If you’re a fan of female-fronted, heartfelt folk-rock, it’s time you check out Laura Stevenson and The Cans.  The band is part of QuoteUnquote Records, run by Jeff Rosenstock [Bomb the Music Industry, Kudrow, Arrogant Sons of Bitches], and, like their label mates, showcases a flawless brand of DIY-tunes.  I personally had the pleasure of asking the talented Laura Stevenson a few questions, and here is what she had to say.

Who are you and what do you do in The Cans?

I’m Laura, I write and sing and play guitar.

What is your writing process like?
That definitely varies, if I have the luxury of being totally alone
with a guitar with no roommates around then I sit and play and sing a
melody over and over until it transforms itself into some sparse words
and then eventually into a song.  That is my preferred way of working
but it’s intensely private and hyper-emotional, my eyes tear, it’s a
big mess.

Are you currently writing any new material? If so, how does it differ
from A Record?
Yes indeed.  We’re working on writing the next record as we speak.  I
had a lot of songs written and some that were unfinished that I’ve
been gradually bringing to practices and showing the band and we’ve
been doing a lot of work on them together which is really nice.
Because I started out playing the songs on A Record before The Cans, I
had pretty much fully realized and arranged those songs myself which
was kind of limiting.  But now we have this group writing environment
with a bunch of different brains contributing and… it’s pretty
awesome so get ready.

The song “Landslide Song/The Dig” displays an entirely different side
of the band than the rest of A Record.  Any particular reason this
track has a more upbeat vibe?
Yeah, that’s the song people circle-pit to.  And by that I mean, 3
people did.  Once.  But it was really exciting for me.  That song may
be different from the rest of the songs on A Record but it’s not a
stretch for us to play or to write.  Most of us come from punk rock
backgrounds, I know I do, Mike does, Jeff, Alex, Chris, Matt…

How did you become involved with QuoteUnquote Records and how has your
experience there been?
Well, Jeff from The Cans runs QuoteUnquote.  He is a relatively new
Can but I’ve been playing in his band Bomb the Music Industry for
maybe 5 years now?  Off and on, I don’t go on every tour.  Anyway, the
two of us have been friends forever and we respect each other a lot as
writers and he seemed really psyched about putting out A Record.
Having our first real record on QuoteUnquote was a really awesome
experience.  It’s a digital and donation based label so it was very
easily accessible and that’s all we wanted, we just wanted as many
people to hear it as possible with no pretense.  We weren’t looking to
profit off of it, you know, it was 8 songs that we were proud of.

What sparked the idea to cover the Bomb! the Music Industry song “It
Ceases to Be Whining…” and to have Bomb cover “A Shine to It”  on the
split EP?
I forget who’s idea that was, either Jeff or Mike.  I think Jeff knew
all along that he’d cover A Shine to It but I was really up in the air
about which song I would cover and it was a source of anxiety for a
while.  Jeff writes such good songs, really it’s insane how good he
is.  I knew I wanted to “pretty-up” a fast song and I guess the title
and all the “fucks” deterred me for a little bit but the melody is
really beautiful so I just took it and ran with it, recorded it on
GarageBand, and then Mike added the clapping and the fun.

Who are your biggest musical and non-musical inspirations?
Hmmm… that’s a tough one.  I really like Courtney Love.  Is that
okay?  I think she rules.  Mike had to stop following her on Twitter
because apparently it was crazy.

What is a typical Laura Stevenson & the Cans show like?
We’ll play you some songs, we’ll make stupid faces at each other, I’ll
try to make jokes between songs and do some high-kicks, 3 kids might
circle-pit… we have fun but play really sad songs.

What is it like for you being a female on tour in a van?
Probably what it’s like to be a male in a van… except that I get my
period which is not so fun on tour.  Then again, I don’t wake up with
a boner- also not fun on tour.  Otherwise, you know, we all treat each
other with a lot of respect, we’re really lucky to be a part of a
group in which every single person is just really, really awesome and
really kind and good at what they do.

Do you have any funny or outrageous tour stories?
Oh god, I never do when people ask me.  Once, we went to Subway.  It was okay.

Name three artists you’re currently really enjoying.
Let’s see… Cast Spells, Archipelago, and Hard Girls.  All great
bands and very nice people.

What would be a dream tour lineup for you?
Neil Young, Archers of Loaf, C + C Music Factory, … can we open?

