JAN 2014 • THE BEST OF 2013
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
SLEEPING WITH SIRENS
ADTR
&
How They Made Their Comeback
THE 50 BEST ALBUMS OF
2013
USA $4.95 • JANUARY 2014
interlude IN THIS ISSUE
103
93
Sleeping With Sirens, with then lead guitarist Jesse Lawson, back in 2009, are now Interlude's Artist Of The Year.
The 50 Best Albums of the Year.
52
DEPARTMENTS
18 OUR PLAYLIST
34 NEW RELEASES
42
A Day To Remeber is back with an all new album.
48 NEW & NOTEWORTHY 52 10 MIN WITH... 66 INDIE SPOTLIGHT INTERLUDE | 2
interlude INTERLUDE STORY DEVELOPMENT
EDITOR: Barbara Paulsen ARTICLES EDITOR: Oliver Payne EDITOR AT LARGE: Cathy Newman FEATURES EDITOR: Glenn Oeland CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Caroline Alexander, Don Photography Belt, Joel K. Bourne, Jr., Chip Brown, Bryan Christy, Robert Draper, Cynthia Gorney, Peter Hessler, Jennifer EDITOR AT LARGE: Michael Nichols S. Holland, Mark Jenkins, Peter Miller, David Quammen SENIOR PHOTO EDITORS: Pamela Chen, Alice Gabriner, Kim Hubbard, Todd James, Elizabeth Krist, DEPARTMENTS DIRECTOR: Margaret G. Jack Sadie Quarrier PHOTO EDITOR: Jeanne M. Modderman Design/Art RESEARCH EDITOR: Mary McPeak DEPUTY CREATIVE DIRECTOR: KaitlinYarnall STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER: Mark Thiessen DESIGN DIRECTOR: David C. Whitmore DIGITAL IMAGING: Edward Samuel, ART DIRECTOR: Juan Velasco Evan Wilder SENIOR DESIGN EDITORS: John Baxter, Elaine H. Bradley Copy/Research GRAPHIC DESIGN SPECIALISTS: Kevin DiCesare, RESEARCH DIRECTOR: Alice S. Jones Sandi Owatverot-Nuzzo, Daniela Santamarina, Maggie SENIOR COPY EDITOR: Mary Beth Oelkers Smith, Matthew Twombly COPY EDITORS: Kitry Krause, Cindy Leitner ADMINISTRATION: Cinde Reichard, Trish Dorsey, RESEARCH EDITORS: Heidi Schultz, Michael Kritikos
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interlude | our playlist
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
A DAY TO REMEMBER “Same Book But Never the Same Page”
BEAR HANDS “Giants”
MATT PRYOR “Kinda Go to Pieces”
REAL FRIENDS “I Had A Heart”
BEARTOOTH “Go Be the Voice”
MGK (feat. KELLIN QUINN) “Swing Life Away”
WE CAME AS ROMANS “I Survive”
POLAR BEAR CLUB “For Show”
MAYDAY PARADE “Hold Onto Me”
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interlude | 10 MIN with...
S N I L L U M Y T T MA The Vans Warped Tour has recently wrapped up its tour in the US. One of the artists on the Main Stage this year was Memphis May Fire, a collective who has literally exploded into the stratosphere since the release of their magnum opus Challenger last year on Rise Records. Front man Matty Mullins remained a busy force on and behind the scenes at Warped. A true voice for this new generation, in addition to their exhaustive sets, Matty took the time to chat with fans via meet and greets as well as an exclusive program on the music industry entitled Bandhappy.
