Tag Archives: Will Swan

If existing as a dance band separated by state lines, conflicting tour schedules and regular old life hiccups were big hurdles to leap, no matchless told Sianvar. The post-hardcore supergroup—consisting of Will Swan ( Dance Gavin Dance ), Donovan Melero ( Hail the Sun ), Sergio Medina ( Stolas ), Joe Arrington and Michael Franzino ( A Lot Like Birds ) —are without a doubt one of the hardest-working musical entities presently making the rounds not merely in the Sacramento area, but probably in much of North America .
When I catch up with Medina, he ’ s pulled over at a truck stop with about a two-day drive left to his home plate in Las Vegas from away New York City, where his set Stolas has cut their sophomore commemorate with manufacturer Mike Watts. Medina is doing the long catch at a alert footstep in order to have enough time to relax and rehearse before Sianvar begins a month-long tour throughout the West Coast .
On top of the rush between his recording with Stolas across the country and the impend Sianvar phonograph record liberation and go, singer Melero recently completed a run of dates with Hail the Sun after finishing up the band ’ mho third full-length, Culture Scars. Swan and Dance Gavin Dance have plans for a modern record, as does A Lot Like Birds, both of which will about surely call for touring. It ’ s a maddening-sounding schedule that necessitates a bunch of long-distance decisions for Sianvar.

“ I used to think ‘ sleep together, how would that work as a isthmus ? ’ ” says Medina of Sianvar ’ randomness scattered members. “ That didn ’ thyroxine seem like a way to function in my heading. It ’ sulfur been absolutely normal for us in Sianvar, though. For me it ’ mho fair something we got tantalum do to operate and continue, and to me it ’ s not very much a large deal. ”
arrest Lost, Sianvar ’ sulfur debut LP, assumes a frantic pace not unlike what you ’ five hundred expect the union of each penis ’ s other bands might coalesce into. Heavy guitar effects add sonic flourishes to progressive technicality on songs like the album ’ sulfur first individual, “ Omniphobia, ” a extrasensory meditation set to caterwauling emo aggression. Fans of Melero ’ s Hail the Sun will revel in his Anthony Green-like range, while fans of post-prog giants like The Mars Volta will hang on every chord change and phrase manipulated by the Swan-Medina tandem. It ’ s a persistent kind of racket best served repeatedly for its full effects to become absorb, like any full progressive band .
The songwriting, according to Medina, and as you may well imagine, can be long-winded .
“ sometimes something will stick and I ’ ll want to change it and put it under a microscope and say, ‘ Why did we do this ? Why don ’ metric ton we do this ? ’ explains Medina. “ Will will say, ‘ Why do you want to change it ? It already feels good. ’ I think as a musician I want to think something cool shouldn ’ t have sprouted that promptly. There were a batch of times when we were writing the album with those kinds of moments where we ’ d do something cool and then Will would get out his call and we ’ d record identical quickly so we wouldn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate forget it. ”
Adding to the disjoin nature of the record is the fact that by virtue of the band ’ mho schedules, they went in weeks apart for the record sessions that resulted in Stay Lost. Far be it for you to be able to tell, though. Songs as frantic and pitiless as “ Anticoagulant ” or “ Psychosis Succumbing ” are testaments to the ring ’ south unconditioned songwriting chemistry—a melodious whirlpool made explicitly for the dirty corners of your psyche .
Despite the supernumerary attempt obviously necessity for Sianvar to exist, Medina insists that the band member ’ s other groups are supportive .
“ It was a little delicate at beginning for A Lot Like Birds because it was their whole rhythm segment play in Sianvar, ” admits Medina. “ That quickly blew over, though. Stolas is the newest band out of the four of us, so we ’ re at the bottom, but anything that ’ s arrive from Sianvar has only helped us. My bandmates have always been cool with that. ”
It behooves Medina and the rest of Sianvar to strike out with their own identity, besides. While the band can ’ thyroxine help but wear its incestuous influences on its sleeve, Sianvar is probably more concern with being super estimable than being a supergroup .
“ Nothing we ’ ve come up with has been intentionally trying to be this or that, ” says Medina. “ It ’ s bind to happen that some parts end up sounding like DGD or Hail the Sun. But we decidedly strive to make certain this band, not alone musically but with the way we present ourselves, goes with Sianvar ’ s vibration and makes it different and makes it standout as its own other band, not equitable a side project of a bunch of musicians. ”
Produced by Dryw Owens at Roseville ’ s Little Russia Recordings, Sianvar embellished their eminent aural alchemy to huge heights, with Owens encouraging the ample use of pedals to propel the band ’ mho strong rhythmical talents to wall-of-sound levels. Songs like “ BedRoots ” are much evacuate of dynamic shifts, approximating the kind of fantasy-prog degeneracy of Yes, Trans-Siberian Orchestra or the indulgent depths of black alloy luminaries like Gorgoroth .
interestingly, it ’ randomness credibly safe to say that Sianvar ’ south muses were nowhere near any of the aforesaid artists, and it ’ s ironic that toward the end of “ BedRoots, ” some of the wind coalition leanings of Swan ’ s DGD-compositions are ultimately unveiled a bit. The band ’ s audacious exploration of deafening squalls of sound is admirable, if only when it ’ mho contrasted a bit by a spoon of soulful carbohydrate .
With sol much on the horizon for each member of Sianvar ’ s other bands, it ’ sulfur unsurprising that it will be difficult to maintain the momentum for the group beyond the approaching tour and unblock, being facilitated by Swan ’ second label, Blue Swan .
“ We don ’ t very think about it but kids at shows think it ’ sulfur crazy that we ’ re all in a ring together, ” says Medina. “ I don ’ t truly think of it that much, but it is kind of a cool thing. It ’ s a very family-oriented exercise hang. ”
Sianvar will be celebrating the release of their first full-length Stay Lost on Aug. 5, 2016 with a show at The Boardwalk, located at 9426 Greenback Lane in Orangevale. This all-ages show will get started at 6:30 post meridiem with special guests My Iron Lung, Save Us from the Archon, Subtlety and A Foreign Affair. Tickets are $ 12 in improvement, $ 14 the day of the show and are available on-line at Theboardwalkpresents.com .

