July 17, 2020 • 34 mins
On the latest “socially distant” episode of ITS, pop punk princes Alex Gaskarth and Jack Barakat of All Time Low go deep about quarantining on a farm, their real life ‘Spinal Tap’ moment, and why their new album ‘Wake Up Sunshine’ is a throwback to their early days in a Baltimore basement.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Inside the Studio presented by h Heart Radio.
I'm your host Joe Levy. Hey, so, I hope everybody's
doing well out there, keeping safe, keeping healthy, and hearing
(00:21):
lots of great music. All of those things are the
reason that the Inside the Studio team put together this
home edition of the show to let you know how
artists are coping. Would lockdown how it's impacting their lives
and what it means to the way they make music.
Now this time out, our Quarantine correspondent Jordan run Talk
(00:43):
connected with Alex and Jack from All Time Low to
talk about their new album Wake Up Sunshine, which came
out in April around the time everybody realized Quarantine was
not going away quickly, which for these two guys men
ditching their sweatpants and picking back up their guitars. And
(01:05):
after you finished checking out this episode, be sure to
give a listen to the I Heart Radio podcast that
Jordan's hosts, Rivals Music's Greatest Feuds, which is available wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. Hello, everybody, my name
(01:32):
is Jordan run Talk, But enough about me. My guests
today first started playing rock and roll together as teenagers
in a Baltimore Basement back in two thousand three. Seventeen
years later, they are still rock and hard. They just
released their e f LP wake Up Sunshine in April,
featuring appearances by Black Bear on the band Camino. It's
a return of their roots. If you listen closely, you
can hear echoes from that Baltimore basement nearly two decades ago.
(01:55):
I uttered their name with reverence because make no mistake,
they are pop punk royalty. I am very happy. I'm
thrilled to welcome Alex and Jack from All time Low.
They quite nice on Jack's birthday, I might add, Jack's
very kind to share his birthday with us. Birthday, I
love spending it with my with my friends and people
(02:17):
who are lovely like you. Oh, I appreciate that well,
first and foremost, How the hell are you? How does
quarantine life find you today? I'm all right. I'm feeling
quite good. You know, the sun is shining um and
things could be a lot worse. So I'm I'm pretty
I'm content, honestly, like I feel like at this point quarantine,
I'm scared to go back to normal life like I'm
(02:38):
used to quarantine life. You know what I mean? Like,
that's that feels normal to I like my house now,
I like my safety bubble. Generation of agoraphone. So what
we are? Yeah, well, Alex, you're on a farm, right,
That's like I've been fifteen years in New York City.
That's the most exotic thing in the world to me. Yeah. Man, Um,
we we live out in the middle of the sticks,
(02:58):
so we're sort of like we're just surrounded by nature
and woods and uh dear ticks. But no, it's great, man,
It's it's really nice here. Uh. We are lucky and
very blessed to to sort of be in a position where, um,
the quarantine has not made our daily lives feel that
much that claustrophobic. I guess, you know, we're able to
(03:21):
get out and um, you know, get some air and
and we're like sort of in our own little safety
bubble here, which I'm very grateful for right now. But yeah,
things things are. It's fun. It's fun. We got a
bunch of animals. We got horses, we got goats, so
they keep us pretty busy, keep us on our toes.
Oh man, were any of the animals from the Sleeping
in video yours? Like the tiny horse? I wish. In fact,
(03:44):
that day, um that the day that we shot the
sleeping in video, I actually asked if the horse was
available for rescue because we were working at an animal
rescue in Nashville with the sole purpose of trying to
get that place emptied out. And obviously the horse they
do not. They do not how as many horses at
that facility, but they brought one in and I was
not sure whether or not it was one that was
(04:06):
actually up for adoption, and I did ask, but this
one had an owner, which I was dismayed to find
out because I would have taken them home. Do do
do mini horses like, do they have health issues or
they like just like a normal horse, which is smaller.
I don't know. To be honest, I don't think so.
I don't think it's like anything where they get weird
stuff that'd because that'd be is like super cute to
have one of those. And yeah, we thought about it.
We we talked about rescuing like a mini donkey or
(04:27):
a many horse, but um, it didn't. It didn't come
to pass. What's that old saying, never worked with kids
or animals where they were they well behaved on the set. Dude,
I'm honestly like the cat was not. Cats are the
hardest cats are. We've worked with cats twice on videos,
and they are very difficult because we all know how
cats can be. Um this, this show stops for the cat,
you know what I mean, Like everything suddenly the entire
(04:49):
production revolves around whether or not the cat feels like
doing the thing that it's being asked to do. And
you know, we we are not ever going to bring
any discomfort or harm or anything to the cats. So
it's really like, really, is there's no way to like
coax it into doing something. You just it either does
it or it doesn't. You just have to kind of
you just kind of have to wait to get the take. Um.
So yeah, I mean, it's it's funny. It's actually We've
(05:11):
worked with animals a lot in music videos, and in
the earlier days I didn't think twice about it and
never really worried about it. Then I got to a
point where I was becoming a little more aware of
like some of the things that these animals go through
in show business, and it made me feel a little
bit icky, and I didn't love doing it until we
came up with this premise for this sleeping in video
where um, A, the animals were wonderful to work with
(05:33):
and amazingly trained and we're under great care and be
it was for an amazing cause. It was for getting
a bunch of animals rescued, which we all in this
band feel very passionate about. So it was pretty cool.
That is awesome. How have you been feeling? Just like
I know a lot of people in quarantine. I feel
like half the people I know are feeling super creative
and productive, and then the other half are just really like,
(05:53):
what day is it? I don't know, maybe how have
you been doing? Are you? Are you feeling super creative
and productive? Um? Personally, the first three weeks of quarantine,
I went I was like, okay, this isn't how long
is this gonna last? What am I gonna do? I
decided I'm just gonna watch movies that I've wanted to
watch my whole life and haven't seen. So I made
like a list of like fifty movies and I got
like really close to hitting them all, so like it
(06:15):
was straight up just watching an insane amount of movies. Um.
And then they got to the point where I was like, okay,
we have a record coming out, because this is before
the album came out. We have a record coming out.
This may last forever, like we need to. I need
to at least personally do something that's a little more fulfilling,
or else I'm going to actually go crazy. And when
this is over, I'm gonna look back and be like,
(06:35):
did I just waste like four months of my life.
So I started taking music lessons with an old friend
and kind of, you know, going back to why I
fell in love with playing guitar in the first place.
And I started reading more and doing all these things
that I don't think I would have done without quarantine.
So yeah, began enreaching his life. Yes, learning how to cook.
I was hitting up Alex for like like cooking advice. Yeah, man,
(06:57):
you got creative in the kitchen. I was. I was
proud of you, like I had never really seen you,
uh cook much before, and then all of a sudden,
you were making these amazing looking dishes. I was. I
was like, yeah, let's go, buddy, let's go. Thank you.
What's been the most successful one? Most successful? Oh? Um,
I guess most successful tasting was this bold as my
sister gave me the recipe for which is actually bold
(07:18):
as is so easy, Like it's really easy. You just
like put a bunch of stuff in a pot and
just wait like a couple of hours. But um, it's
wait a day. It was really good. Bolonaise is always
better than next day. Yes, you gotta let it cool
down and then heat it back up. And there's something
about whatever happens in that process in the fridge overnight
just gets even tastier. You know. It's really interesting because, um,
(07:38):
I at first kind of like what Jack was saying,
Like I I kind of settled into the idea of
all right, we're stuck at home and I don't have
any responsibilities anymore, and I'm just gonna wear sweatpants and
you know, turn the lights out and close the curtains
and not leave my den. Um. And after about a
week and a half two weeks of that, I was like,
I need structure, I need something, and um, you know,
(08:01):
between all the farm stuff that we just talked about
and then like just needing some kind of creative outlet,
I think, Um, you know, I did find myself picking
up the guitar and going back to sort of these
very like almost felt like getting back to the beginning
you know, like when I would be in my room alone,
sitting on the bed, like recording demos um and just
coming up with ideas, and suddenly that started happening again.
