Interview

It's four hours before The Almost go on and Aaron Gillespie, lead singer and mastermind behind the band, is humming along to a song playing on his cell phone, trying to learn the words to it. Tonight will be the first time that they will play the song live. The choice is an atypical one for a band most often compared to the Foo Fighters: Coldplay's "Yellow."

Over the next half hour, Aaron, and the band's guitarist Dusty Redmon, and I chat about everything from what other cover songs the band is thinking of playing, their recent tour with pop-punk giants Paramore, and Underoath's impending clash with Metallica.


AG- Aaron Gillespie, Lead vocals/guitar
DR – Dusty Redmon, Guitar




EP: I understand you guys opened a new web store in partner with Audible Division Group, what prompted you guys to do this?

AG: Tim McTague, who I also play in a band with, he started this merch company and our guitar player in The Almost is a partner, it’s just Underoath and The Almost. I’m not really sure about the whole vibe of it, but it is a little more hands on and personal.

DR: Yeah, I think it’s cool to, I think it would be kind of cool to, you know, buy a shirt or something like that and have the band put something in it.

EP: What kinds of things do you guys add to the packages?

AG: Put like old guitar strings—

DR: Nude pictures…

AG: Yeah, hot dogs…(laughs) No, I think that’s the best part about it like to put personal hands on stuff in it like autographs, guitar picks, broken drum heads. When Underoath was doing a record, we collected all the stuff that I used for the recording, and used all of that.

EP: Playing with The Almost last summer on the warped tour, and spending some time away from Underoath influence any of the writing process for the new Underoath record?

AG: I don’t think so. I think it would have been what it is now.

EP: Was it weird getting away from Underoath where you only played the drums, then trying to play every instrument for the first The Almost record? Was it hard to kind of conceptualize that?

AG: I don’t know that conceptualization was the hardest part, probably not just being behind a drum kit; that was kind of weird.

EP: Are you guys working on a new record right now, or planning on it?

AG: Just started to write, and hopefully we’ll begin recording at the beginning of the year.

EP: In writing the new record has it changed playing with an entire band instead of just writing it all yourself?

AG: Yeah, it has. It will have a more cohesive feel, I hope. There’s something to be said in doing a record by yourself, it has a very machine like quality. You get kind of familiar with all your own body and nuances, but when you’re with a band, it sounds like a band you know, and think that’s what I’m trying to go for, something like a big rock and roll band.

EP: And in making the new Underoath record, did that influence [the new Almost record] at all, getting back to just playing the drums?

AG: Everything you do in life influences you one way or another, you know, like, I love both bands equally, but in different ways.

EP: Having a break with The Almost and going back playing with Underoath, has that influenced any of what’s going to happen on this tour, in terms of re-arranging songs, or just the way you play?

AG: No, we’re doing a lot of stuff on this tour we’ve never done before like cover songs—

EP: What bands are you going to be covering?

DR: Lipps Inc “Funky Town,” Beastie Boys “Sabatoge”

EP: Wait, really?

DR: Uh, Crazy Town.

EP: Which Crazy Town song, “Butterfly,” or something?

DR: Yeah, “The Butterfly,”

EP: (laughs) Yeah!

DR: That’ the only one right?

EP: I can’t think of any others.

DR: Yeah, it’s only one that matters. A real rocker.

AG: We’re just trying to expand our show, got a little bit of production, but we’re pretty ghetto, so, you know, we’ll see what happens.

EP: Are you guys covering any Foo Fighters?

AG: I wish.

DR: I wish too, man.

EP: “Monkey Wrench” maybe?

AG: I really wanted to cover Foo Fighters, but I think that’s kind of what people would expect, so we’re not gonna.

DR: Maybe we should just become the ultimate Foo Fighters tribute band? We’ll call ourselves The Color and the Shape of Things.

AG: Aww, it’s always song name, like The Wall, a Pink Floyd tribute band or, And Justice For All, Metallica’s Finest Tunes…

EP: or The Monkey Wrenches?

DR: There you go, even better.

EP: Are you guys listening to anything specific right now?

AG: A bunch of country.

EP: Like older country or the newer, poppier country?

AG: All of it, yes.

DR: Army of Me.

AG: Brad Paisley

EP: A little Taylor Swift, maybe?

AG: No, I’m not into stuff like that, that’s too far.

DR: Brad Paisley’s a stretch, dude.

AG: Dwight Yokum

DR: We got to think of something with some cred, something with some cred.

DR: I totally forgot, I know I’ve been listening to something really awesome lately, and I’m like whenever I need to keep my indie rep I need to say—

AG: Silverchair.

DR: Well, yeah, Silverchair.

EP: Which Silverchair, like Neon Ballroom or Frogstomp?

AG: Young Modern, it’s really good. At first I hated it, but I love it now. I saw them a few months back, it was crazy.

EP: Yeah, I saw them at Lollapalooza last summer, they were really, really solid..

AG: They’re a great band.

EP: Is there anything different that you’d like to try with the new Almost record?

