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| Alex Gaskarth- lead vocals |
When I sat down to write this article I found myself wondering how many high school seniors right now have dreams of becoming
a rock star. I would imagine that many of you reading this have that dream yourself; starting your own band and getting signed
to a record label right out of high school. Then you wake up from the daydream and finish your homework, or take out the
trash that your mom's been bugging you to take out all day. After all, who really lives their dreams? Right?
I came across All Time Low very much the same way I seem to come across many bands that I end up admiring. I was covering
the headliner of a show that had ATL on the bill and found myself blown away by their energy, personality and truly addictive
music. I knew right then that I had to interview them. Lead vocalist Alex Gaskarth was nice enough to chat with me about
the birth of All Time Low and how they made their dream a reality. Here's what he had to say:
ROCK ON REQUEST: I really try to avoid asking the same old boring questions during an interview. I do have to start
out with a few basic ones, just to introduce All Time Low to the readers of Rock On Request. Can you tell me who founded
the band and how it all came together? How old were you when All Time Low formed?
AG: Jack, the guitarist, and myself founded the band while we were in ninth grade, while we were in high school. We
met Rian, our drummer, at that high school that same year and he started jamming with us and it was a good fit, so we decided
to keep him. We met Zack shortly after. He went to another high school in the local area. Everybody lived kind of close
so it all worked out really well. So we started playing shows and just kind of stuck with it all four years, and by the time
we hit our senior year we had done enough that we gained recognition from some labels. By the time we graduated we had signed
to Hopeless Records, so it was perfect timing.
ROR: That's very cool and pretty unreal when you think about it.
AG: Oh yeah, completely unreal. I don't really know who to thank, but I want to thank somebody.
ROR: I can imagine. You just graduated from High school last year right?
AG: Yep, class of 2006.
ROR: So you're 18 now?
AG: I'm 19. Zack and Jack are 18. Rian and I are 19.
ROR: That's a lot of success at a young age. That's pretty fantastic.
AG: It's been amazing, absolutely amazing.
ROR: How were you able to concentrate on school and still manage to make the band a success? That must have been hard.
AG: It was definitely a challenge. I never really liked high school. I hated the routine of it and I was really convinced
that I was going to do music and make my own life, much to the dismay of my parents. I didn't do that well throughout high
school. I didn't balance my work very well. Basically, my senior year I ended up telling my teachers, "Look, I'll be
attending your class but I'm probably not going to do anything. I'm ready to get out of here." (laughing) And they
were basically like, "Fine."
ROR: That's the way our education system is now, they just don't care?
AG: You'd be surprised, unfortunately, how little many teachers do care. Some of them are still good, but there are
a lot of teachers who are perfectly fine with a student saying, "I'm not going to do anything, I'm just going to sit
here," and they're like, "Okay."
ROR: How did you get hooked up with Hopeless Records? Was it through someone you knew, or another band?
AG: Yeah. We actually met Amber Pacific on a spring break tour we were doing, I think in our junior year. We played
a show with them, met them and became pretty good friends with them. Jack kept in touch with Greg, the bass player in that
band, and from that moment on when it came time for us to look at labels, when things started happening for us he sort of
made the move to get us under Hopeless. It just all sort of came together from there.
ROR: That's really great.
AG: It was really cool.
ROR: They have Avenged Sevenfold and Thrice, and a lot of others on their label. It must be good to be in such good
company.
AG: The label has a ton of history, not only in its bands but also what it stands for. Hopeless also has Subcity Records,
which is a label whose purpose is to fund charity organizations, organizations that bands on the label believe in and want
to help fund with their royalty money. They also founded the Take Action Tour, which is a really good thing.
ROR: I just went actually and did a story on Red Jumpsuit on that tour.
AG: That's awesome! It's doing really good. I think every venue is selling out pretty much.
ROR: For being a group of very young guys fresh out of high school, you've had the opportunity to play with some pretty
big names in alternative music.
AG: We definitely have.
ROR: Who all have you played with?
AG: We've played with tons of people. We had the opportunity to play with Kanye West.
ROR: Really?
AG: Which I didn't really believe at the time. It was amazing. We've toured with some really amazing bands: Cute is
What We Aim For, Boys Like Girls are some of our really good friends, Sugarcult, all kinds of people. We've made some really
good friends.
ROR: You were also on the Warped Tour last summer right?
AG: We weren't on the whole thing. We did about 11 days of it.
