Jason Tate
01/16/04, 05:36 PM
Jason: So, so far it seems as though the new Box Car album hasn't been marketed so much towards the mainstream -- is this on purpose, and for what reason?
Travis: Well, um.. I dunno - we refused for the video to go to MTV
Anthony: No No, he said it "hasn't"
Travis: Oh, it "hasn't" good! Good, good good. When we decided for it to go out on a major label, we begged that it wouldn't be on TRL, we begged that it wouldn't be on MTV. I mean, we are all fans of M2 - but, we just didn't want it to get blown out, or bust -- you know? We wanted to try and keep everything what it is, and keep it sincere you know?
Jason: Exactly. I guess that leads into my next question then - do you, as the band care who listens to your music? There is so much talk about "selling out" does it matter to you whether a 13 year old girl next door is listening to the new album or an underground kid is picking it up?
Travis: Now days, young kids are exposed to so many different kinds of music. I mean at 13 maybe they understand, you know? I mean, I feel bad when I see some kid wearing a ... uhh... you know, stupid -- uhhmm.. I don't want to mention any names. Ahhh.. uh, like what bands ...
Anthony: I mean, what is selling out? Some kid could be all punk rock - but yet totally copy somebody elses style. Isn't that selling out?
Travis: I mean there are some parts of me that like if I saw some kid, wearing a Limp Bizkit shirt -- I would hate to know that he was buying a Box Car album. Honestly. I dunno, but it's just I don't want us to be one of those bands that people just buy the CD because it might be cool. I would rather have people who genuinely love the music be buying this album. I mean, if you like Blink - that doesn't mean you will like Box Car, you may not. Cause if you like Blink - you prolly won't like it. I mean it's kind of weird, cause I don't want to say, "yeah, I made this record - but I only want certain people to buy it - or a certain crowd to buy it", you know? You can't limit yourself. I just want people to love it, and like it for what it is, not just because there are members of blink in it.
Jason:Yah, I totally understand. Okay -- so the music is a different sound then say, blink182 -- did you ever worry about people just automatically jumping on it because it had Tom and you, Travis - in the band? Was that ever a worry?
Travis: Well, originally - it was last year when me and Tom were on tour with blink and we were writing a bunch of new stuff, and it wasn't blink stuff - and I was like, man -- this is cool, but it just isn't blink. Then I got off tour, and I was like, "okay I have 5 months off, I am going to go out and do my own thing." And Tom came to me and was like, "hey man -- let's do something together" - and at first that was kind of awkward, and then we wrote the album - and it was so different from anything blink had ever done, you know it was right after 9/11 and it was sort of a weird feel, and whatever. And we were listening to alot of Quicksand, and a lot of old stuff that we grew up on. We kept asking ourselves, over and over again - "could this be blink material?" And you know from listening to the album that, "God No" - there is nothing on that album that could have been on a Blink CD.
Jason: So, Anthony - how did being asked to play in Box Car Racer really come about?
Anthony: Well, I guess it just came about from me knowing Travis. I mean we had played together before - and had sort of talked about it before and all that. So basically it just came about to where it came about -- and they were talking about doing it, and I started hearing some of what they were doing, and I asked if I could be a part of that .. and well, you know when it was all said done they asked me to be a part of it -- and I played those shows, and it was awesome, and I can't wait to go on tour with them. And write on the next album - that would be great.
Jason: So, is there a plan for a Box Car tour coming up later this year?
Anthony: Yeah, yes - in the fall.
Jason: Awesome, so what kind of venues? Smaller, larger..?
Anthony: The plan is for all small venues ..
Jason: That is very cool, I am sure the fans will love that. So, as you said there are probably some plans for some other Box Car albums in the future?
Anthony: God willing. Yah, I am pretty sure there is going to be something in the near future. Next summer.
Jason: Wow. So Travis, I read somewhere that you did some crazy new stuff with the drums on this album -- different things with how they were set up, and things like that.
Travis: Well, we did lots of stuff. LIke, when you record the album we wanted before you mix it and have some idiot go in there and get payed lots of money to turn some dials -- we wanted it to be like, sonically dynamic. So like, almost on every song we would have like a different (drum) kit for like the verses, and the chorus, and all that. And we would use like old, old kit, to say like a kit with just one mic in the middle of the room. To try and get a real roomy sound. We did alot of experimenting that way with sound .. like tryed using old cracked symbols and stuff like that. We wanted it to be like powerful, and dynamic before it was even mixed or mastered. You know?
Jason: Yah, well -- the whole album turned out awesome -- I love it, and you guys all did an amazing job. Thanks for taking the time to do this interview with me, I really appreciate it. Thank you. Keep rocking.