AG: I don’t know. I want to experiment with trying not to make it so much one-sided, you know, make it more chameleonic, in the sense where I want it to be malleable, where whatever kind of person you are—

DR: Listen to you, Mr. Webster’s Dictionary. (mockingly) “Uh, malleable.”

EP: How did you feel that the first record was one-sided?

AG: Not one-sided, I love the record. I feel that it all sort of dealt with the same thing, kind of came from the same place. You know, different dudes this time.

EP: Do you feel that relocating to the other side of the country has changed your perspective on things?

AG: I moved back.

EP: You moved back?

AG: Yeah, like a year and a half ago. I moved out there and got married, and then me and my wife moved back to my hometown.

EP: Do you think living in the South has influenced the way you write music?

AG: The last record for sure, that’s what it was all about. But absolutely, I really am proud of where I’m from and where we come from and the things we believe in. You don’t have to be from the South to know that, believe what you believe and be who you are, but I definitely think that has really influenced me and always will.

EP: How was it different working in conjunction with a major label and an independent label on the first Almost record?

AG: Sort of wasn’t any different. It’s kind of hard to explain.

DR: Got better dinners.

AG: Yeah, got better meals, got some extra clothes, but I don’t know. It’s all the same.

EP: Are you guys interested in doing any kind of alternative release method, that’s kind of become sort of a trend with bands like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails?

DR: I’ve never really thought about it.

AG: No, I mean, I get it, but for me I feel like Nine Inch Nails is top ten for me, one of my favorite bands, and I just think it works for them. But for somebody like us, for us to, I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem like something we should be doing. I love holding on to an existing piece of music, I love that. I know it’s a dying art, I get it that no one buys records. Pretty soon we’ll have to pay people to take it. But, I don’t know, I don’t think we’ll ever do that.

EP: You guys have heard about what’s been going on in Mexico and the UK with all of the anti-emo sentiment?

DR: Yeah, I read something about that, on Perez Hilton or something.

EP: Yeah, in Mexico specifically they’re targeting kids that look a certain way or listen to a certain music, and in England a coroner ruled a suicide a result of [the victim] listening to My Chemical Romance, who he felt influenced her.

AG: I don’t know, man. I think the world is in a weird state, people are dying every day for reasons that don’t make any sense and I think that because the way we are, gas the way it is, the Middle East the way it is, we’re trying to put our finger on something. I mean, like, I think we’ve painted ourselves into a corner as America. I mean, people said they killed themselves because of Ozzy Osbourne too, so I don’t know.

EP: What do you think about where someone’s musical preference and the way they’re dressing, kind of really superficial aspects of them are having people turn against them?

AG: I think it’s stupid. You are who you are. If you want to wear black clothes, then that’s cool. I just don’t understand why. I mean, I’ve known instances where people took their own lives and they looked perfect on the outside. They were clean cut and kind and happy, you know. You can’t judge someone because of the color of their skin or the clothes they wear. It’s ridiculous.

EP: I understand that Underoath is going out on the Rockstar Mayhem Festival.

AG: True.

EP: Did you read the article on, I think it was MTV.com, this week where the Slipknot drummer said that this isn’t a festival, it’s just a Slipknot tour? Do you have any comment about that?

AG: Don’t care.

DR: No, he does care. Slipknot can not say anything about Underoath.

AG: No, I love Slipknot. I think Slipknot rules. It’s whatever. It’s a totally different tour for us, and we’re taking kind of a risk doing it. I think it’s going to be fun as crap. I don’t care what they say.

DR: Disturbed is stoked to see you guys, I think. I think I heard that.

AG: I want to hang out with all those guys.

DR: Then there’s that guy with no teeth.

AG: What’s that guy’s name?

DR: Dave Draiman, or something.

AG: Why do you know that?

DR: No, because his name is like Dave Draiman, and the guitar player’s name is Dan Donagan, and I figure the entire band has double-d names. I don’t know, I’m sorry.

EP: You guys could start with that Disturbed vocal thing where it’s like “WA-AH-AH-AH!”

DR: I hope Spencer [Chamberlin] just kills that. I should tell him that.

EP: You guys should cover Disturbed now.

DR: We should. We should do Disturbed covering Genesis, and we should cover that.

EP: What prompted you to do one last Almost tour before you kinds of plunged in with Underoath, promoting the new record?

AG: I think the band is going to kind of go out of the public eye until 2009, and I thought it would be kind of cool to end it out on a nice round note. Doing a tour with some friends and, yeah.

DR: And we’ve never done a headlining tour.

AG: Yeah, the main reason is that we’ve never done a headlining tour.

EP: Who did you guys tour with first when you guys toured at the beginning of last January, I thought that was headlining?

AG: That wasn’t a headlining tour because there was no record out. It was just sort of a, with Platinum casing and Forgive Durden, just a kind of trial thing to see what happened.
EP: How was touring with Paramore in the fall?

AG: We toured with them twice last year. It was cool. They’re good people.

DR: It was different both times.

AG: The first time we went it was venues like this, and the second time it was like HUGE.

DR: Three million tweeners.

AG: This huge place where you know it was sold out before you got there everyday.

EP: Did you prefer to play the smaller clubs?

