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Estrella: Could you please state your name and what you do in the band.
Mikey: Hi, my name is Mikey and I play guitar.
Branden: I'm Brandon and I sing.
Estrella: This past Summer you released your first full length album, The Very Air We Breathe, what was the recording process like? Working with Sal Villanueva?
Branden: Working with Sal was phenomeonal because going into that situation, it's like.... Wow... Sal Villanueva... Taking Back Sunday, Thursday, favorite bands. He pulled us in there and he's a very smart guy and it wasn't even working with him, as much as it was working with Tim as well, he's the engineer on the record and he did the same stuff that, he's done like 200+ albums of other bands, the guy's a genius, he's amazing. Him and Sal, are what we call, "Rock School." They're great guys.
Estrella: It must have been amazing to work with Sal.
Mikey: He kept telling us stories about Thursday.
Branden: And it was actually funny, we recorded over the song "Jet Black New Year" onto the analog tape.
(Estrella shocked looked)
Branden: Yeah, that's the reaction I had. He just says to us, it's okay I have it on back up.
Mikey: YOU DON'T RECORD OVER THE ANALOG TAPE!
Branden: Yeah, we freaked out. Yeah, he pushed play and you could hear "Jet Black..." and then our song. It was definitely an honor though, to be in the same studio - hanging out. It was really sweet, he's a great guy. We had so much fun working with them.
Estrella: When it came to signing with Victory, how did that come about and who came to who?
Branden: Our manager Neil, pretty much just said, "Wow, your EP's bitchin" and he sent it right to Tony because he had just gotten Beneath The Sky signed and they we're kind of homies now, Tony and Neil. And Tony's like, "I want you guys in Chicago right away." So we had about 4 days to prepare. It was pretty insane, we fucking blew it. Sold out our CD release party like 3 months later, told Tony. He called us back, we were really psyched. We're the only band ever to get a second showcase and get signed to it. A lot of bands who have second showcases with Victory, never get signed, we got signed.
Mikey: He told us he really loved the record and he was psyched about the band and he was still interested.
Branden: Yeah, when we were told we had a second chance, we were really cocky about it. We were just like, "Yeah, we have nothing to lose." So at the end of our showcase, Teddy's like ripping his bass strings off his bass, we're all pretty much bleeding, dying on the stage, and everyone from Victory is just like, "Whoaaa...Alright."
Estrella: Who came up with the concept for "The Heist?"
Branden: There was this guy Don Tyler, he actually came up to us and was like, "I have the treatment of your video." So he takes me to the side and he told us his idea and I thought it was mind boggling.
Soon, we're doing our next video as a rap video. Like we have this guy, who's have only done rap videos. We're getting the Hummer cars, booty girls, fake money, look out for that in 08.
Estrella: Also about "The Heist", where was it shot and how long did it take?
Branden: I spent 9 and a half hours by myself shooting the bathroom. And then we did 6 hours in a club on the light up dance floor which we officially broke a $90,000 dance floor because our drummer's spike broke through the dance floor and put a hole through it and shorted the entire thing. We had this big saying, "We're so dancy, we burn down the dance floor!" You know how people say, "Burn down the house," we kind of just did it.
Estrella: How would you describe your music to someone who's never heard it?
Branden: How would we describe it? Well it's awkward but what happens is we all come from different backgrounds, like Mikey is a metal guy. He used to be in bands like Caligula, that kind of stuff. And my favorite bands are like Saves The Day, my cat's named Conley, I'm obsessed with Saves The Day. Blink 182. So we have a really weird combination already and we all like dance music. And experimental. We're all over the place.
Mikey: A lot of this new record was based on 80's music and New Order.
Branden: Yeah, we listen to so much New Order. I rewrote the lyrics for the record in the video.
Estrella: What would you be doing if you weren't in a band?
Mikey: I'd be working in construction.
Branden: I know exactly what I'd be doing, I went to college for a year for Marketing before the band, so I'd be a student. I would have graduated in 08 and trying to be a big wig.
Estrella: Who are you currently listening to? I'll assume you have Saves The Day's new record.
Branden: Oh yeah. Yeah yeah, it's so good.
Mikey: Ohmygod, it's so good.
Branden: The Tegan & Sara record is the best record of 2007. I can't stop listening to that record.
Mikey: Without a doubt.
Branden: I also really like The Junior Varsity's new record. We want their keyboard player. We offered it but I don't know. I also listen to a lot of Blink 182, Thrice, Sigur Ros, Kanye West, we listen to everything.
Estrella: Personal influences as to why you wanted to become a musician?
