10
Questions with Yellowcard
- by Mattias and Dave-Os -
Yellow
Fever
You know
them, you know their songs, and they’re probably everyone’s favourite
band whose name is based on a soccer term (football term for you readers across
the water). We caught up with Yellowcard last month
on the eve of a new semester of school where they played on campus for
University kids not quite willing to end summer just yet.
So stop,
turn, take a look around, at all the lights and
sounds, and find out what exactly is
Sean Mackin’s (violin)
favourite yellow thing.
1. On
the “Lights and Sounds” album, you have the Holly Wood character. If she was
played by an actress or if she was an actual actress, who would she be?
S: Any
actress? I imagine, you know, Ryan [Key; lead singer] likes blondes, so maybe
like a Scarlett Johansson or maybe someone even
classier like a Naomi Watts, someone like that.
2. Ben
Harper recently left the band and overall Yellowcard
has gone through a lot of line-up changes. Why do you think that’s so?
S:
Unlike a lot of other bands, we have a lot of history. We grew up together, we’re kind of that Cinderella story. When you come
from knowing eachother since you were 14 and 15 years
old (I’m getting up there; I’m about 27) and today only knowing like a handful of
people since I was 15 and…I’ll punch that bee in the face. Sorry, there was a
bee that just flew by… I accredit a lot to changes in lifestyle and changes in
the business. You know, it started out as friends hanging out and as you get
older, people get married, some people lose focus and
start wanting to do other things. You know, it’s just one of those things in
life where you’re not going to have the same friends when you’re 15 when you’re
27 so that’s kind of how it is. It’s sad at times, but everyone here still has
that general Yellowcard mentality. It’s like we’re
really good friends and we like to play good music and have a good time.
Dave-os: Do you still hang out with any of the old members at
all?
S: I
talk to Ben occasionally. We see
3. I
read after this tour you’re going to stop touring for a bit, and record your
next album for 2007. Any hints on what’s going to be on the next one?
S:
Probably the latest and greatest Yellowcard has to
offer. We’ve kind of been handicapped this year; we took like two months off,
recorded “Lights and Sounds” and then have just been plagued with like medical
conditions. Ryan’s had his throat thing, so we had to cancel about three months
of touring out of about eight months and it kind of held us back a lot. We’re
looking to get back out there and pop some people in the face. We already have
about 20 – 25 songs. We have about five of them done as a band but we have
about 25 solid ideas. Neal Avron [producer;
Mattias: So is it going to sound like a mix of everything or more of
S: I
don’t know exactly what it’s going to sound like. I think that like as artists
you always want to go in a new direction so maybe a little different and still
us, so maybe a little bit of One For the Kids or Lights and Sounds or Ocean
Avenue, so you’re going to have that same Yellowcard
flavor but we’re going to have some fun with it and hopefully go a bit in a new
direction.
4. You
guys tour A LOT, like 300 shows a year…What do you do on the bus to pass time?
S: Well
right now, we’re from
Mattias: On campus?
S: Yeah,
who knows. We might try to mix it up. I saw a pool
over there but don’t tell anybody. A little high dive maybe... I dunno, we’re going to go and have
some fun. It’s the first night on tour. Like, last night,
5. Who’d
you root for in the FIFA World Cup?
S: I
wanted to see the
Mattias:
S:
Yeah, they were good. And then um, just watching the South American teams. All
like the
6. The
Underdog EP was under Fueled By Ramen. What do you
think about the label now that it’s sort of blown up over the last couple of
years?
S: Um,
I’m not really that familiar with them. I think that when we released the
Underdog EP we were still signed to Capitol, we just licensed it through Fueled
By Ramen. Vinnie’s [Fiorello; label
founder] a good friend of ours and I know that Pete’s [Wentz] got a hand in
helping that whole thing out and um, I never hear any bad things about them as
a label so I’m really proud that they’re like, business savvy and that we have
a relationship with them. From what I
understand, they’re doing it right. There are record labels like Drive-Thru and
Victory Records which are horrible independent record labels; they kind of take
advantage of the artist…
Mattias: I know about Victory, but Drive-Thru? Really?
What do they do?
S: Uh,
I don’t want to get into it. But there are just the things that you hear you
know. Being an artist it’s nice to know there’s a label like Fueled By Ramen or like Kung-Fu, you know, labels that kind of look
out for the artist.
Mattias: Any favorite Fueled By Ramen artists
right now?
S: Um,
I don’t even know their current line-up.
Mattias: Panic! At the Disco, The Hush Sound,
Lifetime…
S: There’s
a band called The Stereo, I can’t remember if they were on.
Mattias: They were a few years back.
S: The
Stereo had a rewind or record or…I can’t remember the name of the album, but it
was one of my favorite albums. I don’t really know what happened to them but
they’re a great band.
M: Yup
it was Rewind + Record. They disbanded
awhile back but the lead singer is in a band called “Let Go” now.
7.
What’s your favorite yellow thing?
S:
Yellow thing… Ferraris are traditionally yellow and they’re amazing. I’m a car
guy so I’d say a yellow Ferrari Enzo would be pretty
awesome.
Mattias: Nice, so what’s something that’s not normally yellow, that you’d
like to see yellow more often?
S: Uh…I
don’t know. *laughs* I have no idea. Give me an example.
Mattias: Like fire hydrants.
S: Fire
hydrants.
Dave-os: Fire trucks.
S:
Yellow. Yeah. Maybe police cars. Yeah…well that could be confusing cuz then you’d think they’re taxi cabs so…I dunno. You stumped me.
8.
Lights or Sounds – Would you rather be deaf or blind?
S: Both
would be really tough to live with. I think that I would rather be…I think I’d
rather be deaf, only because Beethoven did it and he was deaf. I could probably
find a way to do it.
9. Scenario:
One of the members in Yellowcard is addicted to
Oprah. You have to have an intervention for him and you can bring five people
from anytime, anywhere in the world. Who would you bring?
S: Five
other people other than me for an intervention…I’d bring Joe Nammo, famed Yellowcard
psychologist. I’d probably bring Michael
Jordan, he’s a pretty legendary athlete. I’d probably
bring Katie Holmes because Tom Cruise was an idiot on her show so she’d
probably have some insight on how to deal with that.
Mattias: Would you bring pre-crazy Katie Holmes or the new Katie Holmes?
S: I
don’t think she’s crazy. I think she kind of knows what she’s doing and I think
she’s probably dealt with a lot recently. I think Tom Cruise is really more crazy than she is. And besides, she’s a woman so
they’re already a little bit crazy, you can’t falter too much for that…I was
just kidding. That was a joke, ladies. Ummm... who
else? Deb Klein, our manager, she’d probably have something really cool to say
that I don’t even know about. And then Will Ferrel. He’s funny. He could keep it light.
10. Who
would you like to see next on Band of the Day?
S: I’d
like to see Reeve Oliver next. They’re a great band. They’re on Capitol and
they’ve got a new record coming out. Sean O’Donnell is an amazing songwriter.
They’re probably going to be the next greatest band on the planet.
I guess
it was obvious - Yellow Ferrari Enzo. I think that should be everyone’s favourite yellow thing – except for a Simpsons version of Kristin Kreuk
– yeeeaow. I
don’t know about you but I am psyched for the upcoming album – 2007 looks like
it’ll be a Yellowcard-heavy year.
Try to
catch us ridin dirty,
The BotD Team