Is there anything else you’d like to add or say to your fans?
Thank you for being great!  A Record plus 3 additional songs is being
released by Asian Man in April so, keep an eye out!

Pop/Punk band The Maine have been gaining some popularity within the past couple of months. After a handful of opener acts on tours with bands like We The Kings and All Time Low, The Maine co-headlined the 2009 AP Tour as well as performed on the Hurley Stage throughout Warped Tour ’09. Recently, the band appeared along side Boys Like Girls, Cobra Starship, A Rocket To The Moon, and VersaEmerge on the OP Presents Love Drunk Tour.

I was able to ask guitarist Kennedy Brock a couple of questions shortly after the end of the Love Drunk Tour. Click the jump to read the full interview!

- How was the OP/Love Drunk tour with Boys Like Girls, Cobra Starship, A Rocket To The Moon, and VersaEmerge?

The tour was amazing, easily the best crowds we have ever had! We are great friends with ARTTM, Versa, and BLG, so there weren’t too many new faces to learn, which is always nice. Cobra Starship turned out to be great people also. It’s crazy how fast the tour went, I really wish it would have been longer!

- Did you have a favorite date of the tour?

I think that St. Louis was my favorite date of this tour, I love The Pageant, it is such a great venue, and the crowd was insane that night.

- Do you have a favorite band that you toured with?

It’s hard to choose a favorite band. We have toured with a lot of cool people, but if I had to, I’d say it’s ARTTM [A Rocket To The Moon], I have known them since I joined this band, and have never had a dull moment. They are some of the most down to earth guys around!

- Do you have a favorite song to perform live?

I enjoy playing Into Your Arms.

- What do you think sets your band apart from other bands of your genre?

It’s hard to answer that question without coming off [as] arrogant. Everyone always thinks they stand out, it’s hard to say what really makes the difference. We work hard, we love our fans, and we try to write good songs, hopefully that does the trick and sets us apart.

- Have you started working on a new album? If so, can you talk about it?

Nope, we are going to take the rest of this year off to hang with our families and start the early stages of the writing process.

- Do you have any plans for 2010? A future tour?

Not sure yet, hopefully it’s going to be a good year though!

- As a musician, who are some of your major influences?

My band mates first of all, as for bands, I am a big fan of Third Eye Blind, and Tom Petty!

- Would you like to add anything else?

Thanks for your time, see you next year!

- How was it being a part of such a huge tour like Warped Tour almost straight out of college? How did you react when you found out that you would be the pit reporter?

I’ll be honest- I almost didn’t even apply. I wanted it so bad that I couldn’t imagine applying and watching it go to someone else. When Paul from the office called me, it was like a 45 minute conversation and I was pacing around in my front yard while my mom, sister, and friend were laughing at me. And getting that job two months after I graduated college? Never would I have ever thought that would happen to me. It just fell in front of me at the most perfect timing. Not to sound sappy, but it just seemed like it was one of those “meant to be” moments because Warped was something I wanted to be a part of when I first went in 2003.

-Was it a big adjustment to be living on the road for the duration of Warped?

Um. Yes. Ok, think about living out of a suitcase. Then put your suitcase under a car. It’s like that. Buses are crowded, messy and cramped but holy crap it’s awesome and like nothing else I’ve ever done. You make a whole new family out there because you are forced to. Living with so many people in that little space, you learn alot [sic] about yourself. Luckily for everyone on that tour, Kevin works with the best so you are always going to be in good hands and with good people. And people who won’t make fun of you for taking a baby wipe shower.

- How is the general environment of Warped Tour? Can it get stressful at times? Boring? Do all the bands/musicians get along?

It’s mind-boggling how it can be both stressful and boring. No, Warped isn’t boring by any means. The place is different, the fans are different, the bands can be different. But in order for everything to run smoothly, there has to be some sort of routine. There are moment where it’s like “same stuff, different day” but those are few and far between. Granted it’s still pretty hectic out there because everything gets put together that morning. It’s really stressful for most jobs out there. Mine depended on bands schedules and since they aren’t figured out until that morning, I can’t plan ahead. But everyone respects everyone else because there’s a mutual understanding of how hard everyone is working.

- What were some of your favorite bands that played during Warped ’09?

Gallows, Sing It Loud, TAT, Therefore I Am, InnerPartySystem, Less Than Jake, The Ataris, Bayside, The Architects, POS, Alexisonfire, The AKAs, and 3OH!3. All just great people and solid bands. I love a good live show, and all of these will sure as hell give you one.

