Marmozets Interview at Warped Tour in Nashville 7/29/14

Marmozets was a band that came across my path earlier this year while I was listening to Octane Radio, where I one day hope to work.

I had the opportunity to interview Becca and Jack at the Nashville Warped Tour date.

So here it is! Enjoy!

Introduce yourselves

I am Becca. I sing.

I am Jack and I play guitar. Collectively we are the band Marmozets. We are from England West Yorkshire where it is always sunny.

Is this your first time in America?

Becca: It is our first time touring in the USA. It is our second time in America. We came over once to do recording in New York.

What has been your favorite moment from touring so far?

Jack: My favorite moment was when it was raining heavily and we had a show in the rain. It was me, Becca and Will. We took a shower in the rain shower. There was another day involving rain as well we were in the van and then Big Daddy, our tour manager came running along because he had all the beer and we started packing everything up and one person yelled “OPEN

THE FREEZER!” I cried hysterically with laughter throughout I think it was about 9. 6 minutes exactly. I mean my stomach is still hurting now. That was awesome.

What is your favorite moment from the tour?

Becca: My personal favorite every single day is completely different every crowd is different. There is a variety of chaos. It gets me pumped up. It makes you do your best.

We've been blown away by bands that come out here and do their own thing. It is awesome and now we get to be friends with them for life. Yay!

What is it like being in a band with your family members

Becca: It is the best thing ever. It is all we know

Jack: We don't know any different. It’s all we’ve ever done. People are normally surprised by that.

[Kelen from The Story So Far walks past and the band and he start talking. He recognizes me from last week. He walks off to get food and the interview continues.]

Updates on new album?

Jack: September is when. September the 29th is the date. We are excited to get it out. We recorded it in like November and December of last year.

What are your plans after Warped Tour?

Jack: We’ve got lots of European festivals. Leeds, Reading in England. We’ve been there a few times as fans and played them once so it was awesome. Touring with Taking Back Sunday.

[I proceeded to explain to them the concept of Roll Tide and how it is used as a greeting.]

Anything else you want to add?

Jack: Thank you for doing this lovely interview.

Becca: We will see you soon! 

Interview with Courage My Love at Warped Tour in Nashville

Sometimes impromptu interviews turn out to be the greatest interviews you can give. Courage My Love is a three piece band from Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. They are made up of sisters Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn and Brandon Lockwood. At the Nashville Warped Tour date, I had the opportunity to talk to Mercedes and Phoenix about various aspects of Warped Tour, life, bee stings, and the drinking age.

Without further ado, here is my interview with Courage My Love. Enjoy!

Is this your first time in America?

PA: This isn't our first time in America, but it's our first time on Warped Tour. It's our first time playing a lot of these places like Nashville and California, so we are stoked.

Is this your first time in the South?

Both: YES!

MA: We're super stoked. I love it here! We've never played Nashville before but we've been here before on writing trips and it was so much fun.

PA: We are hoping we can go checkout Broadway and The Strip later

It's so much fun. I heard you're the only Canadian band on Warped?

MA: I know there are other Canadians on the tour but no other Canadian bands, if that makes sense.

So, I heard you got stung in the neck.

MA: I did. It's not as bad as an arrow to the knee. It's just a bee sting to the neck. It's still pretty bad. It's sorta a medical emergency because I might not be able to perform today. I may have to go to my trailor and get my seltzer water and my white wine spritzer and chill.

What is the drinking age in Canada?

Both: [Laughs] 18 or 19 depending on the city.

Oh, well don't I sound uncultured. Yeah. That's not the age here. So, you tour on a half bus?

PA: Yeah. It's this thing called a bandwagon.

JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON!

PA: Exactly! It's more for mid-level bands that can't afford a tour bus. It's got like a shower and a bathroom. I really really like it.

MA: The showers are so nice and we have bunks just like on a bus. We even have a little lounge area.

How many people are in it?

PA: We have eight people on ours which isn't too bad. There is one band on this tour that has a bandwagon with 15 people including two eight year old kids.

WOAH! Well, they bring their eight year olds on Warped Tour which is really cool. Coolest part of Warped so far?

PA: My favorite part of the day has been going to shows. Everyday is just awesome.

MA: It's a great experience. Meeting people is really cool too.

LIKE ME!

Both: Exactly!

What's next after Warped Tour?

MA: We lock ourselves in the studio for a month. We are going to finish writing and start recording our new album and then we are going back out on the road in the winter.

Do you know where?

MA: We are coming back to the states, actually. A lot of places that Warped Tour played. All of those dates are going to be on our website soon.

[Then I proceeded to tell them why they should say Roll Tide the next time they come to the south.]

Anything else you want to add?

PA: Thank you so much for the interview. Thank you to our fans for supporting us. Check out our tour dates when they come out on our website. Keep your eye out for that and we'll see you on the road soon! 

Interview with Dallas Taylor from Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster Zydeco Birmingham, AL 7/28/14

How is the tour with He Is Legend going so far?

It's going good. It's the fourth show, I think. We've toured with them before so we are good friends. They're a part of the family.

This is your first home show in awhile. How was that?

It was awesome! It's weird for us. It's home, kinda not home. I'm from Florida but I live in Birmingham, off 280. It's cool. Sometimes we consider Tampa home, but Birmingham is home. Tonight was one of the funnest home shows we've had.

What was your favorite part of playing tonight?

Having my buddy Jacob [Bunton, from Lynam] with us and having all the old guys come out. Every show has been fun on this tour. We have Jason Todd playing guitar with us and he is a well seasoned musician and has been around the block a time or two. It's an honor to have him play with us. Having the old members of Maylene made it a lot of fun.

