Interview With Shawn Mike Of Alesana
When Dennis Lee - vocalist of North Carolina’s ALESANA screams “you take my breath away” on TILTING THE HOURGLASS from the bands debut disc ON FRAIL WINGS OF VANITY AND WAX he is screaming not only screaming for his song he is screaming for the huge fanbase they have in the music community. Like any fan of the bands music this is the exact saying you feel and tell your friends this bands music does to you.
ALESANA has an emotionally, dynamic and adventurous debut disc with a three guitar and vocal attack in which makes the band stand out from the same ol same ol. The song writing is intriguing, gripping, charming, mysterious, delirious and powerful. Fully charged and explosive to the touch, you have tracks like ALCHEMY SOUNDED GOOD AT THE TIME, THIS CONVERSATION IS OVER, APOLOGY and the heartfelt THIRD TEMPATION OF PARIS. This band knows how to write a “full album”. On stage it only gets better with energy, booty shaking and just a solid sounding very easy flowing set. Then the third best thing is once you get the guys removed from their video games, they are the most down to earth, fun loving dudes who are doing this as a career because they have talent and passion. I had e-mailed Shawn Mike (vocals, guitar and piano) a few months ago and he did a brief rundown of who ALESANA was. This time it was person to person. I went in for a very casual interview and to have fun. Once meeting Shawn, I found we had one common interest, sarcasm, so with that the interview has a lot of “fun times”. Read on and get what’s happening with the new record, touring and fan stories and what body parts he thinks his band members are.
FIRST OFF, YOU GUYS ARE STARTING WRITING FOR A NEW ALBUM, IS IT ALMOST DONE?
The writing process is about eighty percent there, we’re mostly just missing vocals right now.
YOU WROTE LYRICS?
No, that’s like the part that’s missing, half the record is completely done, the other half is still in the works! Yeah, just because we’ve been on the road, so it’s been real hard but in January we get a whole month off at a cabin near a lake in California to finish writing, we’re very excited.
NICE—-INSPIRATION! IS IT TRUE THAT YOU GUYS ARE BRINGING OLD STUFF INTO THIS RECORD?
Yeah
LIKE DEMO STUFF FROM LIKE THE OLD DAYS?
Like if you ever heard our EP, the yellow EP, some of that stuff.Â
WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?
Because not a lot of people have heard that stuff, we really love it so we want to give it a higher quality recording and a chance to be heard by more people.
OK. SO ARE YOU REVAMPING, CHANGING?
Of course, we weren’t quite as honed back then as we are now, so to speak.
ALL RIGHT. SO, THAT MAKES IT EASIER, NO WONDER EIGHTY PERCENT OF THIS ALBUM IS FINISHED!
Well, there are only four old songs going on and I’m not even counting that like eighty percent of the new material is done.
SO, YOU WROTE IT MOSTLY ON THE ROAD?
Yeah
SO, WRITING MUSICALLY IS EASIER ON THE ROAD THAN LYRICALLY?
No, it’s just that we always do everything musically first, then melodies, than lyrics. Lyrics are the very last thing we do. And as far as the old stuff too it has changed a lot, it’s not to be the same song that’s plopped on the record, like there are a lot of changes.
CAN YOU GIVE US A LITTLE INSIGHT ON THE AVENUE YOU GUYS ARE GOING DOWN MUSICALLY?
All the dynamics are just getting pushed harder, if it was soft before, it’s softer, if it was hard before, it’s harder, if it was poppy before, it’s poppier, so
 IS IT OPERA?
I would love to do Opera
YOU KNOW WHAT I SAID, MAYBE YOU WON’T AGREE WITH THIS, BUT I DON’T REALLY CARE IF YOU AGREE OR NOT
That’s real nice—–thank you (laughing) I don’t really care now
 (laughing) NO, THIS IS MY OPINION, MAYBE YOU’LL SHARE THE SAME THEORY I HAVE. LISTENING TO YOUR ALBUM IS LIKE READING A SHAKESPEARE NOVEL!
It’s funny you said that because I’ve always said I like our record to feel like I’m watching a play when I listen to it. That’s really what we wanted to capture, so I thought we did it pretty well.
OK. SEE, SO WE AGREE! (laughing) ALTHOUGH, DENNIS, IN HIS SCREAMING, I READ THE LYRICS AND HE’S DOWN HALF THE LYRIC PAGE WHEN IM STILL WAY UP TOP AT THE BEGINNING.
