Copenhagen’s Brain Soup Release “Cheese EP”
Copenhagen's Brain Soup have released the Cheese EP through streaming platforms and as a name your price download via Bandcamp,…
After years of waiting, Underoath finally made their way into Edmonton! As the day grew nearer, the concert with The Used and Alexisonfire was the topic of almost every conversation. Before the concert, Tim, the guitarist for Underoath was nice enough to sit down and answer a few questions for me. He was a cool guy and I hope to see them again soon. Thanks a lot to Anthony, Ken and Shazila for setting it up and to Tim for doing the interview.
Bobby: Starting with the basics, you guys have been on tour with The Used and Alexisonfire for quite a while now, how’s that going so far?
Tim: It’s been really good. We’ve been on it for about two weeks. Started over on the east coast, just making our way out west, it’s been awesome.
Bobby: Has there been any really memorable moments from the tour so far?
Tim: The Toronto show was really cool. That was probably the biggest show we’ve played, like eight thousand people there. That was really crazy. So yeah, that was unbelievable. Another highlight was a few nights ago it started raining all over everyone and we played in the rain – that was cool.
Bobby: Where was that?
Tim: Quebec City.
Bobby: Why were you guys outside?
Tim: It was just an outside venue. Yeah, it was cool.
Bobby: You guys have been touring with The Used a lot over the past year, first with Taste Of Chaos and now with this tour. What’s it like touring with those guys?
Tim: It’s awesome. They’re really good dudes, great band, and what they do is cool; and yeah, they’re really nice guys. Really good dudes to be on tour with.
Bobby: You guys obviously haven’t played in huge venues like this all the time. Someone wanted to know, out of all the small, hole in the wall venues you’ve played at, which one would you say was one of your favourites?
Tim: Um… That’s interesting. I don’t really know. I really like Gabe’s Oasis in Iowa City, Iowa. And yeah, I like this club called Meow Meows. It used to be a club in Portland, now it’s moved to a different club. But back in the day it used to be this hot little venue, it was really cool.
Bobby: Why was it so cool?
Tim: Just great shows, the kids were always awesome and we used to get so hot and sweaty, it was awesome.
Bobby: You guys were recently on the cover of Alternative Press magazine. Was it ever weird walking into a magazine store and seeing your face smiling back at you from the racks?
Tim: Yeah, it was really weird. We found out that we were going to be on the cover and we all thought that was awesome. But yeah, it was really fun. It all worked out and DX, the guy who wrote the story, was really cool. He came on tour with us and did the story, it was really good.
Bobby: Were you happy with how the article turned out?
Tim: Um yeah, yeah. I thought it was very fair and very “what it was.” It showed us as who we are, you know?
Bobby: Yeah, on the cover of the magazine, on top of all your heads you guys have a glow, kind of like a halo. Is that what you were trying to go for or what?
Tim: O no, no. It just kind of happened.
Bobby: How did that just suddenly happen?
Tim: I don’t know. We just got the cover back and that’s how it looked and we were like “cool.”
Bobby: Okay, on October 4th, you guys are re-releasing your popular album “They’re Only Chasing Safety” with four new songs and a bonus DVD. Why did you decide to re-release it?
Tim: Well, we were going to put out a DVD anyway. We started shooting for a DVD a little less than a year ago and our label came up with the idea of coupling them together and selling it for the same price as a DVD would cost, and you get the CD with the extra stuff, new artwork and the DVD.
Bobby: What’s going to be on the DVD?
Tim: There’s a bunch of stuff. There’s footage from our European tour, our headlining tour, Taste of Chaos, Warped Tour this year, a bunch of interviews with the guys. There’s us hanging out at our label, there’s just a bunch of stuff.
Bobby: Alright, it’s been over a year since “They’re Only Chasing Safety” was originally released. When do you think we’ll see a new album?
Tim: Probably May, June next year.
Bobby: Do you have any ideas as to what you’re going to do with it yet? Or is that way out there, like have you started working on songs or what?
Tim: Oh, yeah yeah. We’re working on our eight song now.
Bobby: I’ve read that you guys have done some pranks on other bands, particularly Darkest Hour and Atreyu, including wiping human waste on one tour van and sticking meat into another tour van. Have they done anything to get you back yet?
