Chase Brenneman - Living With Lions (09/02/2013)
Before hitting up Soundwave Festival 2013 and sidewaves with The Wonder Years, Versus The World and Such Gold, we chat with Chase Brenneman of Living With Lions.
Hey, Chase. How are you?
Good. How are you?
Great. You must be pretty excited to be coming down for Soundwave?
Yeah! We're really excited. We've never been to Australia before so I think we've gotten pretty lucky to be on Soundwave for our first time down there. We're all really, really excited.
What was your reaction when you first heard you were actually playing alongside some huge bands?
To be completely honest we didn't actually believe it at first. We were a pretty late addition and weren't expecting to be offered to play so it seemed to good to be true. We've never been a part of anything like this before. I mean we've done festival and awesome tours but to be playing alongside Metallica or Blink 182 or Slayer or Anthrax or any of those bands is just mind blowing. We've never been a part of anything like this so it's kinda weird.
It sounds like a dream come true.
Yeah for sure, man. We've got a lot of friends that have been to Australia and they talk about how awesome it is and how much fun it is and how beautiful it is so that's a big part of the excitement, to actually get to check it out.
What can we in Australia expect from a Living With Lions show?
Ah, I dunno. We just like to play our songs and have fun. We're pretty energetic so hopefully we don't overheat or anything like that.
Yeah it's been pretty hot down here, how do you guys go playing in the heat?
(laughs) our last show we got home about a couple of weeks ago and we did shows out in central Canada where it gets really, really cold. I mean it got down to minus 30 or 40 degrees Celsius so we're going from one extreme to the other. I dunno how our Canadian blood is gonna handle it (laughs) Vancouver is pretty mild, thank god. It's around 10 or 15 degrees at the moment but not too long ago we were in fucking cold temperatures so we'll see how we go. Saying that though we're excited to come down for the beach. I think a lot of our friends are jealous that we won't be sticking around for crappy Canadian winter.
What's the music scene like in Canada?
It's pretty cool. For a small country we've been pretty lucky to have some pretty cool bands especially punk bands which is more the scene we affiliate ourselves with. Montreal has a lot of cool indie bands. Vancouver is kinda a weird spot coz it's kinda sheltered from the rest of Canada with the Rockies so I feel that kinda affects the music scene, like not as many bands come from out here but I really like it. The shows are really fun here and us Canadians are pretty proud of our bands.
When you were growing up what inspired and influenced you to get into music?
I dunno. I just one day decided I wanted to play guitar. I remember my cousin would make me mix tapes and the first one I remember having had Weezer's My Name Is Jonas, Green Day's One For The Razorbacks and a Nirvana song on it and that was probably my first real exposure to real music. I remember a few years later my parents rented me a guitar and a few friends and I decided we wanted to play music together and then over the years it evolved.
And that led to Living With Lions or there were other bands first?
Nah I had some funny little bands in school and then one band that toured a little but this is the first really serious band I've played in.
Who influences you now musically?
That's a pretty tough question. It changes all the time. I will always have records that will always influence me but I'm one of those guys that when I find a record I really like it's all I listen to for like a month or until I get really fucking tired with it and then I'll find something else and do the same. The one I'm loving right now is Title Fight's Floral Green, they are probably one of my favourite bands. It's a pretty incredible record.
What about writing songs, who writes them and what inspires them?
On our last record I wrote most of the lyrics and it wasn't until people started asking what the songs were about was when I realised that the songs were actually about people in my life and our lives. Whether it be a band mate or someone we loved or didn't like to much it basically just became about my experiences. At the time we were making it we were going through some crazy stuff. Our singer (Matt Postal) was leaving the band about the same time so it became a lot about that really too.
That would have put a lot of pressure on you guys.
Yeah it sucked a lot. Matt is one of my best friends and it was shitty going through something like that. Emotions were running high so we we were under a lot of pressure but we were determined to do everything right so it was tough but in the end it worked out for the better. I think it actually helped the record in the end.
Which country would you say has the best fans?
Oh that's tough! I love Europe. I love New York City, those shows are always really fun and the city is great. London is great as is Montreal, I love that city, it's really fucking fun to play but overall we just enjoy playing everywhere.
