Josh Moore - We Came As Romans (07/06/2013)
Ahead of their return to Australia for the Vans Warped Tour, we chat with Josh Moore of We Came As Romans.
Hey, mate. How's it going?
It's going good. Day on Warped tour is pretty much done. It's like 8:30 here so we're all kinda relaxed and cooling down.
How was the show and where was it?
Atlanta, Georgia today. The show was good but really dusty. Basically there was this cloud of dust everywhere the entire day.
That's a bit shit but at least the day went well. What's the Warped tour been like?
Yeah, but it's been awesome! There's a ton of bands we're friends with and toured with before and this Warped tour we celebrated our eight year anniversary as a band so we're always bumping into someone we know. The only down side is that it is long and you do start to miss your friends and family back home.
How do you deal with always being out on the road? Does it get easier over time?
Yeah I'd say over time everyone in the band has gotten better with dealing with it. Our second album (Understanding What We've Grown To Be) is all about that actually. We've learnt all the do's and don'ts with our relationships and what needs to happen to stay happy on the roady and stay connected with everyone.
Speaking of albums, you've just released your new one Tracing Back Roots. Where did that name come from?
Yeah, that CD came out I think two days ago now. It's more about moving forward and growing and maturing but remembering your past, your roots, and learning from your experiences along the way. It's taking the knowledge you've learnt to help you move forward in life.
What was the recording process like for the album?
It was really cool. Before we went into the studio I had ten or eleven songs. Five were done before we went on tour at the start of the year then five more I wrote with a friend in Detroit. In the studio John (Feldmann, producer) and I wrote six songs together and I wrote a couple more. We put a lot of focus on how the vocals would sound on this CD before the rest of the band flew in a couple of weeks into recording to help us work a bit more on the songs and then we tracked them and that was it really.
You mentioned you wrote most of the songs, what's your influences when writing?
Yeah I write most of the songs for We Came As Romans but when I'm writing I try not to be influenced by bands if that makes sense? I'd rather be inspired by bands to write a song than influenced. I don't want this band to sound like another band because of what I've listened to. I've always been that way. Plus, I really don't listen to that much heavy music. I hear the kind of stuff that bands are putting out and I think it really allows me to try to write something that's as different as I can but still stays in the boundaries of what We Came As Romans is.
That's fair enough. Aaron Gillespie (formelly of Underoath, now The Almost) features on the new album, what was it like to work with him?
It was awesome. Basically a dream come true for us a band. Since our first CD we've always wanted to have a song with him on it and I guess this was just the right song. We'd done a lot of work on it and it was perfect really. Our manager knows his manager and that's how we found out he really liked the song and he'd like to sing on it so it was awesome. It's one of my favourites on the record.
Are there any songs from the album you've been really keen to play live but haven't had a chance to yet?
Yeah track four which is called Ghosts would be a lot of fun. I think it'll be a great live song to play but unfortunately on Warped we have a shorter set than normal so we don't get to play all the songs we wanna play but as soon as our next headline tour comes around we'll be able to play all the songs we want to pretty much.
Speak of Warped again, you guys are heading down for the Australian leg of it later this year so that must be pretty exciting?
Yeah I'm really excited for it. We've done two tours of Australia and it's one of our favourite places to go. We're all looking forward to it.
With it being headlined by Parkway Drive and The Offspring what were your thoughts on the lineup?
Yeah it's pretty great. Our first tour of Australia was a festival tour so it's going to be pretty similar with a great lineup as well.
What are your best memories of Australia?
We went to Australia for the first time after our first time in Europe and, not that I don't like Europe, but it was much easier to navigate around Australia, the hotels we stayed in were nicer, we were flying to every show. It was such a pleasant experience. In Europe, and other countries, the language barrier is difficult to overcome at times whereas we don't have that over there and it may seem corny but Australia is such a clean country. There's not a lot of trash or pollution which is awesome.
You mentioned earlier it was your eight year anniversary as a band, did you ever imagine when you first formed that you'd still be a band eight years later?
Definitely not (laughs) Just about everything we've ever done I don't think I could have imagined being a part of when we started. Things like releasing CD's on a record label, travelling overseas, doing Warped tour. Naturally when we started the band there was a lot of things we wanted to do but we didn't know if we had what it took to be successful in that way. I'm extremely grateful of everything and I hope we can keep running the band successfully.
In the eight years, which one thing would you say you're most proud of when it comes to the band?
Probably the CD that we put out two years ago....sorry, two days ago (laughs) I love every track on it. I'd say it's the best and most mature music we've put out to date and I couldn't be more proud of the album.
When you were growing up which bands inspired you to form a band?
Brand New, Taking Back Sunday and Relient K. I listened to a ton of those bands. I was really unfamiliar with heavy music actually. I used to sit in my room and play those bands songs on my guitar hoping I'd one day be able to play my own songs.
Are there any bands you're loving right now?
On Warped tour at the moment there's a band from the UK called Architects and I always try and catch their set, they're really good. Bring Me The Horizon are really good, they're on the main stage right next to the stage we've been playing on so I've been trying to catch them too. We have so many friends on the tour and I'd love to watch all of their sets if I had enough time. Like Moths To Flames and Texas in July are a couple on the smaller stages I'm always trying to support but normally our days are so busy I can barely watch one set, if that.
We'll make this the last question. When you get some time off from touring, what do you like to get up to?
Honestly? I just wanna relax. So sleeping in, not doing anything busy. I live with my girlfriend so it's great to spend time with her and we have two cats. I play video games online with my friends that don't live near me and yeah, basically just relax.
