All Time Low are a pop punk band from Baltimore Maryland. Together since 2003, I can proudly say I have been a fan for years and have seen the band live numerous times.
A great growth in fan base has nearly pushed the band out of reach. Not exactly a fast track to fame but a steady and strong rise that is well deserved. Frontman, Alex Gaskarth is considered the heart throb of the band and along with Jack Barakat provide All Time Low with the personality that coupled with great musicianship is bringing them the fame. I was excited to finally have a chance to talk to him before the show in Wallingford CT
Mary Magpie: "How's it been watching your fan base grow so rapidly?"
Alex Gaskarth: "It's been amazing. We're super lucky to be growing at the pace we're growing. We've put a good amount of time into it and it's nice to see that pay off."
MM: Your latest video for 'I Feel Like Dancin'', pokes fun at the music business, showing the band as puppets to the industry. Is this music video speaking from experience?"
Gaskarth: "No, actually just the opposite. To be completely honest, we haven't really gone through that. From a creative standpoint, we've always just been allowed to do exactly what it is we want to do and write music that we want to write. It was sort of more like making fun of the stereotype and the rumours that people seem to spread about the industry, perhaps blindly sometimes. We were really trying to poke fun at that. It happens to some people, but we're lucky that it hasn't happened to us."
MM: "Where do you see yourself 10 years in the future?"
Gaskarth: "I don't even know where I see myself in 10 days. That's a really tough question to answer. I'd love to be involved in music, I would love to still be in this band. It just all depends on how everything goes. We're going to work towards making this band a career band and just keep doing it for as long as we possibly can. As long as we're still having fun we'll be at it."
MM: "What was your most embarrassing on-stage moment?"
Gaskarth: "There was a show that I completely blindly fell off stage and like banged my head and that was super embarrassing because it was right at the end of the set, and the set had gone really well and I had to knock myself out. So that was kind of a bummer."
MM: "What's your weirdest habit?"
Gaskarth: "When I'm tired or spaced out, I play with my hair. The rest of the dudes in my band always make fun of me for it."
MM: "What's been your favourite album of 2011?"
Gaskarth: "I've gotta go with the new Foo Fighters record. I think it's absolutely phenomenal. I'm a big Foo Fighters fan, and they were gone for a little while. It's nice to see them come back with a new release, they just did what they exactly needed to do on the album."
MM: "Any other albums that you really liked?"
Gaskarth: "I am superstoked on the new Every Avenue record, it just came out this week. I'm really happy for them, I think their new album is awesome, it's a great pop rock record. I hope everybody checks out that record."
MM: "What would you be doing if you weren't a musician?"
Gaskarth: "That is a great question. I don't know. Doing music was kind of the do all end all for me. I really didn't have any other aspiration at the time and I just knew that I wanted to make it work. To be honest, I'd probably out of college, working a shitty job. I didn't always know I wanted to do music, I got more into music in high school. I always sort of liked the idea of psychology so I thought of being a therapist or someone who helps other people."
MM: "You've done so many interviews, is there a question you wished that you would be asked?"
Gaskarth: "I don't think anything specifically, no. I guess that sometimes there are interviews that people don't focus on the fact that we are a band or that we write music, they're more interested in our personal lives and things like that and that always kinda bums me out but to be honest, it doesn't happen a lot."
MM: "Can you describe yourself in just three words?"
Gaskarth: "…maybe. Prince of Persia."
MM: "Favourite actor?"
Gaskarth: "I really like Daniel Craig, the guy doing the new James Bond movies."
MM: "What's an unexpected or embarrassing song on your iPod?"
Gaskarth: "Probably The Best of Hilary Duff. I'm not proud to say that I have that on my iPod, but I love it.":
We thanked the Prince of Persia, good to know one of the most up and coming frontmen in the genre isn't afraid to rock out to Hilary Duff in his spare time.