Jason Tate
10/18/06, 02:10 PM
We would like to thank Will for taking the time to do this interview with us. Thanks also go out to their manager, Chris Black, for all of his help in coordinating this endeavor. This interview is of the "uncensored" variety and we asked anyone and everyone to submit us questions to ask. We hope you enjoy it.
What's the current status of the DVD the band was working on?
We recorded a little DVD ditty at the Masquerade in Hotlanta, GA back in May on our headlining tour. Original intentions were to have it out in December but it looks like it will be more like early spring. We’ve seen the final cuts of the documentary piece and the live show which both look incredible. Epic and Soma Cinematics did a great job with all the stuff. Up until now I’ve always thought that most of what is shown of us isn't really how we are when we're just chilling with each other. However, the DVD stuff we've been shown is awesome ... we’re very happy with the representation of us that was made. I think a lot of people might have different opinions about our band after watching it ... which means the DVD did its job.
Will there be a new album in 2007 or will you keep touring off of Chroma?
Let's see ... new album question. I have to answer this in 2 ways, first being the band perspective on this new record. If we had our way we'd most definitely put out a record next year. The way "Chroma" went down is right after the EP came out we started writing heavily ... we had done some stuff earlier in the summer but never anything too heavy. We basically wrote the record and finished it 2 weeks before we did pre-production. The time schedule on "Chroma" was so tight. Hardly any real time to do something real thorough. So we were used to a really fast turnaround from record to record. Seeing as how "Chroma" is doing far better than the EP it stands that we'll take a little longer with the next one. Right now the progress is such: on Warped Tour we started the little embryos of about 14 songs. I think maybe 2 additional ones have been brought up out of the depths since then. On this tour with New Found Glory I hope to have most of those turned into real demos. Early progress of course but then maybe get 25 demos done before we start touring next year. That way we'll have a ton of stuff to sift through before the next one begins. There have been mentions of starting recording as early as June or as late as September -- all depending upon how well "Chroma" does. We still have a few songs that could do well - even better than "Honestly" I think. We shall see. But, we do understand that our fans who have been with us from the beginning deserve something before too long so we've talked about doing a short EP (3 songs) of new material just so people could get a little something new -- hopefully we could give that away -- maybe digitally or something. People have had to re-purchase our stuff too much as it is. Either way, we'll definitely record in 2007. It may not come out in 2007 but there will definitely be new material out sometime next year ... in whatever form.
What is your reaction to the screaming girls that are now appearing at shows?
Hmmm....screaming girls? It’s cool I guess. I mean, we have definitely noticed a shift in the percentages of people coming to our shows in the last months since MTV hopped on board. Does it get annoying? No. I don't like people making a big deal about us because we're just normal dudes who play music. In truth, we'll say, "man we just got noticed in (insert random big city here)" and we'll freak out quietly. We still take everything in stride. It’s hard not too. We rarely have time to think out here. So I mean I can see where people might find it annoying to have those types of girls coming to shows but everyone had that band or person that they would gush about at that age ... hell, I still gush around people I like. So it doesn't really wear off. But I think it's a matter of realizing that and accepting and moving on. It’s really not that big of a deal ... and at least they're at our show and not Nickelback. HEY OH!
Was anyone kicked out of the band for "image" or "religion" reasons?
No one has ever been kicked out for image or beliefs ... that being said let me explain. Two people have left Cartel since its inception ... first, Andy Lee. When Andy joined the band we had all been friends in Conyers through high-school and whatnot while Andy grew up about 20 miles away. We had no knowledge of him except through shows in Atlanta and only a couple times anyway. At Georgia State we met up and we all wanted to play around again so we did, and Cartel happened. We never established a real friendship with Andy ... it was all based around the band. Thusly, when tour got hard those first 3 months a lot of things were said and done that damaged things a bit. Seeing that Andy was taking care of most of the business then, we felt that since we didn't trust him fully it was time that he leave the band, enough said. It had nothing to do with his religious beliefs. Andy was religious and we aren't ... that’s all that needs to be said regarding beliefs but they certainly were not a reason for breaking up.
Now on to image. C’mon ... really, this is a question (no offense to the "asker") but this is ridiculous. Have you seen Jeff? He looks nothing like us. He’s bald ... tattooed heavily and wears "Crack Is Back" t-shirts. Really now. Ryan’s image had nothing to do with him leaving. Truth be told: he quit. He sat us down and talked in the van and quit. That was that. Ryan was a great band-mate, bassist, and dressed well ... why would we axe him for image reasons? Makes no sense.
Has the label forced you to do anything you haven't wanted to do?
