Leighton Antelman - Lydia (03/09/2013)
Sitting backstage with Leighton Antelman of Lydia, The 59th Sound's Matt Barton chats with the band ahead of their show at Bang!
How's the Australian tour been going?
Good, man. There's not many places than you can tour here so we've only been here for a week and a half...no, two weeks now but it's been cool. I always like coming over to Australia.
How many times have you been here now?
This is our third time.
What's your favourite place to go to in Australia?
I like Melbourne a lot. We have some good friends on the central coast which is a very touristy place but I like that place a lot too.
How was the tour with Cartel?
It was good. Those guys are nice, they're nice dudes. It was fun and that was the first time we've been over here for our new record.
I was just about to ask about that. Where did the name Devil come from?
It's one of the tracks off the record and it's pretty attention grabbing. It doesn't have any super deep meaning or anything I just thought it was an interesting name for the record.
Yeah it definitely is. What was the recording process like for it?
It was pretty short really. We recorded it in our home state of Arizona. I dunno if you know where that is, it's right next to California on the west coast of the States. Anyway, we recorded it in our own studio and we flew in our producer so it was very relaxed because we were in our own city and got to go to our own beds every night. I later flew up to his house to track the vocals so it was a bit scattered in the fact that we didn't track it all in one place but it was a very laid back recording. It was cool.
What's the reception been like for it so far?
It's been received really well. You obviously never know how people are going to take it because you spend months and months in the studio tediously recording all these little parts and then people can be like “oh that sucks, man,” you just never know. We're obviously excited by how people are taking it so far.
Who writes the lyrics and music for Lydia?
I write all the lyrics and then these three gents (points to the other three band members across the room) they help write the music so we all do that together. We usually do the music first then I take that home and write all the vocals and stuff to it.
What sort of things do you write about?
Whatever, man. Whatever is going on that day (laughs)
Bit of anything and everything huh?
Yeah, for sure. Gotta keep it open. I try to let people have their own interpretation of our different songs. I usually never say that this song is about this event because usually it isn't anyway but I don't want that to ruin somebody's interpretation of the song, especially if they thought it was totally about something else. I want them to relate to it however they want to not how it exactly happened to me.
Yeah that's fair enough. When you were growing up what bands inspired you to want to be in a band yourself?
I think the first band I was in was in junior high school we just played all the old punk rock stuff so just all those sort of bands and we were terrible (laughs) I think as you get older you start liking better music maybe, I dunno (laughs) I don't think there was one band where I thought “now I'm gonna go play music!” (laughs) Wait, you guys don't have junior high school do you?
Nah, just high school.
Oh, so it's just elementary then high school. So yeah, it was during the early stages of high school.
What bands are you into now?
Ummm....shit, I dunno (laughs) We've actually been listening to mostly hip hop lately which is kinda weird.
There's a lot of bands I talk to that are into hip hop actually.
I guess I do listen to a lot of hip hop now that I think about it and for whatever reason lately I've been listening to a whole bunch of country. It's kinda like the opposite of what we play, rap and country.
That's not gonna creep into the next Lydia album is it? (laughs)
(laughs) I dunno, you never know, man. We might put out a country record (laughs)
(laughs) Do you have any crazy stories from the road?
I don't think I have any that I should share with the public (laughs) We're not too crazy. We get a little loose but we don't go pour drinks on our head at the strip club or anything (laughs) Nothing too wild.
What do you get up to when you aren't playing shows?
On this tour or in general?
Both I guess.
Well we all like sports so if we have a day off and we're near a basketball court we'll tear the shit out of that. We can play that all day long. We all grew up in very sport driven families so I guess we kinda do that a lot.
What band would you say has been the most fun to tour with?
That's a good question. Um, I can't think of who was really crazy (laughs) I can't think of one off the top of my head that stands out actually.
I heard Craig (Taylor, drums) saying before you guys are gonna tour with Anberlin later this year, that'd be pretty cool.
Yeah, we're actually not announcing that tour until Monday.
Oh, so I shouldn't put that in?
As long as this is up after Monday it's fine (laughs)
Ok, sweet. Have you toured with them before?
We have not. We don't know them at all actually. It's a co-headline tour with them and The Maine and we're on the same label....ah sorry, not label the same management so we're really good friends with them so it'll just be us three bands out on the road so it'll be cool. It'll be cool to finally meet the Anberlin dudes.