- Congrats on being asked to do the Pit Reporting for Warped Tour 2010! When did you find out about this?

Thanks! We were already talking about me coming back mid-tour last summer. I took the role further than it had gone by really pushing the social media networks, staying focused on getting content for every day and being as timely as you can out there. I felt like I had to prove myself and I think it was during the last week of the tour, myself and production wanted me to be out again for next year. They knew how hard I worked and knew I could come up with even more ideas for next summer.

- With the announcement that you’d be coming back as a the pit reporter, the dates of Warped 2010 were announced, as well as the news that band announcements would be made very soon. How early does planning start for Warped Tour?

Kevin literally starts planning next year as soon as the tour ends. Because Warped is so massive with the duration, number of bands, sponsors, vendors, different venues, all the staff, etc etc you have to get an early start. There’s very little down time from one to the next. Keep in mind Kevin also does 2 other tours and is starting a new one next year- that actually ends just 2 days before Warped starts. I don’t know how he does it!

- Are you doing anything else for Warped Tour during the planning stages? (helping pick talent or venues, communicating with sponsors, etc.)

I help run the Warped’s Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Stickam accounts. I also brainstorm and help develop marketing and promotional ideas with the office. I also like to create content before the tour to keep fans informed with the bands and other on-goings with the tour like ticket on sale date. This year we are talking about more videos from me before the tour. I don’t have anything to do with the production side of things, just social media.

- Have all the bands been booked yet, or are there still more bookings that need to be done?

The majority have been booked, yes. There is still some talk with some bands, but we have the bulk of everything ready to roll. I heard the list today and it’s pretty extensive but Kevin still has some bands in the works.

- Could you possibly give us a hint towards a couple of bands that are on Warped 2010?

Nope. Sealed to secrecy until it’s announced. But I will say that from my personal tastes, I’m extremely excited for this summer. It includes a band who I’ve listened to for almost a decade and haven’t had the chance to see yet.

- Is there anything about Warped Tour that fans may find surprising? (odd rituals or good luck charms, random facts, or anything of the like?)

Most people who are into Warped want to work on it, but their idea of what it’s like on tour is typically different than what it is. Everyone pulls 12 hour shifts in that heat- even merch guys are setting up at 7am in the morning. There are shining moments and it’s fun, no doubt, but I think many people underestimate how demanding the tour is for staffers. Most people I know are in their bunks asleep before 11pm that night!

In terms of other surprises, bands you wouldn’t think would ever become friends actually do. Fat Mike [of NOFX] loves Jeffree Star. True story! There’s a lot of support for bands from other bands and you’ll see them watching side-stage. Rituals and stuff are really more for the bands. Chris 2 of Anti-Flag brushes his teeth backstage before his set everyday.

- Do you have any advice for readers who may want to break into the music industry without being in an actual band?

Start early and start networking. Make plans and learn everything you can from anywhere you can. It’s something where you have to keep your eye open all the time, make everything you can an opportunity and hope you happen to fall into some luck. Most importantly, you gotta have passion. Because it’s so demanding and cut-throat and everyone wants your job, you have to have that to make you [appear] as a stand-out. I was once told that there is always someone who will do your job for free. It’s true, so you have to stay on your toes and really want to be there.

- Would you like to add anything else?

In terms of getting into the industry, I think there’s something that people need to know. It loosely relates to my job, but every other aspect it’s crucial. Whether you like it or not, if you want to somehow work in the music industry, you sometimes have to look at music as commodity. A band can only stay a band and get their message out as long as they have the means to do so. A majority of those means is money. If a label doesn’t have money to help a band tour, then that band’s music can’t get everywhere. See what I mean? All of the people who work for Warped Tour love it. It is about music, it is about the bands, it is about the kids- but it can only keep doing it because it funds itself. There’s a bottom line to everything, in every job, and this is no different. It’s just a perspective you have to keep in mind.

Want more advice from Minkus about getting into the music industry? Read her blog in which she discusses her experiences from Warped Tour and how she got to where she is here: http://www.tiffanymink.com/blog.html

Pop/punk rockers Mayday Parade are ending the year on a high note. After releasing their sophomore album, Anywhere But Here, which debuted at #31 on Billboard’s Top 200, they were tapped as co-headliners of Alternative Press’ Fall Ball Tour, playing to many sold-out crowds alongside bands such as The Academy Is… and Set Your Goals, among others. The band took a big hit when Jason Lancaster, former vocalist, guitarist, and lyricist, left in the middle of a tour in 2007, leaving the rest of the band scrambling for a replacement.

