Broadway Calls Interview

Room Thirteen caught up with Broadway Calls for a chat, and Ty Vaughn was kind enough to answer some questions about their new album, Warped Tours and what they've got planned for the future. Here's what he had to say:

R13: First and foremost. How are you? How's Life?
Ty Vaughn: Life is great. A bit bored and anxious from being home longer than usual, but other than that, it's great.

R13: For those reading this interview and who don't know who you are yet; can we have an introduction to Broadway Calls?
TV: We're a three piece pop punk band from Oregon. We tour a lot, we eat a lot, I drink a little. We're inspired by bands like The Ramones, Green Day, Generation X, Alkaline Trio, Hot Water Music and on and on.... Josh plays drums, Matt plays bass, and I'm Ty. I sing and play guitar.

R13: How did you all meet? How did you go about bringing the band together?
TV: Josh and I met while playing baseball when we were 11 years old. One day during practice he threw a ball and it bounced off the ground and smashed me in the face. I had a fucked up lip for a few days, and it was really embarrassing. The next year we won the championship, and then quit baseball. We started playing music together when we were 15, and started Broadway Calls in the winter of 2005/2006. Matt was our friend from other bands we played in, and was our previous band's roadie for one tour. When we started this band, we knew he could sing and play bass, so he was in. It was just gonna be a little side project, but it kinda took over.

R13: You signed with Sideone Dummy Records beginning of this year, how did it come about? How have you found it?
TV: Last year we did the entire Warped Tour. It was a crazy summer, and along the way we met, and became friends with the guys that ran the SideOneDummy tent. Eventually word got back to Joe and Bill who own SideOneDummy, and they met us, watched us play, and it was on. Very easy and very awesome. Everyone that works at that label works their asses off for the bands, and we couldn't be happier with them.

R13: You've just finished recording the new album. How did it go? Is the new album going to differ much to your debut or are you keeping the same style?
TV: It's a lot like our debut record, but we've trimmed it down a bit. This record is only 11 songs long. No acoustic songs. We really tried our best to keep the energy up the whole time, and with the help of Bill Stevenson we accomplished that.

R13: Are you confident in the final results?
TV: Yeah we're very confident. This was the first time working with a producer, and it was scary at first, but it was amazing at the same time. Bill Stevenson has worked on so many awesome records, he was the drummer for Black Flag and The Descendents, he's a punk rock legend. He's an incredible man and he helped us make the best pop punk record we could have made in those three weeks. The songs have a very wide range of topics as well. Some dark, some light, some political, some romantic.

R13: Who have been your greatest influences?
TV: A very wide range of bands. Bands that write passionate, honest songs. Bands that have a good sense of humor and that do it for the right reasons. It's not really a style of music thing, because we listen to, and have played all different types of music. We play pop punk because that's what we want to play right now.

R13: What sort of audience does Broadway Calls aim to please?
TV: People of all ages that can appreciate a good melody and a good evening. We just want to play our music for anyone that wants to come to the shows and sing along.

R13: You've toured around the UK, how have you found the reaction to your music? Did the UK audiences treat you well?
TV: Yes very well! Our first time in the UK we were with All Time Low, and Cobra Starship. We didn't fit in very well on that tour, but we still had a good time. We were overseas for the first time, and that tour was just a little adventure for us. Last time we were over it was with Alkaline Trio and The Audition. That tour was way better for us, and it was awesome to play with Alk3 every night. They are easily one of our favorite bands, and their fans seemed to like our music.

R13: How does the UK compare to Europe and the States, if it compares at all?
TV: Honestly we've never done a big support tour in the states. We always just tour with friends like Polar Bear Club, The Menzingers, the Riot Before. So for us the shows at home are much more intimate. We've done a few dates with bigger bands like Bad Religion and Rancid in the states before, and I guess it seemed pretty similar to the UK crowds. It's hard to tell with a barrier between us. We're going to do some U.S. support tours this fall with some pretty awesome bands, so we're excited.

R13: You're set to join the Warped Tour in August, what was the craziest thing to happen last time you were apart of it?
TV: We got kicked off our bus in Florida and had to rent a van for two weeks until we could get on another bus. The owner/driver for the first bus was an insane man that we didn't get along with from the beginning. It was ugly. We're used to touring in a van anyway, so it wasn't that big of a deal, but 5 dudes in a van with no trailer on warped tour is fucking rough!

R13: Who are you looking forward to seeing perform this time round?
TV: Nofx, Bad Religion, Bayside, Less Than Jake, and all our friends we made last year like 3oh3! and Jon Cheese. I'm not really sure who else is playing on our dates. We're only on for like a week.

R13: You've travelled a lot with your music - has that been tough to deal with? Are there ever any on tour pranks?
TV: If it's ever been tough to deal with, we usually just end up writing a song about it, and that makes up for it. We did the whole "rock star trash a dressing room" one night on the Alkaline Trio tour, but we cleaned it up.

R13: This is a question that we have asked quite a few of the artists we have interviewed- Where have you drunk your best beer?
TV: I'm the only one in the band that drinks, and honestly I think beer is kinda gross. I've never had a "best beer" because they all taste the same to me. I only drink them because they make me feel funny. I really like the variety of ciders they have in the UK though. We don't have that stuff in the states.

R13: What's in the future for you guys?
TV: Well our new record "Good Views, Bad News" comes out August 18th, and then it's just tour, tour, tour for a while. We are playing the NME stage at Reading/Leeds this year so that's pretty rad. Hopefully we'll come back to Europe and the UK one more time before the end of the year.