Do you have a favourite band that you've toured with?
Oh that's another hard question! We're all really social dudes so we end up becoming good friends with whoever we tour with. We've toured a lot with Comeback Kid so we're really close with them. Umm same with The Wonder Years and Such Gold who we're doing sidewaves with, oh and Polar Bear Club too are great.
Sounds like you'll have a bunch of friends over here when you're down for Soundwave.
Yeah it's gonna be awesome! Hopefully none of us get too drunk and can't find our way back (laughs) It's gonna be so cool having all these great people around to share the experience with even though we're not gonna know what to do it's gonna make it quite special.
What would you say is the best thing about being in Living With Lions?
I love touring because I love being in a new places and experiencing new things but more so I think I enjoy writing songs and having a laugh with the guys.
What about when you have some time off, what do you get up to?
Well at the moment we're really busy writing but normally in the winter I try to go snowboarding a lot because I grew up doing that. I almost spent my entire winters snowboarding and skiing near my parents house in the mountains so I try to do that as much as I can and in the summertime I skate and hang out, go to the beach and play music.
You mentioned you were writing, is that for the new album?
Yeah. We've been working on it for quite a while now. Normally we have a bad habit of waiting until the recording is really close then we start but not for this one, we've decided to really take our time with it so it's no back against the wall pressure like normal. We've been writing for ages and there is no pressure which is great but we're hoping to release it this year so I think when we get home from Soundwave we'll focus on that. It's been great to experiment with different things.
One last questions, after Soundwave what's next for Living With Lions?
After Soundwave we are touring Japan with Such Gold for 5 days which we're really looking forward to because we've never been there either and then we go on to China and south-east Asia on our own which will be cool and then we have a couple of tours for North-America which haven't been announced yet but you don't care about that (laughs)
(laughs) It sounds like some exciting times ahead. Good luck with it all.
Thanks a lot. Thanks for the interview too, dude. I really appreciate it.
That's alright. Look forward to seeing you at Soundwave.
Come say hi. Just look for the really sweaty Canadians that don't know what to do with themselves.
Ok, if I see any really sweaty Canadians looking lost I'll know it's you guys.
(laughs) it's gonna be so much fun!
Matt Barton
Hey, Chase. How are you?
Good. How are you?
Great. You must be pretty excited to be coming down for Soundwave?
Yeah! We're really excited. We've never been to Australia before so I think we've gotten pretty lucky to be on Soundwave for our first time down there. We're all really, really excited.
What was your reaction when you first heard you were actually playing alongside some huge bands?
To be completely honest we didn't actually believe it at first. We were a pretty late addition and weren't expecting to be offered to play so it seemed to good to be true. We've never been a part of anything like this before. I mean we've done festival and awesome tours but to be playing alongside Metallica or Blink 182 or Slayer or Anthrax or any of those bands is just mind blowing. We've never been a part of anything like this so it's kinda weird.
It sounds like a dream come true.
Yeah for sure, man. We've got a lot of friends that have been to Australia and they talk about how awesome it is and how much fun it is and how beautiful it is so that's a big part of the excitement, to actually get to check it out.
What can we in Australia expect from a Living With Lions show?
Ah, I dunno. We just like to play our songs and have fun. We're pretty energetic so hopefully we don't overheat or anything like that.
Yeah it's been pretty hot down here, how do you guys go playing in the heat?
(laughs) our last show we got home about a couple of weeks ago and we did shows out in central Canada where it gets really, really cold. I mean it got down to minus 30 or 40 degrees Celsius so we're going from one extreme to the other. I dunno how our Canadian blood is gonna handle it (laughs) Vancouver is pretty mild, thank god. It's around 10 or 15 degrees at the moment but not too long ago we were in fucking cold temperatures so we'll see how we go. Saying that though we're excited to come down for the beach. I think a lot of our friends are jealous that we won't be sticking around for crappy Canadian winter.
What's the music scene like in Canada?
It's pretty cool. For a small country we've been pretty lucky to have some pretty cool bands especially punk bands which is more the scene we affiliate ourselves with. Montreal has a lot of cool indie bands. Vancouver is kinda a weird spot coz it's kinda sheltered from the rest of Canada with the Rockies so I feel that kinda affects the music scene, like not as many bands come from out here but I really like it. The shows are really fun here and us Canadians are pretty proud of our bands.
