Back for
Seconds
Band of
the Day interviewed UnderOATH’s Aaron Gillespie as a member of UnderOATH prior
to the following interview. Before we were able to post that interview up, we
had another interview with Aaron as a member of The Almost. So what you are
about to read is actually the second interview with UnderOATH – bigger, better,
and stronger – with keyboardist Chris Dudley in…
- by Mattias and Dave-Os -
1. Why
do you think you have such a huge following on Myspace? And how do you maintain
it – is it mostly your label, or you guys?
C: It’s mostly our label, to be honest, because we’re so busy being on tour all the time. Sometimes you can get thousands of messages a day, so we can’t really keep up with it. We wish we were able to, but we really can’t, so we do stuff as much as possible on there. But it’s mostly people on our label taking care of everything.
[As
for having such a huge following on Myspace,] I don’t know why that is, but
with Myspace and just the way the Internet is today in general, music is so
accessible and you’re able to connect with other people that like the same
music as you so much easier than you could five years ago. It’s just so
easy.
Mattias: But why do you think you guys have so many friends?
C: I don’t know. Yeah, I have no idea. Whenever I get on our Myspace, whether I’m posting a bulletin or looking at messages, I always glance at how many friends we have and how many friend requests we have. It sucks because I try to do some of that stuff myself, but there’s not a [function] where you can highlight all of the friend requests at one time and hit accept; you have to do that page by page…
Mattias: Well at least that way you get to experience each new friend one at a time.
C: *Laughs* Yeah, it’s crazy though. I honestly don’t get it [how we get so many friend requests].
Mattias: Do you ever click “Reject”?
C: *Laughs* No. I mean if it’s someone asking us to join some kind of porn thing - because I guess that’s getting really big on there right now - and I happen to see that I’ll just hit deny. But other than that, for the most part, we’re all about friends in the real sense.
Mattias: Do you get mad when people advertise on your page?
C: I don’t get mad. I mean it definitely helps other bands. It’s not like it’s harming us in any way, but I think it’s more of an inconvenience for people who go on to our Myspace. But for us, it’s like “Dude, if it’ll help you sell a record, go ahead.” But I know sometimes I’ll be looking at comments and there’ll be an entire page of one person saying, “Listen to our music” in 19 of the same messages - I wonder how many people actually listen to it.
Mattias: I check it out. I think, “This guy put some effort into it, let’s check it out.” But you know what, let’s set the record clear right here – let’s establish Myspace etiquette for promoting your band on UnderOATH’s comment section.
C: Umm… “Do whatever you want. I really don’t care. But you might upset some people.”
2.
After the last Warped Tour, you guys had your “big fallout” that everyone was
talking about. Does that come into play going into this Warped Tour?
C:
*Laughs* No, not at all. I mean, that had nothing to do with Warped Tour, it’s
just that we were having problems between all of us. There were communication
problems, which have always been a big thing in our band, almost ever since I
could remember. There’s a lot of stuff that gets swept under the rug, and then
two years later, it’s just like “Boom” - it becomes this thing when it really
shouldn’t be. It had nothing to do with Warped Tour though, it just happened to
be where we were at the time. It was just one day, we were at Warped Tour, and
were just like “We need to work out our stuff, but we don’t need to be on tour
while we’re doing it.”
We’re a
band that’s not good at getting up on stage and playing our songs and just
faking it. If we’re not 100% into it, then we’re not into it at all. It got to
a point where that’s where we were at. As a whole, if we’re not stoked, I think
it’s very evident and we don’t think it’s fair to the people who are coming in
and seeing us because they’re getting something like a 60% show.
So we went home and there were a lot of talks that needed to be had, and a lot of prayer that needed to be done. There were lots of conversations and just hanging out – not doing band stuff. For example, one day we decided that we would just go to Clear Water Beach, rent a boat, and just go out on the ocean all day. We’ve always been the band that’s always said that if it gets to a point where we’re a band first and friends second, then we’re going to stop. And that was a big thing. So we just needed to hang out with each other and not do band stuff. It was really, really good. But things are awesome now and are better than ever because we learned a lot about our communication with each other and what we need to do to keep our relationships where we want them.
