Interview: Bayside

Can you start off by introducing yourself and saying what you do in the band?
I’m Chris and I play drums.
I’m Nick and I don’t play drums. I pa-lay bass. Blass. I pay blass. I play bass.
Chris: Hunky Punk.

How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard of you before?
Nick:Ummmm I always say…
Chris: Wait are they adults or kids?
Nick: Yeah, wait, do they know anything about music. These people?

That’s debatable. So we’re going to go with somewhere in the middle.
Nick: Okay sometimes I’m just like, oh yeah, we sound like Green Day.
Chris: That’s what I say!
Nick: Like if it is a random person, I’m like yeah, Green day – later! But if they know something about music then I say like, Alkaline Trio…
Chris: Smoking Popes.
Nick: Smoking Popes. I don’t know. I don’t really think we sound like anything. We sound like…pop. Punk.
Chris: Rock. Pop-punk-rock-pop. Pop Rocks. That’s a hard question. You came out swinging with these questions!
[Laughter]

Your new album came out at the end of September, what has been the reaction from fans?
Chris: Umm, they’ve been a little quiet.
Nick: Yeah.
Chris: At first. They were really quiet. I think they were getting used to the songs and they are starting to learn them now.
Nick: I think people…it’s taken some time…it’s only been out for about six or seven weeks at this point and we’ve been on tour this whole time so not everyone has it we don’t think yet. So it’s taken sometime, but every night when we’re playing we reassure them that it is okay to download it and get it for free just as long as they have the album. So hopefully people are going home and just downloading the album after the shows, if they don’t have it yet.

What was your recording process like for this album and do you think it was any different than previous processes?
Chris: I think the only thing that was different was that we did the entire record away from home.
Nick: The last record we did the drums in Rhinebeck, NY, which is kind of near Woodstock. And then we came home and did the rest of the record in –where the –where was that? In Brooklyn? Queens?
Chris: Queens.
Nick: In Queens, yeah. This time we did the entire record in California, so that was pretty sick. And getting to be away from home, I think, yeah that was the only thing that was different.
Chris: Yeah, the studio. We haven’t done, since I’ve been in the band, there’s only two albums and I only did one, this was the first time that we did everything in one studio. And it was a giant studio, like the last two albums that we did it was just little places you know like little tiny, not-studios, really. But uh, this one was awesome. I like California!
Nick: Yeah!

Can you describe a bit of your typical writing process in terms of lyrics and music?
Nick:Everything starts with Anthony just putting parts together and songs and ideas and stuff on like an acoustic guitar and his MacBook or something like that. And we just talk about the songs really until we all get a chance to play them and mess around with them. And, the lyrics are like, seriously the last thing that happens. I don’t want to say like, that he’s writing them as he’s singing them – but it’s pretty damn close. It is definitely in the studio like finishing lyrics and stuff. I know he has ideas for songs that he wants each song to be a specific thing…but like, we were still in California and he was about to start doing vocals and he wasn’t finished writing lyrics yet. This time around we did a lot of talking about the songs instead of just playing them over and over. We really only practiced for four or five days a week for like 5 hours a day maybe, with the new songs. I don’t know! It was kind of an easy process I think, I didn’t lose my mind. I usually lose my mind when we’re recording.
Chris: Haha yeah. It was definitely quick. We’ve always kind of been under the knife. Knife? Under the gun? What is it?
Nick: Under…
Chris: Under the gun.
Nick: Under the knife I think is surgery…
Chris: Under the gun is…
Under the radar…under the…You know what I mean! Haha But we’ve always been like – the label is like – make a record, you’ve got two months. So it has always been really fast, a really fast process. But I think that it is kind of a good thing for us. It doesn’t really let you second-guess anything. I feel like if you have too much time you start second guessing and potentially ruining what was actually cooler than you thought.
[Makes ringing noise]
Nick: Is this annoying you guys?

No…
Chris: IT’S ANNOYING ME…. just-kidding haha.

How do you think that your music has changed album-to-album?
Nick: It has…I think we still sound the same. Like, it’s the same band, but we always just take different influences and uh, try and develop as a band from album to album. With this album we just wanted the energy to be more, more like our live show and we wanted the songs to be a little bit more fun. I don’t know, I think each album makes sense one after the other, but if you listen to the first one and this one, the first album sounds a lot different I think. But if you go from the first album to the second album, second to third and so on, I think it all makes sense. It all seems like the same band. We’re just getting better at our instruments and at song writing, better at playing as a band, really. So, I don’t know, we’re always going to sound the same. We aren’t going to sound like a metal band one day.
That’d be sick haha.

