Date of Interview: 08-02-2006 Interview By: Catyn Piver
Catyn: I hate to start off interviews with boring questions, but could you please tell me your name and the band you’re in?
Chris: My name is Chris and I play drums for the band Hellogoodbye.
Catyn: What’s it like being one of the youngest bands on Warped Tour and playing with bands you grew up listening to?
Chris: I’m just stoked to be on tour with Manny.
Catyn:Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! is coming out on August 8th. What songs are you most excited about playing live?
Chris: Well, we haven’t started playing a lot of the new songs yet because it’s still not out. We’re playing the single from the album which is “Here (In Your Arms).”
Catyn: What’s the song about?
Chris: A girl.
Catyn: Wasn’t Hellogoodbye supposed to release an EP back in 2002?
Chris: We were kidnapped for 4 years, and so we couldn’t, you know? We couldn’t even send out an S.O.S. let alone put out a CD, but we were rescued and now here we are. A lot of the EP songs are on the new record.
Catyn: What’s one word you would use to describe this new album?
Chris: Pimp.
Catyn: So you worked with Matt on your new full-length. What made you choose him to produce your album and not someone else?
Chris: Uh, he’s dope and he writes sweet music and makes sweet noises. He also has really cool Dalmatians that sit on your lap like a person.
Catyn: Are you going to tour upon the release of the album?
Chris: Yeah, right after Warped we’re going to go to Australia and Hawaii with The All-American Rejects. After that we can go home for a little while and prepare for our headlining tour in the fall.
Catyn: What’s your favorite place to play?
Chris: I like to play in Florida, and New York City, and I like to play in Seattle. I don’t like Wenatchee, WA or El Paso, TX...
Catyn: Do you watch a lot of TV on tour?
Chris: Well, we all have pretty much all of The X-Files seasons on DVD. We’re all really into The Sopranos too, and Lost. Lost is a great pastime. I watched 24 with my girlfriend’s mom once; I could really get into that. It was really good.
Catyn: Have you seen the new Pirates Of The Caribbean movie? And did you like it?
Chris: Yes, I saw it. No, I didn’t like it. I don’t like pirates, they’re stupid.
Catyn: Who do you think would win in a fight: Jack Bauer or Jack Sparrow?
Chris: Jack from Lost! He would come in there and sort of patch everyone up, and then John Locke would come in and site out some boar trackings, and then Echo would come in swinging his stick and spitting Bible verses and just kill them all. So, my answer would be Echo.
Catyn: Great answer, very thorough. You mentioned your girlfriend a few minutes ago. Is it difficult being on tour and being in a relationship?
Chris: Yes and no. It’s obviously tough not being able to see your girlfriend. We all have girlfriends and we’re all very much homebodies. Right now it’s especially difficult because she's studying abroad in London for four months. So as soon as I get back from Australia I’m going to fly out and see her, and then when she gets back she is going on tour with us for a week. So I don’t know, it’s like: distance is to love like wind is to fire. If your love is small, distance will tear you apart, but if your fire is big, wind will make the fire bigger.
Catyn: That is great advice. What advice would you give to young bands aspiring to become recognizable in the music industry?
Chris: There are a few ways to go about it. You can scream and probably get a record deal, or just do what you do. I think there are a lot of bands that just desperately try to get signed and tour anyway possible, but if you just do what you do it will happen... or it won’t. But at least you’ll be doing what you do.