I was able to sit down with Derek Sanders, the charismatic lead singer of Mayday Parade, prior to the sold out tour date in Sayreville, New Jersey’s Starland Ballroom. On top of being a top-notch singer, Sanders is an extremely affectionate and friendly person, and sitting down with him to talk about the new album, touring, and other subjects felt like sitting with an old friend. Read the interview after the jump!

How does it feel to be touring again?

It’s the best feeling in the world! It’s what we all love to do, and if I’m at home for longer than like, a week or two, I just get real antsy and bored [and] feel like I should be out doing something, so it’s great. We get to travel, play these shows with awesome bands, awesome people, great kids at the shows. It’s awesome.

How is it touring with The Academy Is, Set Your Goals, You Me At Six, and The Secret Handshake?

It’s an incredible line up. I’ve been a fan of The Academy Is… since before Mayday Parade even started, so it’s really kind of an honor to be out with them, and especially to be co-headlining with them, it’s kind of crazy. The rest of the bands we hadn’t really met before this tour. I’ve been a big fan of Set Your Goals for awhile. I never heard too much of the other bands before this tour, but I love them now. I love You Me At Six, and The Secret Handshake; not just their music, but also the guys in the bands and their personalities.

How did it feel to debut at #31 on Billboard’s Top 200?

That was awesome. None of us really knew what to expect… we had a ballpark of maybe where it would be, but we had no clue what to think about that and expect. We’re definitely satisfied with that.

This was the first album to be released after Jason Lancaster departed from the band. Was the writing process drastically different without him?

I wouldn’t say drastically different. For sure, it was different just because he contributed a lot to the last CD, but I feel like we were a band for so long without him before we had to write this CD. He’d been out of the band for like, over two years. We’d been a band without him longer than we ever were a band with him, so I feel like we’d all moved on and adapted before it came time to write this album, and I feel like we did just fine.

What did you draw your influence from for this album?

Really, what works for us, for me and I think for everyone else, we just try to write the best songs that we can and obviously it’s gonna be similar to the kind of stuff that we listen to. We listen to a lot of the newer pop/punk kind of stuff, Taking Back Sunday, Brand New, The Starting Line, but there’s all kinds of bands; The Foo Fighters, there’s a lot of 90s rock that I’ve been going back and listening to, like Third Eye Blind, Smashing Pumpkins, bands like that, but not to say that you could tell really from the sound of the CD, because I don’t know if that really comes across.

Does the album cover have any special meaning to it?

Not really. We loved the album cover of A Lesson In Romantics and we really liked the idea of keeping the ‘umbrella guy’ around for this time. We had a few calls with the artist that did it and we had talked about maybe keeping that guy and maybe this time, whereas before it was a head on view of what’s behind him, this one could be behind him, where he’s going type thing. We thought it was a cool concept and that’s really all the direction we gave him, and he came up with the artwork and we loved it.

Any personal favorites off of Anywhere But Here?

For me? Track 10, I Swear This Time I Mean It. It’s an acoustic ballad kind of song on the CD; it’s my personal favorite. But there’s a lot that I love, I mean, I love it all, but I Swear This Time I Mean It is for sure my favorite.

What has been your biggest challenge as a band?

I guess I’d have to say having Jason leave the band, mostly just because of the fact that it was in the middle of a tour, so it was like he flew home, and we had to play a show the next day without him, where as he would obviously play the guitar and sang, so it was like we had to figure out who was gonna cover the parts, who was gonna play what, minus that member like that night and play it the next day without practice…

Anything else you would like to add?

Just thank you! Thank you for the support to everyone who has listened to us, or bought a CD, or came to a show. This is our dream job, and it’s awesome to do it, so thanks for the support!

Chantal Claret, lead singer of pop-punk band Morningwood, was able to answer a few questions recently as she and fellow band member Pedro Yanowitz prepare for their tour with Papa Roach and Jet this Fall. I also got a sneak preview of their new album, Diamonds and Studs, due to be released on October 27. It is a great album and definitely worth the wait! Claret, who is known for her wild on-stage antics, (she frequently encourages members of the band’s audience to jump on stage and strip) is very excited for the release of the new album. It brings in a new, broader sound into the mix, and is getting pre-release buzz from various outlets, including VH1, which has selected Morningwood as their band you outta know for the month of October. Read the short interview after the jump.

