October 26, 2007
All Time Low - Alex Gaskarth

O = Olivia, A = Alex

O: For the record, can you state your name and what you do in the band?
A: I'm Alex, and I sing and play guitar for All Time Low.

O: How did you come together as a band, and was being younger hindering in getting somewhere?
A: We formed our freshman year of high school. I had known Jack previously from middle school and when we moved up into ninth grade we met Rian who went to a different middle school. We knew he was the best drummer in our grade (or that's what everybody said) so Jack basically harassed him until he agreed to join the band. We found Zack through a friend of Jack's, and it just kinda clicked. We had fun playing together and that's what we did. It gave us something to do on the weekends.

O: In your high school, what kind of groups were you in if any?
A: I don't know... I never really did the whole clique thing. Obviously we had our close friends that we hung out with, but it wasn't quite as stereotypical as some groups are. There weren't all the jocks and all that. I never really noticed that as much in my high school, which is cool. Actually, my senior year everybody was kind of just friends. We had this unique coming together where it was like, "Wow, I really didn't meet as many people as I should have, maybe I should get to know everyone." By senior year everybody was kinda hanging out with everyone, so it was fun.

O: Describe the process of signing to Hopeless Records.
A: It was really weird for us because we were still in high school when it started happening. We would miss a couple days of school to go fly out to Chicago, or Florida, or California or wherever and play for people. It was weird coming back to school and doing that. People would be like, "Where'd you go?" and we'd be like, "Oh, playing for record labels." Our teachers didn't really take us seriously, so it was interesting. It was definitely a cool experience when we finally found a label that fit (being Hopeless). We found them through a band called Amber Pacific who we knew previously. By the time we actually signed the deal we were still in high school- it was Valentine's Day. It was really weird to go to school the next day and be like, "Hi fuckers."

O: Did your peers see you guys differently when you came back as opposed to before or were your friends still the same friends?
A: Our friends have always been the same friends. It hasn't gotten weird. I mean, at this point it's sometimes weird. People who I never used to really talk to will hit me up and be like, "Oh, what's up man? We should hang out." I'm like, "...Why? We never used to hang out, I don't even know you."

O: How do you think that you as a band and your music has evolved from Put Up Or Shut Up to So Wrong, It's Right?
A: We didn't set out to reinvent the wheel with the record - we're not trying to be anything crazy and revolutionary. We're just trying to give a fresh feel to the pop punk that we grew up listening to and kind of bring that back a little bit. I think it's kind of died recently. We're more trying to relive that, rexplore it, and hopefully one day do it better. We'll see.

O: Which track off of So Wrong, It's Right did you get the biggest sense of accomplishment from when it was finished?
A: "Stay Awake." It was recorded at the very end of our writing process. We were in the studio already with Squire doing pre-production and we needed more songs. He basically left us in the room for half an hour and by the time he came back, we had most of the song done. It was one of those things where as soon as the music was finished, he sent me off into a room and I wrote the hook for the chorus. I ran back in really excited like, "I love these lyrics blah blah blah" and he was really stoked on it. It came together in probably an hour, in one day, so it was kind of like that one lifesaver song that turned out being really really cool. It just kinda came to us and it was awesome.

O: Is there something you've done that is 'So Wrong, It's Right'?
A: (laughs) Yea. A few things. But one that I'll mention... We went Disneyland in California once, and we pretended that one of us needed a wheelchair in order to skip the lines. It worked, but it was really awkward when we saw people who recognized us and were like, "Why are you in a wheelchair? What are you doing?" Yeah, we're not good people. That was our 'So Wrong, It's Right' moment.

O: What, in your opinion, is the best thing about being in a band? What would you be doing were you not in one?
A: The best thing about being in a band is probably traveling and meeting all the new people, which is really really cool. If I wasn't doing this... I have no idea. I'd probably be selling oranges or something (laughs).
O: On the side of the road?
A: Yeah, pretty much.

O: How did you get on the track of wanting to play music?
A: I've always been a kind of musical person, though I didn't really pick up an instrument and actually learn it until I was twelve or thirteen. Ever since I learned to talk, I was singing - I could sing songs before I knew what the words meant. I would just hear them and sing them back. I think it's just always been there, sitting, waiting to have something done with it. I've also always really been into performance. I consider myself kind of a joker. I'm always performing or putting on a show for somebody. I was the class clown, but I also did the theatre stuff at school so I've always liked to be in the spotlight. I think that combined with the fact that I have this ear for music sort of just added up to me finding something I can and love to do, so it made sense.

O: Do you feel the current music scene is actually about the music, or the trends that surround the music?
A: I think it's a little bit of both, but it's always been that way. With a certain style of music comes a whole trend that follows it. The Ramones came out and then all their fans were wearing tight jeans and leather jackets and had that haircut. The Beatles did the same thing way back in the day. Eighties hair metal. Obviously, that image is ridiculous (laughs), but it caught on for a while. Disco, the same thing. It's always happened - without one you wouldn't have the other. I think it's kind of a symbiotic relationship - vocab word for the day.

O: You were on Warped Tour all summer. What did you take from that, and do you have any interesting stories?
A: Warped Tour was awesome. It was probably the best experience of my life so far, band-wise. It's like summer camp but for rock stars (laughs). When we roll up and we find out that we're parked next to Bad Religion or Alkaline Trio and you walk off your bus and they're cooking hotdogs and they're like, "Come grab a beer and hang out with us," it's amazing. You learn so much more than just the music at Warped Tour, especially being on it. You kind of learn all about the lifestyle because there is such a broad range of bands from all different kinds of times. You see it from each perspective if you take the time to meet everybody. It's also an amazing networking tool for any band. New bands, old bands... You just meet so many people, and you get a lot of attention.

