I caught up with Daryl from Snapcase before they played at Call The Office
(London, Ontario) and talked to him about the new album they are supporting (End
Transmission), life on the road and a bunch of other stuff!
- So how's your tour been going so far? Yoou guys just got back from Europe
right?
Daryl: Yep, we were in Europe� we've been on the road for a long time now. A whole section
of the touring started last August when we were actually on a Canadian tour
with Strungout. Then in September/October we were on a six week tour in the US
with Boysetsfire, Atreyu and a band called Time In Malta. Shortly after that we
went to Europe with Time In Malta, that was November and December�
-
And The Hope Conspiracy?
Daryl: �and then we home, at Christmas break, and went back to Europe in January/February
and we brought The Hope Conspiracy on that one� and we just got home from that
and now we're out on this tour, we're started out in Vancouver and we've been
touring across the country.
- Wow that's pretty long! Do you guys
have any road stories or anything?
Daryl: Yeah I mean we have lots of road stories� [thinking]
- Is it more fun
playing in Europe? I mean, is it different in any way from playing here or in the
US?
Daryl: I think we've become kinda desensitized because we've been to Europe like ten times
or something. So� when it comes down to kids enjoying music, it's really no
different, y'know? I guess it's stuff during the rest of the day that's different�
-
Like what?
Daryl: Oh just like language barriers, different cultures, going out to eat, the way cities
are designed�
- What do you guys do in between gigs?
>
Daryl: We play almost every single day, we don't have a lot of days off� but umm if there's
some place to go sight-seeing, we go do it. The tour with The Hope Conspiracy
was really fortunate because like the first day we were in Europe was in Rome,
so we spent the day touring in Rome. The next day was the show in Rome and like
four days later we were in Venice� we had a day off, so we hung out in Venice
for a whole day during our day off. You know, I mean like the day after that
we were in Vienna, and then Prague� I mean just like everyday was different, just
seeing new cities and stuff�
- Sounds like it's work and a vacation
combined!
Daryl: It is, I mean it's cool
- I was listening to the new CD and� do yoou find
it limiting that you guys are just labeled hardcore? Because there's so much
more new stuff on the album, like there's some electronic elements, the instrumental
sounds almost gothy, you know like a lot darker�
Daryl: Well, I mean we didn't wanna� limiting ourselves as hardcore is definitely limiting,
first of all. And that's something we� you know, like we know our roots in
hardcore and that's how we all met and came together as a band. But musically,
we all listen to different stuff and we're not here to play just for people who
consider themselves hardcore or whatever. We've been on metal tours, we've been
on punk tours and we just like being out and being like a rock band� you know,
covers all the territory, kinda bridges the gap between all these specific little
scenes
- What's some of the non-hardcore stuff yoou listen to?
�like stuff that's really influenced you?
Daryl: Well, there's stuff like� lyrically um� I really like David Bowie. I like y'know
a lot of early Rolling Stones, The Who� I like Radiohead a lot, stuff like that.
I don't know� there's a band called Modest Mouse that I like a lot. Ummm I don't
know�. I can't think right now� like everytime someone asks about the bands
you listen to on the spot - it's like when you walk into a record store and you
forgot what you wanted to buy [laughs]
- And then you just go browsing
through every single cd -
Daryl: Yeah and then you leave and you're like "Aaahh I know what is was!!" and it's too
late [laughs]
- Do you every go to see bands or concertss in your free
time?
Daryl: Yeah, it's hard to say now just because we've been on tour so much, but when I go
home, like going to a show is the last thing I wanna do. It sucks too cos
sometimes there'll be bands I really wanna see and I'll just be like "I really
don't wanna go to a show, in general" you know, like I just wanna stay home,
hang out with my dog, watch the basketball game. Yeah, just relax you know? Yeah
like the last couple of shows I've gone out to see umm And You'll Know Us By
The Trail of Dead. Went to see that and they were really good� but yeah, it's
been a while. Like I said, we've been on the road since like� August.
-
What about when you're recording? Do you like - some bands do this, they just
completely shut themselves out to all outside music cos you know, they don't
wanna be influenced by outside music, they just wanna do their own thing. So are
you still open to outside music and do you let that influence you?
Daryl: Yeah I mean, we spent a lot of time in the studio and we spent a lot of time away
from touring before we recorded the album. So we were at home writing, and not
really being on tour� and when you're most influenced by other music is when you're
on tour and seeing what kinda reactions other bands get from their music,
seeing their music every single day. And that's like when all their music can
affect the way you think - and if you wanna get away from that, you should get
off the tour. But no, I mean, you've gotta constantly be listening to different
stuff like� we bring hundreds of CDs along�
- When you're recording?
Daryl: Yeah to listen to, and pull ideas for different sounds from and stuff like that.
And we'll do everything you know, we'll be like "Oh on this Beach Boys album they've
got this huge drum sound on the middle of this breakdown here and it's really
cool" and y'know, you find weird stuff like that�[laughs]
- So
back to album, it's a concept album, and that's pretty different for a hardcore
band - like, the whole sound of your album's a lot more different from your older
stuff. When you guys were recording did you consciously be like "Yeah we want
it to be different from our old stuff" or did it just evolve that way?