Your current tour is almost over – what has been your favorite night of the tour so far?
Nick:Tomorrow night!? Cause it’s the last night haha.
Chris: Last night! We had our hometown show.
Nick: Yeah last night was great. It was one of our best shows ever, I think.
Chris: Yeah.
Nick: Yeah there was some other good stuff – Hollywood was a lot of fun.
Troubadour…
Chris: I had a lot of fun that night.
Nick: There was not good shows. Where was a bad one? Pocatello, Idaho. That place sucks. That was bad. That wasn’t what you asked though you asked for good nights haha yeah last night.
Chris: Last night was greattt.
Nick: Chicago was great
Chris: Oh yeah! Chicago was. It was like the third day too, right?
Nick: Yeah something like that.
Chris: This tour we did backwards, we usually do south, west, north, east. But we went west south, east, north, like totally backwards. So I think that was kind of weird.
Nick: I liked it this way.
Chris: Really?
Nick: Yeah.
I don’t like doing New York right away.
Chris: Yeah.
Nick: Do New York last.
Chris:And honestly, tonight hasn’t happened yet. And tonight’s going to be awesome.
Nick: Yeah tonight’s going to be fun. I think tomorrow too.
…Unless like the stage catches fire or something. Other than that we’ll be good.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen.
Nick: Good.

What is your favorite and least favorite thing about touring?
Chris: Our least favorite thing about touring. I don’t know.
Nick: My least favorite thing…
…Eating crap. All the time.
Chris: Eating shitty.
Nick: My favorite thing is playing, definitely.
Chris: Favorite thing about touring?
Nick:Yeah. That’s really just, playing the shows for like an hour, an hour and twenty minutes.
Chris: Yeah. What else is shitty…there are so many shitty things haha. I can’t even think of just one now.
-OH. Using the girls’ bathroom everyday kind of sucks. Cause the guys bathrooms are always demolished and destroyed. Disgusting. So, yeah, using the girls’ room. You always have to check and make sure there aren’t any girls in there.

Haha does someone like, stand guard outside?
Chris: No not really haha, we’re all pretty much just used to going in and…yeah.

What are some of your tour essentials?
Nick: Computer. That I’m on right now haha. I think I knew -OH WAIT. Total, big-time, tour essential – I have a fan in my bunk.
Chris: Yeah. It gets really hot, or really cold.
Nick: But I keep the fan on even if it is really cold.
It’s good circulation.

Chris: Toothbrush. A TV that has hockey on it.
Nick:  I would need that. I would be significantly in a worse off mood if I didn’t get to watch hockey.
Chris: HM. If I was allowed to have a dog on the bus I would say a dog. But I can’t have a dog on the bus so, don’t put that down.
[Laughing]
Chris: Or you can.

What are some bands or artists you are currently listening to?
Chris: Nada Surf. That’s the only band I’ve listened to this whole tour I think.
Nick: John Mayer. The Matches.
Chris:I watch The Matches every night when they play.
Nick:Minus the Bear. I’m not listening to…
Chris: I was just going to do one of those but I didn’t.

You can do a not.
Chris: Yeah I don’t want to offend anyone though haha.
Nick: I have a lot of ‘not’s haha

If we looked at your iPod what would be some embarrassing artists we’d find?
Nick: Madonna?! Madonna’s not embarrassing though.
Chris: Yeah. We always bring up Madonna but it’s not embarrassing.
Nick: It’s old Madonna, not like we listen to the new Madonna.
Chris: I definitely have Sean Kingston, is that good?
Nick: No.
Chris: What about…I’m trying to look through it right now
Nick: You can’t even look through yours, didn’t we decide you don’t have any guilty pleasures in your iTunes.
Chris: Yeah, but I do now. I got some new stuff.
Nick: Sorry your battery is going to run out by the time we find something haha
Chris: We have such great taste in music.
Chris:I have Marilyn Manson on my iPod – that’s terrible. I’ll just listen to it for fun though. Like we’ll just turn it on and-
Nick: -That’s a good one. Marilyn Manson.
Chris: Marilyn Manson it is.

What is coming up for you guys for the rest of the year and 2009?
Nick: Keep touring. Forever. We’re going to go to England in about two weeks. Annnd, Australia in early or late winter. And we’ve got some stuff lined up that I can’t tell you about! More touring though, it’s going to be awesome.
Chris: Is something on fire?
Nick: Yeah, what’s that smell?

Do you have anything for your fans and the readers at ForTheSound.com you’d like to add?

Chris: Go to our MySpace and check out all that cool stuff because we don’t have a website. Nick: And, I’m always on MySpace reading it and trying to answer stuff and updating it and all that stuff. I like it when people say cute things to me.…On MySpace. [Laughing]
Chris: Tell them to say, hi, because, we’re nice. Don’t be shy.

Interview By: Kaila Rovine
Interview Date: November 15th, 2008

Kaila would like to thank Gary Strack at ReyBee Publicity for helping to make this interview happen. Also, a big thanks goes out to Nick and Chris for sitting down with us and doing the interview.