Taking Back Sunday Talk To Stereoboard Ahead Of Their UK Tour Show At Manchester Academy (Interview)
Thursday, 01 September 2011
Written by Kimberley Martinez-Meakins
Prior to watching their show at Manchester's Academy, the review can be found here, Stereoboard caught up with Taking Back Sunday's drummer Mark O'Connell and bassist Shaun Cooper.
How are you guys doing?
Shaun Cooper - Having fun, we played in Glasgow last night, that was great, and Dublin the night before. Just getting started, trying to get over the jet lag.
So Mark, it was your idea for the band to reunite?
Mark O'Connell - Yeah that's right.
Did you find it harder getting back into the personal relationships or becoming bandmates again?
SC - It's actually very easy, we get on very well. Professionally and personally we all get on very well and we are just having a good time so; I think it's been easier than we expected.
MO - Yeah, yeah, it's been really fun.
Good to hear! Who were you the most surprised that returned to the band?
SC - John MO - Yeah John SC - And Adam. MO - Yeah. SC - They were the ones that they might have had the most trouble reconnecting. They reconnected very quickly and now they are practically next-door-neighbours. John moved with his wife from Kansas to North Carolina to be closer to Adam and his wife too. They are good friends, good stuff!
What makes you so different now compared to what you were like 8 years ago?
MO - We are a lot older! We are more mature so I think just before we didn't know how to handle certain situations, so I think now we are, so if someone does something, it's just handled differently.
(We are interrupted by John Nolan walking in...)
John Nolan - Are you guys doing an interview? SC - Yeah why don't you join us man. JN - Let me just go and get a beer. MO - Where was I? Oh yeah, so basically, we are better at handling certain situations, we are more mature. SC - And we respect what everyone brings to the band so when we are writing songs we can rely on each other rather than fight each other and be like "no this guitar part needs to be that way", now it's like we enjoy what everyone contributes, personally and professionally too.
(John returns to the room....)
JN - We are older, wiser and well hung. (They laugh). I mean it's true.
So it feels quite natural being back together then?
MO - Yeah it's more natural than any of us would have expected. I think.
If you could go back 8 years and just give yourself one price of advice, what would it be?
MO - I don't know. JN - I'd tell myself not to be such a little bitch! SC - Enjoy the ride maybe. JN - I had this question yesterday, I said I would tell myself to try to appreciate what is happening and to focus on the positive rather than let negative and difficult side of things get to you so much. SC - Which is a good thing to keep into perspective now. It's easier to say when you are feeling down and tired on tour and all you want to do is bitch and complain and be all like "it's hot in here, it's stuffy, there is no ice, this ketchup tastes funny", it's like you get to play music with your friends 30000 miles away from home. It's pretty good even when things are annoying, things are still pretty good. We do have to tell ourselves that daily.
Talking about annoying; who has the most annoying personal habits?
(As I ask this question, Mark opens the door as it's getting rather hot in there and Eddie Reyes is walking past the room...)
JN - Eddie (he shouts) has the most disgusting habits (they laugh as Eddie walks into the room with his lunch). Everyone has pretty bad habits, I think we all have the bad habit of drinking too much. That or how weird Shaun's hands are when he eats. MO - Oh yeah that is rather annoying to Eddie for some reason. SC - I think that's annoying because you find that annoying, that's why I put my sandwich down before I came in here. I didn't want anyone to see. I think we all understand each other pretty well so nothing gets that annoying.
What is your favourite song to perform?
SC - I like playing any song that the crowed goes crazy for. That tends to change from night to night. Last night we opened up with 'El Paso' and that went over great over The States but not so much over here yet. So we shall see how things go tonight. JN - Playing 'El Paso' sucked last night, playing it in Chicago three weeks ago, not so much. What went down well last night? 'Cute without the E', and 'Error Operator' was good. MO - I was thinking maybe we should open with that, rather than to 'El Paso', we don't want a re-run of last night!
There have been many rumors over the years, what is the funniest one you have heard?
JN - There have been so many but I can't think of any. Eddie Reyes - There has been a good amount over the years but it's been a long time. SC - Well John, there was that one what you were a hermaphrodite.
Sorry John but if you take the beard away, I can kind of see it.
JN - Oh well thank you. SC- It wasn't a joke (the band laughs). JN - There are rumors that Adam is gay, which he still might be we don’t know. We haven't figured out so that might still be true. ER - There are a lot of stupid ones like, you have ripped this band or this band off, you sound like them .... But it's all more of an opinion than rumour. MO- Talking about Adam being gay, he is not fully gay, he is only half. JN - Talking about Adam being gay? Mark it's always you who always ends up being caught in those little moments. SC - Yeah in the gay clubs dancing with dudes, waking up in Tokyo with dudes in your bed. MO - That didn't happen (John is laughing uncontrollably now). He was in another bed. JN - Adam tells the best story, he went to Marks rooms, asking why he wasn't downstairs, why he wasn't ready and why the fuck there was a dude next to him in his bed.