I’ve listened to your new album, Diamonds and Studs, and I’m really impressed– it’s quite awesome! What was the writing process for the album? How long did it take you to complete it? Were there any specific influences from other bands/musicians that helped you and Pedro along with the album?

“Thanks! I am so happy you like it! The writing process for the record was intense, some bands have their whole lives to write their first record, we had our whole lives to write our second one.  We wrote about 2 and a half records worth of songs, before finally picking these lucky 13 to be on the masters.  Since Pedro and I live on opposite sides of the country we had to force ourselves to write and record at least one song every time we were together for a day or two, so it was very focused.

We were definitely more inspired by our vast musical influences this time more than on the last record. The last record seems more straight ahead where as this one is very eclectic, which I absolutely love, we have so many tastes and opinions and personalities between the two of us, Diamonds & Studs begins to scratch the surface of a few of them.”

Morningwood was chosen as VH1′s you oughta know band for the month of October, which is a great honor. How did you react when you found out?

“I was very happy when I found out, but to be honest, at this point I am a little wary when I get good news, because so much of it ends up falling through, so until it is airing on TV, I try not to get too excited, that way I don’t get disappointed.”

How does it feel to be opening up for Papa Roach and Jet? Are you nervous at all?

“I am not really nervous at all, more interested to see how their fans will react to us and also excited to go back out on tour and shake my shit.”

You are known to ask/tell fans to strip during Morningwood’s live set, many of times while you are playing the song “Take Off Your Clothes”. Are you ever surprised at the amount of fans who easily give in to your request?

“At this point I am not really surprised. There are a lot of exhibitionists in the world, and a lot of them come to our shows. I love it.”

If you had to pick one band as your favorite band to tour with, who would it be and why?

“We would tour with Beyonce, because she is absolutely amazing and I just want to see her perform.”

What’s playing on your iPod/mp3 player?

“I just uploaded our record onto my iPod Shuffle, I love listening to it at the gym, and I also got a song called “Little Star” by Push Kings, that were this awesome band that I loved in the 90′s and I have been looking for that song for years. I was dancing around my house in my jammies today cuz I was sick, and lip syncing to my husband [Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence].”

Within the past year, Morningwood has had two songs featured in a very popular movie and TV show. How does it feel to hear “New York Girls” in the Sex and The City Movie and “Best Of Me” in VH1′s Daisy Of Love?

“I love hearing our songs in movies and on TV. It always takes me a minute to realize it is us, the first 10 seconds is always me thinking “I know this song, why do I know this song?” and then the next reaction is “OH, THAT’S ME SINGING!!”.  But I consider it all a great honor and super fun!”

Taking Back Sunday has had a pretty great year so far– releasing a well-received new album, New Again, and opening up for newly reunited Blink 182. I was able to sit down and have a talk with Matt Rubano, TBS’s bassist about touring, the new album, and… jazz music? Click the jump to read the full interview!

For our readers who may not know you, would you mind stating your name and position in the band?

My name is Matt Rubano and I play the bass guitar and sing a tiny little bit.

Your new album, New Again, came out back in June. How has the feedback been?

Really good! We’re on tour right now with Blink 182 and Weezer, and before that we went over to the UK and Europe and we were noticing that some of the reactions to the songs off of New Again have actually been more intense than those for some of the older songs we play.  But before that we did a six week tour of the states.  Kind of an album release tour, and it went really well.  With the nature of the internet, people are like, hip to your record before it even comes out, so that’s somewhat advantageous.  We were able to go on tour and start playing the new songs, and people have already heard them and they’re excited to hear them live, so with a fan base like ours it’s really a kind of cool thing.

Do you have any stories of these “intense reactions”? Did any fans go really crazy, or did anything generally funny happen out on tour?

The funny thing is, well, it’s not so much of an intense reaction… but when you first start to play a new song live and you haven’t recorded it yet and people are sort of pretending to sing along. Like, you know, when we play a song for the first time ever and it’s never been performed or recorded and there are kids in the front row like [moves mouth as if to pretend he’s singing], and you just know that there’s no possible way they could know the song.  But I guess it’s flattering, nonetheless, because they want to be a part of it… But an actual reaction was that a lot of people during the December tour that we did were coming to numerous shows on the tour, so we’d see people maybe four nights in a row, and by the second or third night they’d actually know the song just from hearing it, so that was really exciting for us.

