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From the time rock music first invaded the music industry, the population at large seemed to have a preconceived idea of what
rock stars were all about. They were seen as selfish, self-indulgent and in general a bad influence on the youth of the world.
Attitudes about the rock genre in general may have changed over the years, but many people still associate musicians with
the above negativity. Maybe those people should take a moment to sit down and chat with Hopeless Records Seattle-based Amber
Pacific. That would surely change their outlook. This group of five talented young men are part of a growing movement
among rock bands that believe spending time with fans and giving their time to great causes is not only good for publicity,
it's who they are.
Amber Pacific is made up of Matt Young on vocals, Will Nutter on guitar, Greg Strong on bass, Rick Hansen on guitar and
Dango on drums. I sat down with the band last month to talk about their upcoming album 'Truth In Sincerity', how Warped Tour
has helped their career and why they feel it's important to connect with their fans. Here's what they had to say:
ROCK ON REQUEST: Can you give me some background on the band, for the reader's sake? Just a little bit on how you guys
got together. I know there have been changes throughout the years.
WILL NUTTER: We basically started a little band our junior year of high school. We started adding some members and what
not, and our senior year is when we kind of really became Amber Pacific. We didn't really sign to Hopeless Records until
we were already in college; so we had to make a decision to leave college. So we're taking a break from that. We've had
various member changes along the way. Our latest addition is Rick Hansen.
ROR: What do you do, Rick?
RICK HANSEN: I play guitar.
WN: We love him. He's amazing.
ROR: I should probably ask you guys if you could say your names and tell me what you do in the band.
WN: Go for it Rick.
RH: I'm Rick. I'm the rookie and that's why I'm sitting on the floor. I play guitar.
GREG STRONG: I'm Greg and I play bass.
WN: I'm Will and I play guitar.
MATT YOUNG: I'm Matt and I'm the singer.
DANGO: I'm Dango and I play the drums.
ROR: You signed with Hopeless Records in 2004, right?
WN: Yeah.
ROR: Since then you guys have pretty much just been playing everywhere. You did Warped Tour for the past three years?
MY: Yeah.
ROR: I've read in previous interviews where you've said that Warped Tour has kind of made you guys who you are.
WN: Yes.
ROR: What do you think it is about Warped Tour that got you to where you guys are right now?
D: Warped Tour is a place where we have an opportunity to spend time with the fans. You can do that at a show but at
Warped you have all day. A lot of bands don't take advantage of that. That was something that we learned right away, that
we could stand out there and connect with kids. We could meet people, sign autographs, take pictures and just say, "Hi,
listen to our CD if you've never heard of us," and show that we're a band that cared about kids hearing our record.
ROR: I see that a lot more now, bands taking the time to spend time with fans. Do you think that's something that bands
are noticing and saying, "Hey, this is getting the word out and we need to do this," or is this something that you
just wanted to do yourselves?
WN: This was something that we wanted to do. It was important to us to get our music out there and we knew that we had
to do it on our own. So we took advantage of that. Warped tour is a guarantee that there's going to be people there, and
we had to take advantage of that. I think we did that as much as we could.
ROR: You also took part in the Take Action Tour in the past. That's always a good cause, raising awareness for teen
suicide. Do you think it's important for a band, once your name is out there, to do some kind of activism? Give a little
back to the community?
MY: Every opportunity we get we try to take advantage of giving back what we can, and suicide prevention is something
that really hits home with us, and certainly something where we definitely try to make sure that in our music and in our lyrics
that we try to inspire hope; inspire that everything is going to be alright. So that tour was certainly a great fit for us
in terms of our overall message.
ROR: Definitely. When you talk about inspiration, did you guys have fans maybe during that tour that would come up to
you with stories of your inspiration to them?
WN: Every night pretty much.
ROR: You hear a lot of that on message boards, people talk about how "this band saved my life." Did you have
a lot of experiences like that?
WN: That was kind of the starting point of what I kind of based this new record off of, those kids and their stories.
