Senses Fail Interview - 03.11.2005
| Interview with Buddy Nielsen (vocals) Interview by Rob Todd | 03.11.2005 | Detroit, MI | Cobo Arena  Start off by giving us your reaction to being on Taste of Chaos with all these big bands. It’s pretty laid back. It’s like any other tour except we play in front of 12,000 people. It’s pretty damn organized which is really good ‘cause most of the time when get this kind of thing together it’s a pain in the ass ‘cause there’s so many bands, there’s so much equipment, there’s so much shit going on that nobody knows what’s going on but now we’ve been doin’ it for three weeks so everyone knows the schedule and everything runs fairly good. What do you think the other bands on this tour would say if we asked them, “What’s it like touring with Senses Fail?” I don’t know. Hopefully they’d say nice things. Most times we’ll just kind of hang out, not really keep to ourselves, but we’re low key — pretty much friends with everyone. I don’t know really, I’d be kinda curious to find out what they’d say. What do you think Howard Jones (Killswitch Engage) would say? He’d probably say something about hardcore and beat us up (Laughter). No, I’m kidding. He’s awesome; he’s a really nice guy. Everyone’s really nice on this tour, there’s no egos. Sometimes that happens and bands try to prove themselves. There’s none of that bullshit. Is it weird being on tour with a bunch of scene bands and then you have the hardcore/metal of Killswitch Engage? They're pretty sweet. They’ve introduced us to metal. Is it weird? What do you mean? Because they stick out as a metal band? Not really. I think it’s good. It helps the tour and probably helps them to play in front of kids that are more into… They’re melodic, they’re really hard but they’re still melodic but you really wouldn’t consider them a “radio band” per se like The Used and My Chem[ical Romance] are doing right now. They’re not radio bands but they are, they do have singles on the radio that are doin’ pretty well. That brings a lot of extra people who don’t know who Killswitch is, or who the hell we are, or who Underoath is, or A Static Lullaby. Anyway, that’s what it is, that’s why there’s 12,000 people here. 12,000 people don’t know who we are or any of the other bands but they know who The Used and My Chem are. They’re all here, the whole show, so they have to see us. This is old news but I couldn’t find an answer: why did you switch from Drive-Thru to Vagrant? We got picked up by Geffen off Drive-Thru. It really wasn’t our choice. What is allowed in the contract is that [Geffen] is allowed to pick up bands if they like them and think that they’re going to be doing well enough where they can survive on a major label and make them money. They didn’t really like [Let It Enfold You] ‘cause they didn’t feel like there was a strong single on it and we didn’t feel like writing one. We just didn’t want to play the major label game right then and there. Not to say that we’ll never end up on a major again and say that we’re not trying to be successful and we’re more punk-rock than anyone. We didn’t really want to deal with people telling you how to write your music and people telling you what’s good or what’s not. It was a mutual thing. It’s wasn’t bad blood between us and Geffen, we just felt it would be better to go to a different label and release our CD. Drive-Thru isn’t owned by Geffen though right? No, Drive-Thru’s gone, they’re with Sanctuary now. They don’t have anything to do with our band anymore. Right, but how did you go from Drive-Thru to Geffen? ‘Cause when you sign to Drive-Thru there’s a clause in the contract that lets you get picked up. When they signed with MCA – they signed in ’97 or something – if they want they can pick up a band and bring them up to their label. MCA turned into Geffen, or dissolved into Geffen, so they wanted to pick us up so they were allowed to. Drive-Thru didn’t want to release your record either? No, Drive-Thru did, they definitely wanted to but they weren’t allowed to because Geffen picked us up. So you just resigned to Vagrant then? Yeah. I’ve read a lot of interviews where you’ve voiced your opinion in regards to the negative things reviewers have said about your music. Has that sunken in at all and made you more dedicated to proving that you can do what you want to do? I don’t really give a shit what people say. I really don’t care. I’m really over that, I’m really over caring what people have to say about me or the band or any band in general or anything. It’s just so stupid to listen to that shit because obviously there’s people who do like the CD. There’s people that don’t like our band and there’s nothing I’m going to do about it. I’m not going to lose sleep over the fact that somebody doesn’t like our band. Not every person in the world’s going to like our band. In fact, a lot of people are going to hate our band just like a lot of people hate every band for no reason. There’s nothing I’m going to do about it. All I do, we make music and that’s what we like to do and if you don’t like it then don’t listen to it. If you wanna talk shit about us then make it funny, don’t make it stupid. So you’d appreciate it a little bit if you can laugh? Yeah, I appreciate funny shit but saying bullshit stuff gets boring. When it’s funny I like to read it. I mean, who gives a shit. Everywhere you go in your life people are going to talk shit about you whether you’re in an office or you’re in high school. You’re never going to escape people talkin’ shit about you, it’s just not going to happen. Everybody talks shit about everybody all the time, constantly. Now they have this new thing called the internet so everyone can talk shit even more and everyone can read it and if you’re the type of person that goes online and talks shit then you’re not getting laid and you’re not having fun. If people are online talking shit…about anyone then why would you let anyone online talking shit bother you. If they come up to you in person and talk shit to you then you’re just like, ‘Why are you wasting your time trying to find me just so you can tell me this?’ so that’s even kinda worse. People are like, ‘You know, you really suck!’ People do that? Oh yeah, they do. It’s funny. While we’re playing people will be like, ‘You suck. You fuckin’ blow,’ and I’ll just be like, ‘One, you can’t say that ‘cause you’re down there so come up here and tell me I suck and two, I’m a lot cooler than you ‘cause you’re at a show telling me I suck and I’m at a show playing music for people that want to hear it.’ They’re usually, what 13/14 anyway? Yeah, that’s the cool thing about bein’ 13 – I’m not very much older at all but that’s the cool thing about bein’ 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, is that you don’t got shit to do. You don’t take care of yourself, you don’t live on your own, you live with your parents, you rely on your parents, you rely on your high school, your friends and you feel like you know everything. I was there, I used to talk shit about bands. ‘Fuck those guys, they sold out. What the fuck to they want money for?’ Yeah, but when you don’t have anywhere to live, and you don’t have any money, and you’re on tour, and you’re not makin’ any money – you just grow up. It doesn’t mean you lose your morals about music and what shit should be. But, you realize that one, you have to have money to live ‘cause you can’t live with your parents all the time. High school kids probably don’t understand that. Yeah, I didn’t understand it. I was like, ‘Fuck these guys. Why are they on MTV?’ When you’re in a band you want everyone to listen to you. You don’t care who listens to you; it’s not like a popularity contest. It’s not like, ‘I want to be cool! I want everyone to think we’re cool!’ What does that matter? It doesn’t mean shit to me. Who’s determining whose cool and whose not? I don’t care and that’s why the scene’s so stupid ‘cause it's not a scene anymore, it’s a big message board. There’s no fuckin’ scene anymore. It’s not like what it used to be. I know that that’s what everybody says all the time when they get older and grow out of it, but it’s really not what it used to be. We’re playin’ in front of 12,000 people tonight. That’s not underground punk-rock, indie-rock music anymore. I just hate people who go on the internet and talk shit about who’s punk-rock and who’s not – you’re on the internet. If you were really punk-rock you’d go out and fight someone or get drunk and do your own DIY (Do It Yourself) show and try traveling around in a van for 12 years – that’s punk-rock. We’re not punk-rock, we’re pussies, but I never claim that. So you’re just doing this while you can and when it’s over it’ll be over? No, no, I’m doin’ it ‘cause I love to do it and I’m doing it because I have the opportunity to do and I’m doing it because it’s the most fun, most amazing thing I could ever do—it’s my dream. That’s how you have to take it. If you’re doing it for money, you’re not gonna be happy. If you’re doing it ‘cause you want to be famous, you’re not going to be happy. If you’re doing it because you want to be cool or you want people to like you, you’re not going to be happy. But, if you do it for yourself ‘cause it’s what you love to do then you’re going to be happy. If you’re not doing it for that reason then you’re going to fuckin’ hate bein’ on tour, you’re gonna hate the music industry, you’re gonna hate the fact that you work really hard and don’t make any money. It doesn’t matter how big you are you still cannot make any money. You can still sell a million records and not be able to move out of your parents’ house. It’s possible, it happens a lot, it happens all the time actually. That’s the shitty thing about being in a band is that… It doesn’t automatically mean that you’re rich because you’re on tour with The Used. It doesn’t mean that I’m goin’ out and buying expensive cars and shit. I can pay for my dog’s vet bills so that’s cool (Laughter). No, seriously, it’s weird ‘cause I used to look at bands and be like, “Oh, they’re huge…they’re THAT big!” It’s weird to think about, once you get into it, how everything really works. How really small everything really is. You have to do a lot to make people care and even if they care they can only care for six months. I don’t give a shit about any of that. I just care about having fun and hopefully being able to learn a lot of things that I could do later in life. You’re only gonna be in a band for so long, it’s only gonna last so long, you can only handle being on tour for 10 months out of the year for so long before you’re like, “Alright, I’ve been everywhere, I kinda want to be normal now.” Something else is going to come along that people are gonna like more and it just happens. It’s really stupid to think that you’re gonna do it for the rest of your life no matter what. Since you brought it up, what do you think you’ll be doing after Senses Fail runs its course? I’d like to manage bands. I’d like to learn a lot about that. I'll always to be in some aspect of music obviously, not necessarily touring constantly—you get tired of it. Management or working at a label—anything like that, as long as there’s still music involved in some way, shape, or form that’s what I want to do. Tells us about the new video. Indie (Senses Fail manager) mentioned shooting it in Toronto on a ship. Tell us some more about it. It’s a half animation, half real-life shots. We got captured on this ship and got stuck in the treasure hold and we’re playin’ down there. There’s this girl on the ship and she broke out and this guys the devil and he’s keeping us there and she lets us out and we kill him and play and we look like communists. Is it a pirate ship or naval ship? No, it’s an oil tanker. It’s sailor-esque but it’s not pirate. It’s been more than six months since Let It Enfold You came out. Have you guys written anything new? Yeah, we already have 10 songs. Do you hope to release another album late this year? 2006, in the spring, hopefully, probably earlier than that. We’ll probably have like 30 songs. Some of it’s gonna be really hard and some of it’s sound like Nada Surf and Death Cab [for Cutie] and Appleseed Cast. I don’t really know what’s happening, we’ll see. It’s gonna be weird. Not weird, but it’s gonna be two different styles. Going way back, just to clear something up, did you guys have From the Depths of Dreams already recorded when you signed to Drive-Thru or did you rerecord it? We didn’t rerecord it, we added two songs to it. When we signed to Drive-Thru it was already done, it’d been released and we added three songs. |
