Posts Tagged ‘architects’

I was fortunate enough to get the chance to interview Sam Carter of Architects before the opening date of their headline slot on the Imperial Never Say Die tour. This is the first in a series of interviews I will be doing mixing regular interview questions with my own dissertation topic of ritualistic aggression at hardcore shows. It’s a little bit standard and it’s a little bit of something unusual, so enjoy!

AA: How was America this time around with Every Time I Die and Bring me the Horizon?

SC: America was a lot more fun this time around obviously because BMTH are like our best friends. With ETID, I have so much respect for that band. I’ve liked them since I was 14 so being on tour with them, seeing them every night, making friends with them and being with BMTH dudes as well, it was so much better. It went down really well, we sold a ton of merch and had a really good time.

AA: Do you reckon you’ll bring that tour over here? I really wish you would.

SC: A lot of people have said that, but I don’t think it’s possible. I would love to bring Every Time I Die on tour.

AA: Are you bringing out old songs cause you’re back home now?

SC: We’re bringing out a couple of ones we haven’t played in a while. But mainly, we’ll probably play a couple of songs we haven’t played off Hollow Crown yet, just to see how they go down. We’re going to bust out the obvious fan favs, but keep it interesting for us.

AA: After the Imperial Never Say Die tour what are your plans? More Europe dates?

SC: After this tour we have some time off, which is fucking great!

AA: I think you need it.

SC: Yeah, we’ve been touring so hard and we’re starting to write our new album. We’ve got to crack down with that and practise every day.

AA: So that’s a bit of time off, a bit of writing time and then a new album in 2010?

SC: Yep, that’s the plan.

AA: Would you guys want to do Warped tour in the future?

SC: I would cause a lot of our friends’ bands have done it and they say it’s extremely difficult and hard to do. In the US because we’re unknown we don’t do bus tours, we do it in vans, and apparently out there in America on Warped Tour you don’t know your stage time till you get to the venue so you have to be there at 6am every day, drive every night. I don’t know, if it came around we’d probably do it, but it’d be fucking hard work.

AA: It seems like one of those tours that when you’re doing it, it’s like “oh god this sucks” but afterwards they say “oh, it’s amazing”.

SC: Yeah, it’s a lot of hard work.

AA: Are you going to start blending any other kinds of music you like into the next album. I was listening to Your Demise and they’ve got their dubstep tracks…

SC: I don’t think we’d do anything like that. I mean we’re definitely going to put more electronic stuff in the songs on the new record and we’ll elaborate on that. Obviously we’ll change the sound a bit on the next record and add stuff in. We all listen to such good music it’d be a shame not to bring other stuff in. We’ll see what happens. The new stuff’s pretty different so we’ll see how it goes.

AA: Are you guys on a bus now or is that a coach?

SC: We’re on a bus now, with beds and everything. It’s very tiring trying to find hotels and stuff every night.

AA: Okay so now we’re going to go onto my dissertation stuff, and now’s your chance to say “I want to be anonymous!”

SC: It’s all good!

AA: How would you describe a pit at one of your shows?

SC: Uuuuh, pretty violent I guess. I don’t think we have those pits that really mosh too hard, you know, it’s kind of youngerish crowds. I guess they can get pretty messy, I mean kids running around punching each other. That’s what all of us did when we were thirteen years old. I wouldn’t get in there.

AA: Would you say that that’s a definitive thing of the hardcore scene?

SC: Yeah, I mean when you’re on stage and that it means the kids are really pumped on the songs.

AA: Would you say the quality of the show is proportionate to the size and intensity of the pit?

SC: Yeah, I mean I wouldn’t necessary say for us that a big pit means it’s better. We’re a band that prefers singalongs to pits, if you have say 800 people there just standing, singing along, jumping up and down, we prefer that compared to 800 kids just moshing and not singing along. We’re all like, well I was definitely brought up from a hardcore background, you know I just went to shows and jumped on people, didn’t really mosh, just stage dived, that’s what’s fun to me.

AA: At what point would you say a pit becomes out of control?

SC: When it gets to violent. When kids are bleeding and stuff. A couple of years ago in my old band I was playing and venues were getting ripped apart and shit like that. It sucks when stuff gets really violent, like destroying venues, that’s when it gets too far.

AA: Would you say your band is more younger or older people?

SC: I don’t know. I would say we appeal to younger and older kids. People have followed us from the start, obviously we’re pretty young, I mean I’m 21 and they followed us from when we were younger to now. I think every day we’re getting more fans building on that. I would say youngish.

AA: Would you say it’s more males or females?

SC: I would honestly say I think it’s more male based. I don’t ever see, I mean I’ve definitely never seen a row of girls at the front, like taking photos and fucking screaming. I don’t see a band like us appealing like that. We’re just a hardcore band and we just fucking play stuff and see dudes coming. I mean I rarely see girls there. In some way’s it’s good. It’s good to see girls at shows, but when they’re really into the music, not just stand there taking photos. I wouldn’t want to play to 4000 and 2000 of them were girls with camera phones.

AA: What would you say are the unspoken rules of being in a pit?

SC: Everyone’s just got to look after each other. When I was younger it was the rule that if someone falls over, pick them up. If you see someone get fucking knocked out, get them out of there. It’s just like, pits can be violent, but they can be a good release for kids, you know? Being young and feeling like, all this pent up aggression and letting it out with a bunch of your friends, just running around like when I was younger.

AA: Yeah it’s better they do that…

SC: Yeah, let it all out there than out on the street and get into a fight. That’s always true for me, I used to let out a shit load of aggression in a pit. But still at the same time, all look out for each other.

AA: Have you got any epic show stories?

SC: What like pit wise?

AA: Yeah, like I saw Gallows and they had an 8 person high pyramid in the pit.

SC: I think the craziest thing is we did a show in Halifax (Canada) the other day and it was crazy, kids just jumping on each other. Other than that, walls of death at Download, we did a fucking huge one, it was amazing. We do, y’know, do that. When you see a sea of people just split in two, we do that quite a lot, it’s just pretty cool to be able to see the whole way through a venue.

AA: Cool. Okay, finally, I’ve remembered now. Have you set any other rules for Ali this tour other than don’t bring crazy fuckers on the bus?

SC: He’s sleeping next to me on the bus so I get to see him every day, and other than that I guess it’s just to be my drinking partner.

AA: I read this interview with you guys, and it was saying that the way you rinse him, it’s almost disturbing to watch!

SC: Yeah, Tom and Dan definitely go on at him quite a bit and I just kind of join in now and then. Sometimes I feel sorry for him but…

AA: I bet he loves it.

SC: He does love it really. I think he likes it when we do it, but when fans come up and try to touch his face and stuff and call him like, Dino Doggie and stuff like that, I mean it’s a bit too…

AA: Yeah, a bit too…

SC: I mean it’s funny as fuck to me, everyone else finds it great, but he doesn’t enjoy it. He doesn’t enjoy the familiarity or whatever. We have like two t-shirts about him, so the kids love him and they can go buy Ali t-shirts.

AA: You’re definitely making him like the Pete Wentz.

SC: Oh definitely! We want to make him as well known as possible.

AA: Have you got any weird presents yet? You put something on twitter right? Have you got anything yet?

SC: In Canada I got like, a fresh pair of Vans like every day. I’m just going to do that now, see how many Vans I can get.

AA: Well, my mate in Cologne is getting you loads of German stuff that says “Ja” on it.

SC: Oh sick!

AA: She’s well worried she’s not going to get in the venue, but I’m sure she’ll make it.

SC: That’d be sick!

AA: Cool well that’s about it.

SC: Thanks very much