Now that you’ve toured Warped for a second time, has it become any easier for you? I would say knowing the way that things work and being a vet with Warped – I think it’s definitely a little bit easier in that aspect. But the heat and the live shows and everything – none of that ever gets easier. It’s a constant workday – and we’re even busier this summer. I wouldn’t say easier, but we definitely know the ropes. What advice would you give a band about to do this tour for the first time? Make sure that your crew is awesome and ready to work hard. Drink a lot of water – get a lot of sleep. You don’t have to party every night – despite what everybody tells you. Get your amount of rest, because you’re not here to party – you’re here to put on a live show for the people that paid for tickets to come and see you, so make sure that you’re doing that. Tell me about the song Vices from the Warped Tour compilation and what inspired the lyrics. The songs Vices is about – a lot of friends of mine – close family and friends that we have seen let substance abuse take over their lives. I think a lot of times we try to find ways to cope with the hardships of everyday life – and the second you get a taste of what alcohol or any drug can do for you – with calming your mind
or easing the pain – I think a lot of people get addicted to that and it starts to take over their lives without them knowing it. And that’s what Vices is about. I think it’s happening to a lot of friends, and I hope that they can find their way out of that. With Challenger being released about a year ago, how close are you guys to recording a new album? Have you written any new songs? Our next record is almost completely done being written. Right after Warped Tour, we have August to write and September we go in to record. Has Bruno Mars heard your cover of Grenade and commented on it yet? I don’t know and I honestly don’t care. I’ve never been a Bruno Mars fan. We just did that for Punk Goes Pop, and the song turned out cool – but whether he liked it or not is not an issue to me. If you could open for any band now or from the past, who would it be and why? I would like to go out with bands like Blindside, Acceptance, Terminal, My American Heart – the bands that really inspired me from back in the day when I was coming up. I guess those would be the bands – bands that really aren’t bands anymore.
How have the Bandhappy workshops been going and what’s that been like to do them for you? Honestly, Bandhappy is one of my favorite parts of the day. It’s great! Me and Kellin (Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens) have put together a really solid outline to teach kids about the music industry and what to expect – some of the hardships we went through and how they can overcome those speed bumps when they’re coming up in the music industry. And I think that everybody that’s coming is learning a lot and able to take away a lot of really good information from those workshops. So we’re really enjoying doing those. You did a guest appearance on a Sleeping With Sirens song Congratulations. What was that experience like to record it? It’s cool man. Kellin and I have been best friends for a long time now. So being able to collaborate – he sang on our last record and I sang on theirs – we just go back and forth and it was great! It’s a good experience.
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Written By Ryan J. Downey
SLEEPING WITH SIRENS rapidly ascended from a post-metalcore
support act inviting fans to come watch their acoustic after-show outside venues to a headlining powerhouse with a record that debuted in the top five of the Billboard 200 and a feverishly passionate fanbase who Googles everything there is to be known about the banshee-wailing frontman Kellin Quinn. As the mainstream continues to discover what the rest of the scene already knows, the band are determined to maintain an intimate connection with their audience, no matter how many people come along for the ride— which is why Sleeping With Sirens are Interlude’s Artist Of The Year.
SLEEPING WITH SIRENS rapidly ascended from a post-metalcore support act inviting fans to come watch their acoustic after-show outside venues to a headlining powerhouse with a record that debuted in the top five of the Billboard 200 and a feverishly passionate fanbase who Googles everything there is to be known about the banshee-wailing frontman Kellin Quinn. As the mainstream continues to discover what the rest of the scene already knows, the band are determined to maintain an intimate connection with their audience, no matter how many people come along for the ride— which is why Sleeping With Sirens are Interlude’s Artist Of The Year.
manager for another Jack and Coke and settles into we [had a big first week] or whatever doesn’t really a sofa in the Wiltern’s private VIP area backstage. mean much to me. They didn’t help us get here. We Right outside the door, bassist Justin Hills, drummer got here by working our asses off and writing songs Gabe Barham and lead guitarist Jack Fowler mingle that mean something to people.” with their band’s two managers from Fly South Music Keeping that direct connection with their Group, their booking agent and assorted industry fans is crucial to Quinn and the rest of the band. types in attendance. Stephen Pearcy from ‘80s hair But that doesn’t mean they aren’t without larger metalers Ratt keeps the backstage party going at the ambitions. The strong-selling, acoustic-driven EP If tender age of 54. He’s there with Jewel, his 18-yearYou Were A Movie, This Would Be Your Soundtrack old daughter and huge SWS fan. (Shinfo alert: Ratt showed off SWS’ melodic range in greater measure released released their debut album in 1984, two than their two prior full-lengths, It set the stage for years before Kellin Quinn Bostwick was born.) Quinn their