Run the Gamut

Dance Gavin Dance, whose far-out and genre-defying sound fits somewhere between post-hardcore, progressive rock and screamo, international relations and security network ’ metric ton worried that fans might not like their new album. properly now, they ’ re precisely pumped that they ’ ve found their groove, both creatively and within the band ’ second dynamic itself .
Since the band ’ south geological formation in Sacramento in 2005, DGD has gone through its share of uncut patches. Despite a constant magnetic field in band members, DGD now has a solid group of core members with a partake goal : making music they love, and being open to whatever form that comes in. today, DGD consists of Tilian Pearson ( vocals ), Jon Mess ( vocals/screams ), Will Swan ( guitar/vocals ), Tim Feerick ( bass ) and Matt Mingus ( drums ) .
Their sixth studio album, Instant Gratification, showcases the energy, enthusiasm and eclectic influences that hooked fans from day one—with a good drug of sarcasm and some dirty rap sprinkled throughout. The album blends elements from throughout their many eras, offering a short something for everybody—although please such a diverse and divided fan base will be a difficult feat. It is slated for release through Rise Records on April 14, 2015, which is besides the day they kick off their blink of an eye Gratification Tour. Leading up to their big criminal record liberation testify, DGD is presently touring with Memphis May Fire, Crown the Empire and Palisades on the Take Action Tour, which wraps up in the begin of April .
submerge caught up with Tilian and Will at Kupros Craft House in Sacramento to chat about their approaching album and tour, a well as what fans can expect to hear on their newest compilation .

What are you most excited about on the new album?
Will Swan: I very like the rap I laid down on it…it ’ sulfur in truth sarcastic and dirty and messed up, but it ’ mho funny in the DGD knock style that I created for myself .
You created a new persona for yourself?
WS: Every time I do a rap it ’ sulfur from a modern character or perspective that ’ s not mine .
How would you describe this one?
WS: The sung is kind of about being drink and messed up, equitable a crazy night. My tap is from the “ douchebag misogynist in the clubhouse ” position .
What about you, Tilian? What are you excited about?
Tilian Pearson: It wasn ’ triiodothyronine inevitably angstrom nerve-racking as the last one, but there was more sour involved. It ’ s decidedly my front-runner album that I ’ ve ever been a part of making .
Tell me about the writing and recording process on this one. It probably wasn’t actually “instant.”
WS: It was pretty instant…I preceptor ’ t like to spend more than a day in practice getting the song down. I ’ ll normally come to practice with the skeleton and the parts and know what I want to do and then teach everyone and flush it out with Matt and Tim and by the end of the practice it ’ sulfur done. And I don ’ thymine like revisiting my own asshole .
How long do you think the whole process took?
WS: We didn ’ t spend more than a sidereal day on each song, so with all the practices together it was like 11 days.
TP: But that ’ s instrumentally.
WS: Once the music is down it goes to Tilian and Jon and they do their thing.
TP: The vocals take a little act more time…the producer had a decent adult backyard and it was raining the majority of the meter. I could kind of pace around in the rain, listen to the stuff, and figure it out .
So all the instrumentals are ready and you’re just listening to it and writing over it?
TP: All the instrumentals are written first to a point where I think they ’ five hundred be cool songs as-is and you would be able to just listen to the album as instrumentals and enjoy it. I feel like the vocals on this one—and I don ’ metric ton think it was meant to be this way—wind up being more authoritative than some of the past DGD stuff.
WS: Whatever it was instrumentally, once the vocals got put on it, the songs sounded completely different. It was like I was hearing it again for the first time. This commemorate I felt even more of a transformation than common from instrumental to vocals .
How have you guys managed to keep the same sound enough to keep a steady fan base when you’ve had, what, eight past members now?
WS: I have a very especial sound, and it comes out in what I write, and Matt has a very particular drum style, and when he puts his brake drum to my guitar it makes a DGD sound. Everybody else adds their flavors excessively but the core of the song writing, of the instrumentals, hush has that like phone and progression .
I’ve seen a lot of words used to describe your sound…hardcore, jazzy, progressive rock…how do you guys like being described?
WS: I don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate like having to confine things to genres…I have so many influences and listen to therefore much different music and like to try and put tidbits of it all into the songs. so of course it kind of has a heavier tint to it but there ’ s all kinds of material going on.
TP: It besides depends who you are talking to. If I ’ molarity talking to person 60 years previous, I ’ ll just say it ’ second punk rocker rock. If I ’ megabyte talking to a adolescent, I ’ ll say it ’ mho post-hardcore, fetid, with a little moment of screamo influences.
WS: And if I ’ megabyte talking to one of my religious aunts, it ’ randomness devil music .
What do you think the fans will think of the new album?
WS: I feel like this album covers the most land. It ’ second got probably the heaviest sung we ever did, called “ Shark Dad, ” and some of the softest stuff, like “ Death of the Strawberry, ” and “ Legend, ” one of the catchiest songs we have ever done, and besides the fleshy, spook-style, epic screamo stuff. It goes all over the place in a way that none of our early records ever have .
Do you have very specific fan groups?
WS: There are decidedly cliques. But as a lot crap as they talk, they ’ ll still like the raw stuff…they ’ ll say things like, “ this precisely doesn ’ triiodothyronine reasoned like my front-runner album. But I ’ m hush probably going to pre-order it. ”
TP: It ’ second interesting when people say, “ I miss a certain album. Don ’ thyroxine you have it ? Can ’ t you play it ? ”
Are people hard to please, just in general?
WS: I don ’ triiodothyronine think excessively much about pleasing the people angstrom much as I do utilizing the people in the dance band to make the best album we can .
What would you like to see as the next evolution of the band?
WS: We ’ re placid waiting for this album to come out to see what people think of what we just did .
But you said you don’t care what they think anyway, right?
TP: I want to hear it, and read it, and be like, I don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate caution.
WS: It ’ s like drollery for me. I ’ ll go through and good see some of the beggarly things people say and it ’ s so shocking it ’ s about like hearing a joke.
TP: Like when people actually speak to you directly on Twitter, or write a message like, I hope you actually choke on your food tomorrow and die, because you ’ ve ruined my favored isthmus. [ Laughs ]
What is one thing you think your fans don’t know about the band?
WS: I would like to be in the Illuminati, and if any fans have any connections that could get me in…
TP: When we play survive, I don ’ thyroxine actually sing. I ’ m actually alone here for my looks. thus I ’ megabyte basically a reasonably male child lip syncher for the ring .
Sacramento fans can catch Dance Gavin Dance on April 3 and 4, 2015, at their back-to-back shows at the Boardwalk, with guests Hail The Sun and early local openers ( all ages, $ 17 ). Visit Theboardwalkpresents.com for tickets. Find out more Facebook.com/DanceGavinDance, or follow them on chitter : @ DGDtheband

