I was shaking and nervous, but beyond excited because I was going to be interviewing at least one member of the Queens NY- based rock band Bayside.They're one of my favourite bands of all time, and the band as a whole is my idol.
When their tour manager, Steve, said "I'm just gonna go get Ant then we can start the interview" my heart skipped a beat, then sped up.
I managed to keep my composure as I casually sat and spoke with Jack O' Shea, the lead guitarist, and Anthony Raneri, the vocalist and rhythm guitarist.
Who are some of your biggest influences?
Anthony: "Well we all come from different places but are rooted in underground music. Punk and hardcore."
Jack: "I remember one of the first records I ever bought was a Sex Pistols record when I was eight years old. I don't know if that's necessarily punk but definitely The Exploited, The Casualties, real punk and more mainstream punk."
A: "Yeah, Minor Threat."
J: "Black Flag"
If you could do a collaboration with any band, what band would you do it with? Disbanded or not.
A: I've always wanted to do something with Ben Folds, he's one of the best song writers around. I'm really into piano-driven stuff, especially. I spent a lot of the summer practicing, actually."
Speaking of piano driven, your tune "On Love, On Life" was written on piano.
A: "That was the first Bayside song that was ever written on piano; I played piano for the whole song."
What inspired that?
A: "I just wanted to challenge myself so I decided that I'd do something totally on piano and then figure out how to play it after I decided I'd do it."
"Landing Feet First is really Bayside's only "love song". How come?
A: "For some reason, love doesn't inspire me to write. I thrive a little more off of hardship. It inspires me lyrically a little bit more."
"Winter" is about a hardship. It still holds a special place?
A: That's probably the only song we've never played live. We wrote it and recorded it and we never played it again. That one's just for us. They're all very special but that one is definitely the closing of a book for us that we don't open again."
What does the Shudderbird represent? It ended up being your emblem (and band logo), what you're identified by.
A: "It was a logo that came up when we were doing the first record and it was just a cool little image that we thought was cool so we put it on the record cover. It was really the fans that identified it. We used it, we put it on shirts, but I think it was the fans that really got attached to it so then we were like we'll put it on banners, we'll put it on shirts. It wasn't really our call. We came up with it but the fact that it became such a big thing was (the fans)."
Bayside is a "cult" is a catch phrase used by your fans and is exhibited in your merch. How'd that come to be?
A: "Again. that's the fans. It's the really dedicated fan base that we have."
J: "We were touring all the time and we didn't do a lot of support tours so we kind of headlined a lot of shows as a band coming up and just through playing to small groups of people who kept coming back and kept coming back it felt like a much more dedicated fan base than bands that get big quick. I wouldn't describe our fans as fairweather at all."
Did you ever imagine yourself here, with such a dedicated fanbase?
A: "We really wanted that. We really set out to be the kind of band who made an impact on people and stuck around for a long time. And that was more important to us than how big we could get. I don't think we set out actually thinking that we'd be doing anything like this or playing shows in places like this. I never thought we'd be working with forklifts and cherry pickers. When we started out playing VFW halls and shitty bars I never thought that our shows would require a forklift."
Did you guys always want to be musicians?
J: "I got my first guitar when I was nine and I've been playing since then."
A: "I was nine also. For as long as I can remember, yes."
What do you guys think of Occupy Wall Street?
A: "I don't agree with it."
J: "I like the idea of it. I don't know if they're going about it the right way."
A: "I don't think they're going about it the right way. I think it's an absolute first world problem that these people are complaining about. I think they're all people who live in the most expensive biggest cities in the world who are some how affording to live in New York City and complaining about the economy and how they're not getting their fair share. I think these people are taking cues from the rebellions in Egypt and Libya and then London, had their riots a couple of months ago, and now New York City; the richest cities in the world and these people who afford to live in them are seeing people who have real gripes with their government and actually have to overthrow very repressive governments and they're getting these ideas like they have to go picket Wall Street and I kind of think it's really ridiculous actually."
What do you guys think of Steve Jobs passing?
A: "I was thinking about it yesterday about how so many massive advancements in technology and music have come from his brain that I wonder if that's gonna stop. I wonder if there is anybody to fill his shoes as far as pressing forward technologically. I don't think so. It seems like with Apple, there's the iPod and the iPhone and the MacBook and all these constant innovations every year or so. I feel we may go a couple of years before another really insane…"
J: "It's also really interesting to see who he surrounded himself with at Apple and what's going on behind the scenes so I'm sure it's not him coming in every day and going 'I got it!' I agree with you in terms of his innovations. It's a big loss."
A: "I worry that it's going to stop. But hopefully not. Hopefully…"
J: "…he's got a team of sick geniuses."
Do you guys have a favourite movie?
A: "Big Lebowski is definitely one of the most quotable movies ever."
J: "It's be hard for me to pick one favourite movie. I feel like there's a bunch of stuff that I watch all the time. I watch a ton of Monty Python stuff but that's kind of… I go away to do that. My girlfriend will definitely not let me watch Monty Python with her."
Any social issues or causes you are passionate about?
A: "My social/political gripes are more New York City-based. I'm very anti the mayor of New York. I kind of go with the flow. I think politicians and the government in general, the world is going to hand you whatever you're going to be handed and it's up to you to make the best of that. Which is why I think picketing Wall Street to try to get these billionaires and millionaires CEOS to cut paychecks to raise minimum wage from $7.50 to $8.50 is so petty. I think take what you got and figure out how to live with it."
Do you have a favourite lyric that you've written?
A: "I think the song 'Thankfully' on The Walking Wounded was probably one of my favourite lyrical song"
Can you guys describe yourselves in just three words?
J: "Guitar rock band."
A: "Honest. One word. I think everything we do is just honest."
What about personally?
J: "Regular dudes. I think it's nice to be in this band. There's not a lot of ego or weirdness. I think there's a level of honest humility in our band."
What is one song on your iPod that's a little embarrassing or unexpected?
A: "I'm not embarrassed by anything. Probably 90% of my iPod is embarrassing. Me and Chris from Saves The Day were just listening to the Muppet's Tribute right before I walked downstairs. We were just listening to the Muppet's 'Rainbow Connection' right before I came down."
J: "The only embarrassing stuff I have on my iPod is sound effect stuff that I've used for my mp3 stuff that I put into videos so I have like phone rings and stuff. I have applause on my iPod."
Anthony and Jack, two incredibly kind musicians, were humble and true. It was beyond great to have the opportunity to sit down and speak with some of my idols.