third album, Feel, which crashed the Billboard has just wrapped up a long day of meetings. Later chart party at No. 3. Quinn says he has radio-ready this evening, folks like Epitaph head Brett Gurewitz, songs in the vault that fans may not have been ready THE LAST TIME SLEEPING WITH SIRENS graced We Came As Romans co-manager Mike Mowery and for a year or two ago, most of them co-written with the cover of Interlude, they had just played their Vagrant Records co-owner Jon Cohen will check recently exited guitarist Jesse Lawson. He wants to largest headlining show to date in front of 1,100-plus out SWS from near the soundboard. “The other day, create songs with Dave Grohl (“I’ve thrown it out fans in San Diego. Two years later, SWS are about to somebody said to me, ‘Do you realize all these people there on Twitter that I’d like to get coffee [with him]”), go onstage at the 2,300-capacity Wiltern Theatre in are watching you? They know something big is going Christina Aguilera/Gwen Stefani collaborator Linda Los Angeles, where multi-platinum nu-metal pioneers to happen. What do you think of that?’” Quinn recalls. Perry (“I watched the Pink episode of Behind The Korn had just performed a few days before Asking “I just said, ‘Let them keep watching.’” Music where she talked about Linda. With my songs Alexandria. The Feel This Tour itinerary also included Sleeping With Sirens may have reached like ‘A Trophy Father’s Trophy Son’ and ‘Free Now,’ two-night stands at New York City’s Best Buy Theater the stage where everyone wants to wine and dine if we get together it could be a real home run”) and and the Fox Theater in Pomona, California. With the them, but Quinn is determined not to lose focus. Butch Walker, who has worked with everyone from growing audiences comes a wider breadth of behind- “Rise Records has been good to us,” he begins. “Our Fall Out Boy and Weezer to Avril Lavigne and Cee Lo the-scenes visitors ranging from friends, would-be management is fantastic. But our band have always Green. Given his wish list of collaborators, it’s clear business associates and at least one veteran heavyhad the mentality that is nobody believes in us? Fuck Quinn wants to see what other vistas exist for his metal hair farmer. it, we’ll do it ourselves and make them believe. Just band to move even further. Frontman Kellin Quinn asks his tour because there are major labels interested in us after Before doing vocal exercises to warm up
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This Page: The band performing at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, CA Opposite Page: The band's promotion poster for the release of their latest album Feel, with former lead guitarist, Jesse Lawson
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Why should music be a competition?
We're all here to do the same things: write good songs and give people something to lift their spirits and make them feel better."
Kellin Quinn
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for his pre-set appearance with frequent tourmates Memphis May Fire, Quinn grabs his iPhone to check in with his wife, Katelynne, mother to their daughter Copeland Quinn Bostwick and his two stepchildren. He tells her about the day’s meetings, the AP interview and asks about the little ones back in Oregon. “I flew back for a couple of days after our U.K. run,” he recalls after hanging up. “I got to my house, and I was there with my wife, my daughter and my [stepsons], and there was nobody else I needed to talk to. I slept in, and when I woke up, I had a million text messages, but I couldn’t give a shit, because I was with the people who are most important to me.” The U.K. is one of the reasons Quinn’s expanding brood lives more comfortably. Earlier this year, his clan moved into a new house in Oregon, as the U.K. press likened the band’s meteoric rise to that of My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy. The band who formed from the ashes of Christian hardcore evangelists For All We Know with the singer who racked up YouTube views singing the worshipful “Jesus In The Southern Sky” (while still working at Hot Topic) are now an international sensation. As the crowds get larger and the music becomes less scream-and-breakdown-oriented and more broadly accessible, Quinn is cognizant of the importance of the emotion found within the songs. He knows the reason the Wiltern crowd screams when he takes the stage later in the evening, backed by a high caliber production and a cameo from Cleveland rapper Machine Gun kelly on “Alone.” Fowler, Hills and touring guitarist Nick Martin (ex-D.R.U.G.S.) put athletic muscle into their performances, with Barham shoring the foundation up behind them. But it’s clearly the Kellin Quinn Show to these fans, who hang on his every word of encouragement and lose their minds over every high note. “We had to win everybody over when people didn’t know who were. As we get bigger and see new faces at the shows, my goal is to make people in the crowd go, ‘Okay, cool, I see why this band are doing so well,’” says the singer. “I like winning over new fans. You should always play to everybody like it’s their first time seeing you, even if they’ve seen you 10 times.” MOST OF THE GUYS who joined Sleeping With Sirens spent their teens buying every Tooth & Nail Records release they could get their hands on and obsessively studying the music and overall aesthetic presence of Underoath. (The scene moves so quickly that it’s easy to forget Underoath’s 2006 opus, Define The Great Line, sold almost as many copies in a single week as SWS’ EP has in 18 months.) A few years older than the rest of the guys, Quinn grew up on the West Coast, where he listened to rappers like Outkast, Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. before journeying forward into heavier rock ‘n’ roll and metalcore sounds.