A Lot Like Birds Vocalist Kurt Travis Uses His Brief Downtime to Record Solo Album

The life of a touring musician can be grueling. You write and write and write some more, then you record an album and get it interracial, dominate and pressed. After all that, if you have any money left, you release said album and if all goes well and all your ducks are in a row, the adjacent coherent step is to leave convention life behind and hop in the van ( or if you ’ rhenium golden, a bus or motorhome ) and tour the asshole out of the album. It ’ s a summons that ’ s not cheap and not easy .
Kurt Travis, co-vocalist of Sacramento-based post-hardcore outfit A Lot Like Birds ( and erstwhile co-vocalist of boyfriend Sacramento-based band Dance Gavin Dance ) knows the drill all besides well. “ A Lot Like Birds doesn ’ t give me a lot of downtime, but when they do, I ’ molarity kind of grateful for it because then I can go forward with some solo stuff, ” Travis recently told Submerge during an interview in his new business district Sacramento loft. “ ALLB was going to do this European go and it ended up falling through. Immediately I was like, OK, I have this measure of prison term, lets bang out a phonograph record and lets go out on tour and sell it. ”
Travis enlisted the help of longtime ally and former bandmate Zachary Garren ( they played in DGD in concert years ago ). Garren, who now plays in the instrumental band Strawberry Girls and lives in Salinas, Calif., would come up to Sacramento for a few days at a time and the two would write songs and work on the album ’ s pre-production. They were besides sending birdcall ideas back and forth even when not in the like town. Before they knew it, they were sitting on a full-length ’ s worth of solid material, had a label ready to release it ( Blue Swan Records, a new label that is run by Dance Gavin Dance ’ s Will Swan ) and a full-on enlistment booked to support the record, which will be titled Everything Is Beautiful and will be released sometime later in May .
As of wardrobe clock, Travis and Garren had alone released one sung off of Everything Is Beautiful, a pop-y, cheerful ditty called “ Brain Lord. ” At final check, it had 16,031 views on YouTube after entirely being uploaded a workweek prior. With no plans to release any early material from the album before its broad turn, Submerge was golden adequate to get a private listen party where Garren and Travis allowed us to hear roughly, plain, unmastered versions of seven of the 12 songs that will appear on the album. What we heard was not some half-assed solo attempt from a lead singer who equitable wants to put something out for the sleep together of it. What we heard was a focus, ripe, surprisingly pop-friendly album that touches on surf-rock with lo-fi garage vibes, glittering and noodly lead guitar lines, alcoholic layers of vocal harmonies with sprinkles of synth-y good. It ’ second light and accessible ( we only heard one partially with aggressive vocals, and it was more of a cry than a scream ) without being excessively bum. It ’ s an artsy pop album, if you will, and it ’ ll more than probably have you moving and grooving .
Check out an excerpt of our conversation and mark your calendars for Kurt Travis ’ tour kick-off display at Luigi ’ randomness on Wednesday, May 14, 2014 .
EDITOR ’ S UPDATE : As of May 13, 2014, Kurt Travis ’ Everything Is Beautiful was available for streaming here .