What are the plans for the rest of the year after that tour?
The tour ends on November ninth or tenth I believe so it's almost the end of the year right there and I'm not sure what we're doing around the holidays but we have tours planned into next year so yeah, just lots of touring.
Lydia have been around for about ten years now. What one thing that the band has done that you are most proud of?
I guess just that we're still doing it and that people still give a shit. That's pretty amazing to me. I never would have thought when we were doing our first record that I would still be able to pay my rent with music all these years later. I'm so proud that we're still a band and we're still able to tour and people still enjoy it. When people show us their tattoos of our lyrics or whatever, that's really cool too.
Do you think the hiatus of a year has helped with the longevity of the band?
Maybe. We really only took about off about eight or nine months and then me and Craig decided that we still really want to make music still so yeah.
What would you say is the best and worst thing about being in a band?
They're kinda joined in a way because the best part is getting up on stage and being able to play music for a living and seeing that you genuinely change people's lives with music and then the worst part goes with that because people think that touring has all these crazy things that go on but it's a whole lot of waiting around. Twenty three hours out of the day you're not playing music and so there's a whole lot of down time which is not my favourite thing but then you get to go on stage and make it all worth it.
So what do you do, say in Australia, to kill all that time?
All you can really do is explore. You can only really go whatever is walking distance because you don't have a car and all your gear usually stays at the venue so you usually stay close to that. All we do is explore, see who you meet and see what you find which is pretty cool I guess.
Do you get recognised much outside of the States?
Around the venues we do a bit but nothing too crazy.
You don't get many crazy fans?
(laughs) It's happened every once in a while.
(Laughs) How do you deal with people like that?
You just try and thank them for supporting our music I guess. It's an honour for sure. For whatever reason Lydia fans are extremely passionate. We get at least three or four at every show saying “check out my new tattoo” so that's really cool although I kinda feel like saying “why'd you do that?” (laughs)
(Laughs) Have you had any get the lyrics wrong?
(laughs) I have actually. I can't tell them though (laughs) It's usually they've just misinterpreted what word went where sort of thing so if that's what it means to them then that's cool with me.
We'll wrap the interview up there. Thanks very much for your time and have fun out there on stage.
Thanks, man. You hanging around for the show?
Yeah I am.
Sweet. We'll see you out there soon.
Matt Barton
How's the Australian tour been going?
Good, man. There's not many places than you can tour here so we've only been here for a week and a half...no, two weeks now but it's been cool. I always like coming over to Australia.
How many times have you been here now?
This is our third time.
What's your favourite place to go to in Australia?
I like Melbourne a lot. We have some good friends on the central coast which is a very touristy place but I like that place a lot too.
How was the tour with Cartel?
It was good. Those guys are nice, they're nice dudes. It was fun and that was the first time we've been over here for our new record.
I was just about to ask about that. Where did the name Devil come from?
It's one of the tracks off the record and it's pretty attention grabbing. It doesn't have any super deep meaning or anything I just thought it was an interesting name for the record.
Yeah it definitely is. What was the recording process like for it?
It was pretty short really. We recorded it in our home state of Arizona. I dunno if you know where that is, it's right next to California on the west coast of the States. Anyway, we recorded it in our own studio and we flew in our producer so it was very relaxed because we were in our own city and got to go to our own beds every night. I later flew up to his house to track the vocals so it was a bit scattered in the fact that we didn't track it all in one place but it was a very laid back recording. It was cool.
What's the reception been like for it so far?
It's been received really well. You obviously never know how people are going to take it because you spend months and months in the studio tediously recording all these little parts and then people can be like “oh that sucks, man,” you just never know. We're obviously excited by how people are taking it so far.
Who writes the lyrics and music for Lydia?
I write all the lyrics and then these three gents (points to the other three band members across the room) they help write the music so we all do that together. We usually do the music first then I take that home and write all the vocals and stuff to it.
What sort of things do you write about?
Whatever, man. Whatever is going on that day (laughs)
Bit of anything and everything huh?
Yeah, for sure. Gotta keep it open. I try to let people have their own interpretation of our different songs. I usually never say that this song is about this event because usually it isn't anyway but I don't want that to ruin somebody's interpretation of the song, especially if they thought it was totally about something else. I want them to relate to it however they want to not how it exactly happened to me.
Yeah that's fair enough. When you were growing up what bands inspired you to want to be in a band yourself?
