Scene Point Blank: You guys just released your third album, what was the recording process like? Dan Campbell: We went in with Steve Evetts. We had the whole thing written before we got there; every note was meticulously placed so when we got into pre production, it was supposed to be 4 or 5 days and it ended up being done in 3 days, actually two in a half. Because Steve came in and was like "okay, play me the songs." We sent him a couple of the demos and he was just like, "Oh, you guys are pretty much done aren't you?" (laughs) So he just moved a couple of drum beats around and actually made some really awesome changes on the record like the bridge on "Woke Up Older" for instance; he changed the drum feel and it changed the whole thing for me and I love it now. He was a really cool guy to work with and we recorded the record in 20 days with him. We lived in southern California which was amazing 'cause it was January and it's beautiful there. We literally finished it at the wire; If we had waited fifteen more minutes, we would have missed our flight to England and started warped tour.
Scene Point Blank: Do you find recording gets any easier with the experience you now have?
Dan Campbell: Recording never gets easier, recording is actually harder because you push yourself harder every record and we pushed ourselves very hard with that record. We did nothing, no sample replacement, no drum editing, no vocal auto tune, none of that. It was recorded as is. No after effects; if something has an effect on it, it's because we recorded it through an effects pedal. It went into the computer. It's almost recorded to tape, it's close to that. Kennedy had beaten his hands up, he was covered in blood; all his drums were covered in blood. I had sung so hard a couple of times where I ended up puking. I pushed so hard and I wanted that sound, that sound where it feels like your throat is being ripped out of your body and it's hard to do that but we did it. We went hard every day. The parts that are emotional on that record, I wanted it to sound like I was punching through a wall screaming. Actually there was one part on the record where we wanted it to sound like we dropped our instruments and walked off and a kid let us borrow his guitar that he won in a contest. There's a sound where the guitar is being thrown to the ground and we mic’d the floor so you can hear the guitar hitting the ground and the strings sorta resonate.
Scene Point Blank: Being on the road as often as you are, do you ever feel disconnected from Philadelphia?
Dan Campbell: It's weird because this year I had felt more and less connected then I ever have before because I have a house now that I live in with our bass player and our roommate Richie, who used to do merch for us. Richie owns the house and he lets me and Josh rent rooms from him which is awesome, so we live in the suburb weI grew up in. When I come home there are always people at my house and my friends are always over; we'll have BBQ's and have a good time, it's awesome. I feel really connected but then when I leave for tour, it's like I have no idea what's going on at all. Especially on Warped Tour where we work all day, the town could have burned down and I wouldn't hear about it for three days
Scene Point Blank: Has being in the Wonder Years changed your image of the music industry at all?
Dan Campbell: Yeah, actually there is this idealistic, snotty punk attitude that you go into it thinking like fuck bands like the Ready Set, fuck bands like this band. Ya know who's cool? Pretty much everybody, everyone is really cool. Also what I've learned is everyone used to be in a hardcore band and everyone loves “Through Being Cool” by Saves The Day. You find out the drummer in the Ready Set used to play drums in a metalcore band. That kind of thing happens all the time. Everyone is pretty down, people play what kind of music they want to play. Pretty much everyone on the tour has been really cool, and on other tours. The guys in Miss May I are in a metalcore and we did Australia with them; they were great, so were parkway drive. You start to learn that most people just want to make music and have fun. Very rarely are people actually dick heads.Scene Point Blank: Well thank you for speaking with me, anything else you’d like to say?
Dan Campbell: The new record is out now, Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing. Buy it, if you want to; you don't have to but if you want to. We put a lot into it, a lot of blood and vomit.
--
Photography: Ashley Sherwood