(08:22):
And there's something very interesting about that because having been
in a band for seventeen years and having made eight
records in so many different ways, that sort of back
to basics approach is not something that we've really done
a whole lot since the early days, and so it's
it's kind of cool now full to come full circle
and um, you know, think about writing songs in a
way that is just very d i y and like,
(08:45):
you know what I was doing in high school. Well,
for Wake Up Sunshine, you guys rented a house right
like out in what Palm Desert? What was that experience
like for you? I mean that almost sounds back to
basics to me because that was the first time you've
done that since two thousand nine, right, like nothing personal? Yeah, yeah,
absolutely was back to basics for us. I mean it
we had not made an album in that way since
probably uh so wrong, It's right, if I'm being honest.
(09:07):
I mean, don't panic. We did the majority of the
record with Mike Green at his studio in California. But
the idea that all four of us were under one
roof living, uh and like eat, sleep, breathing these songs
and this music together. It was a shared experience from
the moment these songs were conceptualized to the minute we
finished recording them. And I think, yeah, it just lended
(09:28):
something so good and so pure and so like very
unique energy to the creative process because it's something that
we hadn't really tapped into for for many many years.
And I think it just refreshed us. Like it was
like hitting a reset button on the band. It kind
of made us look at everything from a different perspective again,
and it really refreshed I think our take on our
(09:49):
band and our music. I mean, just living in that
house I'm picturing like the Monkeys directed by John Hughes
or something like that. Like it seems like, what was
it like when you weren't recording working on music? Was
it fun? Yes? It was. It was very fun. It
was very comfortable. Um, a lot of you know, it
basically was like tour, but like way more comfortable because
you didn't have to wake up in a different city
every day. Um, it was a lot of you know,
(10:10):
an amazing backyard. We we made sure that if we're
going to live in a house for a month, it's
really nice. And luckily, you know, Palm Desert is not
that expensive. And um, it was about a hundred and
ten degrees out every day, so there wasn't yeah, there
wasn't too much going outside. We went during the time
of year where everybody leaves Palm Desert, so the rental
(10:31):
prices were so cheap. So yeah, we got we got
a good amount of house for for We didn't dip
too far into their record budget on that one. It
was It was smart though, and our I guess our
manager was like, oh, I'll put him in the desert
in like the middle summer, like they're not gonna go
anywhere quarantine. Really, yeah, there was no distraction because you
(10:51):
literally could not step outside of the house without the
soles of your shoes melting to How do you guys
compliment each other as as songwriters? What what does the
(11:13):
other one bring to the table? I tell Jack he's
really good looking all the time. That's how I complimented him. Yeah,
and then and then he goes in the closet and
writes the song comes out here I got it, and
I'm like, wow, I didn't help, that's crazy. Um. This
this process was really again just thinking about Wake Up Sunshine,
it was really complimentary. And I say that for between
me and Jack, but also between the other guys as well.
(11:35):
It was kind of everybody brought their strongest suit to
the table, and it was really cool having everyone at
their best throughout the process. UM. I would sort of
I'd be sitting on the couch with my iPad and
and a guitar and a microphone and sort of like
spitballing these ideas. And what was nice about that was
that at any given moment, Jack might walk through the
room or Ryan might walk through the room or Zach
(11:56):
and be like, oh, don't do that, try this, And
just that of real time feedback UM was extremely helpful
in crafting songs that felt, uh, really true to all
four of us. And I think, you know, in the past,
when it's just been me writing a full song and
then taking it to the guys, they're always going to
have input, but it's not in the moment, you know,
it's not at conception, yes, I guess, And so there's
(12:19):
something to be said for that spontaneity. Um, that I
think really shines at conception of the song. There's so
much more I guess, room for it to grow and
change and move in different directions when you're creating it,
rather than you know, going retroactively back and like being like,
let's change this chorus. Then you kind of lose that magic.
You know exactly exactly Prior to recording Wake Up Sunshine.
Know you both have been involved with other projects, Alex
(12:41):
with Simple Creatures and Jack with Who Hurt You? Was that?
Did that kind of prime the creative pumping away for
All Time Load? Did it kind of like flush out
some of these other ideas and make you see things
in a completely fresh and new way for your next
project together as a band? Yeah, totally. I mean I
for me personally, it was in a way for me
to get some things out that I don't think would
have fit the mold of All Time Low as well.
(13:03):
You know, um, we're always gonna write for ourselves. But
at the same time, you know, seventeen years into a career,
you have to recognize that there's a bit of a
brand and uh, you don't want to completely alienate everyone
that listens to you. Um, So it's like you know,
we've always been given a pretty wide lane by our
fans to work in, Like, even when we've tried kind
of more absurd, off the wall different ideas, our fan
(13:25):
base has come along for the ride, which is very gratifying.
But you know, for me, Simple Creatures was a means
to be a little more out there and try some
unusual things. Mark was in the same boat. We both
wanted to explore some stuff that was not, uh in
any way kind of reflective of our other bands. Um.
And so you know, it just allowed us to scratch
(13:45):
an itch. And I think that gives you perspective when
you come back around to work on the main baby,
because then you're like, all right, well I got this
stuff out of the way. I don't need to try
and force that into you know, I don't need to
try and force a square into a circle here. Um
And uh, it also just gave me a lot of
you know, a lot of new tricks for the album. Um.
That really helped out. And I think, you know, I
(14:06):
don't want to speak for Jack, but as an observation
I made was that you know, Jack going and doing
who Hurt You was like I think his writing chops
just upgraded tremendously. I remember the first time Jack came in,
you know, and we were starting to work on Wake
Up Sunshine, it was just like, who is this guy?
Who is this guy? Get? It gave me a new confidence,
you know, to to kind of say something. You know,
(14:27):
it's it's like learning a new skill and kind of
giving you the confidence to to to give input, you know,
and and and not and be okay with hearing. People
would be like, no, I don't like that, or I
like that, you know what I mean. But um, I
think it was important for when I was did the
Simple Creatures thing. I think it was really important at
least to me, Ryan and Zach for us to support
him because you know, he was also starting a side
(14:48):
project with you know, pretty much the reason why we
started playing music, you know, with with Mark oppis so
that I think we felt, you know, really good about
because you know, we were we were like, we're letting
our boy go with our with our dad, you know,
with his new dad, like learn learned from him, and
and yes, that was really cool. I mean not the
(15:09):
totally famboy up, but like, does it did it ever
start to feel normal working with you know, your hero
Mark Office. To be honest, yes, it did actually normalize.
You know, I'll say this, I feel really lucky that
I got to know Mark over many years and that
we did not work together until him and I were
very much like friends first. Um. I think if he
(15:31):
had come to me before meeting me like years ago
and be like, hey, you want to work on something,
I would have just been sitting there like with my
mouth hanging open, being like whatever you say, Mark, Yeah,
I love everything you do. Um. And you know it's
that would not have been that would not have made
for a good or interesting project. I think. So the
fact that like you know, we we're friends, and uh,
(15:52):
it was amazing to be able to kind of sit
down and work creatively on something together because we tried
so many times in the past. We had like we've
written songs but for All Time, a little four that
didn't end up seeing the light of day, and we
collaborated on a couple of tracks together, you know, Tidal
Waves for All Time Low. He came and sang on that,
And so there's always been these moments of creativity with
Mark and I and and we always sort of like
never fully you know, punched through that wall and uh yeah,
(16:15):
Simple Creatures just kind of was the culmination of many
years of like trying, yeah, to get it to happen.
