Straight Up Random

Warped Tour ‘08: A Cursive Memory

Interview with Colin of A Cursive Memory So, you’ve been on Warped Tour for a whole week already. How do you guys like it so far? Colin: Yeah. We’re loving it. It’s a really unique tour for us to be able to do because you get to play to such a larger audience than you’re used of playing to, in most cases, and on top of that like, at the end of the day you get to hang out with all your friends, and you make so many friends with bands and so many friends amongst other bands. We’re loving every bit of it. We want to do this every summer. So did you guys have any expectations for the tour? C: Yeah, you know like the most common thing is it’s the most brutal and you pretty much die in the heat everyday, and after the first week you’re pretty much done with it, but it’s been completely the opposite of what we expected. And like we’ve been having so much fun and Kevin Lyman is an awesome guy, and the tour that he builds is amazing every year and we’re having a great time. So I’m going to bring up the infamous video for “EVERYTHING”. It’s a really unique concept, how did you guys come up with the idea? C: We were actually all sitting down for ribs one day, barbecue ribs, and we were thinking, what could we do to take a music video and be different about it? And so we had a bunch of ideas, and we just figured out the idea that was kind of the worst one and we decided to go with it. It worked out the complete best and it turned out amazing so, I dunno, it’s just a crazy idea, like that had so much potential to go either way, it just turns out to be a positive fun thing that turns out a lot of people really thought was funny or something. Did the celebrities think you were crazy at all? C: I’m sure a lot of celebrites thought we were crazy, yeah. I remember shooting one where we got Britney Spears and she was like laughing at us and P.Diddy’s body guard almost bopped Shaun, our guitar player, in the face. So the reactions definitely ranged from one end of the spectrum to the other, but it was fun nonetheless. Your video actually was on TRL, so when you learned about this, did you like flip? C: Yeah, we learned about it I think a couple days before it happened, and I mean like growing up, being like a young kid we always watched TRL because that’s where most our favorite bands ended up. I remember like the first favorite band I ever had was Blink 182, and I remember watching TRL for the first time when their video premiered on there, and to be at a place where one of my favorite bands was at one point, was just like unbelievable, you know? So do you think your fans helped you get to where you are now? C: Yea, absolutely. I mean, I guess it’s like a cliché thing to say, but it’s like the absolute truth in every case that bands don’t really get anywhere without the support of their fans. Like having a not necessarily big fan base, but a strong fan base, can be so helpful to any band. Just having people behind them that are passionate about like what your music stands for and what you as people stand for and people that stand behind your band is an amazing thing to have and it can take you to any direction really. Is it challenging to win over the crowds at Warped or have you received good feedback? C: Yea, we’ve received really great feedback actually. Warped Tour is a very diverse line up of bands this year ranging from our friends in Everytime I Die to people like Bedouin Soundclash who are amazing, and the Aggrolites. It’s just the spectrum is very wide this year as far as music, and for us it’s cool to get a reception. The crowds seem to be digging it pretty well. I think we’ve got on an average like 400 people at our stage today which is I guess the like best one on stage, our stage manager said, which is something we’re really pleased with how kids show up and like how many kids have been showing up. We were expecting like 50 to 100 kids a day. You prepare for not necessarily the worst but you can’t always expect it to be perfect. Yea, we usually start the day by just running off, around the festival, with squirt guns. It’s pretty hot here, as you can imagine so we just give people some water to cool them down and chat ‘em up and a lot of them end up coming to our set. It’s been really cool, it’s a fun tour. Is this your first time performing on Warped Tour? C: Yes, it is. You guys are on the Kia Keven Says Stage, so how are you managing that? C: We have a lot of friends on this tour and they definitely warmed us up to being here and they’re definitely making it a lot more fun. It’s really, I mean I know I said it a couple of times but the only way to describe the tour is a blast. I mean we’re having such a good time. Do you guys have any plans after Warped Tour? C: I think we’re going out with a band called Brighten in the fall, so like September/October. And we’re really excited for that so that’s what we’re looking forward to after the tour. Okay, last question, can you give us one truly straight up random fact about yourself? C: Myself… when I was… when I was 8 years old, I went through periods where I really loved peanut butter and onion sandwhiches.