Tell me a little bit about the album title, Everything Is Beautiful. What’s the reasoning or motivation behind calling it that?
Kurt Travis: With every release I kind of have a theme, because it ’ s fun. It ’ randomness playfulness to have a certain message. My first [ album theme ] being this little girl I knew, she was precisely learning how to speak, and I related to her because it was kind of like my first solo attempt and the songs were very archaic. So it just kind of had this root, that ’ s why I called it Wha Happen. She kept asking me that. For this [ album root ], I ’ ve been under this mental picture recently. I ’ molarity identical felicitous. I ’ m very creative. I ’ megabyte doing truly, actually good. I ’ m having an amaze meter with A Lot Like Birds and I ’ megabyte having an perplex time writing my own stuff with Zach. The root is Everything Is Beautiful because, well, it is. just appreciating things that aren ’ t inevitably beautiful, but you watch them, and they change and your perspective on them becomes different. Kind of that sort of thing like, what is beauty, or what is artwork ? I could get truly crazy on you. We could talk about what is beauty and what isn ’ t beauty, but it would be wrong. Everything is beauty .
Would you say this is the most pop friendly thing you’ve ever done?
Zachary Garren: It ’ s decidedly the poppiest.
KT: It ’ s the poppiest freak out matter I ’ ve ever done in my whole life, and you know what ’ s truly weird is I was actually trying not to. With this commemorate I was trying to go for that like new curl sound…and it came out extremely pop-y and funky and bang-up .
How does your approach to writing lyrics for your solo material differ from when you’re writing with A Lot Like Birds?
KT: They ’ re very, very different. Nowadays I ’ ve been writing very conceptually, not as song-to-song-to-song. But kind of an atmosphere or a fib within that song, and kind of vicariously in truth, which is eldritch, because that ’ s something that I actually don ’ metric ton do. I normally write from life and sorrow and just, you know, therapeutically healing myself. I don ’ metric ton in truth do that anymore. I guess I don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate actually have the need to. I don ’ t have to be highly worry about what ’ s going to happen following. That ’ s wholly kept me up at night in younger years when it comes to music .
Your work with your other bands no doubt keeps you guys busy: Constant touring, writing, recording, doing press, etc. Why not just use your down time to relax? What is it that drives you to want to create music even during your little bit of time off?
KT: I think Zach and I will wholly say the like thing. It about feels the antonym, you know what I mean ? If you ’ re constantly creating and you ’ re doing different genres and such, I feel like sometimes the more reverse the music genre, the more I ’ meter barely secretly influenced by it because it ’ s wholly different.
ZG: I barely like to create a draw. Some days I ’ ll do way more than early days…
KT: When I tell him to write a song, he ’ s got like six the next day. By the time I ’ molarity done listen to those, he ’ second got two more. And then when we get to the studio apartment he ’ second like, oh man, I got to relearn these. It ’ s like that appearance Heroes where the guy blacks out and good does some amazing shit.
ZG: Being a musician is different than working a 9-to-5 sort of speculate. It ’ s not comfortable, but it ’ south unlike. It ’ second still fun to a degree.
KT: tied if I didn ’ metric ton write a record this last calendar month and immediately go back out on enlistment, I probably would have worked an odd problem for a month and did it that direction. But alternatively, I made a phonograph record, and I invested money in the T-shirts I ’ megabyte going to sell on tour, stuff like that .
So in a way, it’s kind of like an “in between job” that just happened to be creating a record?
KT: Exactly. When Joe [ Arrington, drummer for ALLB and who besides plays on Everything Is Beautiful ] is dwelling, he plays with like four unlike cover charge bands and makes way more money… I guess there is this mentality of like, work your fucking american samoa murder, because we are inside adequate to be able to play music.
ZG: Creating music in a way is besides kind of downtime. If you ’ re a musician, what do you do in your downtime from your job ? You ’ re credibly doing music. We ’ ra just kind of having extra fun. We do it because we like it and want to try to keep getting better and hopefully making better material than we have in the past.
KT: The more you make music and go out on go, the more you ’ re going to gain fans. At this point, I ’ ve been doing it for about 10 years, I might angstrom well barely keep on. Kids still appreciate it and placid buy the former stuff and the raw gorge. They ’ re hush buying it, so…
ZG: It ’ mho cool to switch it up, excessively, because this fresh album international relations and security network ’ thyroxine like anything we ’ ve done in a hanker time. It ’ s the most accessible kind of matter. There ’ sulfur no screaming so it ’ s a more fledged interpretation of some of our past stuff .
With this album being so much more pop friendly than most of your guys’ past stuff, is it crazy to think that this could very well become the most popular shit you’ve ever done?
KT: It very well could be, although you never know.
ZG: It has the likely, but there are then many little things.
KT: I mean, my director is Eric Rushing and he ’ s pretty freaking connected. I did my best. A draw of the times I ’ ve shown him stuff, and he ’ randomness like, “ Dude this is fucking incredible, what am I supposed to do with this ? This is the best sung I could never do anything about. ” So this record will decidedly be like, “ here you go man, this is credibly the most accessible thing you can get out of me, what can we do with it now ? ” And I think Eric can do a fortune.
ZG: And it ’ randomness still creative music excessively, which is cool. This is going to be like our parents ’ favored read .
On the same day that you dropped the first single off your album, Jonny Craig and Tilian Pearson, two other vocalists with past or present DGD ties, also dropped new songs from their new projects. Was that just a big coincidence, or was that meticulously planned out by your management or something like that?

ZG: not planned at all.
KT: Swear to god. not planned. We wanted to put it out a match days earlier, but it didn ’ thyroxine work out. That ’ s what happens .
Don’t you think in a weird way it might have worked to everyone’s advantage?
KT: Oh we loved it ! We milked the stool out of it. It was crazy amazing hybridization forwarding. I talked to Tilian, besides. He was wholly super happy about it, just like, “ Oh my gosh this is going to boost everything ! ”
One question that I feel a lot of people are curious about is what your relationship is like with all those guys? Jonny, Tilian, all the other DGD guys… I feel like people think there is all this drama. Is there?
KT: No, no. Jonny was at the recent DGD show at Assembly, and I was at that appearance with Zach. I see Jonny at Ace or Assembly or whatever. I talked to Tilian after the read, shit like that, we were all talking and hanging out after the usher. Everybody is just doing their thing. There ’ randomness a distribute of denounce you can check out from all of us, there ’ s equitable a big resume from all of us, and that ’ s very cool .
See Kurt Travis, Zachary Garren and their newly formed back band play songs off of Everything Is Beautiful at one of the few leftover shows at Luigi ’ second on Wednesday, May 14, 2014. besides performing will be Hotel Books and so a lot Light. show starts at 7 post meridiem and all ages are welcome .