I don't know if you would have had the confidence,
like ten years ago to be like, I don't like
that verse he would have been like, it's hard to
get to a point where, like someone who inspired you
to to be in music to begin with, you can
sit down in a room and be like, dude, I
think that kind of sucks, you know what I mean,
Like you have to have that, You have to have
(16:37):
that on its back and forth, and and we have
that now, which is good, Like we can keep each other,
we can compliment each other rather than just be um,
you know, like rather than me being there like we're
not we're really. So you have this new record ready
to go, Wake Up Sunshine. It's it's upbeat, it's refreshed,
fifteen tracks, and then Corona hits touring and release plans,
(16:57):
I'll go out the window. A lot of acts like
Lady Gaga and I think the N seventy five actually
delay their albums. What made you decide to to go
ahead and release yours? We actually made this record knowing
that the whole world was going to shut down just
um we yeah, like it's it's absolutely insane. I don't
think anyone, uh could have possibly anticipated how this the
(17:20):
whole thing was gonna go. We we really just found
found that the idea of not putting out the music
would be doing a disservice to our fans who were
ready for it. You know, we had already announced that
it was coming out music out as this was happening.
Everything was sort of starting to shut down, and we
had that conversation like two weeks out with the label
and everything, like do we push back, do we delay this,
do we wait? And it's just the more we thought
(17:43):
about it, the more we felt like it would be
kind of selling everybody short. Like this was this was
an album that you know, made us feel really good
and really excited and felt like kind of therapeutic and
cathartic for us to make it, and so maybe some
of that would shine through in the music for people
in a really tough time. And uh, we we just
decided that it was the move to put it out
and to let our fans enjoy it and hopefully have
(18:05):
it be sort of a safety net in all of this.
Looking back, I'm happy we stuck to our guns because
you know, we released a song in January and then
a song in February, and then March came around. If
we would have you know, delayed the record a couple
of months, you know, then those songs and the whole
and the whole kind of anticipate anticipation for the record
kind of dies in my opinion. So I think it's
(18:26):
important that we stuck to to what we we felt
in our gut was the best decision. And yeah, I'm
happy we did that because you know, people had something
new to listen to, you know, throughout all this. Yeah,
people need stuff to look forward to. How have you
been connecting the fans in the midst of all this?
We have tried a myriad of things, you know, every
everything we could think of that's that's physically possible, uh,
(18:48):
in the current state of it all, Um, I mean,
zoom calls have been huge. We've done concerts exactly what
we're doing here, but with three hundred fans all at once,
UM playing some songs for them. We've been doing like
weekly live streams which have been pretty incredible. UM. Jack
and I actually kind of dug our podcast from out
(19:10):
of the Grave and renamed it and rebranded it, and
we're doing it a slightly different way now. We sort
of live stream recorded and then it comes out as
a podcast later. And that's been a really cool way
for us to sort of connect with people in a
way that's not just music focus, because obviously, you know,
our music is a huge part of it, and and
that's out there now, that's living out there in the world.
But the other part of it, for us and and
for our band especially, I feel like it's always been
(19:32):
our personal connection with the fan base, and so for
us to be able to reach out and connect with
people through the podcast Crushed Us Live and through these streams, uh,
it kind of feels like being there in real life,
which is the one thing that's missing from from our
lives right now. Obviously you can't tour, and I'm sure
that's incredibly painful. So to try to help with the pain,
I'm gonna ask you this question, what was your biggest
(19:53):
most spinal tap like toward disaster ever, concert disaster ever?
I mean to be on us there, We've had a
very real spinal tap moment before where we were It
was during the filming of our Wembley Live Show. It
was part of our DVD UM It was one of
our biggest headliners shows to date at that point in
(20:14):
our career, and we were filming it all live and
there was this moment in the show where I come
off the main stage and have to run through the
inner workings of Wembley Arena to get to front of
house to do a song acoustic, and I literally had
that moment from spinal Tap where we took one one
wrong turn and we were suddenly in this like labyrinth
(20:37):
of hundred year old halways, halways with tiny doors and
some were locked and some were not, and we would
open one and there'd be like a person cleaning or
changing or like making food for everyone that knows anyone
know how to get to the front of house. And
the whole thing was like before the show that you know,
this was all being shot live, and it was like
(20:58):
very expressly stated to me, it's like, Okay, there's one
thing we can edit, we can clean things up, don't worry.
One thing that really needs to hit on time is
your queue getting to that center's day videos and everything
lined up and the funny part they had to flip
all the cameras around and everything, and it was just
like instead of having like a professional like security your
bodyguard who had like like figured out the route before,
(21:20):
we had like our buddies, like our buddy Steve doing it.
He's like our friend from high school. He's just like, yeah,
I think it's this way. Like so I'm just I'm
just tearing tearing butt around backstage at Wembley for a good,
probably a very long feeling two minutes. It really wasn't
that long in actuality, but that two minutes really dragged
(21:43):
when it was supposed to be thirty seconds. Well, now
I'll go to the opposite question. What was the most
incredible on stage moment that you can remember? Um, it's
gotta be manny, I mean in a weird way. Probably
that show too, that that show was so like pivotal
for us, um Jack, I think I was gonna say, um,
so too. I think it was two years ago they
did the end of Warp Tour, like the last Warp Tour,
(22:06):
and they invited us to play a couple of the
California dates. You know, Warp Tour is pretty instrumental in
all Time Loaves. I guess everything really, you know, we've
been doing it since we're like seventeen, and so you
know it's gonna be a really cool moment for us.
We knew and you know, really cool to be a
part of. And so they put us last on the
San Francisco Warp Tour date on the main stage. And
(22:26):
that was the day that because of the venue, it
was in the Amphitheater, you know, so it was in
like this mountaine mountain mountain view amphathe you know, which
is like you know, fift people and goes up like that.
And so we closed out the stage and we closed
that Warp Tour that day, and everyone was in there
because we're the only band playing and all the bands
were behind us on stage, and it was just this
whole crazy moment for us to like, you know, I
(22:47):
like almost started crying on stage. I was like tearing
up and it was just very emotional and you know,
one of those like you know, this is where we
started and now it's ending kind of thing. Yeah, that
was that was a very incredible moment. I mean to
like you said, to have the Amphitheater was full of fans.
I think the whole everyone that was there that day
went into the Emphatheater to watch his play and um
so it was packed out front. But then uh yeah
(23:09):
too pretty much what felt like also the entire tour
was behind us on the stage watching aliment everything. It
was just it was a really special moment. And it
was yeah, like Jack said, the fact that that's where
we sort of got our our start to then sort
of be able to close out that date that way
with everybody. And you know, so many of the staff
on that tour had been there for years and so
(23:31):
there were people that we we hadn't played Warp tour
for years at that point, but like to go back
and see a bunch of old friends that we had
toured with uh in years past and things like that.
It was it was really really special. Oh man, it's
gonna be moments like that. You gotta think, like it's
a long way from the basement. Yeah, yeah, it's we
have so many of those moments. It's mind blowing. It
really is. Well, speaking to your early days. One of
(24:05):
my favorite songs on your new album's Basement Noise. I
just think that's just really throws it back. Tell me
a little bit about those early days. What does that
song mean to you? We had never really reflected in
a song about our earliest memories of a band, of
being the band you know, and like it. It was
cool the way that song came to be because Jack
and I had spent most of the day working on
(24:26):
another song in the studio with with Zach Servini, our producer,
and it was probably like two in the morning, and uh,
we sort of hit a wall with this other song
we were working on, and we were like, look, we
gotta get something even though it's late, even though we're
tired and we're burned out, we gotta get something tonight
to walk away with. It's like a success, a win um.
