Jordan Buckley - Every Time I Die (19/12/2012)
The 59th Sound recently had a chat to the very talented Jordan Buckley of Every Time I Die. We talked the new record that almost didn’t happen, internet trolls and playing in a barn with Weird Al. Read on below for the full story.
Now, it’s been a big year what with your amazing new record Ex Lives coming out. Tell us, how has 2012 been for Every Time I Die?
Oh very good thank you! Thank you for the kind words! It’ be more of the same which is very good. We don’t really know how to do much else but tour non-stop so we’ve been doing that which has been going very well.
Living the dream then?
Well as a matter of fact, some of us are living the dream. It was just Andy and Keith’s birthday and they got ‘Living the dream’ tattoos!
That’s amazing! Now, I have to say, your music has this razor sharp wit both musically and lyrically which gives the impression the band is committed to every single note you play. What is it that encourages you write this way?
I don’t really know. It’s just one of the unexplainable things about the band that you can’t put your finger on. You’re just kind of glad you’re in existence and that’s kind of the vibe of the whole band.
Ex Lives makes mention of proverbs from the bible even though the band is not exactly known as strong advocates for religion. Are there any themes you try to stay away from in your music or is there no boundary?
I don’t really think so. It’s kind of a bummer when bands take a social agenda or have like ulterior motives with their lyrics, message and merchandise. But, I don’t think there’s anything we’ve ever really tried to stay away from.
Talking about the writing process, tell us the story behind the making of the album?
Well me, Andy and Leger started writing the music and we wrote for like a month and a half and then we took a break for a week or so for some shows. Then we kind of lost our drummer. He moved, he’s from Canada and we’re from Buffalo, NY and he said he’d be back after 4 days but two weeks went by and no one could get a hold of him. He didn’t have a phone and his new house didn’t have internet so it kind of looked a little dismal for a while. Keith and Josh were on tour with another band and me and Andy were like, “Sorry about the writing but we kind of lost our drummer..”. Then It was like, what’s going on here? Is this record even going to happen anymore?
So it wasn’t a version of Spinal Tap, your drummer reappeared?
Yeah, one day he just showed up and was like, (in cheerful Canadian accent) “Oh sorry! My place doesn’t have internet! Sorry!”
You have such a devout following, what kind of pressures to your fans if any, do you feel when writing and releasing a new record?
Oh our fans are kind of pushy! It’s weird. They’re really nice kind of at the clubs but online they’re just .. they call us names and they yell at us. If we don’t tour with a band they like, they yell at us online and if we don’t come to their city when they want us to, they yell at us. It’s a really weird thing because they can be really nice to us and love our music and it’s just a weird thing I can never wrap my head around. When I was growing up I didn’t have Twitter but even if I did, I don’t think I’d use it to yell at my favourite band. If my favourite band came then I would go and see them and like if I got to meet them I’d be like “I like your music”. Our people are just like, “Fucking what’s fucking wrong with you assholes? You’re not coming to my town!” Most of the time it’s because we’re not coming to a city or we are but like a week later. They yell at us, then check the tour dates. It’s really weird.
Love is a complicated emotion by the sounds of it!
Yeah! That’s a great way to describe it! From now on that’s going to be how I understand it.
With bands and social media these days, when that kind of stuff goes down, do you feel you have to take the high road?
Oh yeah, always! There’s was this thing a year ago, it was a sold-out show and it was insane. Before the show, this kid came up and was like, “Hey Jordan! You don’t remember me but I was the one making fun of you on Facebook!”. Well one, I don’t remember you because everybody does that for some reason. And two, like, why? I don’t understand. Why don’t you tell me something nice about your day? I think he was making fun of my nose or something.
I’m not even sure why would you admit to it?
That’s what I mean, it’s just so acceptable and it’s like the norm which is really, really weird. I hate complaining about it because it makes me sound like an old person like, “Oh kids these days!” but I don’t have any explanation for it! I mean, I’ve gone through some stupid stages in my life, I wore some stupid clothes and did some stupid things. I listened to some stupid music.. But one stage I never went through was where I called my favourite band “faggots!”.
