more melodic approach than the first. Is this a conscious thing or was it just what came out with the time you had to play with your sound? |
| Mike: It certainly wasn’t a conscious effort not to be a screamy band |
| Heath: It was more an effort to do things tastefully. If a part is in the song it is there because it belongs there. For example if it’s a nice pop song we wouldn’t throw in screams just for them being there. That sort of thing just never makes sense. The first song we released on our myspace was ‘calling all cars’ and when you listen to that there is no screaming and some of the first comments we got was ‘where is the screaming?’ My reaction was just listen to the fucking song. How can you scream in that song? Do we just thrown one in just so it is there. It just doesn’t make any sense. |
| Mike: My problem was after a break without new stuff the reaction from the kids was ‘oh you guys ain't hard anymore’. I just thought to myself that you have heard one song. I mean we had songs on previous releases that didn’t have any screaming either. People got this impression that we were a really hard band but in truth we are actually a pop sensible band that happens to have hard parts in the songs. |
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| Pep-Rock: Do you feel people in this ‘scene’ are too quick to judge? |
| Mike: I think the part that has changed in this scene is the Internet. It used to be that word of moth was the way to get things out. Now with the Internet two minutes after you have posted a song online someone can tell you they don’t like it. |
| Heath: In that sense ‘word of mouth’ has gotten much faster so people are jumping to more conclusions without taking in the full scope of what is going on. |
| Pep-Rock: Do you feel that is a good or bad thing? |
| Heath: It’s a little bit of both |
| Mike: The problem is essentially some people just jump to conclusions to fast in general. When I listen to music I don’t immediately say it sucks unless I clearly don’t like it. If its something that I know I have a liking for I at least give it a few more listens to come to a proper conclusion to see if I like it or not. Some people just listen to half or a song and stop it and say they don’t like it. |
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| Stephen: Myspace has certainly been a widely talked about tool especially for bands your size. What is your opinion on it? Good or bad tool? |
| Mike: I will say I don’t think it helps you sell a lot of records. It does help though. It is really cool that people can find us on there through a friend or whatever. It is just like all the other tools. You have your website, your myspace etc. Its just another thing to fuel the fire and for the kids to check out |
| Heath: It is a great marketing tool. The fact you can put up your music, your tour dates, general updates. It’s so easy to get your hands on the info. Even easier than a mailing list. With these websites it’s easy to just go on and grab the info you want. |
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| Pep-Rock: Its no secret you guys play within a scene that is popular just now. This popularity will die just like nu-metal died. What do you feel as a band you have that makes you feel you will sell as much records now as when this scene was popular? |
| Heath: At the end of the day it simply comes down to the songs. Regardless of label if you write good songs you are going to be successful. |
| Mike: I agree totally with that. Half the reason bands who were popular as part of a fad disappear is simply because they didn’t write good songs. It’s hard to write even one great album never mind ten in a row. If you consistently put out good music you will keep on going regardless of what is popular or fashionable at the time as long as you can battle through the inevitable ups and downs that bands will go through |
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| Pep-Rock: Lastly, on this tour many fans will be seeing you for the first time. What do you feel will make you stick out as a band to see? |
| Heath: We simply put on a kickass show. Lots of energy, lots of musicianship and I think that works heavily in our favour in venues this size. |
| Pep-Rock: And you think that comes across well on the bigger stages? |
| Heath: Yeah! I think we should only play big stages. |
| Mike: And Tommy makes it even sweeter |
| Heath: Yeah! There is an awesome light guy on this tour. We have been filming these shows from front of house and my gosh they look amazing. |
| Mike: It’s a bit like watching Iron Maiden. (laughs) |
| Pep-Rock: Senses Fail go stadium rock? |
| Heath: Yeah! And we are loving every moment of it. |
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| To find out more about Senses Fail - Click Here |