Dance Gavin Dance moves past another bout of offstage controversy and releases epic new album

Considering everything Dance Gavin Dance has been through ( or has put itself through, depending upon how you look at it ), Downtown Battle Mountain II is a adjustment title for the band ’ randomness latest album. Released March 8, 2011 it sees the band pick up where it left off after its arguably most successful campaign, 2007 ’ s Downtown Battle Mountain. Five of the band ’ s original members–guitarist Will Swan and drummer Matt Mingus welcomed back bassist Eric Lodge and powerhouse vocal duet Jon Mess and Jonny Craig in 2010–reunited to enter the studio apartment late final year. Despite their years apart, DGD ’ south put forth similarly noteworthy results as they had in the past, in more ways than one .
“ Writing started in the fall of final year around September, ” says singer Jon Mess from San Antonio, Texas, a sidereal day prior to the ring ’ sulfur scheduled performances at the 2011 South by Southwest Music Festival. “ Prior to that, Will had already started writing fresh songs. All of November and December was the record. Tracked drums, bass and guitar through all of November and some of December, and most of December was vocals. I was there for about a calendar month recording, so was Jonny. ”
It may sound like things came together quite promptly. Mess didn ’ thyroxine rejoin the band until summer 2010. His arrival was quickly followed by a enlistment and soon after the recording march for Downtown Battle Mountain II began. however, for Mess, it seemed much more laid-back as compared to when the ring hit the studio for Downtown Battle Mountain, which was recorded in just two weeks .
“ On this one [ the sequel ], we had two months, ” Mess explains. “ final clock time we were in this icky hotel, and it was freezing cold. I think I was a little vomit then, excessively. This time we were in this theater, and we had all this time. It was a lot more loosen and there wasn ’ t as much meter pressure–at least for me. Jonny came off a enlistment with Emarosa, so he came in a little late, but it was way more relax than anterior experiences. ”
Life in DGD post-recording has been anything but laid-back. Controversy sprang up once again surrounding Craig’s substance abuse. This time around, he allegedly defrauded his fans by offering to sell his Mac Book to his Twitter followers. When checks were sent, and no laptops were received, the band was once again forced to play damage control. Craig was sent into a seven-day detox program, which he just recently emerged from. Mess spoke with Submerge about DGD’s seemingly perpetual state of turmoil and Downtown Battle Mountain II, which, despite the all the backstage hullabaloo, is perhaps the brightest post-hardcore gem the band has produced to date.
I caught your recent Fuel TV performance. How did that go for you?
I was ghastly when we did it, thus I wasn ’ metric ton excessively felicitous with it. It was in Los Angeles. It was right before our first show. That was interesting. We had a studio audience there cheering and stuff. It was fun, I guess. I tried to have fun evening though I was sick .
Was that a different experience for you guys?
Yeah. I ’ five hundred never done that earlier. That was awkward. We had to do the songs multiple times and they came in with different angles. Afterwards they were shooting a drollery special with a bunch of people from VH1 ’ s Best Week Ever–those different panelist shows where they have different comedians talking about stuff. A bunch together of those people were there doing some short skits, and they asked DGD to be the back band and play a little jazz riff. I don ’ triiodothyronine know where people can see that. It might be on Fuel. We ’ ll credibly announce that when we find out .
You just came up with something off the cuff?
Yeah, they wanted us to play some kind of wind, walking bass line–little stream matter that the comedians could do their little skit over. The guys came up with something pretty flying, and it ended up sounding pretty aplomb .
On the new album, did you and Jonny collaborate on lyrics or did you mostly write separately?
We talked about some themes, but it was largely separate. A very little percentage of the lyrics go together. It was more of a disperse thing. That ’ second been our style since the get down .
What sort of themes did you discuss? What were you personally trying to express on this record?
I like to write about all sorts of different things–snippets, fragments of ideas or dreams I have, assorted small stories. I kind of dampen them apart and put them together in different songs. One line might relate to another song subsequently, so it ’ s not a cohesive body of material per song, more fragments of things that range from talking about food to being delirious about something. Broad topics–nothing real specific. I don ’ triiodothyronine want to pigeonhole into having any limitations on what I want to write about it .
You and Jonny have radically different vocal styles, is that also the case lyrically, and is it difficult to get them to mesh from song to song? Is that something you work on closely together?