O: How did you guys get the connection to be on Warped Tour?
A: I think we were just in the right place at the right time. We'd done 10 dates in 2006 because our label hassled Kevin Lyman enough that we eventually got a couple days. This year I think it's just that we've moved enough records. We've created enough of a hype around our band that when our booking agent went to Kevin and was like, "Can we be a part of this, we'd love to do it," it was just kind of like, "Why not, guess so." We were just lucky.

O: What's one of the best and worst things about touring?
A: Like I said before, I think the best thing about touring is traveling and meeting a lot of diverse people. I think the worst is probably just the way you smell after a couple days. It's kind of a new experience. This is the first club tour we've done on a bus by ourselves. We did a bus tour with Amber Pacific, but that was different. It's weird because not all the venues we play have showers, so sometimes you have to go a day or two without one, which sucks. Also, you get sick on the bus. We spent a couple days recently in LA and the whole area was smogged out and gross and there was dust in the air. I'm really allergic to stuff like that. The general feeling of being rundown and just dirty and dead is probably the worst part of touring. That's rare, you know. There's more good then bad.

O: What artists have influenced you as a musician? What albums define the height of what you consider to be good music?
A: My direct influences are definitely bands like Blink-182, Jimmy Eat World, Green Day, and New Found Glory. As of late I've gotten into a lot of other styles of music. I really like hip hop and R&B. I like everything. John Mayer's amazing. Zack loves John Mayer. Justin Timberlake is an incredible performer - I definitely take some examples from him and his personality on stage. It kind of comes from everywhere. I guess my biggest one would definitely have to be Jimmy Eat World.

O: Your band name is something where people can pretty much draw from it what they want. Was there a specific idea behind it, or was it just something you came up with?
A: It was one of those things where we were all sitting in a room trying to think of a name. We had a list on paper with a bunch of crappy names and we were listening to music on a mix cd or something and New Found Glory's "Head On Collision" came on. "Head On Collision" has a line in it: "I'm at an all time low". It just kind of caught our ear, we were just like oh, that kinda works. They were a big influence on us as a band so it sort of made sense - a little tribute I guess. It's kind of awkward now that we've played with them. I've told them that and they're like, "Oh, cool." I remember telling them that at Warped Tour and they were just like, "That's awesome," and at the time I felt like I was such a loser.

O: If you could summarize the band in one sentence for people who either haven't heard of you at all or haven't checked you out, what would you say?
A: Dirty, sweaty, fun.

O: What do you have planned after Tourzilla is over?
A: We're taking December off except for some Christmas holiday shows at the end of the month, and then in January... basically everything is up in the air. We're kind of just waiting on stuff to confirm. We might go to Europe. We'll definitely go to Australia in February. But besides that, everythings up in the air. It'll be announced soon.
O: Is it the first time you'll tour internationally?
A: We've been to the UK before, but it's the first time in Australia so it should be a pretty crazy experience.

O: If you could be any Vitamin Water, what flavor would you be?
A: Ohhh. Hmm. What's the pink one?
O: Focus?
A: Yeah. Yeah. Focus. That's my favorite.

O: If you could play a show with any musician dead or alive who would it be?
A: Jeez. Um. I feel like I give a different answer every time someone asks me this question. I just pull a random cool dead person out of my head and I figure that'd be cool. It'd be sweet to play a show with Aerosmith. They're not dead, but it'd be cool. I don't think it'd really fit but it would be neat for sure.

O: What newer music have you been listening to lately?
A: The new Jimmy Eat World record is really good. Paramore's new album I still really love. It's not that new anymore I guess. I really want to get the new Say Anything record. I don't have it yet, but I saw it in a store today - I didn't realize it was two discs and each disc was fourteen songs or something... That's a huge album. I'm pretty stoked to listen to that even though it will probably take me a year to listen to the whole thing.

O: What's the music scene like where you're from and how has it influenced your music?
A: Back when we were playing locally, we sort of helped mold the scene. There was obviously already a scene, but us and the bands we were playing with at the time starting playing at new venues and church halls and it kind of developed into this thing where it didn't even matter who was playing - people would just go for the sake of going. That was really cool. I think it helped the whole scene and helped every band there mature. Not only that, but back home there's a lot of really supportive promoters that run the bigger clubs and they always gave us opportunities to open for national touring acts when they came through. That helped us meet the bands that helped connect us with producers and other label people, so it really helped.

O: Are there any smaller bands, that you either are friends with or have toured with that you want to give a shout out about?
A: Oh man... Brighten. We The Kings, they're on this tour. Between The Trees are awesome. Yea. The Hint from back home. I should shout them out because they're definitely one of the most promising bands from back home right now. They have a lot going on for them - They're good, and they're good dudes, they really hustle themselves. They're doing everything that an unsigned band should. They followed Warped Tour for a couple weeks and weren't even allowed in but they would stand outside and sell their cds. They're just really driven, which is good.

O: If you could give one last word to people that really want to get into music what would you say to inspire them?
A: It's one of the best things you could do. I mean, I'm having fun. I recommend, but I'm biased. There's not one reason not to try it. It's fun and it's relatively easy. I don't ever feel like I'm working, and that's probably the best part about it. Even the shitty things that I have to do. I can't think of an example... but just things I wouldn't necessarily want to do at a certain time, it's never really that much of a pain in the ass. I'm just down to do it because it relates to this. Most of it just feels like fun.
O: Which is a plus, because not that many people can do that.
A: Exactly. I mean, this if for now my job. To not hate your job is a good thing.