Daryl: We knew we wanted to make it really different from our old stuff and we didn't have
an idea of what it would be. We just knew different. We didn't know what this
different sound was gonna end up sounding like. But� we felt with our previous
release, Designs for Automation, that we didn't push ourselves hard enough creatively,
that we wrote too safe of an album, in a way. And this record, we're
like "We don't care if these song are gonna be boring, we don't care if people
are gonna think we should've done this�" or whatever. We were like this is what
we're feeling and that's what we're gonna go with. Because we were so open-minded
about song writing and about� you know, that we were gonna do something different,
we were able to write twice the amount of songs that we normally write
for an album.
- You had a lot to pick from then�
Daryl: Yeah we wrote like twenty songs for this record and we put like twelve on the album.
-
Was it really hard picking?
Daryl: Yeah it was pretty hard picking� there was a lot of arguing and stuff like that [laughs]
Our last studio album, we had eight songs and we tried to squeeze out two
more, just to make it ten songs. To be like "okay yeah this is now a full length".
-
Does your label or anything - do they have a say in what songs
you pick?
Daryl: No, no, no. I mean, we're cool with our label but the second they're like "Oh yeah
we're gonna come down and visit you guys in the studio," we're like "No, no!
Don't waste your money! Don't come!" [laughs]
- So you guys are straight-edge
right? I noticed you guys don't promote it - you don't push it like some
bands do�
Daryl: Yeah we're not straight-edge really as a band, it's not like a part of our band
identity or anything�
- What do you think of bands who do markett themselves
as a straight-edge band?
Daryl: To me, there needs to be someone out there informing kids that such a lifestyle is
acceptable or exists, you know? For us it really wasn't our approach. We wanna
kinda help kids think on their own more� avoid the distractions that kinda like�
avoid the distractions or things in the world that try to form the person you
become. Whether it kinda influences you to drink or wear certain clothes or
shop somewhere or whatever it might be. We just wanted people to kinda be comfortable
and confident enough in themselves and to kinda question these things and
to trust their own instincts.
- Is that kinda like the stuff from
the new CD, like the people, the pariahs breaking out�
Daryl: Yeah I mean it is, I mean the whole idea of the concept of this record is that on
one level it shows how far things have to go, how bad things have to get before
people are willing to give up their routine, their daily lives and their material
goods to kinda like risk their lives to save things such as free thought and�
things like that.
- The last song, ID/Hindsight - what's thee classical
piece that inspired that? Chris Wagner asked you guys that and -
Daryl: Oh yeah, it's uh�.
- �and he asked me to find out for sure. II was listening
to it again and I think it's like� you know that Graduation Song or something?
Daryl: No the song is� umm.. Pachabel�?
- I think that's the one I was thinking
of as well� Canon?
Daryl: Yeah that's the one! Canon in D! Pachabel's Canon in D.
- [laughs] Yeah
the mystery's solved! �yeah because he'd talked to you before when he was reviewing
the new CD and I think you said it was Bach or something, so he said to
ask you again�
Daryl: Oh yeah! Umm I'm not the classical music guy so I don't really know. Frank would
know and Frank wrote that part. He wrote it without thinking and someone pointed
it out to him later and he was like "Oh my God! You're right! I know that song
too! Wow!"
- That's pretty cool, how he did that subcconsciously�
Daryl: Yeah he did it subconsciously so yeah that's pretty neat. And it's funny cos no-one
else in the band was really aware of it�
- Yeah I didn't really
pick up on it until it was pointed out to me� and he didn't even say what it was,
just that it was some classical piece, and I was like "Yeah, you're right!"
Daryl: And it's funny cos so many people asked us about it in interviews and I was thinking
"Oh this person's cool, they kinda like knew that, I didn't even know that
and they're asking me you know like "What is it?" and I'm like "I don't even know!"
-
So yeah, that's about it� what are you guys gonna do once you
get off the tour? Just a long, long break?
Daryl: Yeah I mean this tour, and then the first week of April� and then late April we
have a couple of dates in the States with Bad Religion, I guess, and then a week
of dates with this band, Finch. We haven't - I mean, now to our label, they're
like "You haven't toured the States at all now!" and we're like "Yeah we did,
for six weeks in September/October" and they're like "Well, that's a long
time ago now, time to do it again�. Even though you've been all over everywhere
else since then�"
- Do you ever get tired of it? Like, I jusst wanna
go hoooome!
Daryl: Yeah, it gets tiring� I'm kinda fortunate because my wife comes on the road with
me now. She sells our T-shirts and she does our lights for us every night� and
you know, she's a hard worker so no-one else really minds having her there. It's
nice for me and it's good for her to not like be sitting at home. So you know�
it was very hard when we were touring for fifteen months or something like that�
-
Fifteen straight?!
Daryl: We'd go home for like a week or two, we'd be on the road for five or six weeks, come
home for three days, we'd be gone for another month� and it was like that for
fifteen or sixteen months.
- Wow, I'd die!!
Daryl: And then you know, the guys would still be like "We didn't tour Australia on that
tour!!" and I'm like you know, it would be nice, but I just wanna sit in Buffalo
for a while�
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