Of Mice And Men (27/09/2012)
Valentino Arteaga from Of Mice And Men took a moment out of their current tour to chat about coming down for Soundwave Festival next year, their time on The Vans Warped Tour and the strength of their fan base.
Hey, I’m Beth, thanks for talking to us tonight.
Of course. Thanks for talking to me this evening. How are you doing?
I’m good. How are you?
I’m doing great. Just got off stage from our show in Reno, Nevada. And now I’m chilling in the back lounge of my tour bus.
And how has the tour been going?
Amazing! We’re on tour right now with August Burns Red, The Color Morale and Overseer. The shows have been crazy, being on tour with a sick metal band like August Burn Red is definitely cool, we’ve been watching them a lot. So it’s been awesome!
Are there any crazy stories from the tour so far?
This tour’s been pretty calm, we’ve been doing a lot of writing and stuff, so nothing too crazy has happened yet. But I mean we live life on the edge so I’m sure something will come up pretty soon. We always have funny stories towards the end.
And the writing you guys have been doing is for your upcoming third album?
That’s correct.
How’s that going?
Great. We take any chance we get to work on new material and just have some fresh ideas. We know that our fans want to hear what we’ve got up our sleeve and we definitely want to be able to show them. And The (Flood) Reissue is a really good idea of what they can expect from us as well as the songs on The Flood. We’re constantly working on improving our live set and our songs recorded and all that stuff.
Where have you been looking to for inspiration for your new songs?
Our inspirations happen every single day. All of our songs are written about real situations that have happened to us and real feelings that we have. Austin (Carlile) really takes the time to write exactly how he feels and it just happens every day. Everyday that life happens and you’re feeling a certain thing, whether it’s a good thing or a band thing, and that could lead to a good song. So we have a studio set up in the back lounge of our bus and we just plug our computers in and record our ideas with the guitars and the drums.
We like to use what happens around as an influence because, well why not?
It’s something that’s going on in our lives and we want to share that with somebody in the hopes that they’ll listen to that and find some sort of comfort in knowing that they’re not alone going through something that they’re going through. Or that ‘oh wow, they feel that way too’ and it’s like ‘ yeah, of course we do.’ We’re just human, we’re just people. Dudes that play music and we get to write songs and people listen to them. So we want to write what happens in our lives so that we can hopefully in turn provide help to somebody else.
That’s certainly something that comes across in fans speaking about your music and the way they can relate to your songs.
That’s something that not a lot bands get to do or choose to do, but it’s something that we feel like is important to us because nobody should feel alone and nobody should feel like they don’t have anywhere to go. Albums that we listen to at any given time that made us feel that way; those were real songs that were powerful to us. They made us feel such an overwhelming feeling of that’s how I feel. So we want to make sure that we can do that for our fans much like our favourite bands did for us. And that’s something that we all share, so it’s cool that our fans pick up on that too and appreciate it as much as we appreciate writing it for them and for ourselves.
And can we be expecting to hear some of the new songs soon?
Honestly, we’d like to have some new material out by the time we hit Soundwave. Anything can happen depending on when we can get into the studio, or if we even have time to before we go to Soundwave. But we’re always working on new material and we want to put out new stuff.
Well like you said, you’re coming down to Soundwave next year and it’ll be your first time on the tour, so what are you looking forward to most?
Playing with so many amazing bands. Huge bands, like rock icon bands, like Metallica, Linkin Park. Bands that we’ve listened to since we were young. So we’re definitely excited for that. We’re excited for the hang times with our friends that we’ve made from touring with. A lot of the bands on the tour we’re really close friends with so that will be fun. Being in a whole other setting with them. As well as being able to meet our fans and Australia’s a place that we haven’t really ever gotten to. Well we went once with The Amity Affliction and I Killed The Prom Queen before, but it’s definitely a market that we don’t hit enough. So we’ll definitely take full advantage of meeting all of our fans.
You’ve mentioned a couple of the bands on the Soundwave line up already, are there any others you’re excited about touring with?
Bring Me The Horizon; we’re stoked for them. There are just so many bands and it’s really cool that we get to be a part of it because it’s such a huge touring festival with such massive bands. I mean we just did The Vans Warped Tour over the summer here in the United States and we were one of the headliners, so the fact that Metallica and Slayer and Linkin Park are headliners is like ‘damn, we can’t even imagine that.’ So just being able to play on the same bill as those bands; obviously we probably won’t be playing the same stage, I’m sure Metallica will have their own stage.
And Soundwave will be you’re second time in Australia, so is there anything you’re looking forward to doing that you missed out on last time?