And so we we shut down that old session and
(24:47):
opened up a new one and started writing what would
become Basement Noise, And like, Jack and I were sort
of working on the lyrics, and as we were writing,
we realized that it was this like self reflective story
of how him and I met up in got together
and started writing songs for the first time, and and
Ryan's basement. It was a really cool way to sort
of reflect on that and pay tribute to the fact that, uh,
(25:11):
we sort of we're making this record in a very
organic way that was very reminiscent of the way we
made records back then. What were your goals back then
in the basement, Like, what were you looking towards? We
played these shows locally, were like at a church hall,
and it was basically about like being the band had
the biggest crowd, you know, like bringing like the most
kids from your high school to come. So we're very
(25:31):
much like trying to like I feel like impressed girls,
you know, like the same thing everyone started, the same
reason why everyone starts a band is to impress the
girl or a guy. I feel like in the beginning,
at least for us, that's that's personally what a lot
of that was like that, I mean's high school, you
know what I mean. You know you're not like, oh,
we're gonna go out and tour and make money, Like, no,
that's not really what you're thinking about. Yeah, we certainly
(25:52):
were thinking about money. We were like, if anything, we
were losing money, but like you know, losing our parents
money rather exactly cutting grass to go play shows on
the weekend is pretty much what it came down to.
But um, yeah, we were like, you know it was
back then. It was really Uh, I felt like we
were very lucky because in Baltimore there was this really
(26:12):
budding local scene at the time. Um, there were a
few bands that were a little bit older than us,
like a band called a Delphi comes to mind, who
sort of got signed to drive Through Records. Drive Through Records,
which at the time was like a really impactful label
from our scene, and um, you know they they sort
of set the tone for bands in our area to
(26:32):
sort of aspire for that next level. Good Charlotte sorry interrupt.
Good Charlotte was kind of like the first we're like,
we're like, oh shoot, we can do this. Oh yeah,
I mean, but there was definitely a Good Charlotte was
definitely a huge one. They were they were sort of
they were kind of already on their way to being
largely successful before we kind of start having any kind
(26:53):
of significance. But like they definitely set the path and
and set the goal for us to be like, Okay,
there's more out there than just playing the one local
venue that we have here or whatever. It was kind
of like, let's start reaching out to bands in Pennsylvania
and New Jersey and New York and trying to drive
a few hours to play some shows at these other
vfws and other church halls and um, get in front
(27:16):
of people, and that I think is what instilled in
us the idea that it could work. When people started
to come see us from far away or what felt
like far away, then, um, it made things much more real. Man,
you guys should run some like band team building workshops
or something like what's been keeping like the inter band
dynamics so strong after like all this time, you guys
(27:36):
seem like the bestest friends. It's incredible. Good question. Um.
I mean, I think the biggest thing that I always
pay attention to with our band, and I'm very grateful for,
is that we really treat it like a family. We
treat each other like family. It's you know, there's never
it's not one of those things where when there's a disagreement,
the like three of us go, let's getting up on
(27:57):
that one person to make them feel terrible for having
an idea. You know. It's always been about respecting everyone's
thoughts and feelings and checking in and making sure that
everybody everyone feels spoken for and heard. Um. And I
think at the end of the day, when it comes
down to is just nobody's let their ego get in
the way ever, really it's never been about one of us.
It's always been about the four of us, which because
(28:17):
without one of us, this doesn't feel like all time low.
So yeah, I think I think we've just always looked
out for each other and made sure that everybody's in
like a good mental space throughout all of it. And
and yeah, just we just always check in and treat
each other like the brothers that we are at this point.
I think it's because of our roots. You know, we can't.
We grew up together, we went to high school together,
we grew up knowing each other's parents. And I think
(28:39):
because we built like this high school kind of groundwork
in you know, it made going through life and the
success and they're not there, no success, and every the
ups and downs, it made it all so much easier.
I'm telling you, banned team building zoom conference calls. Let's go,
it would work, Let's do it. It's so great. I mean,
do you guys keep in touch a lot when you're
not torn? Like, what's your group chat call? I gotta ask,
(29:01):
we got a couple we have? Which one? We have
so many? So the one from the one from the
creative process of wake Wake up Sunshine is called analog warmth. Boys. Um,
it's because we started referring to everything we were doing
on the record is analog warmth, even though I don't
think anything we did on the record was actually analog.
(29:23):
We have we have a group chat that we started
for Alex's bachelor party, like six years ago. You've been
married for a couple of years and it's still going strong.
And that's that's all of us banning crew. Yeah, that's
a good one. Um, we do have a tour one
that fires up every now and then. Obviously, like we're
not on tour right now, but um, a lot of
our crew members are still active crew members for us
when we do eventually get back on the road. So
there's that one, and every now, every now and then,
(29:44):
someone will fire into that one being like what is
your guys? So yeah, there's there's a lot aside from
not being able tour. What's been the hardest thing about
Quarantine for you? Um, I've loved it. I mean I've
loved it other than other than not touring, it's been great. Um,
it's been tough. I don't know. I mean, look, I
I feel really really lucky that the worst of it
(30:06):
for me and my family has been that we're bored,
you know what I mean, Like, I think there's so
many people out there that are really in a bad
way because of everything that's going on, um, be it
financially or or career wise, or health wise or whatever.
You know. Like I I continue to feel that, uh,
we are very very lucky to be in a position
(30:26):
where the worst that we have is just a bit
of boredom. Um. You know. Obviously, like I I hate
not being able to see like friends and family as
much as I would like to. Uh, you know, like
my I have a family member who is you know, compromised,
so like it keeps me from seeing them often and regularly,
and I have to be really careful. Um, So that
part is obviously not ideal, but like you know, it's
(30:47):
it's been fairly manageable for for me personally. And and
you know, I've just been enjoying the time at home
with family because a lot of the time we don't
get that we're out on the road of the year
most years. So this has been like the one positive
thing to come from this, I think is that we've
gotten a little extra bonus time with our friends and
(31:07):
family at home. But that being said, I also really
miss being on tour like so much with the guys.
We haven't we haven't played shows because we you know,
we haven't toured in I don't know two years now,
and like this was supposed to be our year back
to tour, So really missing a tory. I know it's
very early days on the music are working on, but
what can you tell us about it so far? About
(31:28):
new music? Um? Well, I mean we've already had conversations
about the fact that, you know, we put an album
out during a time that we can't be out there
promoting it and playing it for people. So by the
time all of this is behind us, um it may
be time to put out more music, you know what
I mean? Like that could that could be a reality,
(31:49):
And that's a reality that we've never really had to
deal with before. So we're already having those conversations of like,
all right, when can we get back in the studio
and start cooking up some more fresh ideas so that
when things open back up and we can get out
there and play music, it still feels fresh and it
still feels new for people. Um. So, I mean, it's
it's very preliminary right now, because obviously we're still kind
(32:10):
of uh, really excited about Wake Up Sunshine. But I think,
you know, sooner than later, there will most likely be
the four of us in a room again trying to
make some new music. Yeah. Now that we know that,
you know, writing together with the people that we wrote
with and made the record, and we know how successful
it was, you know personally in you know, with our
fan base, I think that we're going to kind of
(32:30):
get back to to that and see see what comes out. Yeah,
there's more, there's more to tap into in that process.
I think you know it was. It was a really
refreshing one for us, and I think there's there's more
that it can offer us creatively. So it was a
hypothetical fantasy, epathetically, snap your fingers pandemics over what's the
first thing you do? Just that that person you hug,
think you go do trip you want to take? What
(32:52):
is it? Man? I would give my parents a big
kiss because I've been I've been like every time I
sort of see them, it's like the weird half hug thing.
We're like, oh, we're being careful. Um. So I'd give
my parents a big kiss, um, and then I would
probably I would air being be another house somewhere, maybe
back in Palm Desert, and I would fly all of
you guys in and Zach Sarvini and we'd we'd make
(33:15):
some more music together. I we're supposed to be on
Sad Summer Festion, which is a summer tour we're gonna do,
so I'd probably go straight to that. Fire it up.
That's a good one. When we moved it to next summer,
which is going to be great, but I'll just push
it another year forward. Yeah, move it back and exactly.
Oh Man, Alex Jack, thank you so much for tech
(33:38):
the time. It's been a real pleasure talking to you.