Why did you ask Jacob to play with you tonight?

He is one of my best friends. He's always been kind of a part of Maylene deep down to me. He's a good dude.

I want to ask about the interaction you have with fans. Your fan base is awesome.

Aww! Thank you! I don't really call them fans. They are just friends. I'm just a guy. We're all just normal guys playing music. We're no different than anybody else and that's what makes it fun. I hate when bands think they are better or bigger. There is a connection when it's real. They see that you're a real person and you are just like them.

How do home show crowds compare to other shows?

It just depends. Atlanta has been the best show so far. It was a crazy crazy show. It could be somewhere in Wisconsin. It just depends on the energy of the crowd. It's the vibe. It's whatever comes to the band and it gets pushed back. If the crowd is giving you a really closed off feeling, it's hard to give that warm feeling back. Some of the best shows are places you never think would be good. Some of the worst shows are the places you thought they would be amazing.

Can you give me any updates on a new album?

I think we will start recording anywhere towards the beginning of next year. We've all been so busy with different things we do.

Anything else you want to add?

Thanks for interviewing me and thanks for coming out. And good t-shirt. He's [Eddie Vedder] a great ass story teller.

That he is, Dallas Taylor, that he is. 

Warped Tour Atlanta, Georgia 7/24/14

Although I have been to Warped Tour five times, this year was the first time I was ever part of the press. With a little bit of luck and a lot of determination, I ended up with press passes for the Atlanta and Nashville shows.

After arriving in Atlanta, I checked in at the press tent. I ran inside to buy my band schedule. I am glad I did not waste time because the first band of the day that I wanted to shoot was The Story So Far. They put on one of the best pop-punk shows I have ever experienced. It was even more awesome because I was in the photo pit for the first three songs. They played

Quicksand (People were crowd-surfing to the front and Parker Cannon threw the microphone over to this guy who screamed the bridge of the song.)

Things I Can't Change

Roam

Right Here

Daughters

Empty Space

All Wrong

Swords and Pens

Stifled (Parker asked the audience who had their shitty first EP.)

The Glass

High Regard

After TSSF, I looked around the press area and found out some band interview times. I headed over to see a new band from England, Marmozets. I recently heard them on Sirius/XM Octane. I was stoked that they were going to be at my Warped dates. Their energy is contagious and their singer, Becca Macintyre has a voice similar to that of Renee' Phoenix of Fit For Rivals. They played

Particle

Why Do You Hate Me? (So Awesome)

Is It Horrible?

Born Young And Free

Captivate You

Move Shake Hide

Vibe Tech

Next, I ran over to shoot The Devil Wears Prada. I had not seen them since Warped Tour 2009. They have improved so much over the last few years. This was the best I have ever seen them. They played

Danger: Wildman

Reptar, King of the Ozone

Outnumbered

Assistant to the Regional Manager

Sailor's Prayer

Hey John, What's Your Name Again?

Mammoth

They were fun to shoot and their audience was on point. The amount of crowd surfers falling on me in the pit was astronomical and that made their set ten times more memorable.

At this point, the bottom fell out and it rained for over an hour. Throughout that hour, in my mind, I had two near-death experiences. During Neck Deep's set, their singer, Ben Barlow's microphone flew out of his hand and almost hit me in the head. When I looked at him, he looked mortified. But I made sure he knew it was more than fine. (You can see what happened in the pictures below). They played

Losing Teeth

What Did You Expect?

Tables Turned

Crushing Grief (No Remedy)

Silver Lining

A Part of Me

All Hype, No Heart

Over and Over

While it was still raining I went over to catch Attila. This was their home Warped, so the place was going off. I started out in the back of the crowd behind the Van's tent facing the direction in which the crowd was about to run. Fronz, Attlia's singer told the crowd to start a circle pit around the entire stage and take it behind the merch tents. I got caught in a stampede. I froze and could not go anywhere. This big, burly guy ran, picked me up, and moved me out of the way. Which was great until I realized I had to go in the direction of the crowd. If you can't beat them, join them. I inadvertently ended up in this circle pit and getting slapped, kicked, punched, and stomped on. Oddly, it was a great feeling knowing I was a part of the Attila experience. They played

Callout

Middle Fingers Up

Party With The Devil

Shots For The Boys

Rage

Payback

About That Life

After Attila, I went back to the press tent and interviewed Kelen Capener from The Story So Far. It was "shmeeb" (Check it out here)

Then I ran over and caught Yellowcard just in time to hear them close with Ocean Avenue.

Of Mice & Men's started immediately on the adjacent stage. They played

Public Service Announcement

The Flood

O.G. Loko (I go hard in the mother fucking paint remix tag)

Feels Like Forever

Bones Exposed

Would You Still Be There

The Depths

OM&M is another band that gets better each time I see them. Their crowds get larger and more rowdy. The mosh pits are moshier and the crowd surfers multiply. If there is one band you need to see on Warped the rest of this summer, it needs to be them.

The last band I covered was Less Than Jake. They are one of the longest running bands to ever play Warped Tour and tomorrow in St. Petersburg, Florida will be their 365th Warped show. That is a year's worth of touring just on Warped. They played

Sugar in Your Gas Tank

The Ghosts of Me and You

Last One Out of Liberty City

The Science of Selling Yourself Short

Landmines and Landslides

Do The Math

All My Best Friends Are Metalheads

Plastic Cup Politics

Look What Happened

During their set, I even saw Kelen Capener from The Story So Far run and jump on top of the crowd and surf his way to the front. That might have been one of the funniest things I saw that day.

This Atlanta Warped was definitely an experience to remember. I will be covering Nashville's Warped too, so check back for more updates, pictures, and interviews.