All Time Low

06.02.2008 | KYS-Cam | 3 Comments

Most kids finish high school and kick it for a few months before shipping out to college… All Time Low got in the van and they haven’t looked back since.

With one of the most well received pop punk albums of 2007 under their belt and a trip to Australia in the not too distant future, we caught up with vocalist Alex…

Interview w/ Alex Gaskarth (Vocals/Guitar) of All Time Low

By Cameron Chambers

How are you today Alex? 

I’m doing well man, how are you? 

Yeah, I’m great man.  

Right on! I’m driving with my cell phone so the line is pretty bad. 

That’s cool. We’ll make do. 

Ha ha, alright. 

It’s only recently that All Time Low have started getting some press here in Australia, are you able to tell us a bit about how the band got started, if you’ve had any line up changes etc… 

We started in our freshman year in high school but we haven’t actually had any line up changes. All of us had played around in different bands before All Time Low but once we officially became All Time Low that was it. It was just the four of us. 

It was started as a joke… it gave us something to talk about school while we were waiting for the weekend to roll around so we could go to shows, ha ha. 

Since then it’s turned into something a lot more than that. It’s all such a blur with everything that’s happened in between. What started as a small joke has now turned into a big joke! Ha ha 

Ha ha. You guys signed with Hopeless Records before you’d even finished high school. How did the deal come about? Were you actively seeking a more established label that could push you further or did they come to you? 

When we signed to Emerald, who is the small east coast label who released our first record, even the guy that runs Emerald wanted to see us grow. He was into doing it for the passion and helping out bands that he believed in.  

Ultimately we wanted to sign to a label that could take us further. It was always a goal to get our CD in stores and just take the band as far as it could go! 

Hopeless also created Sub City Records, so their bands had an avenue to get involved with charity work and various non profit organizations. Is that something that All Time Low has been or will be a part of at some stage? 

Hopefully! We haven’t really had a chance to do anything on that front because we were more worried about getting established first and getting people familiar with the band. 

We would love to do something with Sub City because they’re one of the main reasons we signed with Hopeless. They allow you to be more than a band and to actually give something back.  

“Put Up Or Shut Up” was your first release on Hopeless and contained primarily re-recorded versions of your older songs. Was the purpose of the EP to give those earlier songs another chance or did yourselves and the label want to get your name out there and get you out on the road as soon as possible? 

Basically what happened… we felt we should put out the EP with some older songs because we didn’t want to come straight out with a full length. We believed there were some good songs that we’d put out with the smaller label. 

We just took what we thought were the best couple of songs from our previous album and wrote a couple of newies to keep it fresh for the people who’d been following us for a while and then we’d go from there. 

We put the EP out with the intention of pleasing as many people as possible.  

You guys pretty much hit the road as soon as you got out of high school, was it a massive learning curve becoming a full time band at such a young age?  

Definitely man! We were always one of the younger bands in our scene, even locally. We’d already learned from bands that’d been at it for a while. When we started to tour on a larger scale with bands that’d done it on a national level for years… well, it forced us to learn and grow a bit faster. 

In the end it made us more street smart.  

Have you ever had any cases where people – such as other bands and promoters – didn’t take your band seriously based on how young you are? 

Yeah man. When we started off we were all under 18 and we were booking all our shows ourselves. We’d show up to the venue and they’d ask for our ID and find out that we weren’t of age. We’ve run into the issue that we weren’t old enough to play in the club even though we were booked! 

It was always interesting though. One night we had to leave right after we played because we weren’t old enough to be in the bar. 

It was weird and surreal but it was never too bad. At first we were… well, people looked down their noses at us. They were sceptical that people our age could do what we were trying to do.  

Recently though there’s been more bands proving themselves at a younger age so we got very lucky! 

“Put Up Or Shut Up” was well received but the reaction to your debut full length has been absolutely massive. Did you think the record would do as well as it has? 

We have never expected any of our releases to go as far as they have! Every week we get the Soundscan numbers and it just blows me away! 

“So Wrong It’s Right” was recorded with Matt Squire, who’s worked with everyone from Panic! At The Disco to The Receiving End Of Sirens. What made you choose him to be at the helm of your first album? 

