I Heart the Music: Your Online Source for Live Music Reviews and Interviews in Toronto!

Taking Back Sunday really need no introduction. With four albums and many years of experience and exposure under their belts- these guys have it down! We were able to slide in a few minutes with guitarist Eddie and drummer Mark at the Kool Haus. Check out what they had to say!

iheartthemusic: This tour is in support of your new album New Again, which came out a few weeks ago. Congratulations!

Eddie: Yes, thank you!

iheartthemusic: In exploring the title behind this album, why did you choose New Again?  I’ve read a lot of stuff online about you “reinventing” yourself as a band right now, and you have a new member – is the title indicative of that?

Eddie: Yeah, I think the whole vibe of the band is new; the way we look at each other as people, the way that we write music, the way we interact with each other.  Instead of being nitpicky with each other’s quirks, we’re embracing them and having fun with it and just being good friends. So all of that together is what’s making the whole vibe of the band different and new.

Mark: I wouldn’t really say we’re reinventing ourselves, I would just say it’s us coming back to life again; finding ourselves again.  So it feels new again.

iheartthemusic: So what would you say is different about this album for you? 

Mark: The writing process was way more fun this time around. We were way more open to listening to each other and musically we wrote different parts.  When we started writing, we would just walk into the room and be like “hey, whaddya got?  You gotta part? Yeah, let’s do it.”  We would work on it and have fun with it and listen to each other.

iheartthemusic: The last few albums you have spaced out so that they were released every two years- bang bang. Has the fact that this one has come after three years made a difference?

Eddie: I think the thing about this new record that people are forgetting when they say it’s taken three years is that we’d been touring for two years and we took a year off to actually write the record and have some time to ourselves.  People are like, “why did you take three years?” but they don’t understand that we were on tour!

Mark: We did take a little personal time.  Adam, our singer, had a baby.  He [points to Eddie] was hanging out with his kids and wife.  I got married.  We got a new member.

Eddie: And you had back surgery.

Mark: And I had back surgery.  Things took a little longer.

Eddie: I have two kids at home that I wanted to spend time with.

iheartthemusic: Absolutely! I mean you’ve been touring like crazy and half the band are married with kids!

Eddie: When I came home the kids were walking!

Mark: Before our first album came out we were touring, writing an album, then touring until finally we said “hey, we can chill a little bit”.

Eddie: Yeah, it’s okay to take some time off to get married, have kids…we deserve it!

iheartthemusic: Yes, it’s okay to have a life outside of the band! So what is the one thing that keeps you grounded?  Is it the phone call home or some sort of routine you have that maintains your connection to home?

Eddie: I talk to my wife every single day.  If I don’t, I get yelled at.

iheartthemusic: That’s a smart woman!

Eddie: I do a lot of video chatting with my kids too, they get really excited to see me.

iheartthemusic: Thank god for technology!

Eddie: Yeah, if this was eight years ago I’d probably go crazy.

Mark: I think we’re generally pretty grounded people.  We know what we got and how lucky we are to have it.

Eddie: People are totally shocked when they see us hanging out in a crowd. We wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing without any of the regular people.

iheartthemusic: I saw in an interview that apparently you wrote tons and tons of songs before you put the album together.  How did you choose from all the material you had to work with?

Eddie: We knew which ones we wanted to work with; we could feel it.  Those ones that are really cool that you get and know everyone’s going to like.

iheartthemusic: And do you think the economy kind of dictated that for you because the single is so huge?

Eddie: It’s good to know our singles are doing great but at the same time the record issues are doing really bad.  We’re not selling records anymore like we were six or seven years ago.  It’s really important to write the singles.

Mark: And there are a lot of single worthy songs.

iheartthemusic: Let’s talk about the video for your single “Sink Into Me”. How many showers did it take before you were fully clean?

Eddie: It took six showers!

Mark: We had one day off and went to Europe the next day and all our hands were still black.  It was like Nickelodeon slimy dye, just black instead of green.  At the end of the day I was sitting in a chair all black, after what? [looks at Eddie]

Eddie: 23 hours.

