Alex DiVincenzo
04/01/10, 05:58 PM
Close Your Eyes (http://www.myspace.com/closeyoureyesmusic) guitarist/vocalist Brett Callaway answered some questions about the band's debut release, their deal with Victory Records, their Christian faith, and more.
First, can you introduce yourself and tell us what you do in the band?
My name is Brett Callaway, and I play guitar and sing in Close Your Eyes.
You recently released your new album, We Will Overcome. Tell us about it.
The album is just full of energy and passion. That is our goal in anything that we do. To be completely transparent, real, write what we are passionate about, and play in the same way. The recording process for this album was pretty grueling. There were some stretches where I was at the studio for about 18 to 20 hours a day working. These stretches could last for about 4 or 5 days before our producer, engineer and I would just die and have to sleep for a while. But in the end I was very happy with the results. We are proud of the album we recorded.
The album features "Friends Are Friends Forever", which was also on your previous EP. Why did you choose to re-record it?
The reason we chose to re-record that song is basically that it is the only song off of our EP that we ever play anymore. The rest of that EP had a bunch of songs that we really old. We have just moved away from the style of those other songs - much to my delight.
You tend to use screaming less than your peers. Was that a conscious effort?
It wasn’t like we came into this thinking "We don’t want to scream." We came into this thinking "We want to write what we feel and what we are passionate about." We are obviously not a tough guy band, and a lot of the lack of screaming has to do with our identification with older hardcore. I grew up listening to punk and hardcore. When you listen to traditional hardcore punk bands there is a lot of yelling, but not so much screaming. I think that shaped our vocals a lot. We just tend to have a little more melody than some of that old school hardcore.
I like the robot-themed artwork. Where did that idea originate?
It actually originated one day while I was lying on the floor of the studio, pretty much delirious from a total lack of sleep. I was just thinking about what the album was about, what we wanted to do with the album, the general situation of society, what we are passionate about, and the change that needs to happen in the world. The basic idea I had is actually more seen in the inside artwork more than the cover. The cover is just a culmination of the idea. It had to do with the way that a lot of people seem to just be walking around in a state of apathy and almost death in society. Society teaches us to look out for ourselves above anyone else and that being really passionate about something can be silly. So basically the robots start lifeless and then the old man, who could be viewed as a metaphor for God or a monk or an angel or whatever, comes by and lights the hearts - or chest cavity as the case with the robots may be - on fire. It is just about the way that society needs passion. We need to get back in touch with our spirituality and with our dreams, and we need to become much more caring and loving toward each other.
You recently released your first music video for the song "Song For The Broken." How was the filming of the video?
It was cold! We were outside in the snow for about 11 hours, and as you can see some of the time the director had us in T-shirts. I don’t want to make it seem like we didn’t have a good time, because we totally did. It was just exhausting and freezing. We probably played through the song about 100 times in all. Our director was great though! He kept everything moving and on the path it needed to be on and shot, what I think is a great video, in the end.
Why was that chosen as the first single?
Well, the single choosing process really does not have a lot to do with us. Basically some of the people at Victory chose "Song for the Broken", and then just made sure it was okay with us. I think it actually had a lot to do with marketing.
Any word on the next single?
I have requested that either "Digging Graves" or "Wake Up!" be the second single. So we will see what happens.
How did your deal with Victory Records come about?
Victory actually found us by a flyer for a festival we were playing at. We were playing right before MxPx on the main stage of the festival, and Double J over at Victory was like, "Who is this band that is not even signed playing the main stage of this festival?" So he got in contact with us and had us come play a showcase for them in Chicago right away. We had a couple other offers at the time, but we really felt like Victory was the way we needed to go!
You've been getting a lot of comparisons to A Day to Remember, who have really made a name for themselves in the last few years. How does that make you feel?
While personally I don’t think we sound like A Day to Remember, I understand where the comparisons come from. We are in something of the same genre, and they are one of the biggest if not the biggest band in that genre. I take it as a compliment most of the time, except for the rare occasion that someone says we are ripping of ADTR. Haha, this could not be farther from the truth. We don’t come into the writing process ever thinking we want to write a song like such-and-such band. We just write what we feel. Some of the songs on this album we written way before ADTR ever got big. I think that "Friends" and "Song for the Broken" were actually written before I ever even heard ADTR. I personally think that they are a great band, and I like their music. I just think that they come from a way different place than we do writing.
Do you feel that being a band of Christians is restricting in any way?
No way! We don’t ever try to push our faith on anyone. We just try to be the embodiment of Christ and what the Gospels call us to be. We try to love every kid we come in contact with and just let them know that there is always hope for their lives. We have never been a band that ever condemns people, especially for whatever they believe or don’t believe. Furthermore, I do not believe that we would be where we are today without God opening doors for us. I am just a kid who grew up listening to punk. I am nothing special. But I have totally been blessed and gifted far beyond my understanding.
You're currently planning a tour with The Overseer followed by another with It Prevails. What can we expect from those shows?
You can expect us to give it everything we have every night. We play with so much energy and passion that we are just dead after a show. We like to have fun and like for everyone at a show to have fun as well. I am totally ripping this off from my buddies in Protagonist, but we play hard, we play fast, we play together. Haha, thanks guys for the good line.
What else do you have planned for the rest of the year?
Right now we have a couple of festival dates booked for the fall, and we are considering a few different tour options. I am not totally sure what we are going to be doing yet, but we will be touring for sure!
Do you have any closing remarks?