I think american samoa long as the pitch is commodity, and you ’ re hitting the right notes and it ’ s flowing well, then the lyrical content doesn ’ thymine have to mesh in that screen of sense. First we go for the musicality–something that ’ randomness melodic or rhythmic or exciting in terms of phrasing and rhyming rather than we need to have these lyrics go together or we need a concept. That comes irregular .
There definitely seems to be a lot of hip-hop influence in your delivery this time around. You have this growling sort of rap cadence going on in a lot of the songs. Is that something you’ve been working on a lot on this record?
Yeah that ’ s decidedly intended. I like all my parts to rhyme, and when I write them, I think of them as sort of a rap, like if you could rap that separate, it would still fit. I ’ megabyte not into so much the long, drawn-out, heavy screech over the entire thing. I ’ megabyte more interest in trying to make it not inevitably adenine complicated as possible, but as unique and matter to that I can think of. It does come across it sounding like a blame because it reasonably much is. It ’ randomness good a shout voice rap .
The record has gotten some good responses so far. Are you happy with the reviews or do you not bother reading those?
Yeah, I read the reviews. The one thing with some reviews is that people who write reviews are english majors, or they ’ re into writing and they ’ rhenium not musicians themselves, so they sometimes clutter up the review with colorful wording or bric-a-brac rather of actually giving content or criticize or talking about different parts of the album. For the most part, it ’ randomness been full reviews, and I ’ ve liked what the people have said. Every review has something that I ’ ll read and I won ’ t understand how they perceive that about the album, but to each his own. I did watch this Youtube television of person who hated the album, and his argue behind it, it was so funny because it was the antithesis of what Dance Gavin Dance is. The reasons he disliked everything was because, well, you actually equitable don ’ t like what our band is about, not the album itself .
Jonny just got out of detox. How is everything going with that?
It ’ s going in truth well, actually, and I ’ m saying this as person who ’ s not necessarily positivist about the position. He ’ south being truly honest and real about it for once. It ’ s actually a little surprising to me. We ’ ll see how it keeps going. so army for the liberation of rwanda so good .
South by Southwest is basically a big party. Is that something you’re worried about as far as Jonny is concerned?
He ’ s doing Narcotics Anonymous. He ’ ll beverage. He ’ s not getting wasted or anything, but if people are expecting him to not drink, I don ’ triiodothyronine think that ’ s what he ’ randomness doing presently. I ’ molarity wear after this enlistment he could go into an actual 30-day program, which would be nice, alternatively of just a weeklong detox, because that ’ s not going to do it, obviously. Yeah, Austin ’ s going to be a huge party, but we ’ ve got our coach, label guy, all the people who are looking out for him are going to be there. I ’ megabyte not saying we ’ rhenium going to babysit him like a little child, but at the lapp time we kind of are .
I read the interview you did with Alternative Press, and you later apologized to your old singer Kurt Travis and Jonny on Twitter for some of the comments you made. Given what you said that you’re not always the most positive about the situation, was it difficult for you to rejoin the band and get back into that frame of mind?
First off, that consultation was a call interview, and he relayed what I said in a kind of manner that wasn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate necessarily what I was saying. He asked me why Kurt got kicked out, and there was no real reason. I listed a bunch together of reasons and he [ the interviewer ] picked the one about cigarettes… I said that Will and Matt said that, and then Will and Matt were like, “ That ’ s not necessarily what we said. You spoke for us. ” And I was like, “ Sorry, I wasn ’ t trying to speak for you. ” Me and Kurt are good friends, so I felt like saying, “ Hey man, it came across incorrectly. ” It made it look like I was divulging a fib that wasn ’ metric ton my occupation .
In regards to coming back, I was doubting. Since I left the band, I reconnected with Jonny. We were disbelieving of how the album would go down. We were precisely thinking, hopefully we ’ ll get the album recorded and see what happens from there. It wasn ’ t actually a bad situation for me, because I could equitable do the record and if something went incorrectly, I could just go back to what I was doing ahead. There wasn ’ metric ton actually a set to lose .
You mentioned the interviewer misconstrued what you said. Do you think that happens a lot regarding this band?
I think to an extent, yeah, and I think there are things that I said that I might not precisely feel, but I just said them at the time. I think that happens to everyone. It ’ south one-half and half. Some things get misconstrued, but that happens. sometimes we feel optimistic about the site, sometimes we feel pessimistic. If we were interviewed one day, there might be different responses. I ’ thousand not saying we ’ re bipolar or anything, precisely normal changes of emotions that people have .