Ye man, thanks for having us. Thank you. Jordan's appreciate it.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio
home edition of production of I Heart Radio. For more
episodes of Inside the Studio and other shows from my
(34:00):
Heart Radio, check out the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome to Inside the Studio presented by h Heart Radio.
I'm your host Joe Levy. Hey, so, I hope everybody's
doing well out there, keeping safe, keeping healthy, and hearing
(00:21):
lots of great music. All of those things are the
reason that the Inside the Studio team put together this
home edition of the show to let you know how
artists are coping. Would lockdown how it's impacting their lives
and what it means to the way they make music.
Now this time out, our Quarantine correspondent Jordan run Talk
(00:43):
connected with Alex and Jack from All Time Low to
talk about their new album Wake Up Sunshine, which came
out in April around the time everybody realized Quarantine was
not going away quickly, which for these two guys men
ditching their sweatpants and picking back up their guitars. And
(01:05):
after you finished checking out this episode, be sure to
give a listen to the I Heart Radio podcast that
Jordan's hosts, Rivals Music's Greatest Feuds, which is available wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. Hello, everybody, my name
(01:32):
is Jordan run Talk, But enough about me. My guests
today first started playing rock and roll together as teenagers
in a Baltimore Basement back in two thousand three. Seventeen
years later, they are still rock and hard. They just
released their e f LP wake Up Sunshine in April,
featuring appearances by Black Bear on the band Camino. It's
a return of their roots. If you listen closely, you
can hear echoes from that Baltimore basement nearly two decades ago.
(01:55):
I uttered their name with reverence because make no mistake,
they are pop punk royalty. I am very happy. I'm
thrilled to welcome Alex and Jack from All time Low.
They quite nice on Jack's birthday, I might add, Jack's
very kind to share his birthday with us. Birthday, I
love spending it with my with my friends and people
(02:17):
who are lovely like you. Oh, I appreciate that well,
first and foremost, How the hell are you? How does
quarantine life find you today? I'm all right. I'm feeling
quite good. You know, the sun is shining um and
things could be a lot worse. So I'm I'm pretty
I'm content, honestly, like I feel like at this point quarantine,
I'm scared to go back to normal life like I'm
(02:38):
used to quarantine life. You know what I mean? Like,
that's that feels normal to I like my house now,
I like my safety bubble. Generation of agoraphone. So what
we are? Yeah, well, Alex, you're on a farm, right,
That's like I've been fifteen years in New York City.
That's the most exotic thing in the world to me. Yeah. Man, Um,
we we live out in the middle of the sticks,
(02:58):
so we're sort of like we're just surrounded by nature
and woods and uh dear ticks. But no, it's great, man,
It's it's really nice here. Uh. We are lucky and
very blessed to to sort of be in a position where, um,
the quarantine has not made our daily lives feel that
much that claustrophobic. I guess, you know, we're able to
(03:21):
get out and um, you know, get some air and
and we're like sort of in our own little safety
bubble here, which I'm very grateful for right now. But yeah,
things things are. It's fun. It's fun. We got a
bunch of animals. We got horses, we got goats, so
they keep us pretty busy, keep us on our toes.
Oh man, were any of the animals from the Sleeping
in video yours? Like the tiny horse? I wish. In fact,
(03:44):
that day, um that the day that we shot the
sleeping in video, I actually asked if the horse was
available for rescue because we were working at an animal
rescue in Nashville with the sole purpose of trying to
get that place emptied out. And obviously the horse they
do not. They do not how as many horses at
that facility, but they brought one in and I was
not sure whether or not it was one that was
(04:06):
actually up for adoption, and I did ask, but this
one had an owner, which I was dismayed to find
out because I would have taken them home. Do do
do mini horses like, do they have health issues or
they like just like a normal horse, which is smaller.
I don't know. To be honest, I don't think so.
I don't think it's like anything where they get weird
stuff that'd because that'd be is like super cute to
have one of those. And yeah, we thought about it.
We we talked about rescuing like a mini donkey or
(04:27):
a many horse, but um, it didn't. It didn't come
to pass. What's that old saying, never worked with kids
or animals where they were they well behaved on the set. Dude,
I'm honestly like the cat was not. Cats are the
hardest cats are. We've worked with cats twice on videos,
and they are very difficult because we all know how
cats can be. Um this, this show stops for the cat,
you know what I mean, Like everything suddenly the entire
(04:49):
production revolves around whether or not the cat feels like
doing the thing that it's being asked to do. And
you know, we we are not ever going to bring
any discomfort or harm or anything to the cats. So
it's really like, really, is there's no way to like
coax it into doing something. You just it either does
it or it doesn't. You just have to kind of
you just kind of have to wait to get the take. Um.
So yeah, I mean, it's it's funny. It's actually We've
(05:11):
worked with animals a lot in music videos, and in
the earlier days I didn't think twice about it and
never really worried about it. Then I got to a
point where I was becoming a little more aware of
like some of the things that these animals go through
in show business, and it made me feel a little
bit icky, and I didn't love doing it until we
came up with this premise for this sleeping in video
where um, A, the animals were wonderful to work with
(05:33):
and amazingly trained and we're under great care and be
it was for an amazing cause. It was for getting
a bunch of animals rescued, which we all in this
band feel very passionate about. So it was pretty cool.
That is awesome. How have you been feeling? Just like
I know a lot of people in quarantine. I feel
like half the people I know are feeling super creative
and productive, and then the other half are just really like,
(05:53):
what day is it? I don't know, maybe how have
you been doing? Are you? Are you feeling super creative
and productive? Um? Personally, the first three weeks of quarantine,
I went I was like, okay, this isn't how long
is this gonna last? What am I gonna do? I
decided I'm just gonna watch movies that I've wanted to
watch my whole life and haven't seen. So I made
like a list of like fifty movies and I got
like really close to hitting them all, so like it
(06:15):
was straight up just watching an insane amount of movies. Um.
And then they got to the point where I was like, okay,
we have a record coming out, because this is before
the album came out. We have a record coming out.
This may last forever, like we need to. I need
to at least personally do something that's a little more fulfilling,
or else I'm going to actually go crazy. And when
this is over, I'm gonna look back and be like,
(06:35):
did I just waste like four months of my life.
So I started taking music lessons with an old friend
and kind of, you know, going back to why I
fell in love with playing guitar in the first place.
And I started reading more and doing all these things
that I don't think I would have done without quarantine.
So yeah, began enreaching his life. Yes, learning how to cook.
I was hitting up Alex for like like cooking advice. Yeah, man,
(06:57):
you got creative in the kitchen. I was. I was
proud of you, like I had never really seen you,
uh cook much before, and then all of a sudden,
you were making these amazing looking dishes. I was. I
was like, yeah, let's go, buddy, let's go. Thank you.
What's been the most successful one? Most successful? Oh? Um,
I guess most successful tasting was this bold as my
sister gave me the recipe for which is actually bold
(07:18):
as is so easy, Like it's really easy. You just
like put a bunch of stuff in a pot and
just wait like a couple of hours. But um, it's
wait a day. It was really good. Bolonaise is always
better than next day. Yes, you gotta let it cool
down and then heat it back up. And there's something
about whatever happens in that process in the fridge overnight
just gets even tastier. You know. It's really interesting because, um,
(07:38):
I at first kind of like what Jack was saying,
Like I I kind of settled into the idea of
all right, we're stuck at home and I don't have
any responsibilities anymore, and I'm just gonna wear sweatpants and
you know, turn the lights out and close the curtains
and not leave my den. Um. And after about a
week and a half two weeks of that, I was like,
I need structure, I need something, and um, you know,
(08:01):
between all the farm stuff that we just talked about
and then like just needing some kind of creative outlet,
I think, Um, you know, I did find myself picking
up the guitar and going back to sort of these
very like almost felt like getting back to the beginning
you know, like when I would be in my room alone,
sitting on the bed, like recording demos um and just
coming up with ideas, and suddenly that started happening again.