Nope. Nothing of that sort. We have a great manager who holds nothing back when talking to people. He informed Epic of our preferences, concerns and barriers a while back and they've done well to abide by those. We’ve never been asked to do things we didn't want to do. That doesn't mean they haven't thought of them ... we’ve just never been asked such things. The labels job is to sell records. It’s the band's job to make music. Somewhere down the line some shitty stuff might happen but they are only trying to do their job. However that can be done ... is what they think is best. It’s not always so, but they aren't trying to shape every artist into the same mold. I think more artists shape themselves in a desire for label attention or more press or whatever. You won't see any crazy changes like that in this band.
Will you please explain the comments made about P!atD in more detail?
Ahh yes, I haven't heard this enough ... let me tell you. Here’s what the truth of the situation is: Panic opened the Acceptance tour we did last year and were green as could be. They had barely played enough shows to call themselves a band and it showed. They got better, of course, but then they went to the Fall Out Boy tour and blew up ... how could anyone not be jealous of that. There isn't a band out there that isn't just a little jealous of that.
That being said ... most people who read it (judging by the response to what was said) grossly misinterpreted the AP article. I’ve become sort of infamous for saying that. Here’s what was meant by what I said: Panic is big. They are only big because their fans made them so, albeit, they have a lot of fans. They toured about 1/4 as long as most bands do before they have any success and now they've acquired the kind of success that 99% of the other bands out there won't ever achieve.
What Panic said in AP never got any backlash -- here’s what they said, "bands only say that you should pay your dues because they had to." Now, is that true? Yes. Is it seriously fucked up to say? Yes. Do I dislike them for it? No. Do I disagree? Yes.
What I said was that bands that have paid their dues don't deserve to have that discredited by a band that has no room to say anything about touring or paying dues. They have plenty to say about everything else and are totally justified, but I just felt mad for all the bands that put in a lot of hours and have never sold a tenth of the records Panic has. Hell, I’m sure there are plenty of bands that think the same thing about us. We’ve had relatively early success; however, there's no way I would say something like that. I know why he would say it ... if thousands of people were trying to discount what you've done you'd say something like that too. So ... we’re still buds, and whatever, but people just kind of blew that out of the water ... they obviously didn't finish reading [the article]. I said that they didn't deserve what they had in as far as the work they've put into it. I’d hardly say that a year or so of work qualifies you as a long-time touring musician. We can't even qualify ourselves, in fact; I never brought us into it at all. I just thought it was an ignorant thing to say.
Apparently, that pissed a lot of people off. Ha-ha. Anyway, yes ... the backlash. Um, I think people have a right to be angry ... if they didn't read it. Even if you're a fan ... does anything anyone says hold enough sway to change your mind about that band? You either like them or you don't. I think that people are so eager to defend them because they are constantly under barrage by most of the bands below them. We are still friends with those guys ... at least as far as we can tell. It's hard to get in touch with them as you'd imagine. I saw that somebody was saying that we suck and Panic is better and that's why we don't like him or her. Well ... anyway, yeah, hopefully all this goes away but I think it's silly that people didn't read that very well and decided to get real pissed about it.
What were your motives behind the apparent complaining (on Fuse) about not playing the main stage of Warped?
Ha! One of the other things I wish I could take back.
That being said I have learned my lesson about what I should say on camera. I’m real upfront with how I feel and that sometime is my downfall. Here's what happened: We had been on warped for two weeks or so and had been doing pretty well. The record came out on Epic and charted crazy for a while, and we were stoked.
As far as everything we've heard about Warped the "bumping" that occur to bigger stages is based on Soundscan numbers. Considering that Paramore had been bumped in Nashville, and we had sold more records than them at that point, we kind of had it in our heads that we would get bumped in Atlanta. Nothing had been said to suggest that we would but we still had hopes.
Day came and we didn't get bumped. We were really let down. But alas -- we had to keep on.
We had a radio interview with our local station, 99X, which is a big deal. We were chatting with them and they said, "since AFI isn't here today you guys are the only band on the Warped Tour here that is on 99X ... why aren't you main stage?" I pawned off an answer, something like, "Warped Tour is its own animal that doesn't really care about stuff like that."
Well, this Fuse documentary was following us around and asked what was going on with 99X. I repeated it and said that I found it ironic too. Well ... in a documentary piece you're not supposed to hear the narrator that is off camera. Because of that I had to repeat the question. That came out like, "yeah, I guess Warped is out of the loop with Cartel in Atlanta because we're the only band on the radio in Atlanta" ... sounds bad. I winced right after I said it ... Fuse apparently loves to stir up drama. I’m glad I got to answer this question.
How would you respond to those accusing the band of having a huge "rockstar" ego now?