OK, well we'll wrap it up there. Thanks very much for your time.
OK, thanks, man.
Matt Barton
Hey, mate. How's it going?
It's going good. Day on Warped tour is pretty much done. It's like 8:30 here so we're all kinda relaxed and cooling down.
How was the show and where was it?
Atlanta, Georgia today. The show was good but really dusty. Basically there was this cloud of dust everywhere the entire day.
That's a bit shit but at least the day went well. What's the Warped tour been like?
Yeah, but it's been awesome! There's a ton of bands we're friends with and toured with before and this Warped tour we celebrated our eight year anniversary as a band so we're always bumping into someone we know. The only down side is that it is long and you do start to miss your friends and family back home.
How do you deal with always being out on the road? Does it get easier over time?
Yeah I'd say over time everyone in the band has gotten better with dealing with it. Our second album (Understanding What We've Grown To Be) is all about that actually. We've learnt all the do's and don'ts with our relationships and what needs to happen to stay happy on the roady and stay connected with everyone.
Speaking of albums, you've just released your new one Tracing Back Roots. Where did that name come from?
Yeah, that CD came out I think two days ago now. It's more about moving forward and growing and maturing but remembering your past, your roots, and learning from your experiences along the way. It's taking the knowledge you've learnt to help you move forward in life.
What was the recording process like for the album?
It was really cool. Before we went into the studio I had ten or eleven songs. Five were done before we went on tour at the start of the year then five more I wrote with a friend in Detroit. In the studio John (Feldmann, producer) and I wrote six songs together and I wrote a couple more. We put a lot of focus on how the vocals would sound on this CD before the rest of the band flew in a couple of weeks into recording to help us work a bit more on the songs and then we tracked them and that was it really.
You mentioned you wrote most of the songs, what's your influences when writing?
Yeah I write most of the songs for We Came As Romans but when I'm writing I try not to be influenced by bands if that makes sense? I'd rather be inspired by bands to write a song than influenced. I don't want this band to sound like another band because of what I've listened to. I've always been that way. Plus, I really don't listen to that much heavy music. I hear the kind of stuff that bands are putting out and I think it really allows me to try to write something that's as different as I can but still stays in the boundaries of what We Came As Romans is.
That's fair enough. Aaron Gillespie (formelly of Underoath, now The Almost) features on the new album, what was it like to work with him?
It was awesome. Basically a dream come true for us a band. Since our first CD we've always wanted to have a song with him on it and I guess this was just the right song. We'd done a lot of work on it and it was perfect really. Our manager knows his manager and that's how we found out he really liked the song and he'd like to sing on it so it was awesome. It's one of my favourites on the record.
Are there any songs from the album you've been really keen to play live but haven't had a chance to yet?
Yeah track four which is called Ghosts would be a lot of fun. I think it'll be a great live song to play but unfortunately on Warped we have a shorter set than normal so we don't get to play all the songs we wanna play but as soon as our next headline tour comes around we'll be able to play all the songs we want to pretty much.
Speak of Warped again, you guys are heading down for the Australian leg of it later this year so that must be pretty exciting?
Yeah I'm really excited for it. We've done two tours of Australia and it's one of our favourite places to go. We're all looking forward to it.
With it being headlined by Parkway Drive and The Offspring what were your thoughts on the lineup?
Yeah it's pretty great. Our first tour of Australia was a festival tour so it's going to be pretty similar with a great lineup as well.
What are your best memories of Australia?
We went to Australia for the first time after our first time in Europe and, not that I don't like Europe, but it was much easier to navigate around Australia, the hotels we stayed in were nicer, we were flying to every show. It was such a pleasant experience. In Europe, and other countries, the language barrier is difficult to overcome at times whereas we don't have that over there and it may seem corny but Australia is such a clean country. There's not a lot of trash or pollution which is awesome.
You mentioned earlier it was your eight year anniversary as a band, did you ever imagine when you first formed that you'd still be a band eight years later?
Definitely not (laughs) Just about everything we've ever done I don't think I could have imagined being a part of when we started. Things like releasing CD's on a record label, travelling overseas, doing Warped tour. Naturally when we started the band there was a lot of things we wanted to do but we didn't know if we had what it took to be successful in that way. I'm extremely grateful of everything and I hope we can keep running the band successfully.
In the eight years, which one thing would you say you're most proud of when it comes to the band?
Probably the CD that we put out two years ago....sorry, two days ago (laughs) I love every track on it. I'd say it's the best and most mature music we've put out to date and I couldn't be more proud of the album.
When you were growing up which bands inspired you to form a band?
Brand New, Taking Back Sunday and Relient K. I listened to a ton of those bands. I was really unfamiliar with heavy music actually. I used to sit in my room and play those bands songs on my guitar hoping I'd one day be able to play my own songs.
Are there any bands you're loving right now?
On Warped tour at the moment there's a band from the UK called Architects and I always try and catch their set, they're really good. Bring Me The Horizon are really good, they're on the main stage right next to the stage we've been playing on so I've been trying to catch them too. We have so many friends on the tour and I'd love to watch all of their sets if I had enough time. Like Moths To Flames and Texas in July are a couple on the smaller stages I'm always trying to support but normally our days are so busy I can barely watch one set, if that.
We'll make this the last question. When you get some time off from touring, what do you like to get up to?
Honestly? I just wanna relax. So sleeping in, not doing anything busy. I live with my girlfriend so it's great to spend time with her and we have two cats. I play video games online with my friends that don't live near me and yeah, basically just relax.
OK, well we'll wrap it up there. Thanks very much for your time.
OK, thanks, man.
Matt Barton