(08:22):
And there's something very interesting about that because having been
in a band for seventeen years and having made eight
records in so many different ways, that sort of back
to basics approach is not something that we've really done
a whole lot since the early days, and so it's
it's kind of cool now full to come full circle
and um, you know, think about writing songs in a
way that is just very d i y and like,
(08:45):
you know what I was doing in high school. Well,
for Wake Up Sunshine, you guys rented a house right
like out in what Palm Desert? What was that experience
like for you? I mean that almost sounds back to
basics to me because that was the first time you've
done that since two thousand nine, right, like nothing personal? Yeah, yeah,
absolutely was back to basics for us. I mean it
we had not made an album in that way since
probably uh so wrong, It's right, if I'm being honest.
(09:07):
I mean, don't panic. We did the majority of the
record with Mike Green at his studio in California. But
the idea that all four of us were under one
roof living, uh and like eat, sleep, breathing these songs
and this music together. It was a shared experience from
the moment these songs were conceptualized to the minute we
finished recording them. And I think, yeah, it just lended
(09:28):
something so good and so pure and so like very
unique energy to the creative process because it's something that
we hadn't really tapped into for for many many years.
And I think it just refreshed us. Like it was
like hitting a reset button on the band. It kind
of made us look at everything from a different perspective again,
and it really refreshed I think our take on our
(09:49):
band and our music. I mean, just living in that
house I'm picturing like the Monkeys directed by John Hughes
or something like that. Like it seems like, what was
it like when you weren't recording working on music? Was
it fun? Yes? It was. It was very fun. It
was very comfortable. Um, a lot of you know, it
basically was like tour, but like way more comfortable because
you didn't have to wake up in a different city
every day. Um, it was a lot of you know,
(10:10):
an amazing backyard. We we made sure that if we're
going to live in a house for a month, it's
really nice. And luckily, you know, Palm Desert is not
that expensive. And um, it was about a hundred and
ten degrees out every day, so there wasn't yeah, there
wasn't too much going outside. We went during the time
of year where everybody leaves Palm Desert, so the rental
(10:31):
prices were so cheap. So yeah, we got we got
a good amount of house for for We didn't dip
too far into their record budget on that one. It
was It was smart though, and our I guess our
manager was like, oh, I'll put him in the desert
in like the middle summer, like they're not gonna go
anywhere quarantine. Really, yeah, there was no distraction because you
(10:51):
literally could not step outside of the house without the
soles of your shoes melting to How do you guys
compliment each other as as songwriters? What what does the
(11:13):
other one bring to the table? I tell Jack he's
really good looking all the time. That's how I complimented him. Yeah,
and then and then he goes in the closet and
writes the song comes out here I got it, and
I'm like, wow, I didn't help, that's crazy. Um. This
this process was really again just thinking about Wake Up Sunshine,
it was really complimentary. And I say that for between
me and Jack, but also between the other guys as well.
(11:35):
It was kind of everybody brought their strongest suit to
the table, and it was really cool having everyone at
their best throughout the process. UM. I would sort of
I'd be sitting on the couch with my iPad and
and a guitar and a microphone and sort of like
spitballing these ideas. And what was nice about that was
that at any given moment, Jack might walk through the
room or Ryan might walk through the room or Zach
(11:56):
and be like, oh, don't do that, try this, And
just that of real time feedback UM was extremely helpful
in crafting songs that felt, uh, really true to all
four of us. And I think, you know, in the past,
when it's just been me writing a full song and
then taking it to the guys, they're always going to
have input, but it's not in the moment, you know,
it's not at conception, yes, I guess, And so there's
(12:19):
something to be said for that spontaneity. Um, that I
think really shines at conception of the song. There's so
much more I guess, room for it to grow and
change and move in different directions when you're creating it,
rather than you know, going retroactively back and like being like,
let's change this chorus. Then you kind of lose that magic.
You know exactly exactly Prior to recording Wake Up Sunshine.
Know you both have been involved with other projects, Alex
(12:41):
with Simple Creatures and Jack with Who Hurt You? Was that?
Did that kind of prime the creative pumping away for
All Time Load? Did it kind of like flush out
some of these other ideas and make you see things
in a completely fresh and new way for your next
project together as a band? Yeah, totally. I mean I
for me personally, it was in a way for me
to get some things out that I don't think would
have fit the mold of All Time Low as well.
(13:03):
You know, um, we're always gonna write for ourselves. But
at the same time, you know, seventeen years into a career,
you have to recognize that there's a bit of a
brand and uh, you don't want to completely alienate everyone
that listens to you. Um, So it's like you know,
we've always been given a pretty wide lane by our
fans to work in, Like, even when we've tried kind
of more absurd, off the wall different ideas, our fan
(13:25):
base has come along for the ride, which is very gratifying.
But you know, for me, Simple Creatures was a means
to be a little more out there and try some
unusual things. Mark was in the same boat. We both
wanted to explore some stuff that was not, uh in
any way kind of reflective of our other bands. Um.
And so you know, it just allowed us to scratch
(13:45):
an itch. And I think that gives you perspective when
you come back around to work on the main baby,
because then you're like, all right, well I got this
stuff out of the way. I don't need to try
and force that into you know, I don't need to
try and force a square into a circle here. Um
And uh, it also just gave me a lot of
you know, a lot of new tricks for the album. Um.
That really helped out. And I think, you know, I
(14:06):
don't want to speak for Jack, but as an observation
I made was that you know, Jack going and doing
who Hurt You was like I think his writing chops
just upgraded tremendously. I remember the first time Jack came in,
you know, and we were starting to work on Wake
Up Sunshine, it was just like, who is this guy?
Who is this guy? Get? It gave me a new confidence,
you know, to to kind of say something. You know,
(14:27):
it's it's like learning a new skill and kind of
giving you the confidence to to to give input, you know,
and and and not and be okay with hearing. People
would be like, no, I don't like that, or I
like that, you know what I mean. But um, I
think it was important for when I was did the
Simple Creatures thing. I think it was really important at
least to me, Ryan and Zach for us to support
him because you know, he was also starting a side
(14:48):
project with you know, pretty much the reason why we
started playing music, you know, with with Mark oppis so
that I think we felt, you know, really good about
because you know, we were we were like, we're letting
our boy go with our with our dad, you know,
with his new dad, like learn learned from him, and
and yes, that was really cool. I mean not the
(15:09):
totally famboy up, but like, does it did it ever
start to feel normal working with you know, your hero
Mark Office. To be honest, yes, it did actually normalize.
You know, I'll say this, I feel really lucky that
I got to know Mark over many years and that
we did not work together until him and I were
very much like friends first. Um. I think if he
(15:31):
had come to me before meeting me like years ago
and be like, hey, you want to work on something,
I would have just been sitting there like with my
mouth hanging open, being like whatever you say, Mark, Yeah,
I love everything you do. Um. And you know it's
that would not have been that would not have made
for a good or interesting project. I think. So the
fact that like you know, we we're friends, and uh,
(15:52):
it was amazing to be able to kind of sit
down and work creatively on something together because we tried
so many times in the past. We had like we've
written songs but for All Time, a little four that
didn't end up seeing the light of day, and we
collaborated on a couple of tracks together, you know, Tidal
Waves for All Time Low. He came and sang on that,
And so there's always been these moments of creativity with
Mark and I and and we always sort of like
never fully you know, punched through that wall and uh yeah,
(16:15):
Simple Creatures just kind of was the culmination of many
years of like trying, yeah, to get it to happen.