I assure you, we are the same country ass dudes we were before all this. Egos we have not. What we do have is more confidence in what we're doing. We're proud of what we've accomplished and that's all there is to it. Sometimes we're short with people but we honestly appreciate all the support from everyone who likes our band.
Would you want Noel (Oasis) to hear your cover of their song?
Um, probably not. He'd probably insult it then berate us for doing it. Although, I think I’d enjoy that, so ok.
What direction do you see the next songs going in?
This is a fun question. We've thought long and hard about the direction of the next record. In fact, it's an ever-changing scenario. I think we're the closest to the direction of the next album we've been. We have some ideas going and such, and I really like it. There's one demo that's titled "Willy Jam 05" that is getting me off. I love it. Seriously, got some good ones coming. We hope you guys enjoyed songs like "The Minstrel's Prayer" and "Q&A" because I think they influenced the new songs a whole lot. That's not saying that the new stuff's all like that. There are still the "Cartel" songs. We just want to put [together] a good amount of songs that represent us fully. It's definitely cooler than "Chroma" -- in a good way though, not that second record "We're the Beatles, too!" thing.
How do you respond to those that call you another generic pop-punk band?
Have you heard our record? We don't have a lot of similarities with tried and true pop-punk bands. maybe "Luckie St." or something but that's about it.
What has been the hardest part about the "rise" of Cartel?
The hardest part is being gone so long. We do a lot. It's cool cuz we're such good friends and it allows us to do a lot of things we've always wanted to. It's a shift in lifestyle and it's hard letting go sometimes, but it's fun ... so really it's not hard. It's easy. Especially if you want to do it in the first place.
What would you say to the fans that "lost respect" for you after the Warped/P!atD comments?
I would say this, "Please understand that what you hear from any band has been paraphrased and cut down for length and content. I try to think about that in interviews and if I thought this would get blown up I wouldn't do it. But I’m honest. I’m blunt. I say what I feel. I hope you can understand that we're not perfect and we say things that other people might not understand. Hopefully that doesn't affect how you listen to our music. That's all that should matter anyway."
In a recent interview with Copeland, they hinted that your band always had a "plan" to be famous. Could you respond to this?
I read that interview and I don't think that's how it was meant. I’ve talked with Brian before on The Starting Line tour and we talked about what we want out of the bands. I think we play a style of music that is popular. I think Copeland's style is more underground with the breakout star being Death Cab for Cutie. We've had a "plan" in the sense that we hoped things would work a certain way. It's been a goal of ours for sure. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. We've said it from the start ... we want to be big. If it happens great ... if it doesn't ... great! We are still pretty big in our eyes, but at the same time, we know we aren't shit compared to other bands. It's like being happy and wanting more all at the same time. Nevertheless, we've just sold over 100k records. Do you know how ridiculous that is!? We're stoked! No one in Conyers, GA ever had a record sell 100k copies ... or at least to my knowledge. That's a big deal to us, and from where we come from that shit don't happen too often. We've found the rabbit hole and now we want to go deeper. We only want to be big to have more people hear our tunes. It's a good feeling.
Do you prefer playing to crowds like Warped Tour where there are possibly thousands of kids watching, or more intimate shows where there are 200 really devoted fans?
Warped was fun with the size crowds that we sometimes had -- 200 cap sold out clubs are fun with the intimacy and all. We simply have fun whenever we play. Everyday we wake up and sit around on the internet and somebody will see something to do with our band and we'll just look at each other and say... "can you really believe this is what we do?" We all just take a second and then say..."yeah, dude ... this is pretty unreal." We're lucky as hell to have the opportunity to play our songs in front of anyone. 200 or 2000 ... it's all the same. As long as we are having fun it will never matter what size the crowd is.
A fan would like to know why Will wasn't on the Racing Kites EP?
Yeah, so Warped Tour wasn't quite as productive with demo writing as I wanted it to be. That's a round-a-bout way of saying I was having trouble with recording gear. I was supposed to be home during some of it and would be able to go into the studio and do it, but time and place never really worked out. Deadlines came and went and I didn't get to do it. I really wanted to, so hopefully I could work it out on a full-length. I think they're sound is good ... a lot of potential there.
A user has heard that the members of Cartel will say, ""How could you not know us? We're on MTV! On TRL! How can you NOT know us?" to other bands on tour. Is this true?
That has never happened. like I said ... we're lucky as hell. We're also southern as hell. Being southern means our mamas raised us way better than that. We'd also be real dumb to say that to other bands on tour. That would get around real fast. we'd never tour with anyone again. I think it's funny that people would try to get this around though.
You've made no bones about the fact that you want to be a "big" band. Would you be willing to compromise your musical integrity to achieve such a goal? What price do you put on maintaining this integrity?