Definitely want to go cliff jumping with the Amity dudes. I think it would be cool if we could go to like some animal sanctuaries or something. Unfortunately with the lifestyle and the way touring overseas is, it’s a lot of busy stuff and a lot of traveling from venues to hotels so there’s not really much time that we get to vacation. I mean it’s not really a vacation because we’re going there to tour, but it’s not everyday we get to go to Australia, so it would be cool to check out some cool stuff and if you’re a fan reading this definitely let us know all the cool stuff to do in the cities so we can try and get out and go do that.
Well I mean of the must do’s if having your photo with a koala.
I know! I definitely need to do that. I’ve taken one of those before at the San Diego Zoo but I want to do it in Australia and with a wombat too!
As a band, you guys are known for going out of your way to spending time with and giving back to your fans, is that something you’re going to strive for when you’re down in Australia?
One hundred and ten percent! It’s funny I just got off an interview before and they asked if we were going to be doing meet and greets so as soon as I got off that call I went to our tour manager and told him to contact our manager and make sure we’re doing meet and greets while we’re over there. I mean meeting our fans is the most important thing we have. They’re the ones that listen to our music and lets what we write, lets our music affect them so much that it’s amazing. So I feel like our fans know that we love them too. And we definitely like spending time with them and hearing their stories and all that kind of stuff. They bring us gifts too which is crazy but it’s just so cool that we’re able to have that sort of loving fan base so we definitely try to give back as much as possible.
You mentioned earlier that you were on The Vans Warped Tour as headliners this year, how did this year compare to your previous years on Warped?
It was really crazy because we got to start at the bottom of Warped Tour and work our way to the top. And that’s something that not a lot of bands get to do in their career in three years. A lot of the time it takes a long time for bands to achieve that kind of notoriety. And we were able to work at it; we started at the small stage, giving it a hundred and ten percent, do the signings, and work in the catering line and do all that kind of stuff and then the next year for it to be a little bit better. We actually had no idea that this year was going to be as absolutely massive as it was; we thought it was just going to be another step up from last year. And that’s what we’re used to so that fact that everything was so massive this year was just unbelievable. And so we took the time to make sure we did all the signings and that we made sure that we let our fans know we’re thankful. Thank you for letting us live our dreams and become a top band at Warped Tour. I mean I’ve been going to Warped Tour for ten years now, well longer than that actually I’ve been going since I was thirteen and I can’t even do maths so that’s like thirteen years. I’ve been going to Warped Tour for half my life so the fact that we’ve been able to play it for three years in a row and start at the bottom and then get to the top is amazing. The only people we have to thank are our fans because they’re the ones that demanded us to be there and showed us the love while we were there.
Obviously as one of the headlining bands you’re at the top of Warped Tour, have you thought about what might do to step it up next year?
I’m not sure. I mean we have a lot of options now, we’re actually one of the few bands that have actually been able to play Warped Tour three years consecutively and that’s thanks to Kevin Lyman (creator of Warped Tour) who’s a close friend of ours and we’re very thankful that he’s believed in our band from the beginning and knew that we were going to do something great and now that we’ve done three consecutive years of Warped Tour I’m not exactly sure what we’re going to do next summer but I can guarantee we will be on tour and we will be trying to play for as many people as possible.
Well you guys could always keep coming back to Australia!
We would love to go back and do venue tours there! So if you hear of any tours coming out there request us and make sure you let your promoters know that you want us out there.
Are there any new bands or albums you guys have been listening to recently?
Pierce The Veil just put out an amazing new album.
We’re always listening to new bands but we like to keep our mind on our own music. Not that we don’t like listening to other bands but we like to keep our ideas really solid with how we feel and the ideas we had so you won’t really find us listening to a lot of bands that sound similar to us just because of that. We like to listen to a lot of older stuff too.
I would love to name drop a bunch of bands to help them out but unfortunately their names escape me right now.
And the final question I have for tonight, if you could create your own tour line up with bands past or present; who would you chose to tour with?
Alright. It would be Slipknot headlining. Or it would probably be co-headliners Rage Against The Machine and Slipknot, with Korn and us and Pierce The Veil because I love those dudes. That would be a killer tour!
I mean the Soundwave line up is a dream line up, there are so many amazing bands, so many new and old. Just so much talent on that tour and so many very good bands. So Soundwave is a dream tour for us too because we’ve always wanted to be a part of Soundwave festival. So I guess you can call that a dream line up too. Like Metallica are you kidding me?! We’re going on tour with, that’s so amazing!
