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Taking Back Sunday interview
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Taking Back Sunday
Examiner: Tell me a bit about the new album that’s coming out. What themes are evident on the album?
Matt Rubano: "New Again," is a very important album for Taking Back Sunday. It's kind of the rekindling of a flame that didn't go out but was clearly flickering a little bit, this awesome resurgence of new energy that kind of started from taking a little bit of time off after touring for "Louder Now," and the addition of Matt Fazzi to the band. That brings an experiment and open-minded approach to writing music that spreads to everyone else in working on this album. In our personal lives and our lives as band members, we've undergone a whole sort of transformation to really enjoying each other's company and respecting each other's talent and leaning on them. We're just really lucky. Whatever it is that we are going through right now is something we never could have anticipated. We feel like we have done our best work to date on this album. And, we're having a really good time together, being in Taking Back Sunday. It is another big step forward in the quest for the great song and constantly redefining what it means to know
Examiner: Adam mentioned that you guys took some time off to rejuvenate and learned how to be people again – what was the hardest transition that you made from touring and recording all the time to taking some time off to starting all over again?
Matt Rubano: It's an easy transition really. You just go home, you know? It was great. We each got to indulge in the things that we don't get to do when we're touring so much like spending time with family. I got to do a lot of freelance projects. I was doing some hosting for Fuse. I was doing the video countdown and some other TV shows for them. Playing a whole bunch of music with different people in New York City. Got to work with a children's television show. So, it really gave us time to recharge as individuals. Then, when it came to writing and working on music for "New Again," everyone was in the right place.
Examiner: The new album title is called “New Again,” so how do you stay relevant to your loyal fans?
Matt Rubano: I think it's this thing that we've kind of been doing forever. We trust our instincts when it comes to writing music and coming up with what the next thing is going to be for us. All I can say is over the years, our fans have remained so loyal and stuck with us the whole time. I mean if you were to tell all of your friends when you were 16 or 18 - you're in your mid-twenties now. These people have grown along with us. They have watched our band change and they've been taking our music with them through the journey of their life, which is really a special thing. When people say that they have been listening to you since they were 15, the immediate response for some people is to make a joke about it. To me, that's bands that I've loved - I've loved for 15 years now. What I really dig is the way you can sort of see a band or an artist develop over the years. I don't think I have any - I don't think there are any artists that I really love or consider my favorite that continue to turn out crap all the time. I really like to watch artists develop and grow. That's why I feel like it is so important to us because it is without a doubt a declaration that it's up to us decide what Taking Back Sunday is. We treat that as a very heavy and sacred thing. It's something that we are always going to put all of our focus and abilities on. We know that we have this massive amount of people that really love and support our band. We do it for ourselves first. And, we do it for them as well.
Examiner: Have you experienced any backlash with the new album's sound?
Matt Rubano: None. Nothing but positive support for the new record. We've been doing listening parties and playbacks leading up the release on June 2. It's been amazing to see how excited people are to hear the stuff. People are shocked and surprised that its their opinion that it's even better. I can't say enough about this thing that we're going through right now is we never could have anticipated as being this good. The music that we wrote for this album came out really organically and really naturally. And, we had a really good time doing it. At the same time, we have a really good time on stage every night. We as band members are enjoying being in Taking Back Sunday more than ever. Any time a fan of a band goes, "Your record sucks. It's not better than say the first album or the second album," it's like whiny scene kids. We don't care about people like that. We're not concerned with people who are talking about how the album should be or could be. We're only concerned with who we actually are. If you loved our first album, by all means, press play. They are there for you to listen to all the time. And, you can hear those songs at our show too. But, we're very focused on moving forward and trying to step forward as artists.
Examiner: Besides the new addition to the band, what’s different on this tour?
Matt Rubano: It seems that we've been hearing from people who have seen the band in the last year or so since Fazzi started touring with us - this thing that I am talking about where we are getting along and enjoying what we're doing. It's one thing for me to talk about it as saying that that is going on in the inside. It's another to hear it from every audience that we play for. It shows that not only do they enjoy the show but it looks like we're having a really good time. We never used to hear that in the past. My years of being in Taking Back Sunday, 2003 up until the end of touring for "Louder Now," I never really heard that common and constant comment. Now, we hear it every night. That's a really cool thing. It means that we are on the same page as our fans. And, the thing that's actually happening with us is physical - it's obvious. I feel confidently not only because I'm so proud of this record and the music on it and my new band mate, Matt Fazzi, but I feel confident in saying that people are going to see the best Taking Back Sunday show they've ever seen. We are just really in a great stride right now.
Examiner: You’ve shared the stage with a lot of big acts – Kanye, Rage Against the Machine, Bob Dylan – who was your favorite?
Matt Rubano: Playing with the Foo Fighters has been a long, long, long time dream of ours. And, we got to do one festival show with them. Probably Foo Fighters or Radiohead. We played with Radiohead in Paris years ago. It was my first time seeing Radiohead, actually. One thing about the members of Taking Back Sunday is that we are kind of like the un-rockstars. We've all retained our inner fans. We are stoked to be on bills like that or playing with people we look up to - a lot of bands get jaded about sh*t like that. Or, actually, when they do get the opportunity to play with the band they love, they act like they are too cool for school. If we have the opportunity to be on the bill with Rage Against the Machine or Queens of the Stone Age, we're watching the show. We're still very excited to be a part of that.
Examiner: Do you have a wish list of bands you would like to perform with?
Matt Rubano: I'd definitely put the Foo Fighters at the top of that list. Queens of the Stone Age, again. I think they are one of the most lethal forces in rock right now - both the sound, the band, and the writing. It's kind of how they go about things. Their live show is pretty monstrous. Luckily, we've had a pretty cool last year as far as who we've been able to share the stage with. We always look forward to playing with different bands. We wouldn't turn down a show playing with anyone. We are going overseas in this summer to be a part of the Sonisphere festival. We'll be on with Linkin Park, who we have played with before, also Metallica and Nine Inch Nails. We always look forward to bills like that. It's fun and it's diverse. We get to see different things. I think we are kind of underdogs at the moment. So, you can really expect an intense show from Taking Back Sunday.
Examiner: What’s your advice to a band that has gone through so many transitions in their line-up?
Matt Rubano: Don't do it. There's no advice. If you want to be in your band and you are committed to it, then when one dude jumps ship, it's not really that big of a deal. The way that Taking Back Sunday has always treated its existence is that we never anticipate the things that are going to happen to us. It's the same as anyone on this planet. You can plan for tomorrow but plans don't mean anything. We could not have anticipated things going this well. If we started making this record with our new guitarist, and it wasn't happening, we wouldn't have done it. We wouldn't have put together a pile of crappy songs to remain a band. What we actually experienced was that we were writing the best music we ever had and we were playing better than we ever had. And, we were having tons of fun. A band has to learn to develop its instincts to know what your thing is, if you are doing it well and what's right for the band to do. The effortlessness and organic way this whole sort of thing has gone for us in the last year is something that we hadn't planned for or tried to do. It's just something that happened to us. And, we are very fortunate that that is the case. My advice to bands is to just deal. You gotta deal.
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