Integrity would normally be considered being consistent with your ideals. Our ideal is that we like to write good music (if you consider it good, of course). We also love all kinds of music which we can play in our own little variations. We have a variety of songs and purposefully made sure Chroma included different types of songs so that our musical explorations in the future wouldn't be a shock. Songs like "The Minstrel's Prayer" and "Q&A" allow us to step outside the box sometimes.
Like I said .. we're a pop-ROCK band ... we have that in us and it's not fully realized yet. Therefore, as long as we say we want to be big, and have always played a certain style of music, then it follows that as long as we're consistent. Ten our integrity is not compromised.
I feel that everything we've done has been just that. Our future records will show that as well. The price we put on that is nothing. We're not gonna change ourselves for anyone. We fucking love who we are. 5 dudes that like to hang out and jam and it happens to be catchy. We know nothing else.
Will you ever play Warped Tour again?
We'll have to wait and see.
Most bands will tell you that Warped is all fun and games and everyone hangs out and there's no hierarchy or anything like that. Totally utopian like. What they don't tell you is that that's complete bullshit.
It's actually too hot, mundane, clique-y as hell, by no means level playing fields, and never what you hoped it would be. However, it's the biggest tour of the year in our genre every year, regardless of how the bill looks. So ... it's either don't tour in the summer, go on your own tour which is always on the opposite side of the country as Warped, or you just do Warped again.
What other bands do you think HAVE made strides in pop-punk recently?
Truthfully, I don't listen to that much pop punk. I kinda got over that a few bands ago. I think Fall Out Boy is doing it right in the sense of trying to do something different with their next record. Whether they achieve that or not, is a different story. Let's wait and see. Other than that I’m mostly out of touch. Motion City Soundtrack is talented ... The Starting Line as well -- they branched out there. I’m getting back into some older soul stuff ... I kinda missed that one.
The band seems "obsessed" with getting on TRL, why is that?
Clarification - we want to be on TRL - we think it's cool, sure, why not? Our record label's job is too get us TRL. Understand that what you're seeing is promotion from our record label. TRL would be nice because of the amount of exposure that involves ... but we're not "obsessed." If we were we'd be telling people to go to different computers everyday to vote multiple times. We'd be doing it ourselves. We're up against stiff competition and we know that. No biggie. Please understand that what you see isn't always the direct intention of the band.
Did you write the songs for Chroma with the intention of getting huge?
We wrote the songs on "Chroma" with the hopes to write good songs. If we could write whatever style songs we could to get big, then we would have wrote songs like Coldplay or Nickelback. Fall Out Boy's big, but they are by no means the biggest style of band. Actually, take it back ... country music ... we would have gone there.
Will there be a new video for Say Anything (Else)?
Say Anything (Else) will be the next single. There will definitely be a video for it. Nothing scheduled at this time.
In the meantime we did a thing called "Breaking The Video" for mtvU ... it will be up before too long. We did a video with a film student from Emory University. It should be really funny. Check it out when it comes on ... we'll put something on our site and I’m sure there will be a post on here about it.
Is there any other topic you'd like to discuss or answer?
People have always been quick to throw any up and coming band under the bus because the band has nothing to justify any respect by critics or industry folks.
So I just have to say this:
We are a band. We play music for a living (now). All we care about is writing good records. We've talked about being a band for as long as we have known each other. This is a dream come true for us. Every second of every day that we get to do this is a privilege and a responsibility.
As a band, we are huge fans of music ... not any particular type ... just music. If it's good -- it's good. Nothing anyone thinks should change opinion. As much as there is a lot of stuff we don't like ... all we can say is that we would do something different if it was our song. but guess what? It's not our song. That's how I feel about people who are so quick to criticize music.
I am a fan of this site and I check it everyday to see the "happenings." I read a lot of posts and comments and what not and I gotta say that it makes me sad sometimes. Everyone just gets on here to hate on shit. If you don't like it ... don't talk about it. Go talk to people who like the same stuff you do. Why sit and disagree with each other over the same stuff? It's pointless and redundant. It's also a waste of time. No one is going to think you're right. You are not going to think you're wrong. Who cares ... go somewhere else, because really ... if you're not the musician who recorded the record -- the only opinion you're entitled to voice is if you like it or not. Beyond that you're not justified to say a damn word.
You can review and that's fine, but it's lame that a review can ruin sales. Don't pay attention to them unless you agree with most of their musical tastes. Otherwise it's pointless. Stop wasting time hating. Love the music that you love and leave the rest alone for others to love. Don't berate people for what they like and don't think you're smarter than they are because you listen to something more "mature" ... a lot of "mature" people think it's noise ... who are you to judge?