“I love that Biggie and Tupac rapped about where they came from. To me it was more about the poetry. These days rap is more about bragging about how much shit you have.” ‘Pac and Biggie both had very strong relationships with their mothers. Despite a plethora of misogynistic verses, they both had songs showing respect for females, like Shakur’s “Dear Momma.” Quinn has written a lot about his upbringing; his mother was a constant throughout his childhood. “My mother shaped my role as a man in this world. She taught me to be very respectful of women. I get that society puts girls into this image where men see them as just a body, but I grew up knowing there was so much more to the puzzle. Now I’m with a woman who was an amazing single mom, and I have a daughter of my own. My mom and my wife are two people in the world I can trust absolutely 100 percent. As a guy in the music scene, I’ve been mindful of my role to treat everyone with respect and value.” Sleeping With Sirens have a lot of female fans, and their adoration of the group’s singer is practically the stuff of legend in AP’s corner of the world. Quinn regularly encourages the girls in the crowd to respect themselves and make positive choices, reminding them they aren’t alone in dealing with depression and anxiety. Sleeping With Sirens willingly shoulder the mantle as a positive influence in their fans’ lives. Quinn has sometimes wave an actual flag emblazoned with the same “W/” symbol each band member has tattooed behind an ear. One person who has similar ink is Quinn’s old shopping mall co-worker and buddy Jesse Lawson. The former guitarist is turning down post-SWS interviews for the time being, but Quinn insists his departure was both mutual and amicable. “He came into the band in a weird way. It started off with him mentioning maybe just guitar teaching for us. He’s a very talented singer/songwriter. We talked during Warped Tour. I said, ‘It seems like you’re ready to take that next step.’ After he became a father, he made that decision. Being at home is a good chance for him to start networking and doing what he’s really meant to do. It feels like there’s something missing when it’s just the four of us. But as far as trying to replace Jesse, it’s not going to happen. [Sleeping With Sirens] will stay the four of us from now on. Anybody who comes on the road will be someone helping out. I don’t want to replace Jesse. I want to just continue on.” Quinn’s spirit of perseverance has guided him through the lineup shuffles that followed the more traditional scene-oriented sound found on 2009’s With Ears To See And Eyes To Hear before the band broke through with a clearly focused identity on 2011’s Let’s Cheers To This, the first record to feature both Lawson and Fowler. “Jack has the potential to really showcase his ability now. He can write rhythm and lead [guitar
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parts], sort of like how Incubus do it. I want him to be able to have a shit-ton of pedals on stage and do really cool things, to be a lot more showy. He holds back so mch. I had to really push him to just do that lead on ‘Congratulations.’ I was like, ‘You need to shred on this because You’re really good at it.’” As previously mentioned, Sleeping With Sirens have nearly 10 songs “in the vault” that Quinn and Lawson wrote together. It’s possible the former guitarist could even stay involved as a songwriter down the road, similar to the role producer Tom Denney plays with his former band, A Day To Remember. “Jesse is so good at the acoustic aspect, so that’s a dynamic that is going to change a little bit. But Jack has done a really good job at stepping up and filling the shoes. He’s been playing some acoustic [guitar] on tour and even some mandolin.” Quinn says they’ve entertained the idea of doing an acoustic/electric tour, where SWS would hit smaller venues every other night to play “unplugged.” The musical dimension aside, maintaining the relationships is paramount to Quinn. It’s not easy to find friends on the road, even at big summer-camp events like Warped Tour. The bond he has with his bandmates and friends like Matty Mullins from Memphis May Fire and Pierce The Veil’s Vic Fuentes are extremely important. “What was that phrase Edward Norton used in Fight Club?” he asks. “‘Single-serving friends.’ A lot of people you meet are like that. But hey, just because we play music doesn’t mean we all have to be homies.” Case in point: Quinn started exchanging passive-aggressive barbs with bring Me The Horizon vocalist Oli Sykes over Twitter after the British singer took him to task for selling “Polaroid Packages” charging fans $80 to take a photo with him. “Dude, so stoked! My best bud @olobersyko loved our album so much he got the artwork tattooed on his face!” Quinn tweeted in August, with a snapshot of Sykes’ new feather tattoo. Sykes’ reply was laced with equal snarkiness: “It’s just such a good album, you must have been so stoked when @JesseSWS wrote it all!” Quinn insists it won’t be uncomfortable to run into Sykes down the road, though he doesn’t mention the singer by name. “We’ve had drama with other bands before,” he says diplomatically. “You get tougher with them, and it might be awkward a little bit in the beginning, but then it’s just kind of like, ‘Hey, dude, sorry I was such a dick.’ And then it’s like ‘Whatever.’ “To me, dude, we’re all in it together. We’re all doing the same shit,” he adds. “If it’s a competition, then it’s stupid. Why should music be a competition? We’re all here trying to do the same things: write good songs and give people