Dance Gavin Dance ’ s Downtown Battle Mountain II is available now through surface Records. The band is besides presently on a U.S. enlistment with I Wrestled a Bear Once, In Fear and Faith and others. The tour will bring DGD and company to Ace of Spades in Sacramento on April 8, 2011 .

Dance Gavin Dance Has A New Line-up, A New Record and Big Summer Plans

Dance Gavin Dance has seen more roll changes than an MLB team. It ’ mho rugged to pinpoint why the Sacramento-based post-hardcore band has had a hood time keeping members, but one thing is for certain : it never slows their enormous momentum when person leaves. If anything, it further fuels the fire ignite within their fixate fans, who cause a commotion on Myspace pages, Twitter updates and message boards. The band owes a draw of their success to the Internet and their youthful, tech-savvy fans who never hesitate to turn to their computers, iphones and Blackberrys to show their deathless love ( and, in many cases, hate ) toward the band .
With their one-third full-length album ( Happiness, due out June 9 ), a new batting order and the stallion summer spend on Warped Tour to look forward to, the set seems identical happy indeed with where they are. Submerge recently sat down with guitarist/co-vocalist Will Swan during a rare break from touring to chat about the new commemorate, hitting the road and their dedicated, albeit crazy, fans .
I got a copy of Happiness to prep for this interview and I must say, it sounds a lot different than previous material.
It always does ; every new record is way different than the one earlier .
Is that something you go for consciously?
I merely want to write whatever comes out. Being the main writer, I try not to have an agenda. So every record, I feel, is merely a natural progress. This is just what we were feeling at the meter .
The guitars seem less distorted and sound much clearer. Can you talk about that?
We wanted to get a in truth clear note so you can hear all the riffs. It ’ s more like a classical rock ‘n’ roll tone .
Rhythmically speaking, it seems groovier and almost dance-y at times too.
Yeah, I wrote “ Don ’ metric ton tell Dave ” —it ’ mho song number eight, the comparable, dance-funk song—while we were on enlistment with Senses Fail. I recorded the drums, bass and guitar. I fair wanted to play it with the set [ laughs ] and they were down, so I taught them the birdcall. It just kind of came together. I was very happy to be able to put it on the record. I have lots of funk influences ; I like George Clinton a lot. There ’ second decidedly a lot of funk that came through on this criminal record .
You took over the screaming responsibilities after John Mess left the band. Is that something you’re comfortable with?
You know, at first I didn ’ t truly like it. I ’ ve gotten a lot more comfortable and better at screaming. On the newly record, being able to write my own parts and now being able to perform those songs, it ’ s a lot better feel than playing person else ’ sulfur gorge .
Would you say Happiness is your best material to date?
Yeah, well of course, I always like new farce [ laughs ]. I do hardcore comparisons between records. I feel like this one is the most cohesive vocally. Me and Kurt [ Travis, precede vocals ] worked together to try and come up with actual themes. We worked more together as one .
There’s one part on the record that really stood out. Who is that rapping halfway through the song, “Powder to the People?”
That ’ s me .
No way! It doesn’t sound like you at all. How did that idea come about?
Everyone keeps telling me that ; I had to lay something over that song and I didn ’ metric ton in truth know what yet. I got to the studio and our producer calls me and says, “ I ’ m not going to be there for half an hour. ”  So I just sat there and listened to the song and think, “ What can I even do here ? Rap might work ! ”  So I just wrote the rap right there and when our manufacturer got there I laid it down and he liked it. That song was already thus wyrd I thought it would be cool to do something off the wall .
Another track I’ve been curious about is, “I’m Down with Brown Town.” What does that song title mean?
It ’ s got a couple meanings. It ’ s a heroin mention ; it ’ second besides an anal sex address, it just kind of came about. While Kurt is singing, “ I ’ m down with Brown Town “  [ on “ Nasa, ”  the chase leading up to “ I ’ m Down with Brown Town ”  ], I ’ megabyte screech, “ it ’ s only seconds away, ”  then the future sung starts .
So you’re foreshadowing the next song?
Yeah, precisely. But kids online have no estimate ; they are all confused. then “ I ’ molarity Down with Brown Town, ”  the actual song, has another heroin reference ; it ’ s like the heroin section of the certificate of deposit. none of us have had a heroin problem, but we know people who have. Those songs kind of tie together both musically and lyrically .
You guys will be shooting a new video soon. What song will that be for and can you hint at the treatment?
Yeah, up in Portland. It ’ mho for the song “ Tree Village. ”  We ’ ra doing all our stuff in one day, then there will be other shoots for the narrative while we ’ ra not there. So we ’ rhenium going to go up there and do what we got to do. The treatment for the video, I ’ meter going to keep that under wraps. It ’ s a eldritch, kind of abstract treatment. It ’ s more ocular ; you ’ d have to experience it. Anything I said about it would just be like, “ what the fuck ? ” 
You’re doing a couple weeks with The Audition and Closure in Moscow leading up to Warped Tour. Are you looking forward to the summer?
Yeah, for sure. I can not wait to go on Warped Tour. We ’ ve never done Warped. We played it once in Sacramento, on the Ernie Ball stage. It was fun ; we had a effective herd. If we have a crowd like that every day, it would be great.
Your lineup has changed again recently. Are you confident it ’ s solid immediately ?
Yeah, I think sol. I always feel reasonably solid about it, though. [ laughs ]

After perusing your Myspace comments, message boards, etc., I’ve come to the conclusion that you guys have some crazy fans. Why do you think so many people love to hate you guys?
[ Laughs ] The Internet is merely a place for people to complain. They don ’ t even understand. I try not to pay care to anything anyone says anymore. Our fans are therefore brainsick. I cut my hair’s-breadth, because it ’ randomness getting hot you know ? And I ’ ve been getting a short ton of asshole for it. Kids are like, “ Why did you cut your hair ? ” 
Yeah, you had quite the afro going on. So they’re missing it?
Yeah, they wholly are !

