IT’S A MAD WORLD
For this year’s Warped Tour, a lot of my attention was focused on the veterans but I also had a chance to catch some great new emerging bands as well. I linked up with UK’s Young Guns for a quick chat a day before the release of their new song “Mad World” off of their forthcoming album Echoes (Due out September 16th). The band gave us a little insight into their Warped Tour experience and what it’s like to keep running into bands they grew up listening to!
YOUNG GUNS INTERVIEW
SONIC HIGHLARK: Is Warped Tour a known festival back home in the UK?
FRASER TAYLOR (GUITAR // YOUNG GUNS): Yeah definitely, they have one date a year. It’s called Warped Tour UK. We all grew up downloading the compilations and stuff so it’s definitely a known thing.
SONIC: This is a traveling festival, so how often do you guys interact with other bands?
FRASER: Pretty much constantly.
GUSTAV WOOD (VOCALS // YOUNG GUNS): You can’t avoid it can you? It’s a lot of fun though, trapped in a bubble on this tour.
FRASER: It’s kind of like a circus.
GUSTAV: It’s kind of a good thing because A, it’s the nature of Warped Tour where we don’t know what time we’re playing and it keeps you on your toes. It is quite tiring and a lot of fun, but what’s really great is that we get to come into this world of Warped Tour surrounded by bands that in some cases we grew up listening to or in another we are listening to now as fans of music. It just feels like you’re part of something. It’s a really great feeling to be surrounded by peers and people you respect. Every evening the sun goes down and it’s a warm beautiful kind of American summer evening and everyone is hanging out having some beers. It feels like you’re involved in something really cool.
SONIC: Going off of what you just said, what are some bands that are playing on this tour that you grew up listening to?
FRASER: Umm, I’d say Every Time I Die. I’ve watched them 4 or 5 times I think.
SONIC: Have you ran into them yet?
FRASER: We’ve bumped into them a few times over the years, one time in Australia, stuff like that.
GUSTAV: It’s an awkward thing where we now recognize each other but we haven’t gone past that point yet. So that’s kind of cool. Even though you get to become friends with some of these bands, it is still unusual for me as a fan of music to see my guys talking to the dudes from New Found Glory or something. It feels like something weird is happening but still cool.
SONIC: I saw all these buses lined up in the parking lot, when you travel is it like a line of buses on the highway?
GUSTAV: Like a convoy you mean?
SONIC: Yeah, exactly.
GUSTAV: Yeah, it is.
CHRIS KAMRADA (DRUMS // YOUNG GUNS): It’s just a parking lot full of buses and bandwagons everywhere we go.
FRASER: We all leave at the same time so inevitably we travel together. So If we stop at a gas station there will be other buses.
GUSTAV: We made a Wal-Mart stop and it’s just like all these bands in Wal-Mart.
CHRIS: Any civilian in there is like “What just came in to my Wal-Mart!?” It’s really fun to see their faces go “Who are you?”
SONIC: Haha, and they see all the buses in the parking lot, they must be like “What the fuck?”
CHRIS: They get it I think, they get it.
SONIC: Do you guys watch soccer or not really?
GUSTAV: Oh yeah, football.
SONIC: Right, right. I follow Premier League but probably not the same team as you guys, my team is Arsenal.
GUSTAV: Chelsea.
FRASER: Yeah, we’re Chelsea fans.
SONIC: What about you Chris?
CHRIS: You know, I’m the American in the band so.. But I’m from Orlando so my city just got a MLS team called Orlando City.
SONIC: Yeah, for sure. Same time as NYCFC.
FRASER: We actually just played a game at Orlando City Stadium with Yellowcard.
CHRIS: Yeah they played a charity game.
GUSTAV: Yeah this charity game, but it was incredible.
FRASER: Played under the floodlights at night, so it was cool.
CHRIS: I went home to see my dog so I missed out on it, but it was good because it was this charity game Yellowcard did for the band The Ghost Inside so it was a cool thing all around.
SONIC: Before I let you guys go, what’s coming up for the rest of the year?
FRASER: We got a record coming out on the 16th of September I think it is? We have a new song coming out tomorrow, doing Warped Tour then we go home and do a bunch of festivals. We’re supporting Billy Talent in the UK and Europe which is going to be really awesome. So we have a busy year coming up.
CHRIS: That’s going to be a really good time.
GUSTAV: Yeah, but I think that’s what you always want. We have a new album coming out so we’re excited to play new music and have new music out there. You got to promote it and you have to stay busy, I mean what the hell else are we going to do?
SONIC: That sounds awesome, thanks guys!
FRASER: Nice one, thanks!
CHRIS AND GUSTAV: Thank you!
[+] YOUNG GUNS
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