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something to lift their spirits and make them feel better. if somebody’s doing a great job at that, I support them 100 percent.” A LOT OF BANDS FREQUENTLY traffic in that super-posi “making people feel better” stuff. But to Kellin Quinn, it’s very real. Would he love to hear his songs on the radio? Of course. Would he turn down an invitation to perform on some big TV show? No way. With his penchant for songwriting, admirable vocal range and expressed desire to produce and mentor up-andcoming bands, he’d be a great addition to NBC’s The Voice. But half the reason he wants to get his music in front of that many people is because he knows it has more meaning than most of the stuff out there. He’s seen the effect of it firsthand on the SWS fans, night after night. Sleeping With Sirens named their latest album Feel, but like just about every other band before them who has saddled with the term, they refuse to embrace the word “emo.” A far cr from it’s origins with the ‘80s hardcore bands Rites Of Spring and Embrace (or even ‘90s acts like Texas Is The Reason and the Get Up Kids), emo has become more of a pejorative term than it was when Chris Carrabba bristled at the term in his 2003 AP cover story. Quinn doesn’t even need to hear the word before waxing defensive. “Are you saying we’re emo?” he demands as the interview turns toward more “emotional” territory. “Once you label a band as being a certain sounds, it becomes a dirty word because I think that to pigeonhole an artist into sounding like one subgenre is stupid. And what is ‘emo?’ Writing lyrics and songs that are more meaningful than other songs? If that’s the case, then Nirvana was emo. It’s just a way for somebody to poke fun at something that is successful because they are jealous or because they can’t do the same thing.” The emotional spectrum explored in Sleeping With Sirens’ music is undeniably powerful, no matter what it’s called in the “name a subgenre” file in somebody’s iTunes. Quinn is much more game to dig deeply to recall the times he felt the purest form of a variety of different emotions, from the happiest he’s ever been to the times he felt more relaxed, exhausted, nervous, stressed, bored and envious. Like a good husband and father, Quinn emphatically states his happiest life moments are the day he married Katelynne and the birth of his daughter Copeland. “Creating music is one thing, but creating a life is fucking mind-blowing,” he says, before acknowledging his wife. “Being with a person who has been very very strong for me for a long period of time to finally be able to say, ‘Okay, I’m going to stick it out with you forever,’ that’s a really big thing.
“We’ve been together for almost eight years now,” he continues. “She’s been a very solid foundation for me. She’s always been that person I can call, and she will just let me talk without having a biased opinion.” Katelynne keeps him grounded, too. Earlier when he was touching base with her by phone and detailing all of the exciting things from his meetings in LA, she eventually interjected to give him some real talk. “She’s like, ‘Hey, your daughter got these little toy horses at Toys”R”Us today. She’s been hiding them in this drawer.’ She likes hiding things. It’s her favorite thing to do. I was like, ‘So you didn’t hear anything I was just talking to you about?’ and she goes, ‘No. I did. But you’ve already told me about this five times, and I’m ready to talk about something else.’” It’s no surprise then that Quinn’s family figures prominently into the time he felt most at ease. Relaxation is hard to come by when living a life filled with constant travel, deadline,
Kellin Quinn and Matty Mullins perform "Congratulations at Warped Tour
business and creative conversations and, ahem,, interviews. The large cabin in Oregon’s 3,300-acre Sunriver vacation community was the site of Quinn’s most idyllic relaxation. “We had Thanksgiving there. Great food. We had drinks. We played board games. There’s ice skating, sledding and snowboarding if you want to do all that. I didn’t think about anything except what I was doing right there. It’s really important to have moments like that in your life.” That kind of digital unplugging inspired Quinn to start leaving his iPhone in the car on outings with his family. An evening without Instagram, Twitter or email is good for both the marriage and the soul. It creates good memories to hang onto when you’re at your most exhausted, say, disappearing into the waking fatigue of the rigorous Warped Tour schedule. “Touring the U.K., then jumping almost immediately into Warped Tour, I mean, you’re basically just existing at that point,” Quinn
