Taking Back Sunday

It had been a five year wait before I got to see a full Taking Back Sunday set, but when they finally came, they didn’t dissapoint. But before their performance at the Northlands Agricom I got a chance to sit down with the founder of the band, Eddie Reyes, and talk about the tour, their major label debut, Degrassi, and tornados. Thanks to Eddie for doing it and Laura for setting it all up.

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Bobby: Starting with the basics, you guys have been on this tour with Armor for Sleep and Underoath for a few weeks now how’s that going so far?

Eddie: It’s going awesome. The shows have been pretty much sold out; the kids have a great reaction for both bands. I mean, for all three bands. It’s been a fun tour, hanging out. Everyone’s all friends, so it’s pretty much like a big friend tour, you know?

Bobby: Any really memorable moments from it so far?

Eddie: I don’t know. Every night’s been really good, it’s been really fun. Just hanging out really. Pretty much every day is like a new adventure

Bobby: I’ve read that on this tour you guys have been playing a lot of old songs and also “Brooklyn (If You See Something, Say Something)” live for the first time. Is that true?

Eddie: We only play that once in a while, not all the time.

Bobby: “Brooklyn (If You See Something, Say Something)” was, of course, an iTunes exclusive with Louder Now. What made you give it to iTunes?

Eddie: It was just that we had too many songs written and we had some spare songs and sometimes when you have spare songs you just hold onto them and use them for other things so they don’t go to waste. So that’s why we gave it to iTunes.

Bobby: Another b-side from the album was “Sleep” which was on the Japanese import and the “MakeDamnSure” UK single. Why didn’t you put them on the album? Why do you think bands release these songs overseas instead of in America?

Eddie: I think we had a lot of great songs to choose from. They were, for us… they’re great songs but they just didn’t make the cut. So we used them for other things.

Bobby: Are there any other songs, other than “Sleep” or “Brooklyn” that we may see one day?

Eddie: We have four or five other songs but I don’t know if we’ll ever put them out. Maybe like in a re-release in the future, maybe.

Bobby: I read that the vocals for “Divine Intervention” were actually recorded on the rooftop of the studio.

Eddie: Yeah.

Bobby: Did you guys do any other weird tricks like that while you guys were recording?

Eddie: Yeah. Mark recorded drums on “Miami”… he recorded them in a sealed, completely black, dark room and he recorded each drum separately. So like he would play the high hat and then on the next take he would take the snare; just so that he would get a vintage sound.

Bobby: That’s interesting, that would have taken a lot longer too.

Eddie: It took a long time. It took him the whole day to do one song.

Bobby: That was your first release on a major label and not on Victory Records. Did that make any difference while you guys were writing and recording or were you not really thinking about it being a major?

Eddie: It really didn’t make a difference. I mean, this record could have came out on Victory and it would’ve still been the same thing. We signed to a major and we thought it was going to be but it ended up being, the recording process and writing and all that, was pretty much the same thing.

Bobby: What do you think about the fact that your song “MakeDamnSure” was number 52 in Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Songs of 2006 list? Like what do you think is everyone’s fascinations with top 100, top 10 lists?

Eddie: I don’t know. I don’t really pay attention to those. I don’t vote music. I like bands for who they are. When people ask me “What’s your top 5 songs?” I can’t answer that. It’s impossible. So when they go with the top 50 best songs of the year, it’s like…they have to sell magazines, so…

Bobby: You guys have supplied a lot of songs to soundtracks. For Spiderman2 you did “This Photograph Is Proof” for Elektra you did “Your Own Disaster” and you did the original version of “Error Operator” on Fantastic Four. So are you guys big fans of the superhero/comic book style movies?

Eddie: Yeah, I mean everyone’s all into comic books. It’s like the only kind of movie stuff we would do is for comic book movies – ‘cause they’re cooler. I guess we’re all dorks.

Bobby: So I guess you’re looking forward to the next couple months. There’s all kind of comic book movies coming out. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles…

Eddie: Yeah, I’m disappointed about that though. I’m disappointed about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I’m really upset that it’s a cartoon.

Bobby: Yeah, it’s very computer graphicy.

Eddie: Yeah, I know. Spiderman 3’s coming out – it’s gonna be awesome.

Bobby: Oh yeah, and Fantastic Four 2 and Transformers.

Eddie: Transformers should be awesome.

Bobby: A bunch of good movies I’m looking forward to, I’m just going to be broke by the end of the summer. In 2002, another Long Island band called On The Might of Princes released their album “Where You Are and Where You Want To Be.” You guys used to play some shows with them, and then in 2004 you guys released your CD, “Where You Want To Be.” Was there any coincidence in the title or anything??

Eddie: No, not at all. I mean, we played a couple shows with them, we knew them, but they weren’t close to us and they weren’t like best friends. They’re good guys. Nah, it was just a coincidence I think. It was just a coincidence basically.

Bobby: Back in December when Adam and Fred did their innovative take on “The 12 Days Of Christmas” on AOL Sessions, did you ever expect to get the kind of reaction to it?

Eddie: I don’t even know. I didn’t really pay attention. I watched it and it was really funny. But did it get a good reaction?

Bobby: Did you see the animated version of it?

Eddie: Yeah, it’s amazing.

Bobby: Yeah, you released the songs and like a week later this guy made an animated video which blew up on YouTube.

Eddie: It was awesome. That was really funny. I actually just watched it a couple weeks ago, because sometimes you don’t really know what’s going on but then somebody sent me the link and I watched it. I was like “that’s ridiculous.”

Bobby: In January you guys appeared on “Degrassi: The Next Generation” for the episode “What’s It Feel Like To Be A Ghost Pt. 2.” How was that?