Tim: Oh, we went back and forth and got each other back, so they did a lot of stuff.
Bobby: Like what?
Tim: Well, actually, that was the last day of the tour, so we haven’t really seen each other since. But we were going back and forth. If you read the AP article, there’s tons of little stuff. They made our van look like a chicken. They put bad stuff from bad magazines all over our van. So yeah, it was crazy. There was a lot of stuff that happened.
Bobby: Have you ever gotten into any other little prank competition with any other bands?
Tim: Not really, no.
Bobby: A couple weeks ago, I was talking to a friend and he asked me what made Christian Rock bands Christian Rock bands. I tried to explain it to him, but failed miserably. What exactly makes a band be classified as a Christian Rock band?
Tim: I guess just whatever they want to be classified as. I mean, some bands are all straight-edge dudes and are straight-edge in hardcore bands but they aren’t considered a “straight-edge hardcore” band – they’re just a band. You know? And there’s a lot of bands with Christians in their band and they’re not considered a Christian band. I feel like us, as a Christian band, that’s just us kind of stating why we’re here and why we play music and why we do what we do. I guess that’s the main reason we’re on tour. We try to talk to as many kids as possible and do a lot of stuff and yeah, that’s our focus and that’s what makes us a Christian band I guess. It’s why we do it.
Bobby: One thing I’ve always wondered is about your website – it’s underoath777.com. Why the 777?
Tim: Because underoath.com was taken and we had to come up with a different name.
Bobby: Well, did 777 come out of anywhere or what?
Tim: Well, everyone refers to it as the opposite to 666. So a little bit of Christian symbolism I guess to a lot of people. So we just went with that. We figured that could be the best thing we could do.
Bobby: I was recently reading your bio on your website and it said that you guys like to get into “bat fights.” What are “bat fights?”
Tim: Um… That was a long time ago. But we used to get into fights with, particularly a band called We Are Family *PLEASE NOTE: this may not be the right name of the band, but was the closest I could make out* , with wiffle ball bats. Yeah, they were pretty crazy, we used to beat each other.
Bobby: Did anybody every get really injured from these wiffle bat fights?
Tim: Nah.
Bobby: How did they normally start up?
Tim: You know, how any other little fight starts. You just start poking at people and they start whacking back and then all of a sudden everyone’s like “ahhh!!!”
Bobby: If you could pick one person or band, dead or alive, to tour with, who would you pick to tour with and why?
Tim: Probably At The Drive-In.
Bobby: Why’s that?
Tim: Because they are probably one of the best bands that ever lived.
Bobby: Actually, the Mars Volta are playing here tomorrow night at Rexall Place across the street.
Tim: Oh really? That’s awesome!
Bobby: Yeah, that will be interesting. Now onto a bit more unusual questions I just like to ask at all my interviews to make it a bit more interesting.
Tim: Okay.
Bobby: First off, if you guys were stranded on a desert island, with no food and nothing to eat at all, which one of the band members would you eat to survive and why?
Tim: Chris, because he’s got a lot of meat on him.
Bobby: If you were a member of the opposite sex for a day, week, month, however long you wanted, what would you do and why?
Tim: What would I do? I don’t know. I’ve never seen a girl naked before so I’d probably look at myself naked in a mirror a lot and kind of examine how my whole thing works. I mean, I’ve seen them on TV, just never in real life and I’m sure it’s quite different. But yeah… I don’t know.
Bobby: Could you tell us something about the band or one of its members that not many people know about? Like something odd they do on the road or something like that?
Tim: Spencer, our singer, has a monster truck at home.
Bobby: Really? How big?
Tim: Yeah, biiiig. Like you have to like climb to get into it.
Bobby: Does he ever drive it in any of those monster tuck races?
Tim: No, no, it’s not that big, but its pretty big. *Pointing at his nose* Like the bumper starts about here.
Bobby: Yeah, that is pretty big. Okay, if you could have one thing at this moment, anything at all, what would you have and why? Like materialistic or something just like good weather outside.
Tim: A girlfriend, just because I don’t have one.
Bobby: Alright, I guess that’s about it. Do you have any final thoughts you would like to add?
Tim: Nah, just thanks a lot for doing the interview.
Bobby: Thanks a lot for doing it.