Last month we had the honor, privilege, and time of our life (pun intended) at the pop punk/emo/alternative rock festival that has taken the world by storm over the last three years – When We Were Young. The fest’s über-current presence in today’s music scene mixed with the appreciation-based nostalgia for the soundtrack of many of our youths is something we thoroughly enjoyed reporting on and something we are very, very, very thankful for.
The Aquarian‘s history with the legendary Taking Back Sunday is beyond extensive. From a cover story when they were just starting out in the early 2000’s to another cover story last year in support of 152, we’re always going to be supporting this band. They have had influence over an innumerable amount of artists and truly helped define the sound of a generation. Best of all, they never stopped being themselves.
Still releasing some of their greatest work to do and still writing some of their best hooks, TBS continues to be on the up-and-up while balancing the new releases with the original favorites. There are exciting moments of anticipation and nostalgic memories being celebrated. Fans love it all – we love it all, so while on site at When We Were Young Festival, we made sure to carve out time to talk with the whole band. We spoke about their performance and their history as a band, and as expected, it was a special one.
You’re here playing Tell All Your Friends in full. How are you feeling?
Adam Lazzara: Great, man! I’ve been saying this all along – John and Shaun, I’m sorry because I keep being chatty – but the thing I’m finding for myself is I’m not that guy anymore, but that guy is still a huge part of me. Right? I don’t often spend much time with him. I realize that’s a mistake. This is, selfishly, a great reminder of that for myself. In that regard, it’s really awesome.
I was chatting with the guys from Bayside and they said emo was “cool,” so having this Coachella-sized festival for these bands is amazing.
Adam: What do you mean by these bands? [Laughs] I’m just messing! I think it’s awesome. The folks that put on this festival are sweethearts. There’s a good amount of festivals that you go to and it’ll be a weird vibe – almost like everybody’s unsure about one another. Whereas this feels very free and open and comfortable. It’s nice to spend some time being comfortable every now and then.
John Nolan: Going back to when Bayside and us were both coming up, a lot of this would throw the ’emo’ word around as a joke. Nobody really wanted to claim it. It was like, “Hey, we’re not…”
Adam: It was used to make fun of your friends!
John: Yeah, “Call them emo!” It’s really wild the way it’s taken off as an identity marker. People have been owning it for a long time now. We were still on the fence, but if everybody else is claiming it, then that’s cool – we’ll be emo, too!
You’re right! In the 2000s emo was an insult, now you have bands like As It Is being, “We’re a proud emo band!” It’s strange how the word has evolved. Last time I interviewed you, it was with Shaun on the phone, and we were talking about how excited you were to play actual Coachella.
Shaun Cooper: It was a wild experience! It was super fun! There was a K-pop band playing after us [88Rising Futures]. They had all these fans in the front row that I think flew over for the show and they did not know what to make of this American rock and roll band [Laughs]. They were so supportive of us and were enjoying it with big smiles on their faces! That was a really cool awakening experience.
Adam: 100%
John: They were in sailor outfits or something? There was a whole motif.
Shaun: There was a big ship backstage that was set up for three bands after us or something.
Adam: I’m glad that you reminded me of that.
Shaun: The whole thing was a blur, but that stood out.
Tell me about the difference between a small show like the “S’old” music video vs When We Were Young in a sea of people?
Adam: There’s not much difference for us. I don’t know – I do feel like things are a bit more loose when it’s the smaller shows. That is part of what makes it a lot of fun. We try to approach everything with all of ourselves. Over the years, there’s been times where I’ve phoned it in. It does a disservice to me, my friends, to everyone there, so it’s all or nothing – big or small we’re going hard.
Shaun: There’s an overwhelming feeling. Whether it’s that backyard show where there’s 60 people or tonight where there will be 60,000, I can’t believe we get to do this. No matter who is there, people are allowing and wanting us to come and play our songs all these years later and are still singing along. It’s a magical thing no matter where we’re at. I still have that feeling of when we were kids and the songs were catching on. “Oh, it’s not just our friends in the crowd anymore? These are strangers and they’re singing along? Sure there’s only 20 people, but they knew all the words! That was amazing! They want to buy our demo CD! Dreams really do come true.”
I even saw that at the Bowery Ballroom show where you played 152 in full. You played “Keep Going” and everybody knew the lyrics. To me, that was so special. I wanted to take it back to one of the most historic of Taking Back Sunday, at Irving Plaza where you played, Tell All Your Friends, Where You Want To Be, and Louder Now, back-to-back-to-back.
John: It was like a three hour set! I don’t know if we’ll ever play a set that long again. That was the longest we’d ever done. It still is. I don’t know if we’ll ever beat it, but maybe someday. It was like a marathon. Was that before we had done the whole tour?
Shaun: Yeah!
John: We were preparing to play all those albums, but we never played all three in one night. We did two nights in every city and spread them out. Again, that was a crazy night.
Shaun: They were trying to get Irving Plaza to 100 sold out shows throughout the years and that one did it.
Adam: Our buddy, Christian Mcknight, who has been booking shows since people’s backyards and VFW halls on Long Island, called us up and said, “Look, we’re so close to 100 sold out shows. Would you play?” We’re like “Ok, I really hope this sells out!” And it did! It was a wild night. No one opened, we just went on.
John: When you play for three hours, you don’t need an opener.
How was your voice? Songs like “Timberwolves” are aggressive. How did you hold out for three hours?
Adam: Oh! [Pause] I don’t know! I have no idea! I remember because of this nervous energy… we had never done anything like that and I think that was carrying me and a lot of us through it. When it’s happening it’s like, “Just do it,” you know?
John: I think we’ve always had this sort of thing, “You’ve got to do it, so just do it.” You don’t think about how or particularly know how, so you just do it.
Shaun: Luckily there wasn’t a show the next day!
Adam: Then, in the process, you just get lost and time doesn’t exist. It’s this beautiful thing.
Is a set like today easy now that you’ve done three records back-to-back-to-back?
John: It’s kind of crazy because the album is so short. This will be the shortest set we’ve played in a very long time, which is crazy. It’s still going to be exciting. It would have been nice to have a few extra songs, give us five or 10 minutes, but it is what it is, as they say.
We’re coming up on the 10th year of our Holiday Spectacular at Starland Ballroom this December. What’s going to happen? What is going through your head?
Adam: We can’t believe it! We’re just so happy it’s been working out. It has become – and feels like – a homecoming. We’re not from there! Everybody involved is so wonderful. I’m just happy we can all do it together.
Shaun: It’s so festive and leads up to the holiday season and stuff. It’s that feeling of being home with camaraderie with all the people from Starland. Getting to play the shows with our people… it’s a great way to kick off that time of year for us.
Adam: Big chunky sweaters!
Shaun: That’s right! Cozy sweaters!
John: Two years ago at Starland, after one of our shows, I was giving people shit there weren’t pictures of us. They have pictures all over the backstage of bands that play there. Turns out there is one, it was just in the corner. I was like, “Why don’t they have a better picture of us?” The next day we showed up and they had taken a bunch of pictures of us, and cut and pasted my head on other bands. That’s the kind of stuff we get into these days there.
FOR TICKETS & INFO ON TAKING BACK SUNDAY’S HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR, PRESENTED BY US & HOSTED BY STARLAND BALLROOM, VISIT STARLAND’S WEBSITE!
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