Well thank you so much for talking to us, and I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your tour and get a good night’s sleep.
Oh thank you very much.
Bethany Williams
Hey, I’m Beth, thanks for talking to us tonight.
Of course. Thanks for talking to me this evening. How are you doing?
I’m good. How are you?
I’m doing great. Just got off stage from our show in Reno, Nevada. And now I’m chilling in the back lounge of my tour bus.
And how has the tour been going?
Amazing! We’re on tour right now with August Burns Red, The Color Morale and Overseer. The shows have been crazy, being on tour with a sick metal band like August Burn Red is definitely cool, we’ve been watching them a lot. So it’s been awesome!
Are there any crazy stories from the tour so far?
This tour’s been pretty calm, we’ve been doing a lot of writing and stuff, so nothing too crazy has happened yet. But I mean we live life on the edge so I’m sure something will come up pretty soon. We always have funny stories towards the end.
And the writing you guys have been doing is for your upcoming third album?
That’s correct.
How’s that going?
Great. We take any chance we get to work on new material and just have some fresh ideas. We know that our fans want to hear what we’ve got up our sleeve and we definitely want to be able to show them. And The (Flood) Reissue is a really good idea of what they can expect from us as well as the songs on The Flood. We’re constantly working on improving our live set and our songs recorded and all that stuff.
Where have you been looking to for inspiration for your new songs?
Our inspirations happen every single day. All of our songs are written about real situations that have happened to us and real feelings that we have. Austin (Carlile) really takes the time to write exactly how he feels and it just happens every day. Everyday that life happens and you’re feeling a certain thing, whether it’s a good thing or a band thing, and that could lead to a good song. So we have a studio set up in the back lounge of our bus and we just plug our computers in and record our ideas with the guitars and the drums.
We like to use what happens around as an influence because, well why not?
It’s something that’s going on in our lives and we want to share that with somebody in the hopes that they’ll listen to that and find some sort of comfort in knowing that they’re not alone going through something that they’re going through. Or that ‘oh wow, they feel that way too’ and it’s like ‘ yeah, of course we do.’ We’re just human, we’re just people. Dudes that play music and we get to write songs and people listen to them. So we want to write what happens in our lives so that we can hopefully in turn provide help to somebody else.
That’s certainly something that comes across in fans speaking about your music and the way they can relate to your songs.
That’s something that not a lot bands get to do or choose to do, but it’s something that we feel like is important to us because nobody should feel alone and nobody should feel like they don’t have anywhere to go. Albums that we listen to at any given time that made us feel that way; those were real songs that were powerful to us. They made us feel such an overwhelming feeling of that’s how I feel. So we want to make sure that we can do that for our fans much like our favourite bands did for us. And that’s something that we all share, so it’s cool that our fans pick up on that too and appreciate it as much as we appreciate writing it for them and for ourselves.
And can we be expecting to hear some of the new songs soon?
Honestly, we’d like to have some new material out by the time we hit Soundwave. Anything can happen depending on when we can get into the studio, or if we even have time to before we go to Soundwave. But we’re always working on new material and we want to put out new stuff.
Well like you said, you’re coming down to Soundwave next year and it’ll be your first time on the tour, so what are you looking forward to most?
Playing with so many amazing bands. Huge bands, like rock icon bands, like Metallica, Linkin Park. Bands that we’ve listened to since we were young. So we’re definitely excited for that. We’re excited for the hang times with our friends that we’ve made from touring with. A lot of the bands on the tour we’re really close friends with so that will be fun. Being in a whole other setting with them. As well as being able to meet our fans and Australia’s a place that we haven’t really ever gotten to. Well we went once with The Amity Affliction and I Killed The Prom Queen before, but it’s definitely a market that we don’t hit enough. So we’ll definitely take full advantage of meeting all of our fans.
You’ve mentioned a couple of the bands on the Soundwave line up already, are there any others you’re excited about touring with?
Bring Me The Horizon; we’re stoked for them. There are just so many bands and it’s really cool that we get to be a part of it because it’s such a huge touring festival with such massive bands. I mean we just did The Vans Warped Tour over the summer here in the United States and we were one of the headliners, so the fact that Metallica and Slayer and Linkin Park are headliners is like ‘damn, we can’t even imagine that.’ So just being able to play on the same bill as those bands; obviously we probably won’t be playing the same stage, I’m sure Metallica will have their own stage.
And Soundwave will be you’re second time in Australia, so is there anything you’re looking forward to doing that you missed out on last time?