ROR: Speaking of fans, your bio says you really like to hang out with fans after shows. That's great and I think that's
something every band should do. Do you foresee still being able to do that for the long term, the busier you get and the
more popular you get?
WN: Absolutely. I think we've always stuck it out until every person has gotten their poster signed. We're never gonna
leave when there's still 50 kids left waiting to get their stuff signed.
ROR: I want to talk about your new album that's about to come out on May 22nd, 'Truth and Sincerity.' You said in an
interview before that you wanted to stay true to your sound; you didn't want to change things up this time around. Why do
you think it was so important for you guys to stick to that, to not do anything new or "groundbreaking"?
WN: I think it was just because, after hearing a lot of bands follow-up records to their previous ones, a lot of bands
were trying to do something different. Like, totally different. That wasn't rubbing me the right way, so I wanted to make
a straight pop-punk record that was kinda the same because everyone else was doing something different.
ROR: I always wondered about that; when you have a legion of fans who like your sound and you come along with your follow
up and you sound totally different.
WN: Some bands do it really well and others, I don't think it sounds so good. I just wanted to do something that I knew
was going to be solid and kids would like no matter what.
ROR: If you had to say that there were any differences between this album coming out and your last one, anything different
at all, what would you say is maybe better about this one or different?
D: We took more time on this record, which was exciting for us. We were very involved with both records, but this one...everybody
in the band was involved in it. I really think the songwriting was stronger; Will wrote all the songs. I think the songs
are better, I think you can tell that we've been playing together as a band. The band is tighter and musically stronger.
I think the addition of Rick playing guitar on the record; we had never had anything technical on guitar. So, I think it's
very us but just a progression. We took vocal lessons. I think Matt's voice sounds amazing on the record. So I think there
were a lot of things, we're just stepping it up and working on how to progress our band to the next level.
ROR: I was lucky enough to have your publicist let me hear the entire album. It's great; sounds really tight.
D: Thank you very much.
ROR: I've read that one of the tracks was inspired by some time that you spent with a fan through the Make A Wish Foundation.
WN: Basically, last summer for Warped Tour her wish, her name is Ashley, her wish was to hang out with Amber Pacific
for the day. So, that's probably one of the coolest things, I think for all of us; that was probably one of the coolest things
we've done with this band. We keep in touch with her daily; I send her text messages every day and so does Dango. It was
great, she hung out with us all day, we got her a bunch of merch and then Matt brought her on stage for her favorite song-
'Gone So Young'. So she got to stand on stage in front of hundreds of people and just enjoy it with us. It was really special.
ROR: Definitely. You'll never forget that; and I'm sure she won't either.
D: And you know, watching her; she had a big brace on her leg...
MY: She's in a lot of pain.
D: She has so many health problems and she was jumping up and down, rocking out. I was almost in tears watching it.
It was unbelievable.
ROR: I think that's great that you guys did that. I wanted to ask you about this current tour. Is this your first headlining
tour?
WN: This is actually our fourth headlining tour, in a row. We've been dying to get on a big supporting slot but we just
haven't had the opportunity yet. So we continue to headline because it's kind of our last option for now. Our old record
has been out for almost two years now, and I think kids have...
ROR: Well, you have a huge fan base.
D: It's really cool to see the die hard fans, but it's also like...we want to play to new audiences. We want kids to
hear the record that never heard of us. We know every kid in here has our record probably. It's awesome that they sing along...
ROR: You want to reach more people.
D: You don't sell more records unless you do that.
ROR: You're going to be doing Warped Tour this summer, right?
WN: Yeah.
ROR: That's always the best opportunity for you guys to reach more people.
WN: This is the first time we've been offered the entire Warped Tour on a really great stage, so we're super excited
this year.
ROR: Which stage?
WN: We're going to be on the Hurley stage this year.
ROR: Very cool. So after Warped Tour do you have any plans?
