In preparation for tonight's show in Edmonton, the Canadian website
Vue Weekly posted
an interview in which Jack is talking about the band and the recording of Future Hearts. Read the full article below.
‘We have always been a live band, and we consider ourselves more a live band than a studio band,” All Time Low lead guitarist Jack Barakat says.
The band recently won “Best Live Act” at the AIM Independent Music Awards. Barakat credits All Time Low’s live-show triumphs to playing the festival circuit, specifically on bills alongside the band’s idols like Foo Fighters, Green Day and Blink 182, all of which have found continued touring success after 20-some years in the music business.
“We get to learn and see what they do and what has driven them to be a band for 20 years plus,” he says over the phone from Santiago, Chile. “I think that has helped out our live show and become what we are today.”
The band went on a three-year album hiatus (its previous release was Don’t Panic in 2012), focusing on extensive touring nationally and internationally during that period. All Time Low—rounded out by high school friends Alex Gaskarth (lead vocals, guitar), Zach Merrick (bass) and Rian Dawson (drums)—took a break from rigorous touring to record its sixth studio album, Future Hearts, about a year ago.
“We basically locked ourselves in John Feldmann’s poolhouse for about two months and just kind of got down to it and spent the first three weeks writing every night until about 12 or 1 am,” Barakat explains. “Me and Alex rented a house in LA and lived together . Rian lived down the street and Zach would come out when he needed to be there.”
For Future Hearts, the Towson, MD-based band returned to what Barakat describes as an “old school method of recording” with all the band members present during songwriting and recording as opposed to the band’s previous albums, where Gaskarth would meet with a producer solo and write the songs, Barakat explains. The 13-track record marks the second All Time Low album released under Hopeless Records since the band’s return to the label in 2012, which All Time Low left briefly for Interscope Records to record Dirty Work (2011). The group resigned with Hopeless Records since the label better-suited its needs in achieving its goals as a band (its previous albums 2007’s So Wrong, It’s Right and 2009’s Nothing Personal were both recorded under Hopeless).
“Future Hearts is the most realized version of All Time Low,” Barakat says of the album’s energy and combination of pop and rock elements. “In the past we experimented with different sounds, and we had some songs that leaned very rock and some songs that leaned very pop. I think this album is a perfect balance of those two.
“It’s the album that we wanted to make our entire career. We nailed exactly what we wanted.”
