Saves The Day Interview
How were you approached about doing the Blink 182/Green Day tour?
Chris: I got a call from our manager saying that we had gotten asked to do the tour. We said yes.
Do you often get a chance to see the other bands on the bill play?
Chris: Every night. It's great. I feel lucky enough just to watch both bands each night, and on top of that we get to play. I feel so blessed to be here. It totally blows me away.
How has the tour been going?
Chris: It's really fun. It's pretty relaxed. No one is uptight. Everyone is just excited about having this as their life. We are paid to have fun and hang out together. I think every single person on the tour has that perspective. They don't take any of it for granted. Everyone just can't believe that we are here and we get to do this. That's basically a nice vibe, a nice feeling.
Do you have any material for a new album yet?
Chris: Yeah, I've got a lot of songs. We probably won't record until next March.
How do you compile a set list?
Chris: We want to play songs that are fun for us to play but we also want to play songs that don't disappoint fans that are coming. Especially at a show like this. It is hard because people that come just to see us are paying $40 and we only have half an hour to play. It is hard to fit songs into the setlist that we know people want to hear. We just don't have enough time to do all of them. Usually it just comes down to which songs we like to play best.
How was the new record different from "Cant Slow Down," your old record?
Chris: Musically it is a lot slower. It is a little bit more structured. There are a lot more choruses and verses. "Cant Slow Down" was just winding ideas.
Do you prefer bigger or smaller venues?
Chris: Smaller, but with the smaller venues we have played, if it's our crowd the feeling inside the venue is so beautiful it's hard to beat. Then when you play a venue like this (Marcus Ampitheatre) there is so much open air and it's so scattered. A lot of that energy just dissipates. But every show we have played in a bigger venue has been supporting another band, so it's not neccesairly our crowd. It's harder to play to people that don't know who you are. I love playing anywhere to anyone, but it's a different experience to play to people that know who you are and come to see you.
What is it like for you to hear your music on the radio?
Chris: I've heard our music on the radio several times. Each time it is really weird. It is sandwiched between Metallica and Kid Rock. That's a weird experience. Being on this tour, I don't feel like we belong here. Somehow we are on this tour, somehow we get played on the radio. Being on this tour, on the radio, or even MTV2 makes me more aware of the bizarre aspects of my life. It's weird because I don't know how to think of our band being in the same league as these bands on the radio. It just seems like a totally different world to me. We are just kids playing music.
What is "At your funeral" about?
Chris: It is about how it is really hard to accept changes in life. Most of the conflicts and trouble in my life comes from when I am stubborn and don't want to change things. I wish so badly that I could just change and go with the flow. That song is basically just about frustration and clinging on to things, about not being able to let go. It's not about anybody in particular.
Explain what making the video for that song was like:
Chris: We did it in two days. Mostly I was just sitting on a couch and watching it all happen. Then I went up and did my part at the end. There were a lot of people working on it. It was in a huge studio. It was funny being there because we are just random guys. I just have a hard time thinking of us in the world of MTV and celebrities. I walk around this tour and see the guys from Blink 182 and Green Day. It's funny because they are just normal dudes, but the people that come to the shows treat them as if they are these gods. It's funny walking around everyday seeing them as just normal people. I can't think of ourselves as being in that same world. So doing videos like that is totally surreal to me. There were 60 people working on this video and I was just sitting on a couch watching everyone walk by. It was cool, I like how it came out.
Are you doing anything special for the last night of the tour (tomorrow night)?
Chris: I am sure there will be a lot of partying. Pranks, hijinks and jackass behavior, that kind of stuff. I heard they did terrible things when they had Jimmy Eat World on the tour. So I'm scared - terrified.
What are you going to do afterwards?
Chris: We have a month and a half off afterwards. We'll just hang out, relax.
What do you like to do on off days during tour?
Chris: There were a bunch on this tour. Usually we are in the middle of nowhere for a day off. We just try to find a mall with a movie theater or a music store. Or we just play X Box. We saw Star Wars Episode 2 a few times.
How do you try to make your set special every night on a tour of this magnitude?
Chris: It's hard playing every night the same way, but each night will never feel stagnant. The whole experience is too strange for it to ever feel boring. I love playing. Just wanting to play music is enough.
What was the Japan tour like?
Chris: It went really good. Our record had been out there about a month. People were really stoked to see us play. It was kind of a small surprise to see people actually there to see us. My whole life is completely surreal. The whole thing was just so out there.
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