We get that question a lot, it’s because every song is a story we wrote and we don’t necessarily sing it or scream it in the right order, so when we write it out, we write it in the proper order so it makes sense. We go for the more chaotic feel when we’re actually singing it.
VOCALLY, WELL, YOU GUYS DON’T REALLY KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING NEW YET?
Oh, I do
ARE YOU CHANGING THINGS UP, ARE YOU GOING IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION?
I’ve been forcing myself to learn how to sing even higher than I already can
REALLY? IS IT LIKE GRAB THE NUTS AND SQUEAL
Yeah and all of our screams have taken a different shape now, too. We’ve all got much better at it, so there’s going to be some cool things in there, I can’t really talk about it.
LYRICALLY, DO WE HAVE A DIRECTION?
Yeah, there’s a couple ideas we’re going for, it’s not going to be fully concept on our next record, we’re going to go full concept, the whole will be one long story but with the inclusion of some older stuff, it’s kind of hard to do that. It’s going to be like, ya know, the last record had a theme, this record will have a theme as well.
YOUR SISTER SANG ON THE LAST ALBUM?
Yes
ARE YOU GUYS GOING TO DO THAT AGAIN?
Absolutely
ARE YOU HAVING ANY OTHER GUEST APPEARANCES THAT YOU WOULD LIKE?
We’re crossing our fingers on some stuff.
OH, WE CAN’T BE TOLD? IS IT A SECRET?
No, it’s not top secret its just I don’t want to say and it not work out
OK, PUT IT THIS WAY, IF YOU COULD HAVE SOMEBODY GUEST APPEAR ON YOUR ALBUM, WHO WOULD YOU WANT?
Paul McCartney, BABYÂ from The Beatles, that’s what I’d want.
IS THAT WHAT YOUR GOING FOR?
What, The Beatles? No, Paul, I wish. I’m sure that would cost a million dollars that I do not have. Here’s my dream, one day do a duet with Paul McCartney. It will never happen but that’s how I feel. Then it would be more than a dream, I guess.
YOU NEVER KNOW!
Right, but he’s like sixty-four years old now, so, my window is getting a little…
B.B. KING IS WHAT EIGHTY-FOUR, HE’S STILL WALKING AROUND!
Paul McCartney’s put out a new record, actually
YES! SO YOUR SISTER IS GOING SING ON IT?
Yeah
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT TAKING HER OUT ON TOUR?
No, that’s not something we would do just because she does have a job and other things to do (laughing)
SHE COULD BE THE EIGHTH PERSON IN YOUR BAND! (laughing)
We only have six, haven’t you been paying attention at all (laughing)
I KNOW(laughing) ALL RIGHT, SO PRETTY MUCH, WE’RE TALKING NEXT YEAR SOMETIME THE ALBUM WILL BE COMING OUT?
We will finish writing in January, recording in February and March, probably late spring, early summer it will be released.
NICE. YOU’VE BEEN TOURING FOR THIS ALBUM FOREVER!
Yes, since May of 06 we’ve been on the road, non-stop. We’re ready for new music (laughing)
YOU GUYS AREN’T DOING ANYTHING NEWER ON THE ROAD?
We’re going to start pulling out some of the old stuff so people will get more familiar with it on our next tour, like I said only a few people know our old stuff, so
IS THE EP STILL AVAILABLE?
No, it’s been out of print for almost a year, so
DID YOU GUYS RELEASE THAT YOURSELF?
Yeah, our old label kind of helped but it never got like officially published or released or anything.
NOW, TOURING, YOU GUYS HAVE A TOURING BAND, NEVER STOP, CONSTANT! ALL RIGHT, WARPED TOUR, YOU JUST GOT OFF OF IT
It was awesome, it was hot!
PRETTY MUCH EVERYBODY ASKS HOW WAS WARPED TOUR AND YOU GIVE THE SAME OL SAME OL ANSWER
Usually everyone says it was Long and hot
DO YOU FEEL PLAYING ON WARPED TOUR THAT YOU GET A FAIR AMOUNT OF EXPOSURE? THERE’S LIKE WHAT EIGHT STAGES?
