Interview: A Skylit Drive - 11/11/09

Brian White and Nick Miller of A Skylit Drive sat down with Alter The Press! prior to their sold out show at the Camden Underworld in London.

The guys spoke to ATP about their first time in the UK, how the band got together, the concept behind their new album 'Adelphia', being on Warped Tour 2009, teaming up with Music Saves Lives and more.

Alter The Press: This is your first time in the UK, how has it been so far?
A Skylit Drive: It's been great so far. Every show has been such a cool experience, and a new experience too, which is exciting.

ATP: The majority of the shows are sold out and the London show has been upgraded as well. What was your response, knowing that this much demand existed, in a country you've never visited before?
ASD: We were ecstatic and really excited, just knowing people from another country were excited seeing us. It's unreal, we were expecting to start over but these shows are like being at home; everyone has made us feel that way.

ATP: How did A Skylit Drive get together?
ASD: We were all best friends in high school, and have known each other since we were five years old, and wanted to be in a band. All of us used to be in different small bands but they all disbanded, so we started are own. We found Corey (La Quay - drums), who was in another band, when our band was going and just by watching him, we thought he was incredible. Our first drummer never recorded anything with us, he wasn't really into it, so we had to get this guy in; Jag (Michael Jagman - vocals) then came into the equation once our old singer left. We found the right mix and everything turned out okay.

ATP: Your latest album, 'Adelphia,' was just released on Hassle Records in the UK. How did you end up signing with them?
ASD: It just kind of happened. All we know is that we are happy to be here and our record is out here. It's exciting to know our CD was released here and our label (Fearless Records) helps us out so much, that had a lot to do with getting us over here. We are stoked to have people who would do that for us.

ATP: Just by listening, you get the impression that the album has a concept of two people trying to escape from a small town. Is this correct?
ASD: That's exactly right. Everything we do always has a concept, and a metaphorical meaning, behind it. It's about our own lives in a sense, as we are all from a small town (Lodi, California) and all we ever wanted to do was be in a band. It's about that, and getting out of the small town, which had always been our dream, like breaking out, seeing the world out there and what it has to offer. We'd never been outside the US, let alone the state, so it's all been one crazy ride. Our first tour was in Florida and we we're like, 'Oh My God!' and then we get to go to Canada and the UK. We are really lucky and thankful that we get to do this. It feels like we are blessed to do something like this, so we wanted to write an album about it.

ATP: In the US, the album got to number 66 on the Billboard chart. How was your reaction to this?
ASD: It was amazing for us, just being on the Billboard chart. Being called by our parents saying this was like, 'Oh My God!'

ATP: 'Those Cannons Could Sink Ships' is your new music video. Was this your choice?
ASD: The record label spit out an idea to do it for that song and we thought it would be cool. We would be up for doing any song on the album. The whole video concept though goes a lot with the CD. A lot of people don't get it, and it takes a few watches to realize what's going on, the whole idea of the two people being told what to do, how to act and they just want to escape. It's a whole lot of crazy stuff mixed into one video. It's pretty awesome.

ATP: How was Warped Tour this year?
ASD: A dream come true. We got to tour with all of our favorite bands, stand in line for dinner and lunch with them, talk to some of them and ended up becoming friends with bands we've looked up like Underoath, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, NOFX and Bouncing Souls.

ATP: You teamed up with Music Saves Lives and for every person who donated blood; they were able to attend an exclusive signing at various dates of Warped Tour. How did that happen?
ASD: We kind of fell into it but, when we started doing it, we ended up learning more about it; all the people who work for Music Saves Lives are really nice, and definitely our kind of people. It felt really good to help a cause like this. A lot of kids just came out to meet us and were really humble and nice. We took time to speak to everyone, not just move onto the next kid. It was a lot of fun.

ATP: When are you coming back to the UK?
ASD: It's not confirmed but we are pretty sure we are coming back in April. There are talks about coming back at another time of the year but hopefully a couple of times. We definitely want to come back.

ATP: What's planned after this tour?
ASD: We go home and have a little California stretch. Our last tour in the US never reached California, it's so weird that we don't end up playing our home state. We are going to take some time off after that, which we haven't done in a long time, for the holidays, maybe do a little writing, a jam session to keep busy and talks of another US tour in January.

Adelphia is out now on Hassle Records.

- Jon Ableson