I don't know if you would have had the confidence,
like ten years ago to be like, I don't like
that verse he would have been like, it's hard to
get to a point where, like someone who inspired you
to to be in music to begin with, you can
sit down in a room and be like, dude, I
think that kind of sucks, you know what I mean,
Like you have to have that, You have to have
(16:37):
that on its back and forth, and and we have
that now, which is good, Like we can keep each other,
we can compliment each other rather than just be um,
you know, like rather than me being there like we're
not we're really. So you have this new record ready
to go, Wake Up Sunshine. It's it's upbeat, it's refreshed,
fifteen tracks, and then Corona hits touring and release plans,
(16:57):
I'll go out the window. A lot of acts like
Lady Gaga and I think the N seventy five actually
delay their albums. What made you decide to to go
ahead and release yours? We actually made this record knowing
that the whole world was going to shut down just
um we yeah, like it's it's absolutely insane. I don't
think anyone, uh could have possibly anticipated how this the
(17:20):
whole thing was gonna go. We we really just found
found that the idea of not putting out the music
would be doing a disservice to our fans who were
ready for it. You know, we had already announced that
it was coming out music out as this was happening.
Everything was sort of starting to shut down, and we
had that conversation like two weeks out with the label
and everything, like do we push back, do we delay this,
do we wait? And it's just the more we thought
(17:43):
about it, the more we felt like it would be
kind of selling everybody short. Like this was this was
an album that you know, made us feel really good
and really excited and felt like kind of therapeutic and
cathartic for us to make it, and so maybe some
of that would shine through in the music for people
in a really tough time. And uh, we we just
decided that it was the move to put it out
and to let our fans enjoy it and hopefully have
(18:05):
it be sort of a safety net in all of this.
Looking back, I'm happy we stuck to our guns because
you know, we released a song in January and then
a song in February, and then March came around. If
we would have you know, delayed the record a couple
of months, you know, then those songs and the whole
and the whole kind of anticipate anticipation for the record
kind of dies in my opinion. So I think it's
(18:26):
important that we stuck to to what we we felt
in our gut was the best decision. And yeah, I'm
happy we did that because you know, people had something
new to listen to, you know, throughout all this. Yeah,
people need stuff to look forward to. How have you
been connecting the fans in the midst of all this?
We have tried a myriad of things, you know, every
everything we could think of that's that's physically possible, uh,
(18:48):
in the current state of it all, Um, I mean,
zoom calls have been huge. We've done concerts exactly what
we're doing here, but with three hundred fans all at once,
UM playing some songs for them. We've been doing like
weekly live streams which have been pretty incredible. UM. Jack
and I actually kind of dug our podcast from out
(19:10):
of the Grave and renamed it and rebranded it, and
we're doing it a slightly different way now. We sort
of live stream recorded and then it comes out as
a podcast later. And that's been a really cool way
for us to sort of connect with people in a
way that's not just music focus, because obviously, you know,
our music is a huge part of it, and and
that's out there now, that's living out there in the world.
But the other part of it, for us and and
for our band especially, I feel like it's always been
(19:32):
our personal connection with the fan base, and so for
us to be able to reach out and connect with
people through the podcast Crushed Us Live and through these streams, uh,
it kind of feels like being there in real life,
which is the one thing that's missing from from our
lives right now. Obviously you can't tour, and I'm sure
that's incredibly painful. So to try to help with the pain,
I'm gonna ask you this question, what was your biggest
(19:53):
most spinal tap like toward disaster ever, concert disaster ever?
I mean to be on us there, We've had a
very real spinal tap moment before where we were It
was during the filming of our Wembley Live Show. It
was part of our DVD UM It was one of
our biggest headliners shows to date at that point in
(20:14):
our career, and we were filming it all live and
there was this moment in the show where I come
off the main stage and have to run through the
inner workings of Wembley Arena to get to front of
house to do a song acoustic, and I literally had
that moment from spinal Tap where we took one one
wrong turn and we were suddenly in this like labyrinth
(20:37):
of hundred year old halways, halways with tiny doors and
some were locked and some were not, and we would
open one and there'd be like a person cleaning or
changing or like making food for everyone that knows anyone
know how to get to the front of house. And
the whole thing was like before the show that you know,
this was all being shot live, and it was like
(20:58):
very expressly stated to me, it's like, Okay, there's one
thing we can edit, we can clean things up, don't worry.
One thing that really needs to hit on time is
your queue getting to that center's day videos and everything
lined up and the funny part they had to flip
all the cameras around and everything, and it was just
like instead of having like a professional like security your
bodyguard who had like like figured out the route before,
(21:20):
we had like our buddies, like our buddy Steve doing it.
He's like our friend from high school. He's just like, yeah,
I think it's this way. Like so I'm just I'm
just tearing tearing butt around backstage at Wembley for a good,
probably a very long feeling two minutes. It really wasn't
that long in actuality, but that two minutes really dragged
(21:43):
when it was supposed to be thirty seconds. Well, now
I'll go to the opposite question. What was the most
incredible on stage moment that you can remember? Um, it's
gotta be manny, I mean in a weird way. Probably
that show too, that that show was so like pivotal
for us, um Jack, I think I was gonna say, um,
so too. I think it was two years ago they
did the end of Warp Tour, like the last Warp Tour,
(22:06):
and they invited us to play a couple of the
California dates. You know, Warp Tour is pretty instrumental in
all Time Loaves. I guess everything really, you know, we've
been doing it since we're like seventeen, and so you
know it's gonna be a really cool moment for us.
We knew and you know, really cool to be a
part of. And so they put us last on the
San Francisco Warp Tour date on the main stage. And
(22:26):
that was the day that because of the venue, it
was in the Amphitheater, you know, so it was in
like this mountaine mountain mountain view amphathe you know, which
is like you know, fift people and goes up like that.
And so we closed out the stage and we closed
that Warp Tour that day, and everyone was in there
because we're the only band playing and all the bands
were behind us on stage, and it was just this
whole crazy moment for us to like, you know, I
(22:47):
like almost started crying on stage. I was like tearing
up and it was just very emotional and you know,
one of those like you know, this is where we
started and now it's ending kind of thing. Yeah, that
was that was a very incredible moment. I mean to
like you said, to have the Amphitheater was full of fans.
I think the whole everyone that was there that day
went into the Emphatheater to watch his play and um
so it was packed out front. But then uh yeah
(23:09):
too pretty much what felt like also the entire tour
was behind us on the stage watching aliment everything. It
was just it was a really special moment. And it
was yeah, like Jack said, the fact that that's where
we sort of got our our start to then sort
of be able to close out that date that way
with everybody. And you know, so many of the staff
on that tour had been there for years and so
(23:31):
there were people that we we hadn't played Warp tour
for years at that point, but like to go back
and see a bunch of old friends that we had
toured with uh in years past and things like that.
It was it was really really special. Oh man, it's
gonna be moments like that. You gotta think, like it's
a long way from the basement. Yeah, yeah, it's we
have so many of those moments. It's mind blowing. It
really is. Well, speaking to your early days. One of
(24:05):
my favorite songs on your new album's Basement Noise. I
just think that's just really throws it back. Tell me
a little bit about those early days. What does that
song mean to you? We had never really reflected in
a song about our earliest memories of a band, of
being the band you know, and like it. It was
cool the way that song came to be because Jack
and I had spent most of the day working on
(24:26):
another song in the studio with with Zach Servini, our producer,
and it was probably like two in the morning, and uh,
we sort of hit a wall with this other song
we were working on, and we were like, look, we
gotta get something even though it's late, even though we're
tired and we're burned out, we gotta get something tonight
to walk away with. It's like a success, a win um.