Because of Warped Tour, I feel like our popularity has gone through the roof. We even surprised ourselves, some of the crowds we played for like thousands of people like every single day. It’s sort of like a way to realize that we are getting bigger, when we’re on the road, we don’t know, we don’t watch TV, we don’t look at the Internet ever
JUST PLAY VIDEO GAMES! laughing)
Right, (laughing) play my nintendo DS, yeah
YOU SHOULD HAVE THINGS THAT WOULD POP UP AND SAY TODAY YOU SOLD (laughing)
That’s like my Mom called me and said I just saw your commercial on TV and I had no idea that we had a commercial on TV, so I’m all right (laughing)
(laughing) ON WARPED TOUR, THE BACK STAGE ATMOSPHERE, IS IT ALMOST LIKE A BROTHERHOOD, DO YOU GUYS BOND WITH EVERYBODY? DID YOU KNOW BANDS WHEN YOU GOT ON THERE?
We knew some but now we know a lot of bands
SO, IT’S PRETTY MUCH NETWORKING, KNOWING PEOPLE
Definitely, it’s a big connection game, well not game on Warped Tour, it’s really important to get to know all the people that are there.
IS THERE A HUGE ADJUSTMENT GOING FROM WARPED TOUR BACK TO CLUBS?
We were very excited to go back to club touring, Warped Tour was a fifteen hour day and club shows are about six hours. Like this tour, the club day is about four hours long. The rest of the day, I get to play my DS (laughing) And eat free food.
SO, PRETTY MUCH, THIS IS WHAT YOU DO, PLAY THE SHOWS AND THEN PLAY VIDEO GAMES?
Yeah
THAT’S IT?
Pretty much, I read too.
THERE’S NO LIKE WILD CRAZY STORIES?
Craziness gets less and less the longer you tour. Until we get our bus, then it will be exciting again. There’s only so much you can do with nine dudes in a little van. You huddle in your corner and you play your game (laughing)
(laughing) ALL RIGHT. HOW LONG IS THIS TOUR LASTING?
There’s only two more days after today. It was very short.
SO ISÂ STEVEN GONE?
Oh yeah
HAS HE BEEN GONE FOR A LONG TIME?
Yeah, and we originally were going to be polite when we spoke to Steven but we removed Steven from the band because he wasn’t a very nice person. He wasn’t nice to us or the fans and we were all about the fans, so he pretty much brought it on himself, so, we now have Shane in the band and he’s like a brother, so it’s amazing.
WAS HE FROM NORTH CAROLINA?
He was in a band called YOUR NAME IN VEIN on our old record label and he came out and merched for us for like three months and we just fell in love so now he’s in the band.
STEVEN’S BEEN GONE FOR AWHILE. WHEN YOU PLAYED THE LIVING ROOM, WAS HE THERE?
He’s been gone since the last day of our headlining tour, so no, he wasn’t gone yet.
PRETTY MUCH YOU SAID YOU TRY AND STAY AWAY WITH WHAT’S GOING ON WITH YOUR BAND, DO YOU READ REVIEWS OR INTERVIEWS?
Not really, we just try not to, the only thing it’s going to do is either bum you out of blow up your head, one of the two, so we just stay away from it.
ARE THERE ANY PRE-CONCEIVED IDEAS THAT PEOPLE HAVE WRITTEN OR SAID THAT IS TOTALLY NOT TRUE ABOUT YOUR BAND?
We get labeled a lot just for the fact that we wear all black, that’s just more of a unity thing, we’re not trying to go for any particular look
AND IT SLIMS YOU
Oh yea (laughing) cause we need slimming, let me tell you. It’s all these free turkey wraps here
(laughing) SO, NOTHING MAJOR THAT YOU’VE HEARD?
Nah, it’s weird because the reviews we’ve read that have been negative are just so childish, I don’t even mind negative reviews, I don’t expect everybody to like us but some of them you know they are just pegging us as a band that sings and screams, I feel we’re a little deeper than that, so it’s only the opinion of one person, so when its all said and done it really doesn’t effect us at all
THAT’S THE PRESS, RIGHT!
All press is better than no press, always
OTHER THAN YOU GUYS ALL BEING MUSCIANS, DO YOU GUYS ANYTHING ELSE THAT YOUR PASSIONATE ABOUT AND THAT YOU STRIVE FOR?
Can you clarify that a little bit, as far as what, like I hope to get married and have kids
OK. THAT’S A PASSION.
Does that count?
BUT DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING OUTSIDE OF….BECAUSE I WOULD THINK IN YOUR CAREER, YOUR IN A BAND, IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD WANT TO DO IN THE FUTURE?
I was actually an athletic my whole life until I started playing in bands
DID YOU PLAY BASEBALL?