Mark: And it got to the point where I was like “oh God, get me the hell outta here! “

Eddie: And that stuff was ice cold! I can definitely pick out parts [in the video] where each and every one of us kind of gave up. There’s one point where I just fall off the stage and that’s really just me going “what the fuck am I doing?!”

iheartthemusic: It looks really cool though and is such a great effect!

Mark: Eddie and I got into a slime fight for a good half hour at one point.

iheartthemusic: You gotta have some fun when you’re covered in shit! [laughs] So then it was off to Europe right after that which you have been quite fortunate to have been before.  Where has been the best crowd so far?

Eddie: I love Australia, but Canada’s great too! Either Toronto or Vancouver.

iheartthemusic: What is it about Canada that you love?

Eddie: It’s a cool country.  I feel like you guys have it right up here. I don’t want to get all political, I mean I love being an American and I’m proud of being an American, but I just wish that sometimes America would take some advice from other people, I think it would help out.   We also always have a good time up here.  I mean, the shows are great, the kids are awesome, the chicks are hot- I’m not gonna lie!

iheartthemusic: After this whole tour, you guys are going on tour with Blink 182 and Weezer which is awesome!

Mark: Yeah it’s pretty huge!

iheartthemusic: This isn’t the first time you’ve share the stage with some heavy hitters though, does anyone else kind of stand out for you?

Mark: We opened up for Green Day in London, and I don’t know if you know the Bullet in a Bible DVD where they’re playing live in front of 65,000 people? Well we got to open up two of those shows!  Two shows in a row which were sold out to 65,000 people! The second night, Billy Joe Armstrong comes over to our dressing room and is like, “Hey what’s up, I’m Billy!” and then we got to hang out with them the whole night. It was awesome.

Eddie: It made me more humble because they were so down to earth.  Like, Billy Joe was like, “This shirt smells so bad!”  and he took me up to their truck and was like, “Yo dude, come here and check this out!” and showed me the making of their DVD.  I just sort of realized that this is one of the biggest bands in the world, they came from the same city we did and they understand what gets you ahead.  That’s kind of like a big influence.

Mark: There was one point where Mike Dirnt was there and he made me a Jack and Coke and he filled it up to the top and we start talking and my hands start shaking! I was so nervous talking to that guy that my drink started spilling out everywhere!

iheartthemusic: Did he chirp you, [laughs] please say he did!

Mark: He was totally looking at my drink and I was totally like this isn’t happening right now!  And then he was like, “alright man, I’ll talk to you in a little bit…”

iheartthemusic: [laughs] Yes!!  Okay, last question – from someone who’s never seen you perform live, what can I expect?

Eddie: Energy!

Mark: Energy!

Eddie: Yeah and just awesomeness.

Mark: It’s gonna be good!

[editors note: unfortunately this show was cancelled due unforseen circumstances...however they will be back and we are looking forward to catching their live set next time!]

photography provided by James Blake

SUNRiSER are asking many questions these days, but the one that stands out the most corresponds with their recent album titled Is This a Good Life?.  Having had the opportunity to do tours across Canada, the UK and Ireland (which was made easier by bandmates actually being from that part of the world) the title of their recent album appears to be fitting for this up-and-coming act. They just played an amazing set at the PEACE DOT LOVE Music Festival during NXNE and are currently travelling to promote the recent addition to their musical accolades.

iheartthemusic: Your band consists of a bunch of guys from all over the world, how did you all meet then?

Davey: It was a lot of things happening at the right time really. We’ve all got our own stories of how we all met; some guys are online, some guys are friends of friends, some guys through other bands. Just the fact that we managed to stick it out this long together, we take pride in that.

Declan: I was online. I came here in 2001 and went online and the  lads were advertising for a bass player so I met the guys and then that was it.

iheartthemusic: You guys got very lucky then! So let’s talk a little bit about this album- what was the recording process like?

