Interview with Brian Ireland (drummer)
Interview by Jason Schleweis & Scott Nedry | 11.19.2004 | Big Rapids, MI | Ferris State University
 You guys just released the DVD Live at the Ventura Theater, how does it feel to have your first ever live DVD out?
It’s really cool. Even personally as individuals it kinda traces what we do. Anyone asking who doesn’t know the band, can kind of be like “oh well check this out.” It’s really great accomplishment; I think we’re all happy and proud about it.
So the reception’s been good from the fans so far with that?
It’s been wonderful.
What is your reaction to people, who back when you filmed the DVD, slept in their cars the night before and sat outside the venue all day just to be a apart of it?
(Laughter) Uh, well you know, if that’s what they want to do! (Laughter) I think it’s very cool that people are that committed to the band and that they care enough to get that close and just put that much effort into getting there early so they can ensure a spot.
The overall consensus from the DVD is that it seems to be a much more sincere show than you’ve ever played before. Did you guys do anything different for this show, or how do you think you better conveyed that to the audience?
You know I don’t know. I don’t think we tried to do anything different from what we usually do except we brought out a couple of new type songs. Like we did a couple acoustic songs or songs we always do with just a little different arrangement. For the most part, I mean it was a live show. And we kinda made an effort to not change anything about it. I think one of our strong points is the live show. And we strive not to ruin that. Because we could throw that up in the air and be like “let’s do something totally different” but that’s not what the point of what we were doing was.
Being on a small college tour now, we thought this question would be appropriate. Why don’t bands play at college’s more often? It seems like college students might fit the demographic of people who listen to your music more and bringing the show to campus makes it easier for them to attend.
Right, well it just depends. I think a lot of the reason is it just isolates people. A lot of the college shows, not all of the kids can come to. So we like to get out and do the clubs and make it more of a public thing. I mean, the college shows are awesome, their one of our favorite things to do, but to be in a club where it’s a public gathering is a different vibe for sure. And to play a club is much different than playing a college gym or any college facility. So it’s just a little different environment.
How does it feel to be nominated for “Band of the Year” in the college music awards?
(Laughter) Well it feels great! I didn’t even know about that until you just told me! (Laughter) Well that’s really cool.
Fan Question. After extensive research, he couldn’t find a show where you’ve played the songs “Break Myself” and “I Won’t Make You.” Why don’t you play those songs live?
We do occasionally. We haven’t in a while though. Certain songs come and go in certain phases. There’s not really a particular reason we don’t play any of the songs other than we just kinda would prefer playing another song. *laughter* We definitely have and probably will play those songs in the future, but there’s no definite reason why.
Do you guys change the lineup every night then?
Yeah for the most part. We’ve never played the same show two times in a row. I’m sure we have played the same shows without knowing it just by the way we mix up the songs but for the most part we try to make a new set list each night to keep it fresh. I think if anything it kinda keeps us on our toes and it makes us work. Just like you guys went out and bought a ticket, we’ve got a job to do and we definitely want to keep it as fresh and as new as possible and by changing the set list each night, that kind of accomplishes that for us. We like to be very aware of what’s happening and we make the set list according to how we’re feeling that night. And I think that’s mainly why we do it.
If someone has, God forbid, not heard of Something Corporate before, what songs would you want them to hear as the best representation of your band?
I would say probably two songs because we have a contrast in the band obviously. We’ve got our more rock songs and then less rock songs. But I would say, I’d like them to hear, “She Paints Me Blue,” and “Only Ashes.”
It seems to be that everyone’s favorite Something Corporate song is “Konstantine.” Why is it that it’s never made a U.S. release on your albums?
I think we kind of like to keep it special like that. We’ve had the opportunity, but the thing is, when we recorded that song it was an isolated incident you could say. We went in [to the studio] to record “Konstantine.” Most of our other recordings are done as one piece and it kinda seemed odd to go and make a record and do all these songs collectively and then go in and do the song “Konstantine.” Not that we didn’t like it, because we definitely like what we accomplished with it but I think for the most part it didn’t necessarily fit with anything that was coming out with a Geffen, an MCA, or a Drive Thru release. But it was out on a Drive-Thru compilation, called like All In The Family I believe. It was a compilation that has “[If You C] Jordan;” I think it’s “Jordan,” it might be “Hurricane” or something. It’s a pretty cool CD though, it’s got all the Drive Thru bands at the time and comes in this little pizza box. (Laughter) And all these bands went and took these gangster photos so it was really funny. We’re all like mafia at this Italian restaurant yelling these people. It was pretty fun.