ROR: Are you guys going to be doing it again this summer?
AG: Yeah, this summer we're actually going to be doing the whole thing on the Volcom stage.
ROR: Oh good, I'm so glad. I definitely want to see you perform again.
AG: It's going to be a blast. I can't wait for it.
ROR: Didn't you play Bamboozle too?
AG: Yeah, we did. We did Bamboozle Left. That was the first Bamboozle we'd done. We are slated to play on the Sunday
of this upcoming Bamboozle as well.
ROR: With all that you've already done, do you feel that it's taught you something along the way, or at least helped
you musically?
AG: Oh, of course. I think we've been developing the whole time. We've learned a lot over the past year. It's been
pretty insane how rapidly things have happened for us. It was a great learning experience. It certainly has opened my eyes
to the industry in a huge way.
ROR: I bet it has. It's one thing to have the dreams of being a rock star. It's a whole other thing to live that life
and get out there. It's just a whole different world.
AG: It's incredible. Every day is like a vacation.
ROR: I can imagine. Right now, just doing what I'm doing, It's the best job I could ask for. What you guys do must
be a party and a half.
AG: (laughing) It's insane. There really is no other word to describe it. It's magic.
ROR: I want to tell you something before I forget. When I saw you guys play the other night I had no idea how old you
were, didn't know your back story or anything. When I heard you play, you would never know that you were just out of high
school and were such a young band. You looked like total pros up there and I just wanted you to know that.
AG: Oh, thank you so much! I think we were kind of forced into it in a way. We were just sort of thrown into this big
world with all these amazing bands and we were going on tour with all kinds of people. All of a sudden it was like we need
to step up, and we were kind of forced to put on a game face and really bring it or get lost in the huge amounts of bands
that are out there.
ROR: Oh yeah, there's just so many. But did that freak you out a little bit? Really just kind of being thrown out there
with all these bands that have been touring?
AG: Yeah, but at the same time it's really exciting. It's been a dream, so you can't really complain. I think we just
had to step up and it's been awesome.
ROR: Well, it's obvious you've done that. The crowd just loved you. You guys are doing something right. Alex, you
do all the songwriting, correct?
AG: The music is kind of a group effort. We all work on it so that we all agree on the sound and how we want the song
to be. Then I'll take that and write lyrics and melodies to it.
ROR: I've listened to your CD many times since Sunday. I made sure I picked it up before I left. The lyrics seem very
personal.
AG: The EP that we put out, a lot of the songs on that are pretty old. They were previously released independently before
we were signed. So those songs, I wrote those when I was 17; their about two years old. It's weird to still play them, but
yeah those songs all come from personal experience and they were completely just that I picked a moment out of a bunch of
them and wrote about it. With the new record I'm actually really excited because I started kind of experimenting with making
things up and started taking more of a storytelling aspect to it and throwing it in there. I think fiction can make for really
fun songs, just because you can play around with things don't normally happen.
ROR: Absolutely, plus I bet you find that even though it starts out as fiction you end up finding personal things to
add to it.
AG: Oh yeah, absolutely. All the songs I write apply in some way to my life. It's been nice though to take a different
standpoint.
ROR: When is the new album going to come out?
AG: The new album will hopefully be out in August.
ROR: Oh cool.
AG: At the end of Warped Tour hopefully.
ROR: Okay, now that you are officially a rock star...
AG: (laughing)
ROR: I'm going to give you that title whether you want it or not.
AG: Okay, fine.
ROR: I want to ask you, who is your ideal rock front man?
AG: Who is my ideal rock front man? Like who I idolize?
ROR: Yeah, who would you say was the best rock front man?
AG: Oh man, Butch Walker is incredible. He is such a great front man. The things he does with a wireless microphone
are insane. He is one of the front men that I've studied and tried to, you know I'd end up saying how can I do this well?
I've kind of watched him to see how I can do it. For a front man that also plays guitar he works the crowd like crazy.
ROR: Absolutely and I like seeing that in a front man. When you are playing guitar and singing you really have to work
to keep that stage presence.
AG: Exactly. A lot of front men find having a guitar kind of restricting, because it kind of limits you to where you
can be. You can't obviously walk around with the microphone, so if you can balance the two it's a pretty good feat.
ROR: Speaking of your musical influences, aside from a front man what bands or other artists have influenced you or your
sound for the band?