He’d actually taken an interest in our band from Point A, at the same time that we were getting interest from Hopeless and other labels. He was there guiding us and giving us a helping hand. 

When it came to the full length it just made sense. He was a guy who’d been there from the beginning and had a great track record with other bands that he’d produced and we just had a great chemistry! 

You began recording “So Wrong It’s Right” in April 2007 and the album was released by September, which is a really quick turnaround compared to most band’s schedules. Can you tell us about the recording process? Was that the first time you’d worked with a producer? 

Sort of… we’d worked with Paul Leavitt on the full length as well and he’s actually worked on all our past releases too. It was good to have a familiar face in the studio. I guess it was a comfort thing. 

He’s really good in the studio. He’s a great engineer and he’s able to get really cool sounds and such a unique tone. Working with Squire was cool because we got to sit down with someone who had a formula. He has a system to develop songs and we hadn’t seen that before. It was such a learning process but he helped the songs a lot.  

What did Matt bring to the record that may have been missing if he wasn’t involved? 

I think he brought in a sense of singularity… or wholeness to the record. Some of our ideas had been a bit all over the place because we hadn’t worked with a producer before so we were just doing things the way we’d always done them… which isn’t a bad thing but when you’re writing any kind of pop inspired music there’s definitely a formula that’s required. 

He helped bring some of our songs together and he’d introduce new ideas and if we had any ideas that were too bland then he’d spice things up! 

There was just good chemistry all round so we were able to bounce ideas off each other!  

As I mentioned earlier your record is doing really well, both in the US and overseas. Have you had to change your live show up at all to accommodate a larger and less intimate audience? 

We no longer play any music so we play to backing tracks and dance naked. It’s slightly different but it entertains everyone a bit more… ha ha. 

That’s probably the best answer I’ve ever had, ha ha. 

Ha ha ha. 

It’s just been announced that you’ll be headlining the Rockstar/Alternative Press tour this year. Will these be the biggest shows that you’ve played so far? 

That tour has some pretty big rooms so I guess we’ll see how many kids actually show up, ha ha. 

Ha ha. I’m sure you’ll be fine man. 

Hopefully! We’re doing a smaller headlining tour in January to warm up though which will be cool.  

Five kids could show up to the House Of Blues though, so you never know! Ha ha 

A headlining slot obviously means a longer set. Do you guys include any covers in your set or will this give you a chance to play some of your older songs? 

It’s going to be a mix of everything. There’ll be a couple of oldies but we want to focus on playing the majority of the new record.  

We have been known to throw in a Blink cover every now and then but I’m sure we’ll come up with something new. 

All Time Low are hitting Australia as part of the Soundwave Festival in February and the line up is absolutely huge. Why should kids go and check out All Time Low as opposed to one of the other 40 international bands on the show? 

I don’t know… coz we don’t get to Australia that much because, you know, it’s kind of far away! If you’re after a unique experience and a general party then come and see us! 

Apart from the festival dates you’ll also be taking part in some sideshows with The Starting Line. Do you guys prepare for a club show differently to a festival? 

Not really. We just act like arseholes and it seems to work for us, ha ha. 

Nice, ha ha. Which bands will you be checking out during the tour? 

I’m pretty stoked to see The Offspring. It’s going to be awesome! Oh, Incubus too! 

Incubus are a great band… 

Both headliners are pretty massive man. I’ve never seen Incubus before and I’ve only seen The Offspring once. They were one band that was around while we were growing up so I can’t wait.  

2007 was obviously a huge year for you guys but what was the biggest highlight? 

Going to the UK for the first time and just heading overseas. It was our first time touring overseas so that was a huge thing for us and putting out our full length as well.  

What are your top 3 records from last year? 

Jimmy Eat World, Big Casino. No wait, Chase This Light… no Chase This Light was the single I think? 

It’s definitely the album mate. 

Ah, I’m stupid, ha ha.  

So… Jimmy Eat World with Chase This Light. Paramore and their Riot record and…. The Starting Line’s latest album! 

That wraps it up Alex, is there anything else you’d like to say? 

Not really man. Thanks to our fans in Australia! We didn’t know that you existed so we’re stoked! 

Thanks mate.