More
Than Almost There
As
drummer/vocalist for UnderOATH and vocalist/guitarist for his project The
Almost, one could definitely consider
Aaron Gillespie as
a dynamic man. Band of the Day spoke to this “dynaman” (we invented the term;
we’ll coin it as well) in an invigorating set of…
- by Mattias and Dave-Os -
1.
What’s something you like better about performing as The Almost as opposed to
UnderOATH?
A: I love them both equally in different ways. I love that I can touch people [when I perform as] The Almost.
Mattias: What do you like better about performing with UnderOATH?
A: More control. As the drummer, I’m “driving the truck.”
Mattias: Yeah, you get to set the pace for everyone.
A: Yeah.
2. The
tacks off of “Southern Weather” sound pretty diverse in respect to musical
styling. What three tracks off the album do you consider your favorites?
A: My three favorite songs are “Amazing Because It Is,” “Dirty and Left Out,” and another song called “Drive There Now.”
3. How
many instruments can you play?
A: I play guitar, bass, drums, piano a little bit, and I sing. That’s pretty much it.
Mattias: Did you learn them all at the same time?
A: I started playing drums when I was a kid, and then I kind of branched out from there. I was about 15 or 16 when I started playing guitar. My mom played piano her whole life, so I watched. I don’t know how well I can play any of those things though, but I can fake it all pretty well.
Mattias: Well, you have an album out, so you’re doing a good job so far.
A: We’ll see what happens.
4.
What’s the craziest story you have from touring with Say Anything and Saves the
Day?
A: I don’t really have any crazy stories. I’ve toured with both bands a little bit. Say Anything and UnderOATH – we played shows together and it’d be really fun, then we’d all fly back on the same plane. We’d get like the whole back of the plane all to ourselves, so that’s pretty cool. Saves the Day we haven’t toured with much. Warped Tour was UnderOATH’s actual first touring experience with them, so that’s cool.
5. One
of your idols is Dave Grohl. What’s your favorite song from anything that Dave
Grohl has ever been a part of?
A: “Drain You” by Nirvana.
Mattias: Do you like any of his Foo Fighters stuff?
A: Oh, I love the Foo Fighters. I mean everything the Foo Fighters have done I think is perfect. They’re in my top five favorite rock bands.
Mattias: Do you like Nirvana better or Foo Fighters?
A: Different ways, dude. I could say I like Nirvana better, and then I could say I like Foo Fighters better. It’s kind of hard.
6. If
you could copy another person’s sense of style, who would it be?
A: Johnny Cash. I actually did dress up like Johnny Cash for the new Almost video.
7.
What’s your favorite type of weather, and what do you like to do in that
weather?
A: I like it when it’s really hot - like 90 degrees. I grew up in Florida.
Mattias: What do you do in that kind of weather?
A: Swimming, fishing, driving with the top down and the hand out the window, just living life. Summer’s the best time, dude. Anywhere I can be where it’s summer all the time, I’m happy.
Mattias: Vancouver is like rainy city.
A: Gross, dude. I can’t get into the rain. When I’m in Florida it rains like everyday though for like an hour, but then it stops.
Mattias: You don’t like the snow? Not a big snow fan?
A: I like snow a lot actually. I live in Salt Lake City right now, so I love the snow - but in doses.
8.
What is your biggest phobia?
A: Airplanes. I have to go on them all the time but I hate it. I can’t sleep. This year we’ve toured with Taking Back Sunday all year long – we did Japan, Australia, all of Europe, so we had like 18 flights and I didn’t sleep on one of them. Two of them were over 13 hours long.
Mattias: Were you just nervous the whole time?
A: Just afraid the plane was going to come pummeling out of the sky. It sucked.
Mattias: You know when you’re on an airplane and your ears pop…
A: I
don’t like anything about airplanes. Everything about airplanes sucks.
The only thing that’s good about them is that they get you somewhere in just a
couple hours as opposed to days.
Mattias:
Say you had to go to Japan and you could boat it…
A: I would boat it.
Mattias: Really?
A: No…I wouldn’t. I’d get seasick for that long. It’d take like three weeks. That would be awful.
Mattias: Would you drive it?
A: Yeah, I’d drive it.
9. A
robot shows up at your door and it asks you what it is to be human in no more
than five words. What would you tell him?
A: [In a robot voice] “Take me to your leader.” *laughs* No. I’d say something like “Breath. Hunger. Feeling. Life. Real.”
Mattias: Why would you put “Hunger” in there?
A: Because he doesn’t know what it is to be hungry, right? And hunger is such a transcending term; it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re stomach hungry. You could be hungry for anything.
Mattias: You have like one negative there and four positives. You didn’t say “Pain.”
A: No, because pain is something you go through in life that’s good for you sometimes.
10.
Who would you like to see next on Band of the Day?
A: Nine Inch Nails? Radiohead?
Mattias: Too famous.
A: Taking Back Sunday? I don’t know. I’m drawing a blank.
Mattias: *laughs* That’s okay.
As a
bonus for you readers, we actually happened to interview Aaron as a part of
UnderOATH a year prior to this interview. Since we re-interviewed Aaron before
the first interview was posted, here are a few Q&A’s from the first time
around:
What’s
the worst lie you’ve ever told?
A: Wow. Growing up, I’ve probably told some pretty heinous lies as a kid. I don’t know…Oh! When I was 13, I told someone that I was this jazz musician just so that I could be cool. That was actually my worst lie ever. Yeah, that’s the only lie that I can think of that was bad.
Dave-os: That’s not that bad though.
A: That’s as bad as it gets. Lying doesn’t go down too well where I’m from.
If
you could choose any image to put on an American stamp, what would it be?
A: A dude with a moustache. Burt Reynolds. Burt Reynolds like giving a peace sign.
Do
you prefer watermelon or cantaloupe?
A:
Watermelon because cantaloupe tastes strange. It’s a strange
fruit. Cantaloupe’s good, but you’ve got to get it just right. You can have a
watermelon that’s a little too ripe or a little unripe, but cantaloupe either
way is disgusting. It’s got to be perfect.
Who
would you like to see next on Band of the Day?
A: Every Time I Die. They’re rad dude. They’re rad.
As
another bonus, we re-asked him one of those questions just for fun:
If
you could choose any image to put on an American stamp, what would it be?
A: What did I say last year?
Mattias: Burt Reynolds giving a peace sign.
A: That’s a good one. I’ll stick with that.
Peace,
Love, & Moustaches,
The BotD
Team