How did you get involved with such a huge tour with Blink 182 and Weezer?

We toured with Blink once before on their last tour before the hiatus or their little split up moment… Being invited to that, too, was a huge trip for us, so having another invitation to go out on the road with them was really nice and really exciting.  The shows have been super fun. They’re all sold out.  They’re all massive 15 to 20 thousand person venues.  We just played Jones Beach [Long Island, NY] a couple of nights ago, which is huge.  It’s great!  It’s really awesome getting to be on tour with two bands that are such huge hit machines.  You know, it’s like, once Weezer goes on it’s like listening to the radio for the rest of the night because it’s all songs that you’ve heard… Between Weezer and Blink’s sets, it’s songs that you’ve heard millions of times.  It’s really an experience, and it’s fun for us, also.  These are bands that when we were much much younger, really influenced us.  To be walking down the hallways and through the dressing rooms with them is just a trip.

So, touring with Weezer, what to do you think of their matching outfits?

[Laughs] It looks like they’re going for the unity vibe! They have this big, gold backdrop that just says “Weezer” on it and night after night they’ve been rocking these different kind of jumpsuits… jogging suits… weird kind of things.  But it’s always uniform which is pretty sweet! Way to have a tight look!

Is it any different for you to be playing huge shows, like the shows on the Bink tour, as opposed to smaller club shows that you guys usually play?

I mean, you have to focus yourself a little bit differently.  You know, we try to give the same amount of effort to every performance, which sounds a little cheesy, but it’s true.  We don’t go into a small show any less excited than any one of those shows, but you kind of have to project a little bit more to everyone instead of just the people who are like, right there.  But we’ve been lucky enough over the years that we’ve had enough varied experiences in both types of shows – from playing clubs and theaters, to playing huge arenas, and stadiums, and festivals as big as 50, 60, 70 thousand, so yeah, they’re different in that way, but not in regards to how you would approach it.

Why did you guys decide to throw in this date [Bay Stage headlining show, Long Island, NY], considering you’ve already had a really busy summer?

We haven’t played Long Island in a long time. We also felt and we were noticing that a lot of people who wanted to come see us weren’t able to get into the Blink shows because they sold out really quickly.  So, for us to be playing our hometown with Blink and to have a lot of our audience not be able to get tickets… we didn’t want to ditch people and shut people out.  It turned out that the Blink tour is off today, and we resume again with them tomorrow, so we just figured while we’re still on the east coast we would do it.

You’re new single is going to be “Where My Mouth Is”, right?  Do you have any plans to release a video for it any time soon, or any idea about when it will be sent to radio?

Yeah, we’re going to do both.  We’re still working on a [video] treatment right now, but we’re probably gonna shoot the video around the end of September, maybe.  Hopefully that song takes over the world.  I have really high hopes for that song because it’s a song that’s kind of a landmark for us, and it’s something that I’d like to see people respond to.

Well, for your last video, “Sink Into Me”, there was sort of a more literal concept with the band and the fans sinking into black slime.  Who came up with that idea?

When we set out to do videos and stuff, sometimes, Adam [Lazzara; vocalist] especially, wants to always do stuff that’s really dirty.  When we started talking to Travis Kopach, who directed the video, it was kind of like this group decision that the idea had fit the song and that it would be cool to actually be sinking into the stage.  It was a fun video, but yeah, I’ll never work with that stuff again.

What’s your favorite song from New Again to play live?

I really like playing “Lonely, Lonely”, and now that the single-pressure sort of thing has worn off, I really like playing “Sink Into Me”. Also, of course, I love playing “Where My Mouth Is” because it’s sort of a more dynamic moment in the set.  There’s no other moment like that.  It’s a really ballad-like, slow kind of song, as opposed to everything else which is much faster.

One of the opening bands tonight is Envy on the Coast.  You guys seem to play with them pretty often!  How did that friendship come about?

