A Day To Remember

25 February 2012 | 12:29 am | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

Defying styles, labels and their own expectations A Day To Remember have become one of the biggest names in modern alternative music. The Florida quintet are no strangers to Australian shores and have again touched down in our country for an epic rendition of our annual Soundwave Festival, their second. Partying with us one more time before they hit the studio to record album number five, frontman Jeremy Mckinnon has a chat with us to tell us all what we can expect from A Day To Remember this time around.

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Defying styles, labels and their own expectations A Day To Remember have become one of the biggest names in modern alternative music. The Florida quintet are no strangers to Australian shores and have again touched down in our country for an epic rendition of our annual Soundwave Festival, their second. Partying with us one more time before they hit the studio to record album number five, frontman Jeremy Mckinnon has a chat with us to tell us all what we can expect from A Day To Remember this time around.

Hey Jeremy, how are you?

Pretty good thanks man.

You're just about to leave for Australia to play your second Soundwave Festival, you keen to come back?

Absolutely it’s my favourite place to go, apart from home. I might even move there one day, who knows.

Yeah? Quite a few bands actually say that.

I’ve been talking about it with the guys a bit, so we’ll see.

You’re up near the top of the bill and are playing mainstage this time around, is that exciting?

Well yeah, we’re always excited to be a part of it anyway. But it’s very cool to be on mainstage, we’ve always had a lot of support from Australia which is why it’s our favourite place to tour.

What bands are you keen to check out on Soundwave this time around?

I don’t even know the full lineup to be honest. I’m stoked for System Of A Down and Marilyn Manson because I haven’t seen them before. Limp Bizkit as well. I nearly always get to a festival and someone will be like “I’m going to see this band” and I’ll be all super-stoked and be like “Holy shit they’re playing?”

We’re all looking forward to a new album from you guys this year, what stage are you guys at?

We have a lot of song ideas, and I mean a lot. After Soundwave we’re going back to do the second leg of our US tour with Rise Against and then we’ll be going directly into writing mode.

Cool, what are you guys allowed to tell us about the album?

I can tell you that it’s going to have the most extensive track listing that A Day To Remember has ever put together, and it’s also going to have some of the most inspired stuff that we’ve written, so I’m very excited about it.

Who’s going to be producing the album?

I’m actually not sure, I daresay Chad (Gilbert) will be involved on some level, but I’m not sure if he’ll be available to be in the studio with us yet, in which case we’ll just do it ourselves which doesn’t bother us at all.

Musically, how does the new material compare to your last few albums?

I think this record is going to be a lot closer to what A Day To Remember actually is. We’re going to have a lot more tracks. That’s something I wasn’t happy with about the last album, we only had 10 songs and everyone was telling us we went soft. That’s not true, we just had less songs than usual, which is why it might have felt a bit one-sided. On the new record there will be a bit more of a metal from For Those Who Have Heart and we’re bringing back the pop-punk from Homesick and I think it’s going to be one of the best all-round A Day To Remember records ever created.

I heard Tom Denney is making an appearance?

Yeah, he’s always really a part of it, he’s never not been. We always get together and throw around ideas and just put it together as we go, it just depends on timing and whatever everyone’s doing, but it’s always the same dudes putting together the music. That’s what it’s all about, I like to surround myself with people I trust and people I’m inspired by when we write and we just collectively put together these records, and I love what we do.

When A Day to Remember started out, the fusion of hardcore and pop-punk seemed somewhat bizarre, but it was different and came from your passion of both styles. Do you think it was because the music was honest and that you weren’t trying to follow any one style that you were able to get to where you are now?

Absolutely man, we’ve created this weird thing that’s absolutely awesome. We’re a band that can’t be summed up in one style and we can go on tours like these with Rise Against and still go on tours with bands like The Acacia Strain, Suicide Silence and Parkway Drive. Not many bands get to do that, we’re a group of very fortunate individuals. We’re never going to be that band that goes stale because they write the same record over and over because we’re like eight different bands in one.

What would be some sort of novelty item you would love to see sold at your merch stand?

We’d probably sell something funny of Shellnut’s because he’s a bit of a hoarder, he likes to go out and just buy random shit, so we’d probably just find something super random of his and all sign it for the merch table.

What would you have chosen for album of the year in 2011?

Oh man that’s easy for me, the Transit record. That album connected with me like no album ever has before, it’s just really awesome.

Any albums you’re looking forward to this year?

Ours, number one. I really love our band [laughs.] Who else…oh I know, The Ghost Inside record, I just produced that album and we finished three days ago. It’s going to take a lot of people by surprise because it’s fucking awesome.

We’re all gearing up for Soundwave and with such a killer lineup this year we’re dreading the clashes. What would be the most painful festival timetable clash you could imagine, and how would you decide who to see?

Well using Soundwave as an example I think it would be hardest to choose between System Of A Down and Marilyn Manson. That would be hard, but I think I would choose Marilyn Manson because I would assume he would put on a better show and have quite a lot going on. I think System would be a bit more bare bones, which is cool, but I’d rather be entertained start to finish then just watch a bunch of guys play awesome music.

With all this time in Australia, have you developed a fondness for any particular Australian food or drink?

We love Lord Of The Fries. Dude, anytime we come remotely near one we will eat it three, sometimes 4 time a day.

Lord Of The Fries rocks man, have you gotten through the whole menu yet?

To be honest I’m the sort of person who finds something awesome and just stick with it and order it every single time, and I always get the spicy burger which is just fucking badass.

Nice man. Well that’s us out of time mate, but thanks heaps for the chat and we’ll see you at Soundwave!

Cheers man, see you there.