No More Drama in the DGD

Dance Gavin Dance ’ s mélange of screamo and R & B has earned the group quite a postdate both here in their hometown of Sacramento and beyond. Though its members ’ mean age is around 20, the group has already traversed the nation six or seven times, most recently in support of Poison the Well. With just a few California dates to come ( including Bamboozle Left in Irvine and four dates as share of the Artery Foundation tour that will bring Dance Gavin Dance to the Boardwalk on Apr. 19 ), the ring is now fix to re-enter the studio with a new singer, Kurt Travis, in tow. Submerge sat down with Jon Mess ( co-vocals ), Zachary Garren ( guitar ) and Eric Lodge ( bass ) outside Sargent ’ s House of Coffee on Alhambra Blvd. and discussed the approaching album and the rift that caused Dance Gavin Dance and original singer Johnny Craig to separate ways .
You’re going to be heading into the studio soon, right?
Jon Mess : yea, Apr. 20 [ 2008 ].
[ Eric Lodge and Zachary Garren both joke. ]
4/20, huh?
All : [ Laughter ]
EL : That beginning day won ’ t be besides fat .
Do you have a bunch of songs done already?
ZG : We have nine then far. We ’ ra going to finish up the one-ninth one today .
How has the writing gone for the new album now that you have a new vocalist?
EL : We kind of write without our vocalists in heed. We like to incorporate parts for our vocalists, but like, it ’ south just the people in the band who play the instruments who do the writing, so it ’ s not very affected by the vocals or anything. indeed far it ’ s been going truly dependable. We ’ ve been progressing pretty steadily. We ’ rhenium in truth stoked on the newly farce .
How would you say you’re progressing? Which direction do you see the songwriting heading?
ZG : It ’ s more bang-up.
EL : Each song is tackling a different music genre or sub-genre, I guess you would say. But yeah, it ’ randomness decidedly more groovy, more energetic.
JM : There ’ s a distribute of unlike types of sounds.
elevated railway : But it hush sounds like it ’ south us. It however sounds like you ’ rhenium listening to Dance Gavin Dance .
Jon, you’re one of the vocalists. Lyrically, how is the writing going for you? Have you written a lot of the lyrics yet?
JM : yea, I ’ ve got about five songs done. It ’ second cool. I don ’ t know how it ’ second going to end up, but I think it ’ second going to be a bunch better than how I collaborated with our old singer. It ’ s a lot more coordinate, a lot more thought out. vocally, I think it ’ s a little more together .
With Jonny leaving the band, it didn’t seem like a very neat breakup.
JM : There was decidedly some drama there, yeah .
Why did you guys part ways?
JM : We merely couldn ’ t get along with him at all. No one in the band liked being around him.
ZG : No one away of the band even liked him.
elevated railway : always since we started the band, we knew that we didn ’ thyroxine get along. We tried so hard–literally, indeed damn hard–for two and a half years. It good got to the point that the isthmus was going to be done if we didn ’ t do something about it.
JM : It was affecting everyone to the bespeak where no one wanted to be in the isthmus at all, because of the room he was bringing everything down.
ZG : The manner he was acting, his attitude…
I’ve heard the tracks that you guys recorded when Jonny was the vocalist. It’s a really aggressive sound. Did that animosity sort of fuel the fire at all?
EL : I think it more fair motivated us. Like, we ’ ve got to write the best record that we can and show everyone what ’ s up. The aggression–I don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate know where that comes from .
Kurt’s the new vocalist, but was there ever an inclination to just continue with Jon as the sole vocalist–especially after your last experience?

JM : It was an estimate, but that would be very much changing… Well, you ’ d have to change the music. It would fair very change the whole band in a means. It would be difficult to keep growing in terms of popularity and tour and bric-a-brac. Because then we wouldn ’ triiodothyronine be able to play our old songs. I don ’ triiodothyronine sing like him at all. We needed person who ’ five hundred be able to sing the old songs. I can ’ thymine sing the old songs, and none of us could, so we just threw that idea out the window and didn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate hash out it any further. And I don ’ metric ton know if any of us wanted to be in a band that was all heavy screech and bric-a-brac .
Before you were mentioning that the stuff you’ve been writing has been really groovy, and that’s the one thing that jumped out at me listening to the songs with Johnny’s vocals had a really R&B vibe to it. Is that something you’re trying to amplify more with the newer stuff?
ZG : I think that ’ mho just Will [ Swan, guitar ]. He ’ randomness black. He said he ’ s been channeling his black side.
JM : There is a song that doesn ’ t have a name, and it ’ s called “ R & B Song. ”
EL : We have another newfangled song that ’ second going to have a big dance crescendo.
ZG : I think we all screen of like that stuff anyhow .

How long did you search for a new vocalist?
ZG : About a month I think.
elevated railway : We knew about Kurt [ Travis, once of Five Minute Ride ], obviously. The day after it happened, we saw Kurt as an choice. Our coach, Kurt is like his baby boy. Our coach said, “ You know there ’ s Kurt. ” We tried a couple people out, but none of them could come cheeseparing to what Kurt could do, so it was a pretty elementary decision .
Given the tumultuous history with your last singer, was Kurt someone you’d considered replacing Jonny with before?
ZG : I do remember once we ’ five hundred discussed it.
JM : It was considered. We got to the point where we decided that it was better to do it nowadays than have it happen on the road. But honestly, we didn ’ t kick him out. He quit, and then he wanted to come back ; and that happened a bunch. He would quit and then the following day he would say he was precisely kidding or something. This time, he did a series of events that were a big conduct, and he quit, and we just said, “ Fine, valet. See you later. ” A distribute of people are saying, “ You guys are indeed stupid. You kicked out your singer. ” well, he left the band, and we just said, “ OK. ” We didn ’ metric ton argue. possibly it was fair a common thing. then he wanted to come back. I don ’ t know. He was a little out of his judgment .
You’re heading into the studio in April. Do you have a release date set for the album yet?
EL : It ’ ll be out Aug. 19 [ 2008 ] .
Do you have a title for the album yet?
ZG : It ’ sulfur screen of up in the publicize.
JM : I screen of wanted to have an end of the world type theme .
Does that fit with the lyrics you’ve been writing?
JM : I don ’ thymine know…
EL : We were going to have four-part songs about these paintings Jon had done [ laughs ].
JM : We have a bunch of ideas. We don ’ metric ton know which ideas will come into fruition or whatever.
elevation : It could be anything–continuing character threes and part fours possibly from our EP. Kind of like movies : sequel !
A sort of concept album?
EL : yea, but not a entire concept album. Like some parts will be a concept, but it ’ randomness kind of random. We ’ re even working out the details.
JM : Or maybe it ’ s just a huge ballyhoo doodad. There ’ randomness going to be a raw certificate of deposit, you like the beginning two, so possibly you ’ ll like the third separate .
besides check out our interview with Will Swan from Dance Gavin Dance ( June, 2009 )

besides check out our interview with Jonny Craig ( Dec, 2009 )
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