E: Midtown has been putting music together for a large amount of years now, and your most recent release was last summer's Forget What You Know released on Columbia Records. Since then, the band has been on tour almost non-stop... On the road, do you still put a lot of thought into the details of what your next release will be like?
Rob: Yeah, I mean, I'm always thinking about it. That's something I've learned over the years, and I guess it's still a learning process... just how important it really is for musicians to always keep writing, you know? Because you could have made your favorite album of all time--it's amazing, and "Man, that band is geniuses, how do they do it?" And looking at the whole process they went through, it's not like the band just came up with these twelve songs, or these eleven or ten songs... A lot of times they'll have gone through fourty or fifty songs to get to those twelve amazing songs that make an album. Over the time I've really seen that... I think it's really important for bands to always keep writing, and to never let up, you know? It is really hard on tour, though... touring in a band and finding the time in the day--when you have to set up all your equipment and everything and get from venue to venue--to write those songs, but it really is extremely important, I feel, for bands to always continuously write. So I'm definitely always thinking about what's gonna happen next with our future recordings.
E: Having been together as a band for as long as Midtown has, do you think the creative process of songwriting has changed now that your fanbase is securely established and you're writing songs almost primarily for kids who have already spent years listening to you?
Rob: The creative process always changes because of where you are as a band. Like, for instance, on this album, when we wanted to write it we were just like... hey. Screw popular radio. Screw writing a three-and-a-half minute song, so it's a pop song... We just want to have an album that we can look back at in ten years and be happy with, and really enjoy it. Something that hopefully is timeless. So creatively, I know we definitely had songs that we had written, but we said, "Are we going to be happy with this song? Are we going to be happy?" And it was as simple as that, to say yes or no, and to go forward with finishing the song and wanting to put it on the album.
E: When a band in a genre like yours looks to find growth within its next release, do you think that the band will have to ever sacrifice things like catchy melodies in order to capture a more "mature" style?
Rob: No, I don't think it should have to do with maturity. I think it should have to do with the band within itself being happy with the songs. If you're going to write a song because you think it's going to be on the radio, or that it can be a pop-hit song... are you truly, inside, happy with that music? You know? And that's, at the end of the day, what you have to ask yourself. Because, A: it's very unlikely that any band will get a song on the radio. That's like .01% of all the bands out there, that get songs on the radio. And then on top of that, you also have to think... what if it's a song that you don't really like, but you know it's a good pop song, and it's on the radio? You're going to be stuck playing that for the rest of your life! If that's your one hit. So "Are you really going to be happy?" I think that's the question every band needs to ask itself at the end of the day when writing music.
E: Having been playing for several years now, would you call yourselves more seasoned as a band?
Rob: Well what do you mean by "more seasoned"? I mean, of course, you get older. But here's an interesting thing--no matter how you cut it, no matter what band you are... when you're young, and you're in high school... you know, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth grade? Those are the people who are the most excited about music, because they feel they can identify with the songs. I remember how I was when I was younger--I'd see everybody at the shows. I'd go to other shows, all different genres of music, and the majority of the fans at the shows are ages 14 to 21. And so when you get a little older, then you get the feeling inside, "Wow... this is weird." And I think anybody in a band understands what I'm saying regarding that. So it's not that you become more seasoned, or that your feelings change, but you just notice these differences, and it's quite interesting how you see music react with people, and you can understand more of the kind of impact you have on people's lives. It's very interesting.
E: Has the process and sensation of touring changed much over the years?
Rob: You know, it's all relevant. If you've been a band for a while, and everything's been the same and hasn't gone up or down, then I think you get a little... jaded to it? But any time there's a great show and you see people connecting with you and singing along to the songs, then you still have that exciting feeling like the first time you ever toured. So it really is all relative to the show and the day and, you know, if you're sick or not. *Laughs* Things like that.
E: Do you as a band still feel like you have to personally work at getting your name out there, or are you at the stage where you can simply play the songs you play and trust that they'll eventually hit the right ears without your help?
Rob: Oh, no matter how great your album is, you always have to. No matter who you are. I mean, you could have written... Sgt. Pepper's... fucking... whatever. You know, it's almost sad, because I think there are a lot of great, amazing albums that obviously haven't made it or have no radio play and aren't huge bands, then you hear these bands on the radio that are absolutely horrific, and write one super-cheesy pop song, and their albums are terrible, yet somehow they're all over the radio. So I feel that even if you're the best band in the world, you still have to work hard and get your name out there to get people to hear it. So there's no doubt in my mind, you still have to work hard. I mean, with anything in life. You could be an artist, or working at anything, and it could be the best thing ever, but if no one knows about you... I mean, here's a good example. You ever hear of the band Say Anything? It's different, because they work hard, but I think they have the best album in the world. Hands down, they have the best album of last year. And I don't understand why they haven't sold hundreds of thousands of albums. It makes no sense to me. They still work hard... but that's the point; sometimes you can still work hard, and sometimes things just don't make sense. Because that band's just amazing... in my opinion, of course. But hopefully I have a good opinion. *Laughs* But you see what I'm saying? Sometimes you can be a great band, and you can still even work hard and tour your asses off. It could also be by nature of what style of music is popular, because right now you could... let's say, you could be a Christian band, and you could just be a mid-rate Christian band, but because you're in that scene of music, you can sell a hundred thousand albums, possibly. Or you could be a screamo band, and have one singer, have one screamer, and you might not be the best band in the world, but you can sometimes sell hundreds of thousands of albums because that's the scene and the genre of music that's big at the time... that's what the kids are listening to. So it's very interesting how music works, and sometimes I think great bands get overlooked because they're ahead of their time for what's out there by now. Or maybe not even ahead of their time, but maybe it's just not the popular "style" of music. You know, maybe that band isn't wearing eyeliner or wearing pink bandanas, or dying their hair black and draping it over one of their eyes while having a red streak in it. I don't know. *Laughs* So you see what I'm saying. By style, and by the nature of the genre of music you're in, a great band might get overlooked because people won't even think to listen to that style of music. That's possibly why some of these bands that are great aren't getting heard--because it's not that popular style.
E: Has your personal band experience been a fairly steady escalation, or have there been extreme highs and lows?
Rob: Oh, without a doubt, extreme highs and lows. We've been through a lot. *Laughs*
E: Well hey, thanks a lot, you've been great.
Rob: Great! Thanks. |