I think the first band I was in was in junior high school we just played all the old punk rock stuff so just all those sort of bands and we were terrible (laughs) I think as you get older you start liking better music maybe, I dunno (laughs) I don't think there was one band where I thought “now I'm gonna go play music!” (laughs) Wait, you guys don't have junior high school do you?
Nah, just high school.
Oh, so it's just elementary then high school. So yeah, it was during the early stages of high school.
What bands are you into now?
Ummm....shit, I dunno (laughs) We've actually been listening to mostly hip hop lately which is kinda weird.
There's a lot of bands I talk to that are into hip hop actually.
I guess I do listen to a lot of hip hop now that I think about it and for whatever reason lately I've been listening to a whole bunch of country. It's kinda like the opposite of what we play, rap and country.
That's not gonna creep into the next Lydia album is it? (laughs)
(laughs) I dunno, you never know, man. We might put out a country record (laughs)
(laughs) Do you have any crazy stories from the road?
I don't think I have any that I should share with the public (laughs) We're not too crazy. We get a little loose but we don't go pour drinks on our head at the strip club or anything (laughs) Nothing too wild.
What do you get up to when you aren't playing shows?
On this tour or in general?
Both I guess.
Well we all like sports so if we have a day off and we're near a basketball court we'll tear the shit out of that. We can play that all day long. We all grew up in very sport driven families so I guess we kinda do that a lot.
What band would you say has been the most fun to tour with?
That's a good question. Um, I can't think of who was really crazy (laughs) I can't think of one off the top of my head that stands out actually.
I heard Craig (Taylor, drums) saying before you guys are gonna tour with Anberlin later this year, that'd be pretty cool.
Yeah, we're actually not announcing that tour until Monday.
Oh, so I shouldn't put that in?
As long as this is up after Monday it's fine (laughs)
Ok, sweet. Have you toured with them before?
We have not. We don't know them at all actually. It's a co-headline tour with them and The Maine and we're on the same label....ah sorry, not label the same management so we're really good friends with them so it'll just be us three bands out on the road so it'll be cool. It'll be cool to finally meet the Anberlin dudes.
What are the plans for the rest of the year after that tour?
The tour ends on November ninth or tenth I believe so it's almost the end of the year right there and I'm not sure what we're doing around the holidays but we have tours planned into next year so yeah, just lots of touring.
Lydia have been around for about ten years now. What one thing that the band has done that you are most proud of?
I guess just that we're still doing it and that people still give a shit. That's pretty amazing to me. I never would have thought when we were doing our first record that I would still be able to pay my rent with music all these years later. I'm so proud that we're still a band and we're still able to tour and people still enjoy it. When people show us their tattoos of our lyrics or whatever, that's really cool too.
Do you think the hiatus of a year has helped with the longevity of the band?
Maybe. We really only took about off about eight or nine months and then me and Craig decided that we still really want to make music still so yeah.
What would you say is the best and worst thing about being in a band?
They're kinda joined in a way because the best part is getting up on stage and being able to play music for a living and seeing that you genuinely change people's lives with music and then the worst part goes with that because people think that touring has all these crazy things that go on but it's a whole lot of waiting around. Twenty three hours out of the day you're not playing music and so there's a whole lot of down time which is not my favourite thing but then you get to go on stage and make it all worth it.
So what do you do, say in Australia, to kill all that time?
All you can really do is explore. You can only really go whatever is walking distance because you don't have a car and all your gear usually stays at the venue so you usually stay close to that. All we do is explore, see who you meet and see what you find which is pretty cool I guess.
Do you get recognised much outside of the States?
Around the venues we do a bit but nothing too crazy.
You don't get many crazy fans?
(laughs) It's happened every once in a while.
(Laughs) How do you deal with people like that?
You just try and thank them for supporting our music I guess. It's an honour for sure. For whatever reason Lydia fans are extremely passionate. We get at least three or four at every show saying “check out my new tattoo” so that's really cool although I kinda feel like saying “why'd you do that?” (laughs)
(Laughs) Have you had any get the lyrics wrong?
(laughs) I have actually. I can't tell them though (laughs) It's usually they've just misinterpreted what word went where sort of thing so if that's what it means to them then that's cool with me.
We'll wrap the interview up there. Thanks very much for your time and have fun out there on stage.
Thanks, man. You hanging around for the show?
Yeah I am.
Sweet. We'll see you out there soon.
Matt Barton