Yes, I was big into baseball so eventually like when, music is sort of like my job but in a producing sense, I’d like to play old man baseball games. Ya know what I mean, thirties, forties like
(laughing) IN A WHEELCHAIR!
That’s not what I meant (laughing) , like a fantasy league baseball kind of thing
ALL RIGHT! WHAT DID YOU DO WHEN YOU PLAYED BASEBALL?
I pitched and played first base. A lot of people are very very shocked when they hear that I’m an athelete, I guess because of the way I look, like on the Haste The Day Tour we played a lot of basketball and a lot of people were shocked that, me and Adam in our band were both really good at sports so a lot of people are really caught off guard about that. Which is fun because we can pick random kids and play and play two on two and they think they are going to slaughter us, we usually slaughter them. (laughing)
THAT’S WHEN YOU PUT THE STAKES UP AND YOU SAY FREE BEER FOR A WEEK (laughing)
(laughing) Yeah
THREE ESSENTIALS TO HAVE ON A SUMMER TOUR?
Well, on Warped Tour sun screen is number one and water without a doubt, but just being hot in general mesh shorts.
YOUR BASKETBALL SHORTS!
To sleep in at night. Shawn didn’t have those and he pays for it every night
IS YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPER NATURAL POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE AND WHY?
Probably the power to live forever. To be immortal. Just because I like life, not that I want to be super powerful or anything. I want to see where everything’s going forever.
OK. (So as I glance down to read my next question I make this silly face that just makes him make this comment)
That’s a great face, I can’t wait for this next question! (laughing)
IF YOU COULD DESCRIBE EACH OF YOUR BAND MEMBERS (laughing) AS A BODY PART, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
As a body part!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(laughing) YES
Dennis would be a sweat gland, Shane would be a teardrop, I know that’s not a body part but it comes from your body. Oh man! Jeremy would be a bicep because he’s impressed with his arms, he thinks he’s really muscular, he’s as thin as I am but he’s always flexing and looking at himself, Adam would be a penis and Pat would be like a hair follicle because he’s obsessed with his hair, he’s always dying it and cutting it for no reason
OK. WHAT WOULD YOU BE?
I can’t say about myself, I don’t know, that’s more of an observation thing. I can’t observe myself, what do you think I would be? I’ll turn this around on you
(laughing) I’LL GET BACK TO YOU ON THAT ONE!
Exactly
ON THIS ALBUM THAT YOU GUYS HAVE HAD OUT FOREVER, WHAT DO YOU THINK
Why do you say forever like it’s….1986 this record has been sitting on shelves like
I KNOW, IT’S BEEN OUT FOR A LONG TIME LIKE IF I WAS YOU, I’D BE LIKE
The original release was last June, that’s a year just passed by
YA BUT YOU HAVE HAD THIS MUSIC F O R E V E R!!
A year and two months
(laughing) WHAT, THAT’S A LONG TIME!
O.K. the standard right now is two years on a record
OKIE SO THIS NEW RECORD THAT YOU HAVE OUT NOW (laughing)
Thank you (laughing)
SINGING THE SONGS EVERY NIGHT, WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BIGGEST SURPRISE REACTION YOU GET EVERYTIME YOU PLAY IT?
The song that surprises the most that we still don’t get is CONGRADULATIONS, I HATE YOU
I LOVE THAT SONG!
So does everybody, when we wrote it, we were like cool all right and it’s been so popular, we’ve never been able to understand why but we like it but that’s probably the one that surprised us the most. What was the question again so I can answer it better?
I FORGOT WHAT I ASKED YOU I DIDNT WRITE THIS DOWN AND NOW I FORGOT…Oh great. great interview (laughing)
HA HA HA NO, I GOT IT. WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST GROWTH SONGWISE YOU HAVE HAD IN AÂ LIVE SETTING?
TILTING THE HOURGLASS. We were hoping it would grow and it did. That’s the first song that we did…CONGRATULATIONS, I HATE YOU is old, so old fans have always known that song
DON’T SAY OLD. IT’S NOT OLD, IT’S NEW!(laughing)
I think that’s the first song we ever wrote
A YEAR AND FOUR MONTHS OLD! (laughing)
TWO MONTHS…..A year and two months, but with TILTING THE HOURGLASS kids literally didn’t know it until we released the record so they went from blank stares, it shows that knowing what it was to sing every word. So that has been cool
WOULD YOU AND DENNIS EVER TRADE OFF VOCALS? WOULD YOU SCREAM AND HIM SING?
