R13:How are you enjoying touring the UK?
Chris:Ryan and I have made it our mission to have a pint in the oldest pubs we can find. Although I was sick last night and he found one without me. 1 point for Ryan.
Ryan: From what I’m told, Ye Old Trip to Jerusalem is the oldest in England. So I guess I win!
R13:Have you had much chance to do any sightseeing?
Chris:Little bits of time here and there. Rick and I went running on the boardwalk in Brighton. We saw Edinburgh Castle through the van window. Saw a cow using the toilet in the countryside. Lot’s of pubs and lot’s of great people. •
R13:What would you say to convince people considering coming to one of your gigs to make the effort?
Chris: Did I mention there will be monkeys?
Ryan:I’d tell them to expect lots of energy. Don’t let our endearing love songs fool you! To use an American phrase, we “bring it!”
R13:Who are the most inspirational band that you've ever seen play?
Chris:Travis at the Wiltern in Los Angeles.
Ricky:John Legend put on the most amazing show I’ve ever seen. He will definitely go down as a contemporary legend. No pun intended.
Ryan:I saw Doves at South By Southwest in Texas. I love their unique sound, and it was even better live.
R13:The majority of the band has known each other since childhood, do you think that helps you to have the same musical direction and aims?
Chris:Yes.
Ryan:But we also have our fair share of arguments.
Ricky:Of course, we can’t help but be influenced by what the other person is into. Also growing up during the same time and the same environment has definitely exposed us to similar music.
R13:What's been your best moment as a band so far?
Chris:NovaRock in Vienna Austria. Our first real European Festival and our sort of entrance exam into festival touring.
Ricky:Headlining two nights in Tokyo!
Ryan:Hearing our song on the radio in the Sandwich Shop this morning! - Ryan
R13:Have you had a chance to check out any other bands at festivals so far this summer? Who would you like to see?
Chris:We saw the Counting Crows who nailed it. Incredible show, and my friend Tony and I watched Ben Folds from the side of the stage. That was the most entertained I have been in a long time. I’m also really excited that we’re playing a festival with Travis in Singapore.
Ryan:The band Live was amazing at Novarock. I hadn’t listened to them since 1993 or whenever that first album came out. Now I’m going to have to get the ones I missed.
R13:Your album is released on Warner Bros, did your music come to their attention suddenly or had you been trying to get a record contract for a while before?
Chris:It’s funny, we had a demo probably 5 years before signing with WB and it got sent around by a lawyer friend. WB turned it down then. So we signed to an indie, put out a record and toured for a couple years. It was on that record and on Warped Tour in the states that WB became interested. Signed later that year.
R13:The piano playing is very prominent on the album and something that most bands don't use, do you write all the parts together or are the songs actually written on the piano?
Chris:For this record most songs were solidified on piano before any other instrument. Rick and I would work separately at home for a bit coming up with little molecules of music, then come together at my house or his house and bang them out on the piano till we had a song. Sounds like alchemy and blacksmithery! Haha