says, with a laugh. “you just wake up, and even if there are thunderstorms or a tornado on the radar, I’m still like, ‘We’re playing!’” He insists that a This Is The End-style sinkhole would have to open up for him to call it off. “No matter how tired I am, I can get through Warped, so I feel like I can get through anything.” Quinn has probably never had more on his plate than he did at this year’s Warped Tour, which made the summer trek his most stressful period ever. The daily list included signing, press a guest vocal appearance with Memphis May Fire, FaceTiming with his wife and daughter, BandHappy music industry seminars with Memphis May Fire singer Matty Mullins and somewhere in there, the day’s set. The classes were worth the extra effort, however. On the surface, it may have just looked like a chance for fans to have another meet-and-greet experience. Quinn insists it became more than that. “It was cool to give our
fans more of an idea of what the music industry is like. When you buy our album, we’re not really getting that 10 bucks. For kids to understand their favorite band is only making a couple bucks per CD, it really opens up their minds and puts things in perspective for them. It’s also a great chance to give people in aspiring bands the real dirt, the real shit.” Part of that “real shit” includes the very real boredom that occurs on the road. Take for example, the time Sleeping With Sirens spent nearly 20 hours in the air getting to Southeast Asia and Australia. Sleeping With Sirens’ status as a main-stage veterans means Quinn never has stage fright in front of a big crowd. So which shows make him nervous? The small ones. “If I can see the back of the crowd and those few people that are standing back there with their arms crossed, I feel like it is my duty to win them over. If I can do that, then I feel like I had a great show.”
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This Page: Kellin Quinn backstage Opposite Page: Each member of the band during their performace at the Wiltern Theatre in LA
LE BRON JAMES isn’t commonly associated with emo, but Kellin Quinn has plenty in common with him, regardless. To continue to put on that great show, maintain that connection with friends and fans, strengthen the unity with his wife and children and create albums that are both compelling and non-repetitive, Quinn adopts the mindset of legendary athletes. “Anybody who goes out there and practices for hours and hours per day, who really works at their craft, I approach music the same way,” he explains. “It should be a craft you continue to work on and always try and be better at. I never want to feel like I’m the best I can be I always push myself as much as I can. Having that pressure, that sense of uneasiness, is a good thing. I makes me push myself harder.” Much as Quinn encouraged Fowler to stop holding back when it came to shredding on Feel, the singer is ready to unleash the things he’s held back creatively, as well. He’s watched bands change too quickly and alienate their
original fans with out making new ones. It’s by design that Sleeping With Sirens have carefully introduced new elements, rather than making a radically different, scream-free album. “I would hold back because I thought maybe people weren’t ready. But now we’ve bridged the gap with some songs where people weren’t sure what to think about them on first listen, but then they really fall in love with it. I’m excited about these next songs; they’re fucking great songs. I’ve been waiting to release them. I’ve been waiting for the right time to do so. I’ve seen so many artists get out of their indie deal, sign to a major and all of the sudden have all these different influences. If they can’t write a song that gets on the radio they’re done.” Whether Sleeping With Sirens traverse the major-label route remains to be seen, as well as how far the band’s melodic envelope will be pushed within their songs and how their diehard supporters may react. Sleeping With Sirens could blow up in a style similar to Fall Out Boy or they
could level off and exist as a gateway band until the next batch of up-and-comers seize the crown. The one thing of utmost certainty is no matter how carefully and how hard Sleeping With Sirens go about the coming years, Quinn accepts that luck or fate will play a central role. “I feel a sense of responsibility,” says Quinn. “There are so many people that expect us to, I guess, speak for them, to be this example. it becomes a little bit tough and overbearing because we’re all still trying to figure out life, too. There are going to be times where we let someone down. But our biggest objective is to continue to be as positive as we can for these kids who come to our shows and feel like they don’t have anyone else to look up to. “I just want to continue writing songs that mean something to me,” he resigns. “And if it means something to the people that come to the shows and experience it, then I’m doing the right thing.”
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