If you could be in any other band, which one would it be?
MO - I would want to be in Rancid, because then I would be in a band with the coolest guy ever. SC - Mark has a huge crush on Tim Armstrong, tell her your story about meeting him. MO - I met him and he started talking to me like a normal human being, and I didn't like that so I told him that I had to go. JN - You are a very crazy person. MO - I know. He was telling me how they were also under Warner Bros and we were talking about Craig, and I was like, errrrr OK then. SC - How did you expect him to talk (he imitates Tim Armstrong's voice), how he sings? MO - I'm not talking about that, I mean that he was talking to me in a normal way. JN - So he was having a discussion with you like any other person would? SC - Like a mere mortal. JN - What would you expecting him to be like? MO - It was just too much. ER - Anyway, you had a conversation with the bassist from Green Day, that was a pretty normal conversation. MO - It wasn't normal because my hand started shaking and I ended up spilling my drink. SC - I think that's adorable, how a grown man can be like that. JN - I would love to play in either The Cure or Quicksand. They would be my 2 bands. SC - I would love to play in the Beetles because I'm a better bass player than Paul McCartney, I am kidding, he is the greatest bass player ever. JN - You should just play bass together. Double up. SC - Yeah that would be good. But he would just call me a loser idiot that stinks, all the time, because I lack his talent. ER - I saw a recent picture of him on a poster, he was wearing a black outfit with a hat on and he looks so cool for his age. Oh and his T-shirt said I'm a vegetarian too.
What song means the most to you?
JN - There is no easy way out. SC - The Rocky theme tune. MO - I know that there are like a million songs but to me there is a band called Mineral, a song called 'Slow Running', it's just one of the best lyrics. Also I was going through a break up, I was being all emo at that time, crying all the time (he is laughing).
What are your thoughts of the music industry?
ER - The what? There is no music industry. JN - We are fucked. This is the worst that it has ever been. MO - It's funny, it's almost going back to being DIY again, bands have to do it all in their own all over again. SC - Back then you had to go and buy a record, you couldn't just have it magically just appear in the Internet in the 50s as there was no Internet. ER - When I was growing up, I used to buy bootleg live albums, it has never been as bad as it is today. JN - I just think that no one has any idea of what the record industry is going to look like in a year from now, let alone 5 years from now. I think it's going to be something totally different but I don't think that anyone has any real idea of what its going to be like, I think it's a very insane time. ER - I think that's sad that nowadays kids just find it's normal to just download music and it is ruining the music scene.
Do you think that's all that's wrong with the music industry or also that a lot of the music now is pretty shit?
ER - That too. JN - I think that's more to do with that is where the money is at. Whatever has the most mass appeal you know, the lowest common denominator, is what sells the best so that's what people get behind. That has always been happening but before there was more room for everyone else to still sell other records now it's getting harder and harder.
So you are playing Leeds and Reading this weekend. Are you excited?
MO - Yeah Leeds has always been sunny and Reading raining I think.
I've just come from Leeds and it's looking pretty grim. I can't see it clearing.
SC - Oh really? A few years ago, I think it was Reading, a group of us ventured out to see what it was like and I came running back. Some of the things that I saw happening out in the crowed, the way that people acted and things that people said, everyone is wasted and puking on each other. This was like at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, people were pissing and shitting anywhere. Yuck. MO - I have a good story about Reading, I went out by myself to a tent to see a band and there was this kid there that was so wasted, on the ground like having a fit. So I went up to him to see if he was OK, once I did that he unbuttoned his pants and he started jerking off. ER - Yes I remember that! I was with you. We went to that tent but you wanted to go to the other side. I saw that. JN - Did he acknowledge you? Did he know that you were there? MO - No he had no idea what was going on, he was just masturbating. He just whipped out his pecker and started pulling on it. SC - Did he have a good dick? Did he have a good handsome dick? MO - As soon as he took it out I was just like; dude! No! I looked away so can't really answer that. JN - What is the whole situation with Mark and penises? See what I mean? (the band laugh a lot!) . This is why I don't venture out. MO - But its your kind of scene John. A fancy J.O. (jerking off) Party.
One last question...
JN - Oh no, have we scared you?
Haha just a little! If you could have any super power, what would it be?
SC - Teleportation, so I could go home every night. Sleep in my own bed and come back on tour. I think about that constantly! JN - I'd like to be able to fly really fast. SC - That's just a worse version of teleportation. JN - But it would be so much fun to fly and you could get back and forth SC - Also, you would never have to take a plane as air travel sucks dick. JN - Haha that should be the main tag line for this interview, air travel sucks dick.
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ER - I saw a recent picture of him on a poster, he was wearing a black outfit with a hat on and he looks so cool for his age. Oh and his T-shirt said I'm a vegetarian too.