We love our fans and thank every single person who has helped us in any way ... whether it be a kind word or buying a t-shirt. All of it is encouragement. I hope this interview has shed some light on the last few months for all those who are interested in Cartel as of late. We won't change for anyone but ourselves. We hope all understand that. Take care and love each other.
What's the current status of the DVD the band was working on?
We recorded a little DVD ditty at the Masquerade in Hotlanta, GA back in May on our headlining tour. Original intentions were to have it out in December but it looks like it will be more like early spring. We’ve seen the final cuts of the documentary piece and the live show which both look incredible. Epic and Soma Cinematics did a great job with all the stuff. Up until now I’ve always thought that most of what is shown of us isn't really how we are when we're just chilling with each other. However, the DVD stuff we've been shown is awesome ... we’re very happy with the representation of us that was made. I think a lot of people might have different opinions about our band after watching it ... which means the DVD did its job.
Will there be a new album in 2007 or will you keep touring off of Chroma?
Let's see ... new album question. I have to answer this in 2 ways, first being the band perspective on this new record. If we had our way we'd most definitely put out a record next year. The way "Chroma" went down is right after the EP came out we started writing heavily ... we had done some stuff earlier in the summer but never anything too heavy. We basically wrote the record and finished it 2 weeks before we did pre-production. The time schedule on "Chroma" was so tight. Hardly any real time to do something real thorough. So we were used to a really fast turnaround from record to record. Seeing as how "Chroma" is doing far better than the EP it stands that we'll take a little longer with the next one. Right now the progress is such: on Warped Tour we started the little embryos of about 14 songs. I think maybe 2 additional ones have been brought up out of the depths since then. On this tour with New Found Glory I hope to have most of those turned into real demos. Early progress of course but then maybe get 25 demos done before we start touring next year. That way we'll have a ton of stuff to sift through before the next one begins. There have been mentions of starting recording as early as June or as late as September -- all depending upon how well "Chroma" does. We still have a few songs that could do well - even better than "Honestly" I think. We shall see. But, we do understand that our fans who have been with us from the beginning deserve something before too long so we've talked about doing a short EP (3 songs) of new material just so people could get a little something new -- hopefully we could give that away -- maybe digitally or something. People have had to re-purchase our stuff too much as it is. Either way, we'll definitely record in 2007. It may not come out in 2007 but there will definitely be new material out sometime next year ... in whatever form.
What is your reaction to the screaming girls that are now appearing at shows?
Hmmm....screaming girls? It’s cool I guess. I mean, we have definitely noticed a shift in the percentages of people coming to our shows in the last months since MTV hopped on board. Does it get annoying? No. I don't like people making a big deal about us because we're just normal dudes who play music. In truth, we'll say, "man we just got noticed in (insert random big city here)" and we'll freak out quietly. We still take everything in stride. It’s hard not too. We rarely have time to think out here. So I mean I can see where people might find it annoying to have those types of girls coming to shows but everyone had that band or person that they would gush about at that age ... hell, I still gush around people I like. So it doesn't really wear off. But I think it's a matter of realizing that and accepting and moving on. It’s really not that big of a deal ... and at least they're at our show and not Nickelback. HEY OH!
Was anyone kicked out of the band for "image" or "religion" reasons?
No one has ever been kicked out for image or beliefs ... that being said let me explain. Two people have left Cartel since its inception ... first, Andy Lee. When Andy joined the band we had all been friends in Conyers through high-school and whatnot while Andy grew up about 20 miles away. We had no knowledge of him except through shows in Atlanta and only a couple times anyway. At Georgia State we met up and we all wanted to play around again so we did, and Cartel happened. We never established a real friendship with Andy ... it was all based around the band. Thusly, when tour got hard those first 3 months a lot of things were said and done that damaged things a bit. Seeing that Andy was taking care of most of the business then, we felt that since we didn't trust him fully it was time that he leave the band, enough said. It had nothing to do with his religious beliefs. Andy was religious and we aren't ... that’s all that needs to be said regarding beliefs but they certainly were not a reason for breaking up.
Now on to image. C’mon ... really, this is a question (no offense to the "asker") but this is ridiculous. Have you seen Jeff? He looks nothing like us. He’s bald ... tattooed heavily and wears "Crack Is Back" t-shirts. Really now. Ryan’s image had nothing to do with him leaving. Truth be told: he quit. He sat us down and talked in the van and quit. That was that. Ryan was a great band-mate, bassist, and dressed well ... why would we axe him for image reasons? Makes no sense.
Has the label forced you to do anything you haven't wanted to do?