Travis: Well, um.. I dunno - we refused for the video to go to MTV
Anthony: No No, he said it "hasn't"
Travis: Oh, it "hasn't" good! Good, good good. When we decided for it to go out on a major label, we begged that it wouldn't be on TRL, we begged that it wouldn't be on MTV. I mean, we are all fans of M2 - but, we just didn't want it to get blown out, or bust -- you know? We wanted to try and keep everything what it is, and keep it sincere you know?
Jason: Exactly. I guess that leads into my next question then - do you, as the band care who listens to your music? There is so much talk about "selling out" does it matter to you whether a 13 year old girl next door is listening to the new album or an underground kid is picking it up?
Travis: Now days, young kids are exposed to so many different kinds of music. I mean at 13 maybe they understand, you know? I mean, I feel bad when I see some kid wearing a ... uhh... you know, stupid -- uhhmm.. I don't want to mention any names. Ahhh.. uh, like what bands ...
Anthony: I mean, what is selling out? Some kid could be all punk rock - but yet totally copy somebody elses style. Isn't that selling out?
Travis: I mean there are some parts of me that like if I saw some kid, wearing a Limp Bizkit shirt -- I would hate to know that he was buying a Box Car album. Honestly. I dunno, but it's just I don't want us to be one of those bands that people just buy the CD because it might be cool. I would rather have people who genuinely love the music be buying this album. I mean, if you like Blink - that doesn't mean you will like Box Car, you may not. Cause if you like Blink - you prolly won't like it. I mean it's kind of weird, cause I don't want to say, "yeah, I made this record - but I only want certain people to buy it - or a certain crowd to buy it", you know? You can't limit yourself. I just want people to love it, and like it for what it is, not just because there are members of blink in it.
Jason:Yah, I totally understand. Okay -- so the music is a different sound then say, blink182 -- did you ever worry about people just automatically jumping on it because it had Tom and you, Travis - in the band? Was that ever a worry?
Travis: Well, originally - it was last year when me and Tom were on tour with blink and we were writing a bunch of new stuff, and it wasn't blink stuff - and I was like, man -- this is cool, but it just isn't blink. Then I got off tour, and I was like, "okay I have 5 months off, I am going to go out and do my own thing." And Tom came to me and was like, "hey man -- let's do something together" - and at first that was kind of awkward, and then we wrote the album - and it was so different from anything blink had ever done, you know it was right after 9/11 and it was sort of a weird feel, and whatever. And we were listening to alot of Quicksand, and a lot of old stuff that we grew up on. We kept asking ourselves, over and over again - "could this be blink material?" And you know from listening to the album that, "God No" - there is nothing on that album that could have been on a Blink CD.
Jason: So, Anthony - how did being asked to play in Box Car Racer really come about?
Anthony: Well, I guess it just came about from me knowing Travis. I mean we had played together before - and had sort of talked about it before and all that. So basically it just came about to where it came about -- and they were talking about doing it, and I started hearing some of what they were doing, and I asked if I could be a part of that .. and well, you know when it was all said done they asked me to be a part of it -- and I played those shows, and it was awesome, and I can't wait to go on tour with them. And write on the next album - that would be great.
Jason: So, is there a plan for a Box Car tour coming up later this year?
Anthony: Yeah, yes - in the fall.
Jason: Awesome, so what kind of venues? Smaller, larger..?
Anthony: The plan is for all small venues ..
Jason: That is very cool, I am sure the fans will love that. So, as you said there are probably some plans for some other Box Car albums in the future?
Anthony: God willing. Yah, I am pretty sure there is going to be something in the near future. Next summer.
Jason: Wow. So Travis, I read somewhere that you did some crazy new stuff with the drums on this album -- different things with how they were set up, and things like that.
Travis: Well, we did lots of stuff. LIke, when you record the album we wanted before you mix it and have some idiot go in there and get payed lots of money to turn some dials -- we wanted it to be like, sonically dynamic. So like, almost on every song we would have like a different (drum) kit for like the verses, and the chorus, and all that. And we would use like old, old kit, to say like a kit with just one mic in the middle of the room. To try and get a real roomy sound. We did alot of experimenting that way with sound .. like tryed using old cracked symbols and stuff like that. We wanted it to be like powerful, and dynamic before it was even mixed or mastered. You know?
Jason: Yah, well -- the whole album turned out awesome -- I love it, and you guys all did an amazing job. Thanks for taking the time to do this interview with me, I really appreciate it. Thank you. Keep rocking.