I just want everyone to remember that there is always hope and to search for true fulfillment and don’t settle for what society says will make you happy. God gives us dreams for a reason, and if you are true to those and follow them he will open the doors for you.
First, can you introduce yourself and tell us what you do in the band?
My name is Brett Callaway, and I play guitar and sing in Close Your Eyes.
You recently released your new album, We Will Overcome. Tell us about it.
The album is just full of energy and passion. That is our goal in anything that we do. To be completely transparent, real, write what we are passionate about, and play in the same way. The recording process for this album was pretty grueling. There were some stretches where I was at the studio for about 18 to 20 hours a day working. These stretches could last for about 4 or 5 days before our producer, engineer and I would just die and have to sleep for a while. But in the end I was very happy with the results. We are proud of the album we recorded.
The album features "Friends Are Friends Forever", which was also on your previous EP. Why did you choose to re-record it?
The reason we chose to re-record that song is basically that it is the only song off of our EP that we ever play anymore. The rest of that EP had a bunch of songs that we really old. We have just moved away from the style of those other songs - much to my delight.
You tend to use screaming less than your peers. Was that a conscious effort?
It wasn’t like we came into this thinking "We don’t want to scream." We came into this thinking "We want to write what we feel and what we are passionate about." We are obviously not a tough guy band, and a lot of the lack of screaming has to do with our identification with older hardcore. I grew up listening to punk and hardcore. When you listen to traditional hardcore punk bands there is a lot of yelling, but not so much screaming. I think that shaped our vocals a lot. We just tend to have a little more melody than some of that old school hardcore.
I like the robot-themed artwork. Where did that idea originate?
It actually originated one day while I was lying on the floor of the studio, pretty much delirious from a total lack of sleep. I was just thinking about what the album was about, what we wanted to do with the album, the general situation of society, what we are passionate about, and the change that needs to happen in the world. The basic idea I had is actually more seen in the inside artwork more than the cover. The cover is just a culmination of the idea. It had to do with the way that a lot of people seem to just be walking around in a state of apathy and almost death in society. Society teaches us to look out for ourselves above anyone else and that being really passionate about something can be silly. So basically the robots start lifeless and then the old man, who could be viewed as a metaphor for God or a monk or an angel or whatever, comes by and lights the hearts - or chest cavity as the case with the robots may be - on fire. It is just about the way that society needs passion. We need to get back in touch with our spirituality and with our dreams, and we need to become much more caring and loving toward each other.
You recently released your first music video for the song "Song For The Broken." How was the filming of the video?
It was cold! We were outside in the snow for about 11 hours, and as you can see some of the time the director had us in T-shirts. I don’t want to make it seem like we didn’t have a good time, because we totally did. It was just exhausting and freezing. We probably played through the song about 100 times in all. Our director was great though! He kept everything moving and on the path it needed to be on and shot, what I think is a great video, in the end.
Why was that chosen as the first single?
Well, the single choosing process really does not have a lot to do with us. Basically some of the people at Victory chose "Song for the Broken", and then just made sure it was okay with us. I think it actually had a lot to do with marketing.
Any word on the next single?
I have requested that either "Digging Graves" or "Wake Up!" be the second single. So we will see what happens.
How did your deal with Victory Records come about?
Victory actually found us by a flyer for a festival we were playing at. We were playing right before MxPx on the main stage of the festival, and Double J over at Victory was like, "Who is this band that is not even signed playing the main stage of this festival?" So he got in contact with us and had us come play a showcase for them in Chicago right away. We had a couple other offers at the time, but we really felt like Victory was the way we needed to go!
You've been getting a lot of comparisons to A Day to Remember, who have really made a name for themselves in the last few years. How does that make you feel?
While personally I don’t think we sound like A Day to Remember, I understand where the comparisons come from. We are in something of the same genre, and they are one of the biggest if not the biggest band in that genre. I take it as a compliment most of the time, except for the rare occasion that someone says we are ripping of ADTR. Haha, this could not be farther from the truth. We don’t come into the writing process ever thinking we want to write a song like such-and-such band. We just write what we feel. Some of the songs on this album we written way before ADTR ever got big. I think that "Friends" and "Song for the Broken" were actually written before I ever even heard ADTR. I personally think that they are a great band, and I like their music. I just think that they come from a way different place than we do writing.
Do you feel that being a band of Christians is restricting in any way?
No way! We don’t ever try to push our faith on anyone. We just try to be the embodiment of Christ and what the Gospels call us to be. We try to love every kid we come in contact with and just let them know that there is always hope for their lives. We have never been a band that ever condemns people, especially for whatever they believe or don’t believe. Furthermore, I do not believe that we would be where we are today without God opening doors for us. I am just a kid who grew up listening to punk. I am nothing special. But I have totally been blessed and gifted far beyond my understanding.
You're currently planning a tour with The Overseer followed by another with It Prevails. What can we expect from those shows?
You can expect us to give it everything we have every night. We play with so much energy and passion that we are just dead after a show. We like to have fun and like for everyone at a show to have fun as well. I am totally ripping this off from my buddies in Protagonist, but we play hard, we play fast, we play together. Haha, thanks guys for the good line.
What else do you have planned for the rest of the year?
Right now we have a couple of festival dates booked for the fall, and we are considering a few different tour options. I am not totally sure what we are going to be doing yet, but we will be touring for sure!
Do you have any closing remarks?
I just want everyone to remember that there is always hope and to search for true fulfillment and don’t settle for what society says will make you happy. God gives us dreams for a reason, and if you are true to those and follow them he will open the doors for you.