Nope. Nothing of that sort. We have a great manager who holds nothing back when talking to people. He informed Epic of our preferences, concerns and barriers a while back and they've done well to abide by those. We’ve never been asked to do things we didn't want to do. That doesn't mean they haven't thought of them ... we’ve just never been asked such things. The labels job is to sell records. It’s the band's job to make music. Somewhere down the line some shitty stuff might happen but they are only trying to do their job. However that can be done ... is what they think is best. It’s not always so, but they aren't trying to shape every artist into the same mold. I think more artists shape themselves in a desire for label attention or more press or whatever. You won't see any crazy changes like that in this band.
Will you please explain the comments made about P!atD in more detail?
Ahh yes, I haven't heard this enough ... let me tell you. Here’s what the truth of the situation is: Panic opened the Acceptance tour we did last year and were green as could be. They had barely played enough shows to call themselves a band and it showed. They got better, of course, but then they went to the Fall Out Boy tour and blew up ... how could anyone not be jealous of that. There isn't a band out there that isn't just a little jealous of that.
That being said ... most people who read it (judging by the response to what was said) grossly misinterpreted the AP article. I’ve become sort of infamous for saying that. Here’s what was meant by what I said: Panic is big. They are only big because their fans made them so, albeit, they have a lot of fans. They toured about 1/4 as long as most bands do before they have any success and now they've acquired the kind of success that 99% of the other bands out there won't ever achieve.
What Panic said in AP never got any backlash -- here’s what they said, "bands only say that you should pay your dues because they had to." Now, is that true? Yes. Is it seriously fucked up to say? Yes. Do I dislike them for it? No. Do I disagree? Yes.
What I said was that bands that have paid their dues don't deserve to have that discredited by a band that has no room to say anything about touring or paying dues. They have plenty to say about everything else and are totally justified, but I just felt mad for all the bands that put in a lot of hours and have never sold a tenth of the records Panic has. Hell, I’m sure there are plenty of bands that think the same thing about us. We’ve had relatively early success; however, there's no way I would say something like that. I know why he would say it ... if thousands of people were trying to discount what you've done you'd say something like that too. So ... we’re still buds, and whatever, but people just kind of blew that out of the water ... they obviously didn't finish reading [the article]. I said that they didn't deserve what they had in as far as the work they've put into it. I’d hardly say that a year or so of work qualifies you as a long-time touring musician. We can't even qualify ourselves, in fact; I never brought us into it at all. I just thought it was an ignorant thing to say.
Apparently, that pissed a lot of people off. Ha-ha. Anyway, yes ... the backlash. Um, I think people have a right to be angry ... if they didn't read it. Even if you're a fan ... does anything anyone says hold enough sway to change your mind about that band? You either like them or you don't. I think that people are so eager to defend them because they are constantly under barrage by most of the bands below them. We are still friends with those guys ... at least as far as we can tell. It's hard to get in touch with them as you'd imagine. I saw that somebody was saying that we suck and Panic is better and that's why we don't like him or her. Well ... anyway, yeah, hopefully all this goes away but I think it's silly that people didn't read that very well and decided to get real pissed about it.
What were your motives behind the apparent complaining (on Fuse) about not playing the main stage of Warped?
Ha! One of the other things I wish I could take back.
That being said I have learned my lesson about what I should say on camera. I’m real upfront with how I feel and that sometime is my downfall. Here's what happened: We had been on warped for two weeks or so and had been doing pretty well. The record came out on Epic and charted crazy for a while, and we were stoked.
As far as everything we've heard about Warped the "bumping" that occur to bigger stages is based on Soundscan numbers. Considering that Paramore had been bumped in Nashville, and we had sold more records than them at that point, we kind of had it in our heads that we would get bumped in Atlanta. Nothing had been said to suggest that we would but we still had hopes.
Day came and we didn't get bumped. We were really let down. But alas -- we had to keep on.
We had a radio interview with our local station, 99X, which is a big deal. We were chatting with them and they said, "since AFI isn't here today you guys are the only band on the Warped Tour here that is on 99X ... why aren't you main stage?" I pawned off an answer, something like, "Warped Tour is its own animal that doesn't really care about stuff like that."
Well, this Fuse documentary was following us around and asked what was going on with 99X. I repeated it and said that I found it ironic too. Well ... in a documentary piece you're not supposed to hear the narrator that is off camera. Because of that I had to repeat the question. That came out like, "yeah, I guess Warped is out of the loop with Cartel in Atlanta because we're the only band on the radio in Atlanta" ... sounds bad. I winced right after I said it ... Fuse apparently loves to stir up drama. I’m glad I got to answer this question.
How would you respond to those accusing the band of having a huge "rockstar" ego now?
I assure you, we are the same country ass dudes we were before all this. Egos we have not. What we do have is more confidence in what we're doing. We're proud of what we've accomplished and that's all there is to it. Sometimes we're short with people but we honestly appreciate all the support from everyone who likes our band.
