It’s no secret that here at Punktastic we love A Day To Remember. I think the first time my ears took a vice like grip on ‘To Those Who Have Heart’ I just fell hook, line and sinker for them. They have everything I love in a band – guts, energy, passion and melody. And true, they don’t break the mould, but they do what they do better than pretty much everyone. And they’re nice guys to boot.
Vocalist Jeremy McKinnon is taking a break from recording the band’s brand new record, ‘Homesick’, when PT catches up with him. “It’s going wonderful. We’re in the final week, so things are really starting to come together. We’re in the studio with Andrew Wade – Andrew is one of our good friends in Ocala who just so happens to be amazing at recording so I’m having a really great time,” he says. “It’s about being gone for the last 2 years straight.” And then, with a glint in his eye, adds: “It’s everything you like about ADTR x1000!!! Expect the poppiest, and the heaviest songs AT THE SAME TIME!”
Typical, excitable A Day To Remember. The kind of band that would rather laugh than take themselves even remotely seriously. A band that decided to mock, pretty much scene for scene, Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Since U Been Gone’ video. Yep, this is the band that decided to cover one of the best pop songs of the 21st Century and still managed to make it sound as fresh as a daisy.
“It was a brain storm – haha,” Jeremy laughs. “We thought this would be really funny and it would give our fans something new until we start recording the new album. It ended up going way better than we expected.
“Filming that video was actually the most fun we’ve ever had shooting a video. We got to do a lot of funny things, like destroy a closet, break stuff over Alex’s head…it was awesome.”
Of course that’s not the only reason the band have attracted praise, and fans, the world over.
While a cover song can often help break a band, ADTR had managed to break into people’s heads way before they did their best American Idol impressions. As Joshua Woodard explained, the band have always enjoyed mixing up their genres.
“We’ve always been into hardcore music as well as pop-punk. It’s been our goal to mix the two as best as we can, and only recently have we felt comfortable and created the transitions in our songs. The music flows better than it ever has, so while it hits harder than ever, it still sounds more mature and professional.”
And that’s where ‘Homesick’ kind of comes in. A record that, hopefully, will take the band to the next level. Not that it was ever their intention to even get this far.
“We didn’t start this band with the intentions of making money, or becoming well known. We were just five friends who loved playing music having a good time together. Now it’s four years later, and people are mentioning us as one of the most important bands of 2008. It’s all just surreal.”
Paul