Do you still feel like you’re pigeonholed into a certain genre?
Anything I ever end up reading about ourselves, people call us an emo band. That’s fine, they can call us whatever they want. The media has to pigeonhole everything because that’s how they get people to relate to it, whether it be a movement or a style of music. They could call us acid jazz if they wanted to.
I don’t know if you quite fit that description.
Maybe on the next record.
Have you started writing any new material?
Yes we have. And actually at Projekt Revolution is when we plan to work on a lot of that. We have a little studio on our bus so hopefully we’ll spend the majority of our time locked away in there seeing what we can come up with.
Is it ever distracting to write like that on the road?
Everybody’s always constantly writing. My grandfather once said, ‘You can’t call yourself an artist unless you create something every day.’ So we’re constantly writing and it’s just normal to do it anywhere. It doesn’t matter to us whether it’s at home or on the road or in Zimbabwe.
Oh, are you going to Zimbabwe to write?
Well we were kicking around the idea, but it’s a long plane ride so we’d rather just do it in the back of the bus.
Do you think people have any expectations for what your next record will be like?
No. We kind of live in our own little bubble so if anyone has those, I haven’t heard anything.
When do you anticipate the next record will come out?
That’s a good question. I have no idea. Hopefully sooner than later. We just want to push ourselves to do it. Louder Now came out coming up on two years ago now, so personally, for us, we need it.
Do you think you’ll play any new songs on Projekt Revolution?
If we can come up with anything good! We’ll see.
Do you still get stagefright when you play?
There’s always a case of butterflies no matter where it is or what size venue. We all get a little nervous. Every day is a new day and every audience is a new audience. You always want to put your best foot forward.
Do you ever practice your signature microphone swinging offstage?
No, no. I started in the band as the bass player so I had something to do and something to hide behind. When I started signing I was just standing there and I needed something to do so I started doing that because it kept me busy. The only time I do it is when we’re playing. I don’t sit around my apartment swinging a mic.
How often do you hit people with it by accident?
I’ve hit a lot of people, but Matt would be the best example of me hitting someone. Never intentionally though! Matt got some stitches in his face and got knocked out, but he’s fine now.
Are there any misconceptions about Taking Back Sunday that should be cleared up?
Probably, but people can think whatever they want. Who cares? You can’t change anybody. I know who I am and we know who we are as a band so there’s not really too much else we worry about.
When people look back in 10 or 20 years how do you hope they remember Taking Back Sunday?
That’s a good question. I hope they don’t see it as a joke!
For more info check out takingbacksunday.com
Photo Credit: Ryan Russell