Would you want Noel (Oasis) to hear your cover of their song?
Um, probably not. He'd probably insult it then berate us for doing it. Although, I think I’d enjoy that, so ok.
What direction do you see the next songs going in?
This is a fun question. We've thought long and hard about the direction of the next record. In fact, it's an ever-changing scenario. I think we're the closest to the direction of the next album we've been. We have some ideas going and such, and I really like it. There's one demo that's titled "Willy Jam 05" that is getting me off. I love it. Seriously, got some good ones coming. We hope you guys enjoyed songs like "The Minstrel's Prayer" and "Q&A" because I think they influenced the new songs a whole lot. That's not saying that the new stuff's all like that. There are still the "Cartel" songs. We just want to put [together] a good amount of songs that represent us fully. It's definitely cooler than "Chroma" -- in a good way though, not that second record "We're the Beatles, too!" thing.
How do you respond to those that call you another generic pop-punk band?
Have you heard our record? We don't have a lot of similarities with tried and true pop-punk bands. maybe "Luckie St." or something but that's about it.
What has been the hardest part about the "rise" of Cartel?
The hardest part is being gone so long. We do a lot. It's cool cuz we're such good friends and it allows us to do a lot of things we've always wanted to. It's a shift in lifestyle and it's hard letting go sometimes, but it's fun ... so really it's not hard. It's easy. Especially if you want to do it in the first place.
What would you say to the fans that "lost respect" for you after the Warped/P!atD comments?
I would say this, "Please understand that what you hear from any band has been paraphrased and cut down for length and content. I try to think about that in interviews and if I thought this would get blown up I wouldn't do it. But I’m honest. I’m blunt. I say what I feel. I hope you can understand that we're not perfect and we say things that other people might not understand. Hopefully that doesn't affect how you listen to our music. That's all that should matter anyway."
In a recent interview with Copeland, they hinted that your band always had a "plan" to be famous. Could you respond to this?
I read that interview and I don't think that's how it was meant. I’ve talked with Brian before on The Starting Line tour and we talked about what we want out of the bands. I think we play a style of music that is popular. I think Copeland's style is more underground with the breakout star being Death Cab for Cutie. We've had a "plan" in the sense that we hoped things would work a certain way. It's been a goal of ours for sure. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. We've said it from the start ... we want to be big. If it happens great ... if it doesn't ... great! We are still pretty big in our eyes, but at the same time, we know we aren't shit compared to other bands. It's like being happy and wanting more all at the same time. Nevertheless, we've just sold over 100k records. Do you know how ridiculous that is!? We're stoked! No one in Conyers, GA ever had a record sell 100k copies ... or at least to my knowledge. That's a big deal to us, and from where we come from that shit don't happen too often. We've found the rabbit hole and now we want to go deeper. We only want to be big to have more people hear our tunes. It's a good feeling.
Do you prefer playing to crowds like Warped Tour where there are possibly thousands of kids watching, or more intimate shows where there are 200 really devoted fans?
Warped was fun with the size crowds that we sometimes had -- 200 cap sold out clubs are fun with the intimacy and all. We simply have fun whenever we play. Everyday we wake up and sit around on the internet and somebody will see something to do with our band and we'll just look at each other and say... "can you really believe this is what we do?" We all just take a second and then say..."yeah, dude ... this is pretty unreal." We're lucky as hell to have the opportunity to play our songs in front of anyone. 200 or 2000 ... it's all the same. As long as we are having fun it will never matter what size the crowd is.
A fan would like to know why Will wasn't on the Racing Kites EP?
Yeah, so Warped Tour wasn't quite as productive with demo writing as I wanted it to be. That's a round-a-bout way of saying I was having trouble with recording gear. I was supposed to be home during some of it and would be able to go into the studio and do it, but time and place never really worked out. Deadlines came and went and I didn't get to do it. I really wanted to, so hopefully I could work it out on a full-length. I think they're sound is good ... a lot of potential there.
A user has heard that the members of Cartel will say, ""How could you not know us? We're on MTV! On TRL! How can you NOT know us?" to other bands on tour. Is this true?
That has never happened. like I said ... we're lucky as hell. We're also southern as hell. Being southern means our mamas raised us way better than that. We'd also be real dumb to say that to other bands on tour. That would get around real fast. we'd never tour with anyone again. I think it's funny that people would try to get this around though.
You've made no bones about the fact that you want to be a "big" band. Would you be willing to compromise your musical integrity to achieve such a goal? What price do you put on maintaining this integrity?
Integrity would normally be considered being consistent with your ideals. Our ideal is that we like to write good music (if you consider it good, of course). We also love all kinds of music which we can play in our own little variations. We have a variety of songs and purposefully made sure Chroma included different types of songs so that our musical explorations in the future wouldn't be a shock. Songs like "The Minstrel's Prayer" and "Q&A" allow us to step outside the box sometimes.