Eddie: It was fun. It was weird because we don’t really do teen shows. But it’s a show that we all know. We know what Degrassi is, “Next Generation” or even the old “Degrassi High.” So it was kind of fun to do it. It was a fun two days. We did it two days and Adam and some of the other band members are big fans of Degrassi so for them it was an exciting thing to do. I watched it. It was cool, it’s alright.

Bobby: How did it all get set up? Did they contact you or what happened?

Eddie: Some of them are fans of our band and they would come to our shows in Toronto. And then they found out that we were really into the show so they, the writers who are fans of ours, were like “look, I’m gonna write a show about it, if you want to act on it, come do it.” Not all of us, but some of us. That was it, it’s that easy.

Bobby: Do you think any of the band members could ever take acting up as a career afterwards?

Eddie: Not me. Not me, I know that. Maybe some of the other guys, but not me.

Bobby: On January 26th the Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Fame opened up a Warped Tour exhibit with a whole bunch of memorabilia which will be put in a time capsule and opened up in twenty five years.

Eddie: Yeah, I went to it.

Bobby: I read that you guys put some stuff into the Time Capsule, what did you provide for the Warped Tour Exhibition?

Eddie: They have my guitar hanging up and a picture of Adam.

Bobby: I haven’t seen the exhibition, is it a good one?

Eddie: It’s awesome. I went to the opening day and it was packed and it was kind of an honor to see my guitar hanging up on a wall and pictures of Adam and it was just cool being in the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame. I can say I was there.

Bobby: And in twenty-five years, you’ll be back there.

Eddie: I’ll be back there, and if I’m not, then my daughter will see it.

Bobby: Last time I saw you guys it was Warped Tour 2004 in Calgary and you only played three songs because you had to cut it short because of a tornado warning. I want to ask, what is the weirdest weather incident or something that has caused you to cut a concert early or cancel a concert?

Eddie: That. That and Salt Lake City, the same thing. Tornado and hail was falling and we had to cut our show in half.

Bobby: What I just found so weird about that show was how at the beginning of the day it was like plus 30, it was sweltering and the line-ups for water were massive and then suddenly it was just rain, hail, wind, and tornado.

Eddie: Yeah, it was pretty crazy that day. It was hailing pretty bad. It was fun though, I like when that stuff happens. It’s exciting. You guys get a lot of tornados uh?

Bobby: We get a few.

Eddie: In the States we get a lot of tornados.

Bobby: There was a big one that hit a few towns over in, I think, in 2000; and it tore up a trailer park and campground.

Eddie: It’s always the trailer parks. *laughs*. You ever notice that?

Bobby: *laughs* Yeah. Okay, I love going to concerts. I try to go to as many as I can, but of course, some are always more memorable than others. So thinking back, what are some concerts that you went to or that you played at that were really memorable for you?

Eddie: Growing up?

Bobby: Yeah.

Eddie: I’ve been to so many. I’ve been going to shows probably since I was twelve years old, and I’m thirty four now, so there’s a million great punk rock shows that I went to. Probably one of my most memorable and favorite ones will always be Jimmy Eat World, At The Drive-In and this great band called Mineral at Coney Island High in Manhattan. There was about fifty people there. It was when they were small bands. That was crazy. It was a great show. That was… ’96.

Bobby: I remember Jimmy Eat World was my very first show over at Red’s, so that was a memorable one for me just because I was getting into it.

Eddie: Cool man.

Bobby: Now onto a bit more unusual questions that I just like to end off all my interviews with, just to keep it interesting.

Eddie: That’s fine.

Bobby: First off, when you were growing up, whose poster did you have on your wall?

Eddie: I had a poster of Count Dracula. I had a poster of Frankenstein and a poster of KISS. Those were the three posters I had.

Bobby: If you were the member of the opposite sex for a day, week month, however long you wanted, what would you do and why?

Eddie: I’d probably masturbate a lot. *laughs* Just kidding. What would I do? I don’t know. I would probably try and dig deep into the female psyche and understand what they feel and how they think so that once I’m back to being a guy I won’t screw up as much.

Bobby: Very good.

Eddie: … and masturbate a lot.

Bobby: Now, if you guys, as a band, were stranded on a desert island with no food and nothing to eat, which one of the band members would you eat to survive and why?

Eddie: Now come on, look at me, I’m the pudgy one; I’m the one with the most flab on him. But I’m also the toughest one, so I would end up eating everyone else first. I would probably say I would eat Mark. He’s a big guy, tall guy, more meat. I mean, that’s what you want to know right? Slowly one by one I’d knock them off and eat them.

Bobby: Could you tell us something about the band or one of its members that not many people know about? Like a little quirk they do on the road or something like that? Or something you do in sound check or something like that?

Eddie: Like something funny we do?

Bobby: Yeah, like a little quirk, something not many people would know about.

Eddie: Mmm…. We do a lot of things that are weird. But before we go on stage, we always circle up and we say a prayer, a serenity prayer. And we always scream out a word that we picked for the day.

Bobby: Have you picked a word yet for today?

Eddie: We haven’t picked todays yet, no. It would probably be like… we’ll probably yell out, you know, “hoser.” Something funny. “Oilers.” Whatever word comes up. Sometime it’s funny, sometime it’s meant to be serious. That’s it. Nothing crazy.

Bobby: Okay, if you could have one thing at this moment, anything at all, what would you have and why?

Eddie: Right now? I would have my daughter right now, sitting on my lap because that’s the only thing I want to hang out with.

Bobby: I guess that’s about it. Thanks a lot. Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to add?

Eddie: No, just keep supporting the scene and keep the scene alive and support bands that are good. That’s it. Keep it real.

Bobby: Thank you.