Kevin Bivona of The Interrupters

Kevin Bivona of The Interrupters joined me and we had a really cool conversation about how they're having so much fun on this final tour with Sum 41, the pressure that they felt being the first band every night on the Hella Mega Tour, finding time to work on new music for The Interrupters and other bands, what they need to have it feel like home on the road and one of the most ridiculous requests they saw a band make! 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's Mike Jones iHeartRadio. We're hereat Pier six in Baltimore, and Kevin

(00:03):
from the Interrupters is joining us.Kevin, thanks for coming over, brother
Owen, thank you for having me. It's a beautiful day today. We're
actually outside. I'm gonna paint apicture for the people listening. We're outside
on the pier on the water.It was freezing cold in Milwaukee the other
day and then it started thunderstorming,and then here we are today in Baltimore
and it's beautiful outside. Yeah,ninety degrees. I tell you, when

(00:24):
I saw this show date, Iwas like, April twenty ninth, right
on the water, that could bea bit risky. Yes, well no,
they rolled the dice. I toldDerek earlier because we talked to him.
I was like, you guys rolledthe dice and h's seven right on
it. Brother. This is beautiful. Yeah, this night, it's perfect.
Get better than this once as showtime. Once you guys are up on
stage in a little while, it'sgonna be like eighty yeah, magnificent little
breeze coming off the water yese perfect. So how's it been with these some

(00:47):
forty one characters? Man? Youguys are doing this whole last tour with
them. I mean you're gonna beon pretty much every date with them.
Yeah, every date in the US, we're gonna be with them. And
it's cool because we've been friends withthem for a while. We toured with
them on Warped in twenty sixteen,is when we first met, and they're
just the nicest people, the nicestband, So we knew coming into it
it was gonna be like an awesomehang But to be asked to do the

(01:10):
farewell tour, it's an honor becauseit's like, you know, this is
a real celebration of this amazing bandthat means so much to so many people.
So we're just stoked to be asmall part of it. That's what
I saw, A big part ofit. They'll say, small part of
you guys are a big party.Come on, I heard your sound check.
You're gonna be a big, bigpart of it. It's gonna be
great, No, I mean you'reright though. To be a part of
this with some forty one and sayinggoodbye to them, the fact that they're

(01:33):
going out on their own terms,it's it's pretty bittersweet to see it happening
like this. Yeah, And it'sfunny because, like I said, we've
known them for like eight years,so we always run into them at festivals
and we're like, we got todo a tour together, We got to
do a tour together, and itjust never happened. And then, you
know, when they announced that theywere putting out their final album and this
was it for them, we werelike, oh man, I guess we're

(01:53):
never gonna do that tour. Andthen I probably a month later, they
offered us the tour and we werelike, perfect is this is awesome?
One hundred percent We're doing that.And let's also not forget here keV.
You know you're being modest about everything, but you guys are gonna do a
bunch of festivals over in Europe thissummer and a couple of shows with this
other band, Green Day I heardabout. Oh yeah two they're kind of
okay, yeah local izz No,they're amazing, this up and coming trio.

(02:16):
Yeah, we're We're really lucky withthe bands that we've been put on
bills with and just become friends withover the years. And you know,
we've never really stopped touring since westarted this band. It's kind of just
been the way we keep the wheelsfrom falling off is to keep them rolling.
So, yeah, we're going toEurope. We're doing a bunch of
festivals, some headline shows, someshows with Green Days, some shows with
the Hives. It's gonna be superfun. So it's a stacked year and

(02:38):
we're just getting started. So like, you know, this is a great
way to kick it out. You'rejust a mall one of the marathon,
right, It's just get me going. You know. I always think about
this with the interrupters too, thatyou guys for us in DC and here
in Baltimore, you guys helped usbring back live music in twenty twenty one
when the Hello Megator happened, youwere the first band a lot of us

(02:58):
saw in over a year. Sothat means a lot, and you guys
always have a special place in myheart because of that. Thank you well,
first of all, thank you forsaying that. That means a lot.
But when we did the hell Omegaturit took us like four or five
shows to realize, like we're thefirst band that people are hearing live for
a couple of years now. Yeah, And once we realize it. It
kind of made the pressure even likemore. We're like, all right,

(03:21):
we gotta like just really give itone hundred million percent, because we always
do on stage, we always giveit everything we got, but I feel
like on that tour it was alittle extra because there was this deeper,
richer appreciation for live music. Andnow we've taken that appreciation and carried it
with us ever since, and likeeven every night on stage, we thank
everybody in the crowd for just supportinglive music because it means so much to

