Interview With Alesana
In 2006, ALESANA showed the world a different side to the music world with their debut album ON FRIAL WINGS OF VANITY AND WAX. They toured for almost a year and a half getting more and more fans along the way. They just got out of the studio, creating their sophomore album WHERE MYTH FADES TO LEGEND. I got a chance to chat with the six boys about their new album, their lives, and what kinda shoe they would be. Our little chat took place on their tour bus outside The Living Room in Providence, RI. Stephanie and I were greeted by the boys and the bus driver’s little dog, Lola, who was said she hates girls, but was laying in my lap as we got a sneak peak of the new album after our interview.
THE NEW ALBUM SHOULD BE COMING OUT SOON?
Yea, It should be out June 3.
IS THIS GOING TO BE A CONCEPT ALBUM?
It is, its called Where Myth Fades to Legend, and it loosely follows The Brothers Grim. Its kinda our interpretations of those, it kinda follows what we did last time and how what are thoughts were on Greek mythology. It’s the same thing with The Brothers Grim and some other random fairy tales, so another geeky album.
IT’S NOT GEEKY. DID YOU GO INTO THE STUDIO WITH A CERTAIN PERSPECTIVE ON IT?
It was a lot different than I thought it would be, it was a lot of work. You think you’ll have a nicer studio and you sit around and have it easier. It was like boot camp, for everybody. Huck had it hard, his guitars got drilled. It definitely wasn’t as easy as everyone thought it would be. We played the songs over and over, we thought it was going to be a breeze, but it wasn’t. They kept saying do it again, do it again. It paid off in the end tho.
IT MADE YOU GUYS PERFECT.
Yeah, he would say, “That was perfect, do it better.â€
DO YOU EXPECT ANYTHING TO COME FROM THIS ALBUM, LIKE NEW FANS?
We project that it will go quintuple platinum and we are going to conquest earth. I think it is a continuation of our style and I think it’s more mature than our last album, and a lot of new people will get into it. So hopefully we will score some new fans and keep the old fans happy.
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE STRONGEST MESSAGE ON THE ALBUM?
I said that, I want kids to take away from it that you can think of your self and you don’t need to be categorized, we are just a weird band with a bunch of different guys and our music really doesn’t make sense in any category. Who cares, we are just a band and we do whatever we want, if you like you like it and if you don’t, that’s to bad. Yeah, I think its don’t be afraid to be an individual. Be yourself, like Lola.
SO, DO YOU THINK YOU GUYS HAVE GROWN SINCE THE LAST ALBUM?
Absolutely. I think I have grown like two inches.
(Laughing) NOT HEIGHT WISE, MATURITY WISE.
Oh, yea. You can tell from this album from the last album. Definitely matured musically, we have all gotten a lot better. Even the lyrics have grown and the song structure, it sounds like a real band.
I’VE WATCHED SOME OF THE VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE, IS THERE ANY REASON WHY YOU PUT THEM UP?
Just to reach out to our fans mainly, being off tour, we really didn’t get to interact with anybody. We wanted to make them this, so they know we are still thinking about them and how we are as people and how we hang out.
SINCE YOU DID MAKE THE VIDEOS, WHY NOT MAKE IT A SURPRISE FOR THEM? BECAUSE YOU HAVE SNIPIT OF SONGS ON THEM.
It just gives them an idea of how we make the album. I mean some kids think we live some secret life. It’s a lot of work and they can kinda see how we make the album. There is no auto tuning on the vocals, we played and played. Our producer wouldn’t just cut and paste, we just had to do it.
SOME OF THE THEMES OF THE VIDEOS ARE KINDA OUT THERE. WHERE DID YOU COME UP WITH ALL THESE IDEAS?
Its just stuff that happens, our refrigerator broke down. So we got another fridge off of Craig’s List and we had to take the old refrigerator outside and we just thought, why don’t we ram it with a van. We only had it for 7 months and it already has 700000 miles on it, im surprised it didn’t hurt the van at all. Its just what every happens.
DID YOU GET HURT?
Nope, nobody got hurt. No humans were hurt in the process.
HOW MANY VIDEOS DID YOU MAKE? CUZ I KNOW YOU ONLY OUT UP 3.
We are still working on them and still working to get them out there. Its harder being on tour. It’s a lot of work, but we are still working on them. So there should be more coming.
WHATS THE CRAZIEST THING YOU HAVE DONE AS A BAND?
We are crazy in general. Well there’s this one time and this other time. My 21st birthday was a couple of days ago… Jeremy, that was crazy I think. I think (Dennis) it would be, when everyone but me jumped in a river and everyone got sick. We came out smelling like food oil.
NOW WHATS THE CRAZIEST THING YOU’VE DONE INDIVIDUALLY, IN YOUR WHOLE LIFE?
(Jeremy) Check this out, a long time ago, I fell into a tub full of water with all my clothes on. (Huck) This past tour, me and Pierre and a bunch of other people, drank a whole lotta apple juice and went crazy for some reason. So Pierre and me decided that we were going to walk on top of the venue and it was connected to all these other places and we found this dish, like a mold or something, and we took it with us to the venue in Seattle. Then they took it and hung it as a sign. That apple juice just made me really crazy. (Dennis) There is that one time with Corey, his friends, it was one of the guitarists’ 21st birthday and we kidnapped him from his practice space and we had the county police called on us. I guess it looked kinda real because there were 8 dudes in a car with a plastic machine gun pinning him down and he didn’t now what was going on, he was so scared he thought he was going to puke, then we took him to the party. And then Shawn calls and says that the S.W.A.T team was at his house, because the car was registered in his name, then it got up on the news as a hoax.
FUN QUESTION FOR YOU, IF YOU COULD BE ANY SHOE, WHAT WOULD YOU BE AND WHO WOULD YOU WANT TO WEAR YOU?
(Pat) Your shoe! I’d be a Draven, if your show were a Draven. (Huck) I’d be a van, all white (like the ones he was wearing). (Jeremy) I’d be a pair of Liberty Cowboy boots. (Dennis) I’d be a pair of ugly Creepers. (Jeremy) I would want Christopher Walken. (Dennis) Jeremy, our drummer. (Pat) I would want Clint Eastwood to wear me. (Shawn) Your shoes kinda match my shoes, white and black stripes.
IF YOU HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO DO ANYTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
(Dennis) I would kill every member of my band. (Huck) I would go and design furniture, that’s always something I wanted to do. (Huck) I would go and try to play baseball somewhere. (Pat) I’d be a kick boxer, I’ve always wanted to kick peoples butts.
I KNOW YOU GUYS LOVE YOUR VIDEOS GAMES, WHAT IS EVERYONES FAVORITE?
(Jeremy) I don’t. (Pat) Zelda, baby. (Dennis, Huck, Shawn) Halo 3.
ALLRIGHT IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE ALBUM OR YOU GUYS?
(Adam) I can’t read. (Dennis) Adam says as he text messages. The album is jam packed with explosive smash hits. You should buy 8 copies each and it comes out in June
ANY LAST FAMOUS WORDS?
I hate Dennis! (Dennis) I hate me!? (Adam) If it rhymes it must be true.
