New Jersey knows its son, Ace Enders, best as the frontman for emo rockers The Early November, but that may be changing. Having first dipped his toes into solo artist territory with his side project, I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody’s Business, following TEN’s last performance at the 2007 Bamboozle Festival, Enders started work on his Ace Enders And A Million Different People.
Following up last year’s The Secret Wars, Enders returned just last month with the more exploratory When I Hit The Ground, further expanding his emo and indie roots as well as maintaining his mastery over hooky melody lines and cathartic themes. More so than ever, he embraces himself as a solo artist, and following a tour with All-American Rejects this month, has distinguished himself as more than the leader of The Early November, but the leader of his own destiny.
Enders took some time out before his appearance at this year’s Bamboozle to talk about the perceptions of his newest project.
There’s no doubt that you will be aligned with The Early November for years to come. Is Ace Enders an extension of TEN musically, or do you see your solo project as an entirely separate entity? Fans see you as the face of TEN and now that you are solo it is hard to separate the two. Both projects are obviously your children, so how do you see them personally and musically in comparison?
I feel like to some extent some people might say it’s a continuation, but in my mind, it’s a totally new phase of my life and what I’m doing. The important thing to me is to keep making music by not trying to make anything be like or not be like TEN, but just do whatever comes naturally.
I think for some fans it’s difficult to separate the two, but most people have been very open and very supportive, and they’re really growing with me and moving into the new phase with me.
There’s not much difference between the old band and the new one musically for me. The sound has changed, but it’s just that I’m older so the music sounds older, which would have happened no matter what.
The song ‘Take The Money And Run,’ off of the new album, has a lot of anger in it, it seems. I have a few theories about the inspiration, but am probably dead wrong. What is the background of the song?
Over the years, being in an artistic industry that’s driven by money and a lot of people who might not always be what they say they are can really get to you. ‘Take The Money’ came from my experiences working for this for the past eight years. I started out when I was really young and innocent, and I’ve seen and learned a lot over those years.