DR: I don’t know. I think that first tour that we did was so much better, because the second time you could tell it was just a lot of kids who it was their first show and they were just crap.

EP: So they were just like sitting down waiting for Paramore?

DR: Pretty much. Until Hayley comes out.

AG: It was just kids who had never seen anyone play a show who were only there to see Hayley Williams.

EP: Was it just people who had never been into this style of music before that had kind of just heard “Crushcrushcrush” on the radio?

AG: Yeah.

DR: It was “Misery Business” back then.

EP: Did you guys feel kind of like a call to arms to kind of turn them onto the Almost at that point?

DR: I don’t know, we kind of felt like the dirtballs on that tour.

AG: We felt old and disgusting. I don’t know, we’re a very young band like we’re young dudes, and our drummer is 19, but we were like old men on that stage.

EP: Is there anyone for the next record who you’re thinking of touring with?

DR: Probably like Foo Fighters, Led Zepplin.

AG: AC/DC
EP: Metallica’s new record is coming out.

AG: It does! I’m excited to hear it.

EP Hopefully Rage gets a new record.

AG: That would be sick. I bet they’re one band whose new record will be good as crap.

EP: Have you been close enough to see Rage on any of their comeback stuff?

AG: I wish.

DR: No man, I’ve just been youtubin’ it. I was bummed because Zack’s dreds are gone. He’s got like curly hair now. He looks like our bass player Alex now.

EP: Are there any concerts you guys are going to this summer, outside of your own touring? A festival maybe?

DR: I don’t know. My wife, right now, is on her way to see Stone Temple Pilots.

EP: Wow.

DR: And Filter.

AG: Is Filter headlining?

DR: NO. Filter’s supporting.

EP: [Stone Temple Pilots] came back like last week at Rock on the Range?

DR: Something like that. That dude’s back on smack

EP: He probably got back on it with Velvet Revolver because they basically stopped playing, and everyone new it was the Stone Temple Pilots reunion.

DR: Yeah. So I wish I was seeing that.

AG: That’s a big deal.

DR: It is a big deal.

AG: Where’s it at? Staple’s center.

DR: No, that’s in LA. It’s some place in New Jersey.

AG: An arena?
DR: It’s an amphitheatre, but it’s not a camper.

EP: Did you guys play The Bamboozle this year?

DR: Nope.

AG: No, but Underoath was in the studio in New Jersey while it was going on.

EP: Did Underoath try to do anything new with the new record? Are you guys sticking with going more toward the metal side?

AG: I have no idea. I’d like to hear it, but I have no idea.

EP: When does it come out?

AG: September 2nd.

EP: Was the live DVD the one that came out recently?

AG: Yeah, it came out Tuesday.

EP: Where was it shot in Philadelphia?

AG: The Electric Factory.

EP: Wow, that’s a really cool venue.

AG: It’s my favorite venue.

DR: It’s your favorite venue in America?

AG: I think so.

DR: I have a hard time believing that.

AG: Let me try to think: Electric Factory, Stubbs

DR: Stubbs! Stubbs is tight.

EP: Stubbs is awesome.

AG: You can fill up on barbeque, eat, and then you can vomit the barbeque up.

DR: You get free barbeque..

AG: It’s amazing.
EP: Have you played the Orange Peel?

DR: In Asheville?

EP: Yeah.

DR: No, but I’m from North Carolina and I’ve always wanted to.

AG: Oh, I thought you were talking about like the Orange Peel in London.

DR: No, dude. The Smashing Pumpkins played like seven nights there.

EP: I got into one of those shows!.

DR: Aww, I am so jealous. They sold out in like thirty minutes.

AG: How was it?

EP: It was awesome.

DR: That place is small, huh?

EP: Yeah, dude, it was just packed.

DR: But it’s like nice, like NICE.

AG: What other club do I like?

DR: I like that place, the Wilshire, in Hollywood.

AG: In LA. Too big though, that place is huge. It’s like some old opera house and when you stand on the stage its three levels, it makes you dizzy to look up. You feel like you’re going to fall over.

DR: Yeah, that Paramore tour was just crazy.

AG: We played this one show, this college show, with Jimmy Eat World last year, and it was in this concrete dome. It was just crazy. It was like round; that was one of my favorite shows I’ve ever seen. We got to like watch them sitting in the stands and they played like everything.

EP: Had they just released Chase This Light?

AG: Yep.

DR: Chase This Light had just come out.

EP: Great cd.

DR: That’s who I’d like to tour with next year.

AG: I’d love that too.

EP: Jimmy Eat World is great.

DR: That might be within our reach somehow.

AG: Maybe, maybe.

EP: Yeah, you guys charted on the Billboard last time.

DR: We’re going for number 1 this time. Linkin Park get out of my way.

AG: Underoath comes out the same day as Metallica.

DR: No it doesn’t…

AG: Yeah, we’re screwed.

DR: Uh oh.

EP: Good luck with that.

DR: Yeah, dude.



(Check back on Tuesday night (08/05/08) for the second half of the interview, where Army of Me's new bassist David drops in to talk about German musical festivals and Frank Zappa.)