All Time Low (backdated) November 2007 excerpt

In September, your latest album So Wrong It's Right came out. Can you tell us a little bit about it and the writing process?
AG: The writing process was short when it came down to it. We had written a bunch of songs while we were touring and during a little bit of time off we had between one tour and the next tour yadda yadda. When we finally got into the studio with Matt Squire we basically… the fifteen songs we had were reduced to about three. But that's the point of preproduction you take the good parts of all the mediocre crap that you wrote and then you make it better. We basically wrote most of the record in the first week of the studio—preproduction. From there it took about a month after that to record the whole record. As far as the writing process went it was mostly smooth. The music came really smoothly. For me, writing lyrics and stuff, I kept getting hung up and questioning myself whether they were good enough. I don't know it was kind of mixed. At times it would be really smooth and at others it would be really stressful that we had to cram it in such a small amount of time.

How do you feel this album compares to your previous material—writing and song-wise?
AG: I think its' the best stuff we've ever done, for sure. On each release that we've done we've had I think songs where we've been really lucky and written a really phenomenal song. Even from back in the day when we released The Party Scene independently. I still hear people go today 'Oh that album was better' and stuff like that. I think what it is—I wouldn't necessarily say that that album was better. In my opinion, I don't think it is. I think we've grown. But, I think we've been lucky with each release in the sense that we've written at least one song that has been a really solid song. So I think people can still be attached to those releases. To date, I think this is our best work consistently through the album. I think they're all good songs.

Did you find it hard to balance the band and school? How did you organize your priorities when that was still the case?
AG: I didn't… I wasn't really a school body. I hated school. I wanted out so for me it was more a matter of how can I get this band good enough so that I don't need to do anything worse. I can just bank on the fact that I'm going to graduate and do this. So that became my mission. The other guys all applied to college and were accepted as a back up plan. I didn't bother. I did graduate high school, though, which I'm pretty proud of.

What has been your most memorable moment with All Time Low?
AG: There are so many. A lot of the things that have happened in the past year have been benchmarks for us. Releasing this full length, walking to like Target and seeing your CD on an end-cap in a store like that is really cool. Just cause everyone goes to Target so even if they don't know who our band is, even the fact that they like walk passed it and glance at it. Going to the UK was huge for us. In February we're going to Australia, which is another huge thing for us. The Warped Tour because we were always those kids that went to Warped tour and stalked the bands. We were always the kids that we stalked the bands but we knew that we were in a band and we wanted to be taken seriously. We would always be like walking up to someone from some band and being like 'we're in a band'. Looking back now they probably thought 'who are these fucking kids' but it's cool that we actually did it. It's like 'haha'. We weren't lying. That was the funniest part, actually, because there was a couple bands on the tour that we had previously gone and seen and like introduced ourselves to as a band a couple years before. To be on the tour and be like 'what up' and they were like 'how do we know you' and we were like 'actually… funny story'. For that to happen was a really big deal.

Okay, we have to ask… what was the inspiration behind the underwear banana photo shoot?
AG: A mix of things. The album was called So Wrong It's Right so we wanted to do everything a little bit messed up but to the point that we knew people would dig it. But I think that's the effect that it had. I think we hit the nail on the head. Also, as a tribute to the whole attitude that Blink had. We're very much a band that was influenced by that band and have developed ourselves by watching what they did. So it was kind of, a few things that were done with this record were subtle tributes to them.

From your perspective as an artist, what do you feel is one of the most pressing issues in the music industry?
AG: The fact that no one buys CDs anymore. That's probably the biggest; I wouldn't say problem but change that the music business is going to face now. It's no longer going to be about how many records that a band sells in regards to what tours they should get and all that. That basically used to be the standard. That was a bands credentials. You want on this tour how many records have you sold? Not only that but labels are not going to make any money any more off of records sales so they're going to have to find new ways to make money. So are bands, really. It's a really weird time to be in a band. But at the same time, I think it's a really good time. It's going to be one of those situations, I think, where no one really knows what to do and the bands who do it right will get really lucky and somehow flip through the system and probably benefit from it because what tends to happen… A label will find a system that works in their favor and then every band gets fucked by it. But there are a few lucky bands here and there—because of some sort of change—kind of slip through that while the labels aren't aware of what's going on. Like Fall Out Boy for example. They don't have to give their label their merch money, which is something that a lot of labels do now in order to make more money, which a lot of labels do now because the record sales don't matter. It's one of those situations that hopefully we're in a good enough time where we can slip through under the radar.

What bandmate would you most likely slow dance with?
AG: Jack. Uh, Rian. Rian because we actually slow dance all the time really randomly. I'll just walk up to him and we'll start dancing. It's actually funny you should ask that…

If you woke up as a woman, and it was only for one day, what would your first thoughts be? How would you spend the day?
AG:Wooow. Good question. I'm going to leave the obvious ones to the imagination. No I'm kidding. I think I would probably go to Victoria's Secret and see what I look like in a thong and a bra. I might actually walk around the mall in just my underwear and high heels and get everyone's attention. What else could I do that women aren't supposed to do… I don't know. Oh, I would have a reason to watch really girly movies because I usually like to watch really girly movies. I go home and watch 'The Notebook' like nine times. And cry. Is that okay? Don't judge me.

If you could be a superhero or a villain, what powers would you possess?
AG: I've actually said this before. It's not a very good crime fighting power but for some reason I would choose to shoot different condiments out of my fingers. Like you know on one hand you'd have ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, relish and barbecue sauce or something. On the other hand you'd have dessert. Whip cream, chocolate syrup, syrup for pancakes, jam, and powdered sugar. You could always be prepared for any eating situation. Or if someone didn't have ketchup just… I would name myself Really Convenient Boy.

If your band were to be stereotyped as Wes Craven like characters what would you all be?
AG: Jack would be the token black guy. He would definitely die first. Zac would by like the Macho dude that has the chic that dies and then he turns out to be the killer. Rian would probably flip. He'd be the one who would manage to live. I would just… I would be the guy who would be hung. You know how there is one person who always dies accidentally, the person doesn't kill them, they like slip and fall and curb stomp themselves… that would be me. That's what I would do.

Any final thoughts? I know that's a sweet note to end on…
AG: Yeah I know! Really, no, just thanks for checking out our band!


the whole interview can be read at www.hollyanne.net