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| ::Interviews:: |
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| review & interview content, as well as web site graphics & design, copywrite 2003-2004 Euphonia Online. use of materials granted only with reasonable purposes. |
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| interviewed by robby sumner |
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| Interview with Sonny and Travis June 29th, 2004 |
Sonny Moore - Vocals Matt Good - Guitar, Vocals Travis Richter - Guitar, Vocals Jon Weisbert - Bass, Vocals Derek Bloom - Drums |
| E: From First to Last has been finding a great amount of success on the scene and made it clear through its achievements in both touring and recording. How would you compare the band's lifestyle this year to how it was the year before? Travis: Different people in the band... but besides that, we are still scraping by and living in random places around Los Angeles with no money. We have a new van and trailer--thanks to Epitaph--so that's a little better... but we are doing the entire Warped Tour in it with a total of eight people. *Laughs* Sonny: Well, I have only been in the band for about five months now, but I can look back and see the changes, comparing with the first time I talked to Matt Good on the phone in December to now. Us beating the sh*t out of each other in our van... we've warmed up a lot. It took them a while to understand were I came from with my humor. I'm pretty f*cked up and hard to understand when it comes to that stuff. I think I'm from another realm. I have an alter ego. There is Sonny, the person I am when I try not to upset the people in this conservative society... and the other half of me is Skrillex--when I just don't give a damn. E: With your debut on Epitaph Records having come out only so recently... in what way would you say the band has improved since material recorded before the signing? Travis: Well, the EP was written primarily by Matt and myself with little other influence from Derek, except in "My Heart, Your Hands." Sonny and Jon joined after the EP was recorded, so we were stoked to write a new record and let all of our influences shine. The actual style is not just more defined, but also a lot more broad. The full length is a lot heavier, but it's also just better songwriting all around. Sonny flew in to hang out at the studio, and we had just recorded all the music. He wasn't in the band until he came to the studio, and we loved him so much that he joined the band and we wrote all the lyrics and melodies in the studio in a week. Sonny: Not to sound like a prick, but I think the EP is boring. If I would have walked into the studio and all of their new stuff sounded like the EP, I wouldn't have joined the band... but I was impressed with the new material. Comparing to our live performance back in April when we first toured with FFTL's final lineup to now, it has improved tenfold. We are in another state onstage--at least, I am. I feel like I'm some ruler... the ruler of Eel. I'm fighting a war, and the crowd is my minion--it helps me fight. But they are people just like me; I don't look down on them at all. They are helpful to me. I mean, people might get me wrong for what I say, but I just have a lot of fun. But back to live shows. I just like to really feel like every time I'm up there, it's the most epic thing that could happen. I try to touch everybody at the shows while we are playing as much as we can--not to sound like a pervert--I love being a part of them and being a part of that amazing astatic, esthetic, power-fused feeling that you can't get anywhere else expect at live musical shows. It's amazing, and I feel indebted to everybody there one thousand fold each night for sharing that with me, which makes me want to try harder each time I'm up there. E: So right now you guys are playing on the Warped Tour--is this a new experience that the band is learning from? Sonny: I think the biggest thing that happened that has affected our band as far as that goes is how much more we are one whole unit, as opposed to being five separate units. But don't get me wrong... we are the five most different people that ever could be stuck on the same space ship on the same route to whatever place it may take us... and I'm glad it's that way. But going back to the Warped Tour, today was supposed to be our first day in Houston, Texas, and right when we get there, it started raining hard. They are already done setting up the two main stages, along with the side stages and most of the booths as well. So a little bit into the monsoon, they decide to cancel the show. A couple of hours go by, and by then they are done tearing everything back down... and then the sky clears up. So yeah, to be honest, I can't say I have learned anything from Warped Tour... yet. E: How do you keep yourselves entertained while on the road? Sonny: We think of random sh*t to do. We make movies with our video camera. One day we went to WalMart and got these rubber balls. They are the best things ever. We peg each other with them and play kick ball and cause big ruckuses. We will seriously throw those bitches everywere. Pisses people off, but whatever. We also play a lot of video games like Halo and NHL rivals on X-Box. We beat each other up a lot. Chat Crews, our tour manager, pretty