I do scream
WELL, I MEAN, SCREAM LIKE HIM, LIKE AÂ CHAOTIC CREEPY SYCHOPATH!
(laughing) No, he is like a robot, I can’t do what he does, no I scream like a girl being attacked in an ally, that’s my scream, that’s where I hold my screaming ability from that image in my head.
DID YOU LEARN THIS FROMÂ PREVIOUS LIFE?
I don’t know, I hope not,that would be creepy and Dennis can’t sing to save his life, so no.
NOT EVEN IN THE SHOWER?
I hope, not that I’ve ever shared a shower with Dennis
WELL, COME ON, YOU’VE TOURED FOREVER!
Yeah, actually that was a pretty funny story on Warped Tour, some days the showers would be like a gymnasium so it was like the prison style showering and I used to play Sports so this didn’t bother me at all but it was funny to watch someone who didn’t play sports to get in there , I don’t want to drop any names (cough) Pat. like dropping the towel like really quick and then putting it right back on
AW….HE FELT COMFORTABLE IN HIS SKIN!
Maybe
YOU SHOULD HAVE GONE UP TO HIM AND SAY HEY BUDDY
Just go and smack him in the ass
(laughing) DO WE HAVE ANY WEIRD FAN STORIES?
There’s so many weird, I have a cool fan story, because we’re in Connecticut tonight. The last time we played Connecticut we played a floor show, some kids would keep running into my mic and hitting my mouth, so I see two guys that always come to our shows, like protecting my mic and I guess it make a hardcore kid mad so he punched the kid right in the nose and ripped his nose right off his face right here, so he’s on the guest list for life. It was really nice, he did it to save me. it was weird, not weird bad, weird good.
IS IT WEIRD THAT PEOPLE, LET’S SAY IN UTAH, KNOW WHO YOU ARE? LIKE YOU’VE NEVER MET THESE PEOPLE AND THEY THINK THEY KNOW YOU
It’s bizarre because we’ve been touring non-stop, we never have been able to sit back and watch that. It just happens. Like when we take the break to write the record and then come back out and we’re that much bigger, that is going to be like holy cow, but when it’s slowly happening, you don’t really notice it I guess. It’s weird when I personally get spotted out like in a mall or something, by name, that’s when it’s whoa, holy shit, really. You know who I am. When the kids come up to take pictures and stuff, I try to calm them down, they’re shaking
YEA I WAS LIKE THAT SHAKING CAUSE I WAS LIKE OMG IM GOING TO INTERVIEW SHAWN SOON?
Shut up.
OR MAYBE IT WAS THE COLE SLAW THAT WENT WITH THAT LOVELY SANDWHICH WE GAVE YOU. THAT MADE ME SHAKE
(laughing) You’re crazy.
THE WHOLE MYSPACE, HAS THAT HELPED YOU GUYS GREATLY TOO?
As much as I hate Myspace, yes it has.
SEE, I WOULD THINK BECAUSE YOU GUYS ALL HAVE YOUR INDIVIDUAL PROFILES, I WOULD THINK THAT WOULD BE KIND OF WEIRD, PEOPLE WOULD GET ON THERE AND THINK THEY KNOW YOU
It’s incredibly weird and they’ll come to shows and are offended that you don’t recognize them, I don’t know, I try my best to let them know I see hundreds of faces all the time so it’s very hard to remember everybody. It’s nothing personal.
YOU GUYS DID A VIDEO FOR AMBROSIAÂ ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO DOING MORE VIDEOS FOR THE NEW ALBUM?
We’re still going to do one more video for this record, probably for TILTING THE HOURGLASS mostly because of the length of the song. You can’t go over three and a half minutes CONGRATULATIONS, I HATE YOU is too long
ANY FAMOUS LAST WORDS?
No, I’m a man of few words usually, I’m better at writing than I am at speaking.
YA KNOW WHAT THOUGH, I HAVE TO TELL YOU, THE E-MAIL INTERVIEW THAT YOU DID FOR ME WAS GREAT!
Thank You. I love writing, when I have a chance to write, I love writing. When I do interviews like written out, I actually go back and edit everything.
AWWW…THIS BOY IS THE CUTEST!
August 11th, 2007 at 9:07pm
Aw interviews with Alesana are always fun to read/watch xD There’s always a bit of humor!