Like I said .. we're a pop-ROCK band ... we have that in us and it's not fully realized yet. Therefore, as long as we say we want to be big, and have always played a certain style of music, then it follows that as long as we're consistent. Ten our integrity is not compromised.
I feel that everything we've done has been just that. Our future records will show that as well. The price we put on that is nothing. We're not gonna change ourselves for anyone. We fucking love who we are. 5 dudes that like to hang out and jam and it happens to be catchy. We know nothing else.
Will you ever play Warped Tour again?
We'll have to wait and see.
Most bands will tell you that Warped is all fun and games and everyone hangs out and there's no hierarchy or anything like that. Totally utopian like. What they don't tell you is that that's complete bullshit.
It's actually too hot, mundane, clique-y as hell, by no means level playing fields, and never what you hoped it would be. However, it's the biggest tour of the year in our genre every year, regardless of how the bill looks. So ... it's either don't tour in the summer, go on your own tour which is always on the opposite side of the country as Warped, or you just do Warped again.
What other bands do you think HAVE made strides in pop-punk recently?
Truthfully, I don't listen to that much pop punk. I kinda got over that a few bands ago. I think Fall Out Boy is doing it right in the sense of trying to do something different with their next record. Whether they achieve that or not, is a different story. Let's wait and see. Other than that I’m mostly out of touch. Motion City Soundtrack is talented ... The Starting Line as well -- they branched out there. I’m getting back into some older soul stuff ... I kinda missed that one.
The band seems "obsessed" with getting on TRL, why is that?
Clarification - we want to be on TRL - we think it's cool, sure, why not? Our record label's job is too get us TRL. Understand that what you're seeing is promotion from our record label. TRL would be nice because of the amount of exposure that involves ... but we're not "obsessed." If we were we'd be telling people to go to different computers everyday to vote multiple times. We'd be doing it ourselves. We're up against stiff competition and we know that. No biggie. Please understand that what you see isn't always the direct intention of the band.
Did you write the songs for Chroma with the intention of getting huge?
We wrote the songs on "Chroma" with the hopes to write good songs. If we could write whatever style songs we could to get big, then we would have wrote songs like Coldplay or Nickelback. Fall Out Boy's big, but they are by no means the biggest style of band. Actually, take it back ... country music ... we would have gone there.
Will there be a new video for Say Anything (Else)?
Say Anything (Else) will be the next single. There will definitely be a video for it. Nothing scheduled at this time.
In the meantime we did a thing called "Breaking The Video" for mtvU ... it will be up before too long. We did a video with a film student from Emory University. It should be really funny. Check it out when it comes on ... we'll put something on our site and I’m sure there will be a post on here about it.
Is there any other topic you'd like to discuss or answer?
People have always been quick to throw any up and coming band under the bus because the band has nothing to justify any respect by critics or industry folks.
So I just have to say this:
We are a band. We play music for a living (now). All we care about is writing good records. We've talked about being a band for as long as we have known each other. This is a dream come true for us. Every second of every day that we get to do this is a privilege and a responsibility.
As a band, we are huge fans of music ... not any particular type ... just music. If it's good -- it's good. Nothing anyone thinks should change opinion. As much as there is a lot of stuff we don't like ... all we can say is that we would do something different if it was our song. but guess what? It's not our song. That's how I feel about people who are so quick to criticize music.
I am a fan of this site and I check it everyday to see the "happenings." I read a lot of posts and comments and what not and I gotta say that it makes me sad sometimes. Everyone just gets on here to hate on shit. If you don't like it ... don't talk about it. Go talk to people who like the same stuff you do. Why sit and disagree with each other over the same stuff? It's pointless and redundant. It's also a waste of time. No one is going to think you're right. You are not going to think you're wrong. Who cares ... go somewhere else, because really ... if you're not the musician who recorded the record -- the only opinion you're entitled to voice is if you like it or not. Beyond that you're not justified to say a damn word.
You can review and that's fine, but it's lame that a review can ruin sales. Don't pay attention to them unless you agree with most of their musical tastes. Otherwise it's pointless. Stop wasting time hating. Love the music that you love and leave the rest alone for others to love. Don't berate people for what they like and don't think you're smarter than they are because you listen to something more "mature" ... a lot of "mature" people think it's noise ... who are you to judge?
We love our fans and thank every single person who has helped us in any way ... whether it be a kind word or buying a t-shirt. All of it is encouragement. I hope this interview has shed some light on the last few months for all those who are interested in Cartel as of late. We won't change for anyone but ourselves. We hope all understand that. Take care and love each other.