(03:42):
so many people. But there's timeswhen even myself like I've taken it for
granted because it's just something that's alwaysbeen around, But when it goes away,
you really see the value that ithas, Like in our lives.
It's like this irreplaceable thing that likeno computer or iPad or amazing app or
AI could ever replicate this experience ofeverybody just vibrating together in the same moment
and making these memories. It's forthousands of people to feel the same thing

(04:05):
at the same moment, and youknow, those songs hitting home for us.
I mean, it's just that's whyI love coming to shows all the
time, and that's why I'm sureyou love doing shows to be able to
give people those moments one hundred percent. I mean, it's all just one
big communal experience from the stage tothe crowd. Like we try to make
our shows, especially like very interactiveand like we're all here together just kind

(04:26):
of celebrating life and just trying tohave joyous memories. I guess yeah,
Now that's what it's all about,man, That's what buying a ticket means,
coming to the show tonight at Peersix or anywhere, just getting that
experience while you guys are out.You know, you've got this whole year
booked up with some forty one andGreen Day and all the festivals and everything.
Is there any time to do musicor you just focusing on the shows

(04:46):
right now. We're focused on theshows right now. But we have been
writing actually for the next record,and we have a bunch of songs and
we're actually going in the studio inOctober of this year, so you have
like a week off that you're gonnabe able to do it exactly. Well,
that's kind of how we we were, like, let's try to record
the next record this year if wecan, and then we filled up our
summer, we're actually doing a coupleof Farewell shows up in Canada with no

(05:06):
effects on their final tour, Sowe're on the Farewell Tour circuit. And
then when we get home, we'regonna get in the studio and just kind
of use whatever reserve fuel we havein the tank to like make a record
and see how it goes. Andthere's no pressure really, just to the
kind of let's just keep like Isaid, keep it rolling so the wheels
don't fall off. Just keep ongoing, keep on going. And does

(05:29):
that count for you too, Kevin, because you also do you know,
producing for people playing with other bands? Do you have to have the phone
shut off while you're out on theroad right now? Or can you tell
someone like, hey, I cando this. Got to give me a
couple of days, but I cansend it back to you. Yeah,
if you give me some time.If I'm being honest, I bring a
studio on tour, okay, AndI'm actually you don't need much either.
I got barely anything there. We'reyou know, we're doing our thing.

(05:50):
Yeah, I've got a great littlesetup and I'm actually mixing a couple of
records right now and working on someproduction stuff right now on the road,
So in between shows at the hotelor even before we go on stage,
sometimes like an hour before I'm I'min there working and then it's like,
all right, you're on in anhour and then kind of switch the brain
to let's play a show. Yeahand yeah. So I always I'm always

(06:12):
trying to keep myself available and opento do that kind of stuff because I
have so many amazing opportunities and Idon't ever want to just be like,
no, I only do one thingbecause I don't want it to go away,
right of course, No, ifyou have a but you can also
do B and C. Well,I want to do B and C too,
you know, not too bad.And you know what, I kind
of think I've realized, like it'snot always going to be like this,
you know, so you got tostrike while the iron's hot and appreciate the

(06:34):
moment that you have. And ifI ever get overwhelmed, I'll take a
day or two off and maybe justsleep. But that's pretty much it now.
I wish I could have the restof the band to ask you this.
But since your big brother Kevin,I will, are you the deciding
factor in the band because it isa big family with the interrupters. But
are you the guy or is ita democracy? It's definitely a democracy.

(06:55):
We always we kind of vote oneverything. And it's funny because a lot
of times Amy and I will likepitch something to the twins and either they're
fully on board or if they're not, we hear them out and then we'll
find something in the middle. It'skind of awesome. It's you know,
with touring and making records and everything, there's always decisions that need to be
made, and we always run thedecisions through the committee. We also have

(07:18):
the same managers we've had this wholethis whole time, and they're amazing.
They're part of the team and likewe always have people to bounce ideas off
of. There's definitely no dictatorship.Although I am the older brother, so
my word is the final word whenit comes to small family matters like what
we're having for dinner okay, andthings like that. You're the older brother,
you gotta fly something, Yeah,I do. I definitely do.