AG: I think we are a band because of Blink 182. That and New Found Glory, and probably Green Day. Bands from when we
were teeny bopper kids back in high school.
ROR: So long ago, right?
AG: Yeah, so long ago (laughs), not really.
ROR: Way back then.
AG: Back in the day.
ROR: Oh yes, back in the day.
AG: But I listen to a lot of rap now and my band hates me for it. I'm really getting into hip hop and R&B.
ROR: I could tell that.
AG: Oh yeah?
ROR: After the show you were dancing around for a little while, so it was pretty obvious.
AG: (Laughing hard). Yeah, we love Jack's Mannequin as well, Brand New, all kinds of bands. The influence comes from
everywhere. A lot of the bands that we end up on tour with will end up being the bands that we're currently listening to,
just because it's like we hear it every night so I guess I'll sit down and listen to the whole CD.
ROR: And then you think, "Hey they're pretty good."
AG: Exactly. It's a real benefit, because you don't notice the little details maybe in a recording until you see them
live every day. And when you sit down with the CD and put it in you learn a lot about the bands that you're on tour with.
ROR: It was really cool the other night because a lot of times you go to a show and you've got four opening bands and
you're not really that impressed. The other night though every band that went up on stage just did a great job.
AG: The bands on this tour are all really solid.
ROR: Absolutely.
AG: Brighten is incredible, This Providence is incredible.
ROR: This Providence are great guys and they can really perform.
AG: Yeah, they put on a great show.
ROR: I mentioned your stage presence a minute ago. You actually started getting the crowd going before the band even
performed. You were just talking and laughing, and it was kind of fun to watch. The crowd really responded to you and by
the time you guys were ready to go on they were just primed and ready to go. Is that something you put thought into before
a show, or just your natural charm?
AG: I don't know. I mean obviously I'm very charming (laughing).
ROR: Obviously.
AG: I think it may be a little bit of both. I'm always naturally drawn to kind of talk to everyone and meet everybody
there. I just try to make sure that everyone has a great time. I think when you're a performer; the way I look at it is
like you're hosting a party and so it's your job to keep everybody completely entertained the whole time. So from the moment
I step foot on stage I'm gonna start bringing it, I guess. I think it's really important to kind of try to get everybody
involved from the get go before the music starts.
ROR: That's a great attitude.
AG: It gets them all the more excited for the performance and then afterwards they feel like they connected with your
personality more than just on the level of watching your band play.
ROR: That's so true. The same thing is true for after the show, I can't get away from this question lately no matter
how hard I try; lately every band I talk to has more of a personal connection with their fans than bands used to.
AG: Yeah, I mean these days it's a requirement I think, simply because these days in general everything is more open
because of the internet and all kinds of ways you can find to connect with people that you wouldn't usually be able to connect
with back in the day. You would never think to meet kids at one of their concerts. They would just hang out back stage and
that was what the whole rock star life was about. These days if you want to even connect with fans and want to be taken seriously
you have to show them the side of you that's willing to accept them and you have to be friendly.
ROR: I agree. You can get fans, but how do you keep them? You have to think about that.
AG: Yeah, I mean these people are taking the time to listen to you and falling in love with your music, I think you owe
it to them to kind of give it back to them.
ROR: Exactly. And there are so many bands out there, like you said before, who will be more than willing to do what
you're not doing to get those fans over to them.
AG: Absolutely. It's definitely a competitive world these days.
ROR: I want to ask you about something that you and Jack both mentioned in another interview. You said that you get
nervous before a show.
AG: Oh yeah, we sure did. These days a lot of the time it's not so much nervousness as it is excitement and anticipation.
But, yeah, the nerves definitely do get going and you get kind of scared; what if you screw up, what if people don't like
you? A lot of the time we're playing to crowds that may have never seen us before, so there's always a question whether or
not they're actually going to like us. So far we've been really lucky, we've had a really good chance to bond with everybody
and people have picked up on this.
ROR: I want to backtrack a little bit to how you personally got started writing and performing. When did you know that
you wanted to make performing your life and how did you go about making that happen?
AG: That's a good question. I've always been kind of musical, even just to the point when my parents would have music
playing I would always be singing along, dancing around the living room and stuff like that. I always just had a natural...I
was drawn to music.
ROR: Were you a band geek ever in school?