When you were growing up what inspired and influenced you to get into music?
I dunno. I just one day decided I wanted to play guitar. I remember my cousin would make me mix tapes and the first one I remember having had Weezer's My Name Is Jonas, Green Day's One For The Razorbacks and a Nirvana song on it and that was probably my first real exposure to real music. I remember a few years later my parents rented me a guitar and a few friends and I decided we wanted to play music together and then over the years it evolved.
And that led to Living With Lions or there were other bands first?
Nah I had some funny little bands in school and then one band that toured a little but this is the first really serious band I've played in.
Who influences you now musically?
That's a pretty tough question. It changes all the time. I will always have records that will always influence me but I'm one of those guys that when I find a record I really like it's all I listen to for like a month or until I get really fucking tired with it and then I'll find something else and do the same. The one I'm loving right now is Title Fight's Floral Green, they are probably one of my favourite bands. It's a pretty incredible record.
What about writing songs, who writes them and what inspires them?
On our last record I wrote most of the lyrics and it wasn't until people started asking what the songs were about was when I realised that the songs were actually about people in my life and our lives. Whether it be a band mate or someone we loved or didn't like to much it basically just became about my experiences. At the time we were making it we were going through some crazy stuff. Our singer (Matt Postal) was leaving the band about the same time so it became a lot about that really too.
That would have put a lot of pressure on you guys.
Yeah it sucked a lot. Matt is one of my best friends and it was shitty going through something like that. Emotions were running high so we we were under a lot of pressure but we were determined to do everything right so it was tough but in the end it worked out for the better. I think it actually helped the record in the end.
Which country would you say has the best fans?
Oh that's tough! I love Europe. I love New York City, those shows are always really fun and the city is great. London is great as is Montreal, I love that city, it's really fucking fun to play but overall we just enjoy playing everywhere.
Do you have a favourite band that you've toured with?
Oh that's another hard question! We're all really social dudes so we end up becoming good friends with whoever we tour with. We've toured a lot with Comeback Kid so we're really close with them. Umm same with The Wonder Years and Such Gold who we're doing sidewaves with, oh and Polar Bear Club too are great.
Sounds like you'll have a bunch of friends over here when you're down for Soundwave.
Yeah it's gonna be awesome! Hopefully none of us get too drunk and can't find our way back (laughs) It's gonna be so cool having all these great people around to share the experience with even though we're not gonna know what to do it's gonna make it quite special.
What would you say is the best thing about being in Living With Lions?
I love touring because I love being in a new places and experiencing new things but more so I think I enjoy writing songs and having a laugh with the guys.
What about when you have some time off, what do you get up to?
Well at the moment we're really busy writing but normally in the winter I try to go snowboarding a lot because I grew up doing that. I almost spent my entire winters snowboarding and skiing near my parents house in the mountains so I try to do that as much as I can and in the summertime I skate and hang out, go to the beach and play music.
You mentioned you were writing, is that for the new album?
Yeah. We've been working on it for quite a while now. Normally we have a bad habit of waiting until the recording is really close then we start but not for this one, we've decided to really take our time with it so it's no back against the wall pressure like normal. We've been writing for ages and there is no pressure which is great but we're hoping to release it this year so I think when we get home from Soundwave we'll focus on that. It's been great to experiment with different things.
One last questions, after Soundwave what's next for Living With Lions?
After Soundwave we are touring Japan with Such Gold for 5 days which we're really looking forward to because we've never been there either and then we go on to China and south-east Asia on our own which will be cool and then we have a couple of tours for North-America which haven't been announced yet but you don't care about that (laughs)
(laughs) It sounds like some exciting times ahead. Good luck with it all.
Thanks a lot. Thanks for the interview too, dude. I really appreciate it.
That's alright. Look forward to seeing you at Soundwave.
Come say hi. Just look for the really sweaty Canadians that don't know what to do with themselves.
Ok, if I see any really sweaty Canadians looking lost I'll know it's you guys.
(laughs) it's gonna be so much fun!
Matt Barton