Mikey: AFI, I have an AFI tattoo on my chest. I saw them in ninth grade, my first show ever at Warped Tour. I saw all these other bands but that one definitely stuck out and thought Davey Havok was God and ever since then I really love AFI. Their new album, I can respect it as musicians and think it's amazing, and all their shit collaborated together is amazing, so I really liked that band and they got me where I am today.
Branden: I mean, I was going to school for Marketing and a music minor because I wanted to get into the music industry as a career. It was like my summer break home from college, I met our old drummer, and I'm not even from Cleveland, I'm from two hours away, I somehow met the band. Met them after freshman year and I was like, "Oh wow, we have a record deal" and I was all for it, so I chose this instead.
Estrella: Any advice you have for any beginning bands?
Mikey: Fight like a tiger.
Estrella: Burn your dance floors?
Branden: Burn your dance floor, fight like a tiger...
Mikey: and get a manager.
Branden: Our manager was probably our biggest help.
Estrella: Crazy tour stories?
Branden: Ohgod, let's just say, I've not seen Teddy's penis, I've almost died probably 3 or 4 times - choking on my own vomit... hahah no. We have so much fun on tour. I think our best tour story was our first tour, it was with Faulter and Royden. Royden cancelled on day 1 because their drummer had a baby, so then the 4th day into tour we're staying at my friend's ex girlfriends house. Her roommate comes in late fucking plastered forgets we're sleeping over, no idea who we are, just starts screaming in our face, "You little emos. Go back to Emo-village!" So we were getting yelled at and I just yelled back at her, which basically ended in a plastered girl falling and a blizard outside and then the next morning, we wake up and Faulter flipped their van, and then we were the only band on that tour, so that was crazy. We've also been robbed twice in a week.
Mikey: Also, the alternator blew out.
Branden: Broke down in Nebraska. We're negative in our bank account right now. We're just dead. We're poor.
Estrella: Sketchiest town played?
Branden: HP Imports. We've played their twice with Mayday Parade, but like 300+ kids show up. It's basically a junkyard/car repair lot covered with junk.
Mikey: They have rottweilers just sitting around.
Branden: It's in North Carolina. There was no venue in the area, so we play there. They clear out the garage where they paint cars and they let bands play there. And it's pretty ghetto.
Estrella: Favorite town ever played?
Branden: Personally, Gainesville, Fl. The kids there are the nicest kids in the world. We thought everyone there was going to hate us, but they loved it.
Mikey: I love playing Cleveland and I like playing this place in California called The Alley.
Estrella: Best subject in high school?
Branden: English.
Mikey: I hate high school.
Estrella: Worst subject?
Branden: Math.
Mikey: English, I can't read or write. No I can really read, I'm just dyslexic.
Branden: A funny story, we were doing a filming for VicTorV and we were talking about our new album and Mikey said, "A fresh of breath air."
Estrella: Best Halloween costume this year?
Branden: My best costume in the past was when I was a ghost, I was a really young at the time. I had this sheet on my head and the eyes were cut out with these really cool sunglasses and a weird hat, I looked like ZZTop dead. This year I'm going to be Terry from Reno 9-1-1 with the rollerskates and the short shorts and I'm going to let my belly hair hang out, I'm so excited. We have a day off too.
Estrella: Three things you'd take with you on a desert island?
Branden: I think I would just live out the weirdest fantasy ever of trying to be a pirate. I mean it's pretty typical, but I think everyone wants to be a pirate. I would get like rum and... But honestly I would need like my body pillow - I need it every night before I go to sleep. I don't know, comfortable stuff. Nothing smart, nothing to live or anything. I would need the internet.
Mikey: I want my fiance and a bed and TV and that's all I care about.
Estrella: Bands you would like to plug who you don't feel are getting enough attention.
Branden: That's a tough question, I feel like every band we like is getting like legit tours now. There are a million bands out there who are really good. Jamie's Elsewhere.
Estrella: What can we expect from you guys in the future?
Branden: Our next record is probably going to be the opposite of what our last one was in terms of production because we had so much written that didn't get to the record with crazy guitar parts, spacy stuff, six minute songs, we had so much fun with it and I think now we know what we want to do with it and we have a very solid lineup. The ideas for our next record are going to be so fun. We're just going to write some music and see what happens. Just jammin' and that's when we write our best shit. Whatever's fun and sounds cool and you're able to dance too, that'll be good. We want to be bigger than U2.
Estrella: Any closing statements.
Mikey: Buy our record, The Very Air We Breathe and thank you for the interview and I'm really hungry and want to eat burritos.
Branden: Thanks to everything and everyone, we've been getting tons of support from a lot of people and it's been unreal, cause we're just coming out and we're so thankful for everything.
Mikey: Come see us on the Victory Records Tour.
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