Declan: It was recorded in Toronto.

Saam: We did the drums and bass in Toronto. Most of the vocals were done in preproduction.

Darryl: It took about a year and a half- it was a long process!

iheartthemusic: Often times bands find the recording process very  strenuous. Are you a band that are more partial to playing live than recording?

Darryl: I am totally live as opposed to recording. These guys love it, but I love live.

iheartthemusic: In the age of digital downloads; were you apprehensive at all to come out with a new album?

Davey: Yes.

iheartthemusic: So why not just do the download thing?

Sean: Well we have both. I think just old school wise it’s nice if you are going to  a show that you have something to take home with you.

Darryl: At the end of the day you might as well just have both!

Declan: You can’t go home with an MP3! [laughs]

iheartthemusic: How was it touring overseas?

Declan: It’s different in every country for me. In Canada there are so many places  and so the advantage of touring in Ireland and the UK is you can play in a lot more places in a faster time. Canada is just geographically massive and so is incredibly different.

Darryl: St.Johns, Newfoundland is the best place in Canada!

Declan: iTunes and MySpace have made it so accessible for fans from all over the world to research you and get in contact with you which is great!

iheartthemusic: So I am assuming you’ve jumped on the twitter bandwagon too!

Darryl: Yeah we have.

Davey: There are only so many hours in the day to update all these social networking tools! It’s like an hour out of your day sitting at your computer!

iheartthemusic: What has been your favourite venue to play at in Toronto?

Davey: We have a really good relationship with The Horseshoe and the vibe and history of that place is awesome. It’s a great room. We also really enjoy The Mod Club. You know it’s a newer place but its really band friendly which is cool.

iheartthemusic: I love seeing shows at The Mod Club, so its nice to hear that a band enjoys playing there too!

Davey: Yeah, I mean the “dives” are cool and you can’t turn your back on that but when you show up at a really posh place it’s a nice treat too.

Saam: Supermarket is nice as well because it is a more intimate vibe and you get a nice connection with the audience.

Declan: But the history of The Horseshoe is pretty intense- I mean you can feel it when you walk into the place.

Darryl: Everyone gets treated the same too. It doesn’t matter if you are The Rolling Stones or  us- we are all in the same room, walking up the same stairs and getting treated the same.

iheartthemusic: Absolutely! Has there been anyone that you were able to play with that blew you away?

Darryl: French Kicks from New York were pretty cool.

Davey: We are certainly hopeful that with the release of this new album we will be able to play with some of these bands that we idolize. That’s sort of where we are at and the place that we want to go.

iheartthemusic: What made you guys decide to play for  PEACE DOT LOVE?

Saam: A friend of mine had been to a few shows and enjoyed them and her friend was actually organizing the festival and then it turns out that a couple of our friends knew the two guys that got killed. So they basically got in touch with us to play.

Davey: It’s also got some other great bands playing, its at the Kool Haus and we’ve never played there before so that is cool. We are pretty honoured to be a part of it. We feel pretty lucky.

Darryl: It’s one of the best things that musicians can do. They are always the first to answer the call, I think. I believe that musicians have a pretty good social conscience.

iheartthemusic: Tell us something that people woudn’t know about SUNRiSER.

Declan: I think musically we are kind of diverse. There are different elements to our sound that other bands don’t usually have.

iheartthemusic: You have to have some stories along your travels that you can share?

Darryl: Well in Manchester we ruined our rental van.

iheartthemusic: Partying?

Declan: Yeah, you could put it that way! It was the most expensive tour ever!

Darryl: We will just say that we had a band member that decided to get the party going in the van before we got home. The cleaning bill was huge and let’s just leave it at that!

iheartthemusic: After this album release what’s the plan?

Declan: We will be going out East supposedly in July.

Davey: We aren’t able to do it all at once, so we are going to handle the East coast in July and then Ontario/Quebec in August and then take it as it comes for September.

Darryl: Hopefully we can head back to the UK at the end of September.