Definitely want to go cliff jumping with the Amity dudes. I think it would be cool if we could go to like some animal sanctuaries or something. Unfortunately with the lifestyle and the way touring overseas is, it’s a lot of busy stuff and a lot of traveling from venues to hotels so there’s not really much time that we get to vacation. I mean it’s not really a vacation because we’re going there to tour, but it’s not everyday we get to go to Australia, so it would be cool to check out some cool stuff and if you’re a fan reading this definitely let us know all the cool stuff to do in the cities so we can try and get out and go do that.
Well I mean of the must do’s if having your photo with a koala.
I know! I definitely need to do that. I’ve taken one of those before at the San Diego Zoo but I want to do it in Australia and with a wombat too!
As a band, you guys are known for going out of your way to spending time with and giving back to your fans, is that something you’re going to strive for when you’re down in Australia?
One hundred and ten percent! It’s funny I just got off an interview before and they asked if we were going to be doing meet and greets so as soon as I got off that call I went to our tour manager and told him to contact our manager and make sure we’re doing meet and greets while we’re over there. I mean meeting our fans is the most important thing we have. They’re the ones that listen to our music and lets what we write, lets our music affect them so much that it’s amazing. So I feel like our fans know that we love them too. And we definitely like spending time with them and hearing their stories and all that kind of stuff. They bring us gifts too which is crazy but it’s just so cool that we’re able to have that sort of loving fan base so we definitely try to give back as much as possible.
You mentioned earlier that you were on The Vans Warped Tour as headliners this year, how did this year compare to your previous years on Warped?
It was really crazy because we got to start at the bottom of Warped Tour and work our way to the top. And that’s something that not a lot of bands get to do in their career in three years. A lot of the time it takes a long time for bands to achieve that kind of notoriety. And we were able to work at it; we started at the small stage, giving it a hundred and ten percent, do the signings, and work in the catering line and do all that kind of stuff and then the next year for it to be a little bit better. We actually had no idea that this year was going to be as absolutely massive as it was; we thought it was just going to be another step up from last year. And that’s what we’re used to so that fact that everything was so massive this year was just unbelievable. And so we took the time to make sure we did all the signings and that we made sure that we let our fans know we’re thankful. Thank you for letting us live our dreams and become a top band at Warped Tour. I mean I’ve been going to Warped Tour for ten years now, well longer than that actually I’ve been going since I was thirteen and I can’t even do maths so that’s like thirteen years. I’ve been going to Warped Tour for half my life so the fact that we’ve been able to play it for three years in a row and start at the bottom and then get to the top is amazing. The only people we have to thank are our fans because they’re the ones that demanded us to be there and showed us the love while we were there.
Obviously as one of the headlining bands you’re at the top of Warped Tour, have you thought about what might do to step it up next year?
I’m not sure. I mean we have a lot of options now, we’re actually one of the few bands that have actually been able to play Warped Tour three years consecutively and that’s thanks to Kevin Lyman (creator of Warped Tour) who’s a close friend of ours and we’re very thankful that he’s believed in our band from the beginning and knew that we were going to do something great and now that we’ve done three consecutive years of Warped Tour I’m not exactly sure what we’re going to do next summer but I can guarantee we will be on tour and we will be trying to play for as many people as possible.
Well you guys could always keep coming back to Australia!
We would love to go back and do venue tours there! So if you hear of any tours coming out there request us and make sure you let your promoters know that you want us out there.
Are there any new bands or albums you guys have been listening to recently?
Pierce The Veil just put out an amazing new album.
We’re always listening to new bands but we like to keep our mind on our own music. Not that we don’t like listening to other bands but we like to keep our ideas really solid with how we feel and the ideas we had so you won’t really find us listening to a lot of bands that sound similar to us just because of that. We like to listen to a lot of older stuff too.
I would love to name drop a bunch of bands to help them out but unfortunately their names escape me right now.
And the final question I have for tonight, if you could create your own tour line up with bands past or present; who would you chose to tour with?
Alright. It would be Slipknot headlining. Or it would probably be co-headliners Rage Against The Machine and Slipknot, with Korn and us and Pierce The Veil because I love those dudes. That would be a killer tour!
I mean the Soundwave line up is a dream line up, there are so many amazing bands, so many new and old. Just so much talent on that tour and so many very good bands. So Soundwave is a dream tour for us too because we’ve always wanted to be a part of Soundwave festival. So I guess you can call that a dream line up too. Like Metallica are you kidding me?! We’re going on tour with, that’s so amazing!
Well thank you so much for talking to us, and I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your tour and get a good night’s sleep.
Oh thank you very much.
Bethany Williams