I guess [the friendship formed] from being fellow Long Islanders and from just playing our first show with them… I mean, one of the cool things about being in bands and getting to put tours together is that you get to pick who you’re going to tour with.  You always want to be doing it with people that you musically want to endorse, as well as guys that are friends of yours and fun to be around.  We did a tour with them in December, and then when it came time for us to go out with Anberlin again for the release of the record, we just figured why not? Let’s bring Envy again.  We even tried to take them over to Europe the last time we went, but they were making their record… We love their band, musically and personally, so we try to give our opening spots to bands that we think people should know and we think are pretty cool, also.

Well, aside from Envy on the Coast, what other bands do you really enjoy at the moment?                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
I’ve been listening to Dead Weather, which is a band with Jack White [The White Stripes/The Raconteurs].  I really like his music.  I also listen to this Japanese band called Toe.  It’s instrumental music.  I listen to a lot of really different things.  I’m currently trying to get my hands on music from this band called Them Crooked Vultures, which is a project including Dave Grohl [Foo Fighters/Nirvana], Josh Homme [Queens of the Stone Age], and John Paul Jones [Led Zeppelin], but I don’t think it’s been recorded or released yet… It’s funny, though, because when I’m on tour and around a lot of loud music all the time I really value quiet time, so throwing on some headphones and listening to music when I’m home is something I do all the time, but sometimes out here I need some peace and quiet just to balance out the intensity of the music and the volume.

Is it true that you’re a big fan of hip hop, or did your appreciation for hip hop grow at all after recording with Lauryn Hill?

I mean, I’m very selective with what I like when it comes to hip-hop.  My music background centers a lot around jazz, r&b, and motown, so hip-hop was kind of a natural evolution for me growing up on Long Island where there’s Public Enemy, Busta Rhymes… there’s so many artists from Long Island, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn… all over New York.

Not in Staten Island, of course! [laughter] [Staten Island is the hometown of MoshToThis.]

Well, Staten Island has Wu Tang!  I mean, New York as a whole is really the birth place of a lot of hip-hop, and started that whole east coast-west coast argument… But yeah, I don’t really like a lot of the more recent stuff.  I mean, I’m not down with [laughs] – I’m not really finding myself gravitating towards singing about whips, and jewelry, and clubs and shit like that.  It’s not really reality, though.

You mentioned you’re into jazz! What’s the deal with the jazz group you’re part of, Schleigho?

Schleigho is an instrumental quartet that I was in years and years ago.  Sometimes I still play shows with them and, I mean, it’s a much smaller thing, but it was something that I did sort of after music school, and it’s kind of hard to describe unless you have a reference point.  It’s kind of hard to get unless you have an interest very, very, very heavy improv and like instrumental work.  But they’re all really great guys and they’re really fun guys to play with.

On a similar note, but geared more towards Taking Back Sunday… How has the band changed since Matt Fazzi joined the band?  What differences did he bring to the table during the writing of the new album, and how has his influence changed or shaped the band?

Well, Matt brought a lot of really great things to the band.  Particularly his open-mindedness and what he’s like as a person.  He’s really become one of my closest and best friends in such a short time.  He’s really a monster of a musician, and he’s a great person, so having someone like that bring their energy to the band really changes things and gets a reaction from everyone and everything else.

Well, his prior band, Facing New York, is extremely different from Taking Back Sunday in terms of sound.  Has his work with Facing New York, or has bits and pieces of their style carried over to Taking Back Sunday at all?

I mean, it gives us a little bit of confidence to do some really new or adventurous kinds of things… Like, we tried a lot of different time signatures or vocal harmonies that we previously had kind of shied away from.  Facing New York is actually much more compatible with something like Schleigho, so that gives Matt and I a bit of a common ground, and we kind of approach things the same way, but we’re not trying to turn Taking Back Sunday into that.  Taking Back Sunday is still a song writing first kind of thing…but yeah, I’ve never been happier than I’ve been since we’ve had Matt in the band.

What’s in store for Taking Back Sunday for the rest of the year?
Well, we’re going to be touring a lot.  Basically for the rest of the summer and hopefully for the rest of 2009.  We’re going to Australia, Hawaii, and a bunch of places that we’ve never been before.  That’s a big goal for us.  We want to try to get to a bunch of new countries and stuff.  We’ve even talked about trying to do an acoustic tour, so that might go down at some point…

On that note, is there anything else you’d like to add or say to your fans about the rest of the year for you guys, or just on behalf of the band in general?

We’re just so happy to be playing music.  It’s my whole life.  Thank you for making that possible.