And so we we shut down that old session and
(24:47):
opened up a new one and started writing what would
become Basement Noise, And like, Jack and I were sort
of working on the lyrics, and as we were writing,
we realized that it was this like self reflective story
of how him and I met up in got together
and started writing songs for the first time, and and
Ryan's basement. It was a really cool way to sort
of reflect on that and pay tribute to the fact that, uh,
(25:11):
we sort of we're making this record in a very
organic way that was very reminiscent of the way we
made records back then. What were your goals back then
in the basement, Like, what were you looking towards? We
played these shows locally, were like at a church hall,
and it was basically about like being the band had
the biggest crowd, you know, like bringing like the most
kids from your high school to come. So we're very
(25:31):
much like trying to like I feel like impressed girls,
you know, like the same thing everyone started, the same
reason why everyone starts a band is to impress the
girl or a guy. I feel like in the beginning,
at least for us, that's that's personally what a lot
of that was like that, I mean's high school, you
know what I mean. You know you're not like, oh,
we're gonna go out and tour and make money, Like, no,
that's not really what you're thinking about. Yeah, we certainly
(25:52):
were thinking about money. We were like, if anything, we
were losing money, but like you know, losing our parents
money rather exactly cutting grass to go play shows on
the weekend is pretty much what it came down to.
But um, yeah, we were like, you know it was
back then. It was really Uh, I felt like we
were very lucky because in Baltimore there was this really
(26:12):
budding local scene at the time. Um, there were a
few bands that were a little bit older than us,
like a band called a Delphi comes to mind, who
sort of got signed to drive Through Records. Drive Through Records,
which at the time was like a really impactful label
from our scene, and um, you know they they sort
of set the tone for bands in our area to
(26:32):
sort of aspire for that next level. Good Charlotte sorry interrupt.
Good Charlotte was kind of like the first we're like,
we're like, oh shoot, we can do this. Oh yeah,
I mean, but there was definitely a Good Charlotte was
definitely a huge one. They were they were sort of
they were kind of already on their way to being
largely successful before we kind of start having any kind
(26:53):
of significance. But like they definitely set the path and
and set the goal for us to be like, Okay,
there's more out there than just playing the one local
venue that we have here or whatever. It was kind
of like, let's start reaching out to bands in Pennsylvania
and New Jersey and New York and trying to drive
a few hours to play some shows at these other
vfws and other church halls and um, get in front
(27:16):
of people, and that I think is what instilled in
us the idea that it could work. When people started
to come see us from far away or what felt
like far away, then, um, it made things much more real. Man,
you guys should run some like band team building workshops
or something like what's been keeping like the inter band
dynamics so strong after like all this time, you guys
(27:36):
seem like the bestest friends. It's incredible. Good question. Um.
I mean, I think the biggest thing that I always
pay attention to with our band, and I'm very grateful for,
is that we really treat it like a family. We
treat each other like family. It's you know, there's never
it's not one of those things where when there's a disagreement,
the like three of us go, let's getting up on
(27:57):
that one person to make them feel terrible for having
an idea. You know. It's always been about respecting everyone's
thoughts and feelings and checking in and making sure that
everybody everyone feels spoken for and heard. Um. And I
think at the end of the day, when it comes
down to is just nobody's let their ego get in
the way ever, really it's never been about one of us.
It's always been about the four of us, which because
(28:17):
without one of us, this doesn't feel like all time low.
So yeah, I think I think we've just always looked
out for each other and made sure that everybody's in
like a good mental space throughout all of it. And
and yeah, just we just always check in and treat
each other like the brothers that we are at this point.
I think it's because of our roots. You know, we can't.
We grew up together, we went to high school together,
we grew up knowing each other's parents. And I think
(28:39):
because we built like this high school kind of groundwork
in you know, it made going through life and the
success and they're not there, no success, and every the
ups and downs, it made it all so much easier.
I'm telling you, banned team building zoom conference calls. Let's go,
it would work, Let's do it. It's so great. I mean,
do you guys keep in touch a lot when you're
not torn? Like, what's your group chat call? I gotta ask,
(29:01):
we got a couple we have? Which one? We have
so many? So the one from the one from the
creative process of wake Wake up Sunshine is called analog warmth. Boys. Um,
it's because we started referring to everything we were doing
on the record is analog warmth, even though I don't
think anything we did on the record was actually analog.
(29:23):
We have we have a group chat that we started
for Alex's bachelor party, like six years ago. You've been
married for a couple of years and it's still going strong.
And that's that's all of us banning crew. Yeah, that's
a good one. Um, we do have a tour one
that fires up every now and then. Obviously, like we're
not on tour right now, but um, a lot of
our crew members are still active crew members for us
when we do eventually get back on the road. So
there's that one, and every now, every now and then,
(29:44):
someone will fire into that one being like what is
your guys? So yeah, there's there's a lot aside from
not being able tour. What's been the hardest thing about
Quarantine for you? Um, I've loved it. I mean I've
loved it other than other than not touring, it's been great. Um,
it's been tough. I don't know. I mean, look, I
I feel really really lucky that the worst of it
(30:06):
for me and my family has been that we're bored,
you know what I mean, Like, I think there's so
many people out there that are really in a bad
way because of everything that's going on, um, be it
financially or or career wise, or health wise or whatever.
You know. Like I I continue to feel that, uh,
we are very very lucky to be in a position
(30:26):
where the worst that we have is just a bit
of boredom. Um. You know. Obviously, like I I hate
not being able to see like friends and family as
much as I would like to. Uh, you know, like
my I have a family member who is you know, compromised,
so like it keeps me from seeing them often and regularly,
and I have to be really careful. Um, So that
part is obviously not ideal, but like you know, it's
(30:47):
it's been fairly manageable for for me personally. And and
you know, I've just been enjoying the time at home
with family because a lot of the time we don't
get that we're out on the road of the year
most years. So this has been like the one positive
thing to come from this, I think is that we've
gotten a little extra bonus time with our friends and
(31:07):
family at home. But that being said, I also really
miss being on tour like so much with the guys.
We haven't we haven't played shows because we you know,
we haven't toured in I don't know two years now,
and like this was supposed to be our year back
to tour, So really missing a tory. I know it's
very early days on the music are working on, but
what can you tell us about it so far? About
(31:28):
new music? Um? Well, I mean we've already had conversations
about the fact that, you know, we put an album
out during a time that we can't be out there
promoting it and playing it for people. So by the
time all of this is behind us, um it may
be time to put out more music, you know what
I mean? Like that could that could be a reality,
(31:49):
And that's a reality that we've never really had to
deal with before. So we're already having those conversations of like,
all right, when can we get back in the studio
and start cooking up some more fresh ideas so that
when things open back up and we can get out
there and play music, it still feels fresh and it
still feels new for people. Um. So, I mean, it's
it's very preliminary right now, because obviously we're still kind
(32:10):
of uh, really excited about Wake Up Sunshine. But I think,
you know, sooner than later, there will most likely be
the four of us in a room again trying to
make some new music. Yeah. Now that we know that,
you know, writing together with the people that we wrote
with and made the record, and we know how successful
it was, you know personally in you know, with our
fan base, I think that we're going to kind of
(32:30):
get back to to that and see see what comes out. Yeah,
there's more, there's more to tap into in that process.
I think you know it was. It was a really
refreshing one for us, and I think there's there's more
that it can offer us creatively. So it was a
hypothetical fantasy, epathetically, snap your fingers pandemics over what's the
first thing you do? Just that that person you hug,
think you go do trip you want to take? What
(32:52):
is it? Man? I would give my parents a big
kiss because I've been I've been like every time I
sort of see them, it's like the weird half hug thing.
We're like, oh, we're being careful. Um. So I'd give
my parents a big kiss, um, and then I would
probably I would air being be another house somewhere, maybe
back in Palm Desert, and I would fly all of
you guys in and Zach Sarvini and we'd we'd make
(33:15):
some more music together. I we're supposed to be on
Sad Summer Festion, which is a summer tour we're gonna do,
so I'd probably go straight to that. Fire it up.
That's a good one. When we moved it to next summer,
which is going to be great, but I'll just push
it another year forward. Yeah, move it back and exactly.
Oh Man, Alex Jack, thank you so much for tech
(33:38):
the time. It's been a real pleasure talking to you.
Ye man, thanks for having us. Thank you. Jordan's appreciate it.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio
home edition of production of I Heart Radio. For more
episodes of Inside the Studio and other shows from my
(34:00):
Heart Radio, check out the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
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