Now you guys just released a brand new song to Purevolume called “Watch The Sky.” Is this a hint that your working on material for a new release in 2005?
Not necessarily. We actually recorded that song with the last album and it didn’t make it on for whatever reason. But we will be recording something. Definitely expect something out of us in the next year or so; we’ll get into the studio. It’s about that time!
Are there any new elements of song writing you’d like to incorporate with the new material?
Um, nothing in particular other than we’re all growing as musicians. I expect it to be different than Leaving Through The Window and North. We’ve all developed a much more broad understanding of what it’s like to be in a band and what it means to be in a band. And after having so many faithful fans and having the success we’ve had it’s been really nice to step back and look at what we did and say “wow this means something to people.” And I think with that in mind, we’ll go in to record the next record and using everything we’ve learned from being on the road for the past four years. And just make the best record possible as musicians and as a band.
Will you begin working on that new material after your tour ends in February?
Not necessarily; we’re not sure when we will get in the studio quite yet. But we’ll get in, and we’re going to finish up some songs. And I’m not even sure what we will be doing, but I can say that we will have some new music out. It probably won’t come out as a record, but possibly an EP, or Mp3 releases or something that nobody’s heard. Or maybe even some older songs that we haven’t finished yet but definitely some stuff people haven’t quite heard yet.
Fan Question. Will you guys ever be out on tour with Jimmy Eat World or Yellowcard?
It’s really hard to say. I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to it though! (Laughter) Definitely, I mean Jimmy [Eat World] is one of my favorite bands. That band really inspired us early on with Clarity and since then come out with the two new ones. But we love Clarity. That was our record for the longest time and it’s still a wonderful, wonderful record. And Yellowcard, we love those guys. I wouldn’t doubt that we’ll at least encounter them at some point. (Laughter) They’re friends of ours, we don’t really personally know the Jimmy guys, but Yellowcard we still speak too.
Growing up and starting your band, what other artists or bands did you idolize or use for inspiration in forming Something Corporate?
The thing about Something Corporate is that everyone in the band has a very different pallet of music they were pulling from. Like I was into a lot of classic rock, I had all The Beatles records, especially the later Beatles records and Pink Floyd and all the older bands. It’s like a Ven diagram with all of us and there’s a little section in the middle where we all meet where everybody likes these bands. Like Clutch was into Rush for the longest time, and Andrew was into Billy Joel, and other bands too, and Josh was like the rock guy. He’s got a lot of rock music based background and I think that all kinda pools together and forms the band and makes the band what it is. And it’s definitely a diverse band musically I think.
With everything you’ve accomplished in your career, what is there left that you want to achieve in the future, both musically or maybe personally?
I think we just want to keep going until people don’t want to hear us anymore! (Laughter) And hopefully we’ll make great efforts to keep going and we’ll make great efforts to keep people interested and keep going as a band. And hopefully everybody really likes what we’re doing and stays faithful to what we’re doing. And they’ve been awesome so far! We’ve been taking some time off and our fans have just been amazing about it. So many people are showing up and it’s like we never even left. So I think we owe a lot to our fans and if they want us to keep making music, we’ll definitely keep making music. We can’t complain that’s for sure. We’re in a rock band and people like us. And that’s a lot more than most people have. (Laughter)
Any last comments or anything you’d like to say to your fans?
Just thank you. Truly. More than ever because I think personally we just needed some time away and we’re still going to take a couple more months and kinda detox from the road to figure out a direction. But I think it’s pretty implicet to what we’re doing that we take some time apart from each other and do our own thing for a few months. And I just want to thank everyone for giving us that. Everyone is staying true to our band and staying faithful to the shows and really it’s been an awesome accomplishment, for them to. And it really means so much that we can go away for a little while and people understand. They give us respect and say “oh well you know they really do need some time off; they’ve been out forever.” I mean that’s what I’ve heard from all the fans. It’s not like “why did you guys stop touring” it was like “wow you guys needed a break I’m sure.” And to be understanding about that is really, really cool. So thank you from me and the entire band because I know they feel the same way.
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