Now the band have been together since 1998, obviously the hardcore scene has changed a lot over time. What do you think your key to survival over the years has been?
There’s a lot of things. For us, there was timing. At the time we came around, harcore bands had a lot of aggression and a lot of integrity. It was all about intense live shows and performances. So when you’re growing up and you’re going to shows like Converge, American Nightmare and Dillinger Escape Plan, those were the shows we went to when the band was starting so I think that helped us. I think the fact we came around before the Myspace boom helped because it moulded our work ethic. Like you had to actually go to people to let them know who you were, you couldn’t just upload a song. If you wanted people to know who you were, you actually had drive to their city and play for them. As I said, I think that sculpted and molded a very good work ethic and kind of an insane one at that. We never really sat back and said, “Oh, we’re just gonna upload this and wait for the phone calls”, that was never us. So when social media came around we used it to our advantage but we didn’t rely on it. I think the DVD’s that we put out periodically helped also. On top of it all, you gotta write some good music! That little thing called your music and I don’t know how our music is good. We just write what we want to hear. We’ve never sat down and said, “This is big right now!”.
Now you’re set to tour Australia in January for the Big Day Out, are you looking forward to that?
Very much so! I’m not very familiar with it (the tour), I’ve never been to one. I know it’s a huge deal and a huge honour and I can’t believe we’re doing it! I guess going back to the internet thing, apparently some of our Australian fans are a little confused, like they don’t get why we’re on the bill. According to the feedback I’m getting, it’s a weird mix for us to be a part of it but I couldn’t be more happy. One of the first non-rap bands I got into was Red Hot Chili Peppers when I was like twelve and I like The Killers.. I mean, it’s Australi! I think if you’re a heavy band you’re expected to be on Soundwave but if you’re a heavy band on BDO, everyone’s like what’s going on? I’d play with Weird Al in a barn if it meant going to Australia for a week!
Well we’re excited to have you and look forward to catching you on the Big Day Out 2013 tour!
Samantha Dickson
Now, it’s been a big year what with your amazing new record Ex Lives coming out. Tell us, how has 2012 been for Every Time I Die?
Oh very good thank you! Thank you for the kind words! It’ be more of the same which is very good. We don’t really know how to do much else but tour non-stop so we’ve been doing that which has been going very well.
Living the dream then?
Well as a matter of fact, some of us are living the dream. It was just Andy and Keith’s birthday and they got ‘Living the dream’ tattoos!
That’s amazing! Now, I have to say, your music has this razor sharp wit both musically and lyrically which gives the impression the band is committed to every single note you play. What is it that encourages you write this way?
I don’t really know. It’s just one of the unexplainable things about the band that you can’t put your finger on. You’re just kind of glad you’re in existence and that’s kind of the vibe of the whole band.
Ex Lives makes mention of proverbs from the bible even though the band is not exactly known as strong advocates for religion. Are there any themes you try to stay away from in your music or is there no boundary?
I don’t really think so. It’s kind of a bummer when bands take a social agenda or have like ulterior motives with their lyrics, message and merchandise. But, I don’t think there’s anything we’ve ever really tried to stay away from.
Talking about the writing process, tell us the story behind the making of the album?
Well me, Andy and Leger started writing the music and we wrote for like a month and a half and then we took a break for a week or so for some shows. Then we kind of lost our drummer. He moved, he’s from Canada and we’re from Buffalo, NY and he said he’d be back after 4 days but two weeks went by and no one could get a hold of him. He didn’t have a phone and his new house didn’t have internet so it kind of looked a little dismal for a while. Keith and Josh were on tour with another band and me and Andy were like, “Sorry about the writing but we kind of lost our drummer..”. Then It was like, what’s going on here? Is this record even going to happen anymore?
So it wasn’t a version of Spinal Tap, your drummer reappeared?