(07:41):
You guys have gotten to play somany shows at this point, so many
tours, and you're gonna be outon the road for most of this year.
What do the interrupters need when you'reon the road to make it feel
like home? Okay, so ifthere's ever an opportunity to have a kitchen,
like we played a show in Omahalast year where that we it was
actually last fall where we had akitchen in our dress room and my brother

(08:01):
Justin made a sauce and made pasta. I did a full Italian cook kind
of situation. We have this littleflat top that we bring around and my
brother will make breakfast sandwiches. Sothat kind of makes it feel like home
when there's cooking on tour. Butalso at the same time, my brothers
on this tour actually brought like aold school booklet of DVDs and of all,

(08:22):
like I've never seen The Godfather,which is crazy because I'm Sicilian and
I've still never seen it. Mybrothers have seen it like two hundred times.
But watching movies, cooking, eatingtogether, that always makes it feel
like home. So like family andnight on the Boss Family, not absolutely.
I made everybody watch water World theother night. I was surprised how
many people hadn't seen water World.Now I'm not saying it's a fantastic film,

(08:43):
That's why a lot of people haven'tseen it, but I love it.
And when you do the kind ofhistory of water World, and like
how what it took to make thatmovie, and how much of Kevin Costner's
personal money went into making this crazy, it's just so absurd that I love
it and I made everybody watch it. Most most people fell asleep before the
third hour, but you know Imade it through. Just hit play again,
yeah, just do it again.Now, it doesn't seem like from

(09:05):
what you told me with an Italiandinner some DVDs, it doesn't seem like
you guys are high maintenance at all. Definitely not high maintenance. The thing
that we do now since we've beentouring so long, is we do bring
stuff on the road to help withour wellness. So we have all sorts
of stretching devices and massage devices likefarraguns and just kind of things to make

(09:26):
sure that we're like we all gotnew insoles for our shoes for this tour
to make sure like we stayed aligned. And so that's the only high maintenance
thing I think is we have aspecific road case that's literally filled with it
looks like you took a chiropractor's officeand just put it in a case and
bring it on tour. One dayyou'll be able to have the messeuse come
with you and that's the dad.Yeah, that is the day. Yeah.

(09:50):
I was gonna ask, though,because you guys seem like you're pretty
low maintenance, is there anything thatwould be ridiculous that you'd like to ask
for? Or have you seen anybands ask for anything ridiculous backstage? You
don't have to name names, butanything that comes to bond, you're like,
how did they get away with that? One time I was on tour
of the band and I definitely won'tname names, but after their sound check,
the support band was getting ready togo up on stage and they said,

(10:13):
we're gonna need a string quartet forthe encore tonight. And it was
two hours of doors and the tourmanager of this band looked like he was
about to rip his hair out,but he got the string quartet. So
we're not ever gonna be asking foropera singers or string quartets on the day
of show. Maybe one day we'llhave it far in advance and we'll do
our orchestral version of the Interrupters.But that was probably the most high maintenance

(10:33):
thing I've ever personally seen. Iguess when you have the internet and you're
the headlining band, and like,what level are we talking? Big?
Big level? Yeah, pretty biglevel. Okay, when you're at that
stage, then you know what peopleknow who you're bassist is, then you
could ask for a string quartet.Well, the people did not know this
band's basis. I'll tell you that, all right, So we're in between.

(10:56):
But you know, like I said, I'm not gonna name names.
It doesn't matter. We definitely tryto keep it low maintenance. And also
we have a big family vibe onour tour, not just like us as
the family, but the crew thatwe travel with. We all, you
know, we live together, andwe work together, and there's a mutual
respect and stuff. So we're nevertrying to make anybody's day harder than it
needs to be. If anything,we're trying to make it easier and very

(11:18):
very much like one of the sayingsthat we have on the road, when
stuff's not going our way is evenbetter. Yeah, So hey, guess
what, You're not gonna have timeto eat dinner tonight because catering closes while
you're on stage. We say,even better you know, and that's how
we keep our attitudes positive. Iwould say, where's the nearest restaurant there

(11:39):
and can we get some takeout food? But that's just me. But keV
I love I love hearing this attitude, man, because it's all the positivity
with the Interrupters. And you know, tonight it's gonna be a lot of
fun with some forty one on thefinal tour and you guys have Green Day
and everything else going on new musicthat you're working on. Who knows,
maybe you might get a single outthis year. We'll see. That'd be
cool. But whatever, you know, it's always going to be a fun

(12:01):
time with the Interrupters. Brother,thanks for this interview, man Is.
Thank you so much.