much keeps us entertained most of the time. He's a f*cking nut bag, but a good kind of one. He can climb anything. Just today he climbed up the side of this four-story building wearing nothing but board shorts--no shoes. I listen to a lot of music. It's a good time to catch up on stuff you have but never really got into. Matt, Travis, Jon, Rick--our road boy--and I have sidekicks as well. I'm not on as much as they are, but it's fun. E: How has the live show experience gotten better for you? Does it start to get redundant? Are some nights better than others? Travis: Never redundant. I think we totally love performing and entertaining... and of course we try to be really energetic. Sonny: Some nights are just better because... I don't know, really, but I have fun every night. We go insane onstage, and I think people really enjoy it. E: What sort of differences should fans expect to find when they compare hearing you on an album to hearing you live? Sonny: Not much as far as how I sing the parts compared to the album, but I know I tend to get a little crazy with the megaphone. I use that thing a lot, it's sounds good. I get butterflies when I see kids singing our songs, so I'll tend to stick the mic into people's faces. I'll switch it up... I'll sing some parts higher and some parts lower... play with the melodies and such. E: Do you think you have to have been accused of dating Kelly Osbourne to have truly made it as a musician? Sonny: *Laughs* I think that sh*t was funny. I'm not sure if the "buzz" on that is still floating around, but it first happened when we were bombarded by the P-squad [Paparazzi] outside of this club, Spider, in Hollywood. I dragged her by the hand so we could get to the car faster, and the next thing you know, I'm on the front page of kellyosbourne.org. They also accused me of being the singer of some other band. I can't think of the f*cking name right now, but anyway, yeah, I don't think that it's going to make a difference in how we do or anything. People will forget about that in a week. But just to say it one more time for the record... we are only friends. E: At what stage of a song's life does it usually get named? How do you choose the title--is it based on the lyrics, or are the lyrics based on it? Sonny: That really depends. The naming process could be either way, or could be named randomly with a name that has nothing to do with the lyrics. But usually the lyrics are written first and then the name. "Note to Self" took us the longest to think up, which is funny, because it's the most catchy part of the song... though the majority of the song titles on our album are sort of a stray off from the lyrics, if you catch drift. E: Have any songs already been written for your next release? Has your style already changed since Dear Diary... was released? Sonny: Yes. We have been writing for the next record, and the style has for sure changed it's direction. Travis wasn't there for most of the writing process for Dear Diary because he broke both of his arms, but he really helped arrange and structure the songs... but now this is going to give him a chance to let everything he's been holding in out. We also have been writing guitar parts. Matt and Derek and I have been writing guitar parts. Some of the sh*t Matt is writing is f*cking amazing--very different from the stuff on Dear Diary. See, the cool thing with Dear Diary is that the album was a strange writing process. New elements are being added to the band in the middle of the process so that's going to change things. You can kind of hear growth in the albums records. You have a song like "Secrets Don't Make Friends," which is a really simple power-pop rock song, and then you compare it to a song like "Featuring Some of Your Favorite Words." You can tell that the two last ones were written towards the end of the writing process. E: Has the band's growing popularity been something obvious to you as you continue to play? Sonny: Yes, very much so. Our first tour in April was with us and A Thorn for Every Heart, and at the time we were both not drawing bands. Some shows had almost nobody there. The last tour was much better--The First Taste Sour with Scatter the Ashes and Name Taken and Salem. The last show was the best, in Orange County at the Chain Reaction. The kids were going off. E: What character traits do you think people can learn from being in a band? Sonny: Well, at least in my case, being so young... I learned a whole lot more responsibility than I ever had. E: What do you think the future holds in store for From First to Last? Sonny: The thing about this band is that one thing I think we all abide by is that we will never say we won't do something, and we will never limit ourselves with any sort of direction of musical growth. The next album, I think... we are all going to throw one more of our rootsy influences in now that we have a standard line-up and more time to write, and put in what we really feel so we can portray ourselves more assuredly as musicians. But on the other hand, we are unpredictable as sh*t, so the FFTL train can take any turn at this point. We just hope that everybody in the mix ends up satisfied, because we are doing this for that feeling of satisfaction we get.. E: Well, thanks a huge amount for doing the interview. Sonny: Of course, buddy, and good luck with the website. |