Yeah, one day he just showed up and was like, (in cheerful Canadian accent) “Oh sorry! My place doesn’t have internet! Sorry!”
You have such a devout following, what kind of pressures to your fans if any, do you feel when writing and releasing a new record?
Oh our fans are kind of pushy! It’s weird. They’re really nice kind of at the clubs but online they’re just .. they call us names and they yell at us. If we don’t tour with a band they like, they yell at us online and if we don’t come to their city when they want us to, they yell at us. It’s a really weird thing because they can be really nice to us and love our music and it’s just a weird thing I can never wrap my head around. When I was growing up I didn’t have Twitter but even if I did, I don’t think I’d use it to yell at my favourite band. If my favourite band came then I would go and see them and like if I got to meet them I’d be like “I like your music”. Our people are just like, “Fucking what’s fucking wrong with you assholes? You’re not coming to my town!” Most of the time it’s because we’re not coming to a city or we are but like a week later. They yell at us, then check the tour dates. It’s really weird.
Love is a complicated emotion by the sounds of it!
Yeah! That’s a great way to describe it! From now on that’s going to be how I understand it.
With bands and social media these days, when that kind of stuff goes down, do you feel you have to take the high road?
Oh yeah, always! There’s was this thing a year ago, it was a sold-out show and it was insane. Before the show, this kid came up and was like, “Hey Jordan! You don’t remember me but I was the one making fun of you on Facebook!”. Well one, I don’t remember you because everybody does that for some reason. And two, like, why? I don’t understand. Why don’t you tell me something nice about your day? I think he was making fun of my nose or something.
I’m not even sure why would you admit to it?
That’s what I mean, it’s just so acceptable and it’s like the norm which is really, really weird. I hate complaining about it because it makes me sound like an old person like, “Oh kids these days!” but I don’t have any explanation for it! I mean, I’ve gone through some stupid stages in my life, I wore some stupid clothes and did some stupid things. I listened to some stupid music.. But one stage I never went through was where I called my favourite band “faggots!”.
Now the band have been together since 1998, obviously the hardcore scene has changed a lot over time. What do you think your key to survival over the years has been?
There’s a lot of things. For us, there was timing. At the time we came around, harcore bands had a lot of aggression and a lot of integrity. It was all about intense live shows and performances. So when you’re growing up and you’re going to shows like Converge, American Nightmare and Dillinger Escape Plan, those were the shows we went to when the band was starting so I think that helped us. I think the fact we came around before the Myspace boom helped because it moulded our work ethic. Like you had to actually go to people to let them know who you were, you couldn’t just upload a song. If you wanted people to know who you were, you actually had drive to their city and play for them. As I said, I think that sculpted and molded a very good work ethic and kind of an insane one at that. We never really sat back and said, “Oh, we’re just gonna upload this and wait for the phone calls”, that was never us. So when social media came around we used it to our advantage but we didn’t rely on it. I think the DVD’s that we put out periodically helped also. On top of it all, you gotta write some good music! That little thing called your music and I don’t know how our music is good. We just write what we want to hear. We’ve never sat down and said, “This is big right now!”.
Now you’re set to tour Australia in January for the Big Day Out, are you looking forward to that?
Very much so! I’m not very familiar with it (the tour), I’ve never been to one. I know it’s a huge deal and a huge honour and I can’t believe we’re doing it! I guess going back to the internet thing, apparently some of our Australian fans are a little confused, like they don’t get why we’re on the bill. According to the feedback I’m getting, it’s a weird mix for us to be a part of it but I couldn’t be more happy. One of the first non-rap bands I got into was Red Hot Chili Peppers when I was like twelve and I like The Killers.. I mean, it’s Australi! I think if you’re a heavy band you’re expected to be on Soundwave but if you’re a heavy band on BDO, everyone’s like what’s going on? I’d play with Weird Al in a barn if it meant going to Australia for a week!
Well we’re excited to have you and look forward to catching you on the Big Day Out 2013 tour!
Samantha Dickson