AG: No, actually I wasn't. I always hated those kinds of things. I really didn't ever want to settle down and play
something in that kind of group. It was weird. My mom always kind of yelled at me because I would get these kind of spontaneous
desires to play the saxophone or something, and then they'd go out and get me one because they were so excited that I was
going to stick to learning it. Then it would get so organized; "You're going to be taking lessons twice a week, blah,
blah, blah." Then I would be like, "I don't want to do this anymore." I don't know, I guess I had this weird
phobia of...
ROR: Organization?
AG: (laughing with me) Taking things too seriously I guess. But I started playing guitar a long time ago and then stopped,
then started, then stopped over and over again until finally I was kind of decent at it.
ROR: Were you self-taught or did you take lessons?
AG: I took lessons for awhile but the same thing basically happened, I got sick of doing it. I just wanted to learn
what I wanted to learn so I taught myself what I know now.
ROR: Well you seem to know a lot. Whatever works for you, right?
AG: I want to learn piano and I think now that I'm older I can force myself to take some lessons when I have the time.
I really want to get good at it. I always find myself trying to teach myself songs, and so far it's worked out. If someone
would like play a key I would have no idea what that key is on the piano.
ROR: Maybe one day.
AG: Yeah, exactly. It's kind of like, I don't know, I'd be doing it without even knowing the theory behind it.
ROR: Now, there are probably a lot of kids in high school and middle school that have dreams of being in a rock band.
Many of them probably don't realize how much hard work and dedication goes into what you do.
AG: There's a ton of work.
ROR: If you could tell the kids out there with dreams of being a rock star what it takes to get where you are today,
what would you say to them?
AG: I would say have an open mind, open arms and a lot of luck, to be quite honest. You can take yourself so far with
hard work, but in the music industry a lot of it is just who you end up meeting and who you happen to know. Who happens to
hear you and decides they want to throw you a bone. There is so much talent out there and a lot of it is overlooked.
ROR: You're so right. I write a column about unsigned bands and I come across so many great bands out there that aren't
signed when they really should be. They just haven't, like you said, met the right people or gotten the right exposure.
It's really unfortunate.
AG: Then again, going back on what I said earlier, now is the time above any other time that labels are becoming less
and less important for bands, mostly because of the internet and the ability a band has to sort of make itself a brand. I
think within the next 30 to 40 years record labels are going to take a huge kind of fall, and I think we're going to see a
lot of changes in the independent music scene. I think you'll see a lot more bands sort of realizing that they don't necessarily
need a label to get themselves out there with the internet. I mean, who needs a label. You might as well just take out a
loan and find your own distribution and do it all yourself, then pay back that loan. Then none of your money is going to
anyone else, it's just you. I think it's becoming more and more accepting, I guess, for bands to be able to do that now.
ROR: I completely agree. The questions are going to start getting more random here and there. Are you ready?
AG: Okay, go for it.
ROR: If you had the ability to go back in time and play one show with any classic rock band, who would you play with?
AG: They're not even broken up, but I would love to play a show with Aerosmith.
ROR: My favorite classic rock band.
AG: Awesome. Maybe Motley Crue too.
ROR: That would be a blast for sure. When you were a kid, who was your favorite Halloween character? Someone you wanted
to dress up as?
AG: It was always Transformers. I think for like three years running I was a Transformer, just different ones.
ROR: At least you didn't play favorites. The rest of these questions are a little game I'd like to call 'this or that.'
AG: (laughing) This or that?
ROR: I'm going to give you some options and you have to tell me which one you would choose, okay?
AG: Sure.
ROR: The first one is horror movies or action flicks?
AG: Horror movies.
ROR: See, you're my kinda guy.
AG: (laughs)
ROR: Skateboarding or snowboarding?
AG: Snowboarding.
ROR: Right on. The Police or Pink Floyd?
AG: Pink Floyd.
ROR: Good choice. Blondes or brunettes?
AG: Oh man, brunettes.
ROR: This is the last one, but it's gonna be tough. Are you ready? Sex, drugs or rock 'n' roll?
AG: All three, duh!
ROR: No, you can't. You have to pick one.
AG: Really?
ROR: That's the game.
AG: Rock 'n' roll. Maybe sex.
ROR: I was curious about that one, whether you would leave it out or not.
AG: (laughing with interviewer)
ROR: Well that's all I have, unless you want to say something to your fans.
AG: Only that we love you all to death and thank you so much for being a part of what we're trying to do. Hopefully
we'll meet you all soon.
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