3. Can
you sum up what your (at the time) latest single, “A Moment Suspended In Time”,
means in a nutshell?
C: No.
Mattias: Yeah, no one can, eh?
C: Well, Spencer can; I cannot. Maybe I’m a bad band member for saying that. I don’t know the lyrics to that song.
Mattias: Wow.
C: I’m horrible. I suck.
Mattias: Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Except for the people that read the interview.
C:
*Laughs*
4.
What’s your favorite UnderOATH and non-UnderOATH song to play on keyboard?
C: My favorite UnderOATH song to play is probably “Returning Empty Handed” because we’re playing that song on this tour and I just have a lot of fun playing it. That’s my favorite song to play on this tour in general. [As for the non-UnderOATH song,] I don’t really play other bands’ music. The majority of what I do is like programming – going into software programs – and making up music. I really admire bands like Aphex Twin and Imogen Heap – people that do that kind of stuff. You should listen to her (Imogen Heap’s) record; it’s amazing. And she did everything herself, so I think that’s like the best thing in the world.
Mattias: Are you in love with her? Would you go out on a date with her?
C: Um…If I wasn’t married, then maybe. I hear she’s really, really weird, but she’s a friggin’ ridiculous musician. If you listen to the record and listen to what she’s done musically – when I listen to that record, I’m just like “Wow…” It makes me want to quit doing what I’m doing. *Laughs*
5. Who
are your top five music influences?
C:
Influences are hard for me because I think when you talk about influences, they
tend to mean “this is who I want to sound like.” For me, it’s not really like
that. There are musicians that I respect, but there’s never been a time where I
thought to myself that I want to write a song that sounds like this
band. But I think subconsciously whatever you listen to is always going to
influence whatever you’re writing. So I guess in that respect, right now I’m
listening to Emily Haines; this record called “Infinity” by Godspeed You! Black
Emperor; Imogen Heap; The Acacia Strain – just the heaviest thing you’ve ever
heard; and this band that’s not even out because they don’t have vocals to
their songs yet – they’re called Inspector. So yeah, that’s pretty much what
I’ve been listening to.
We
asked these next five questions to Aaron, so let’s hear what Chris had to say:
6.
What’s the craziest tour story you’ve ever had?
C: Ever? There’s a lot of crazy stuff that happens. One time we were on tour with a band called Darkest Hour, and they turned our van into a chicken. They poured maple syrup all over it, ripped some feather pillows open [and stuck that on]. So what we ended up doing was while they were playing a show, we jacked up their trailer and took the tires off and chained them to the top. Then we got this big jug that had like mayonnaise, hot sauce, pee, and just all this crap – and we dumped all the nuts for the tires in there. We also put the key for the chain we used into the concoction we made, but we also put ten other fake keys in there so they had to route around to find the right key. Yeah, it was pretty fun.
7.
What’s the worst lie you’ve ever told?
C:
Wow…
Mattias: Aaron said “I once told this guy I was a jazz musician just so I could be cool when I was 13.”
C:
Wow…That’s a good question. That’s a really good question. Oh man,
that’s a hard one. That’s really good. I…um…wow. That’s a hard one. I don’t
know. Do you ask that to everyone? You should ask that to everyone; that’s a
really good question, but I’d have to think about that some more.
8. If
you could choose an image to put on an American stamp, what would it be?
C:
Wow…
Mattias: Aaron said “Burt Reynolds giving a peace sign.”
C: *Laughs* I would say me shirtless – but from the neck down and waist up. Just my torso.
9.
Watermelon or cantaloupe?
C: Neither. I’m allergic to both – but watermelon tastes a lot better.
10.
Who do you want to see next on Band of the Day?
C: I would say Me Without You. They have a lot of good stuff to say, they’re really good dudes, and they’re obviously amazing musicians.
After
the interview, Chris remembered that he didn’t answer the lie question yet, so
he told us to write that the worst lie he ever told was that he couldn’t think
of the worst lie he ever told. So there you go – the perfect answer. Thanks to
Chris and thanks to you, once again for joining us. Until the next time, you
stay classy and we’ll keep pumpin’ iron.
*Flex*
The BotD
Team