MY: Hey, if any bands want to take us out...our ideal would be to support a big band and go on a tour that's going to
do really well in the fall. Then hopefully in the winter we'll have the opportunity to go across...we've never been to any
other countries before. It would be cool to be able to go to Europe, Australia, Japan in the winter. Not a lot of tours
go out in the winter because it's freezing, there's snow and it's hard to travel. Then when we come back in the spring maybe
we'll kick off another headliner.
ROR: Do you have any bands that you would love to go out on tour with; someone you know who may be going out touring
soon?
D: Tons.
MY: Too many.
WN: I mean all those bands in our genre we would love to tour with. Fall Out Boy, All-American Rejects, those kinds
of bands.
ROR: I'd like to finish by asking you some off the wall stuff. Are you guys up for that?
AP: Sure.
ROR: Okay, what's your favorite scary movie?
GS: None. I don't like scary movies.
D: That's a good one. I don't think I've ever been asked that question.
MY: I would say 'The Ring' was pretty crazy. I remember watching that and thinking it was pretty freaky. I still say
the best one was 'The Exorcist'. The original Exorcist was just nuts.
D: This is going to sound pretty cheesy, but when I first got into scary movies I thought 'Urban Legends' was amazing.
I know its teeny bopper, but I couldn't get the ending of that movie; the twist was great.
ROR: I loved that movie.
WN: I would say 'Scream' really got me. I couldn't go to sleep that night.
ROR: That's my favorite.
MY: I couldn't get if it was a comedy. I was like, "what, this is a comedy? Are they making fun of scary movies?"
It was freaking intense.
ROR: Greg, you don't like any scary movies?
GS: They scare the crap out of me.
RH: My favorite one is actually kind of a weird one. It's called 'Event Horizon'. That one, I was up for 72 hours straight
after that one.
ROR: That's the sign of a great scary movie.
D: I thought of it for me. 'What Lies Beneath'.
ROR: I'm a sucker for the original 'Halloween'. There was just something about it that gave me chills. With that in
mind, who would win in a fight between Leatherface and Michael Myers?
MY: Who's Leatherface?
ROR: He's from the 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.
MY: I haven't seen that movie, but I'm sure that guy would win.
D: Definitely.
WN: He's brutal.
ROR: He's brutal, but Michael Myers never dies.
MY: I think Hannibal Lechter would take them all.
ROR: I might have to agree with that one.
GS: I do like those movies. They're more psychological.
ROR: Okay, you're stranded on a desert island. You have one album you can take with you to listen to for the rest of
your days. What are you going to pick.
WN: Rick, go.
RH: I would probably take, at this point; I'd go with Thrice's 'The Illusion of Safety'.
GS: Come back to me.
WN: I would burn a CD that has Blink-182's 'Enema of the State' and 'Take off Your Pants and Jacket' on one CD. I'd
take that one with me.
MY: I would take the audio CD from the 1995 Seattle Mariners baseball season that has all the Dave Nehouse calls and
highlights and I would just listen to that. Those are the glory days right there.
D: I would take MxPx's 'Life in General'.
ROR: I love them.
GS: I'll just go with Green Day, 'Dookie', because that's what got all this started.
ROR: This is the last one. If your label came to you one day and said, "Look, we want you guys to collaborate with
a rapper on your next track",who would that be?
MY: Easy. Eminem.
D: Easy.
ROR: Will?
WN: I would pick Eminem, but I think Greg would pick Jay Z though.
ROR: I figured someone would pull Jay Z out of their hat. So that's 3 for Eminem and 2 for Jay Z. Then you'd have a
fight on your hands.
GS: I could deal with Eminem though, but I think Jay Z does it right.
ROR: That's the first thing my son said when we talked about this; Eminem.
D: Dr. Dre is the one though who puts out all the hooks under them, so who knows?
ROR: Okay, well thank you for everything guys. You were great. Is there anything you want to tell your fans?
D: We have a new record coming out May 22nd. Please give it a listen. There's something for everyone. Even if you've
never heard us, you might like us.
WN: Thank you to everyone for supporting us.
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