Tom May - The Menzingers (30/03/2013)
Ahead of their tour with Pennywise and Face To Face, we chat with Tom May of The Menzingers.
Hey Tom, how are you?
Hey Matt, how you doing?
Great. You must be pretty excited for the upcoming Pennywise and Face To Face tour of Australia?
Yeah it's gonna be awesome! I'm really stoked. It'll be our second time back in Australia. The first time we had so much fun that our drummer (Joe Godino) wanted to stay (laughs)
That was for Soundwave. What was that like?
It was great. We've never experienced anything like that with really big bands. We met Fred Durst (of Limp Bizkit) and other funny people like that and we got to watch Marilyn Manson either make a fool of himself or put on a really good show every day. We couldn't decide which one it was (laughs). But it was a really good experience.
What were the crowd reactions like?
It was definitely better than what we anticipated. Especially with the sidewave shows which were with Street Dogs, Bad Religion and Strung Out.
Just back on the Pennywise tour, have you toured with either band before?
No, we haven't.
What are your thoughts on vocalist Jim Lindberg rejoining the band?
I reckon it's great. We actually played with his other band (The Black Pacific) on Warped Tour for a couple of days. He introduced himself to us and was a really nice guy.
What's the Warped Tour like compared to Soundwave?
It's very similar for the most part but very different in the aspect of with Soundwave you're basically ferried around and are part of the festival all the time but with Warped you're basically on your own as far as travel and that is concerned but we made some great friends on Warped. The crowds are certainly different too.
On the band The Menzingers, how did they get started?
Basically from a bunch of older bands. We all played in bands throughout high school and all met through mutual friends to form this band about 7 years ago now.
What made you decide to get into music when you were younger?
That's funny, I was thinking about that recently. It just kinda happened. I basically just didn't take any other offer or anything seriously so I basically just decided to do this.
Who inspired you musically?
A lot of punk bands like Operation Ivy. The Clash were a huge influence for me. Green Day were a big one for us a band when we first started.
What about now?
We get influences from all over the place now especially because we're getting older. A lot of 90's stuff. I've been listening to a lot of Regina Spektor recently even though she's a completely different style she's been a huge influence on me recently.
When it comes to writing the songs is that just you or do you do it as a band?
We do it as a band. Greg (Barnett) the other singer and myself make skeletons of songs with acoustic guitars with maybe a few chords or a chorus or something and then we take them to practise and hammer out the rest of the song as a band.
And what inspires you when writing the lyrics?
There's a bunch of different things. I read a lot of books so I get a lot from that. We are always trying to write new things and try new things.
Are you currently writing for a new album?
Yeah we are. Aside from these Australian shows we have the next few months off to work on the new album and hopefully finish it.
So can we expect another tour maybe next year then with the new album?
We'll definitely be back whenever we can.
That's great to hear. Are you into Australian bands?
Yeah I like The Smith Street Band a lot. We have some mutual friends in Melbourne and we actually saw them when they came to Philadelphia. Bodyjar are also great. I had an aunt that listened to a lot of Midnight Oil too and the singer is now the education minister or something now?
Yeah, Peter Garrett. He's a politician now. When it comes to live shows what is you favourite song to play live?
Definitely a song we have called Gates. I love playing it on the guitar and we all put a lot of energy into it. It's a good little tune.
Which country would you say has the craziest fans?
Probably Germany. They don't exactly go crazy but they are probably the craziest people.
Why is that?
They are different culturally. We have some German friends and they are great but some German fans are very intense. They'll walk up to you and say things like “I wanted to buy one of your t-shirts but I don't like any of them” and then walk off and it's pretty funny I guess.
(laughs) Do you prefer them to be honest like that or should they beat around the bush a bit?
Definitely beat around the bush (laughs) Maybe a bit more passive aggressive.
Which band has been the most fun to tour with?
Probably The Bouncing Souls. We did 3 tours with them last year and they've become really good friends. They are some of the most positive and friendly people we've ever met. They are just spectacular human beings and the same with their crew.
What would you say is the best and worst thing about being in a band?
I think the best thing is probably the worst thing and that's you get to travel all the time. A lot of my friends would kill to be able to just travel all the time and it's great, I love it but at the same time it is very stressful.
What countries have you been to?
Most of western Europe, UK, Australia. This summer we're gonna go to Slovenia, Poland and Ireland which we're stoked about.
Does that ever blow you away that you can tour all these great places just by doing something you love?
Oh yeah, it's incredible. It's been my dream. It's pretty amazing.
Do you have a favourite country to visit?
My favourite would be England so far. I just really like it there. It's a really charming place. I like the humour, the people and love the vibe.
That's great. We'll wrap it up with this question, when you get some time off what do you like to get up to?
This time, honestly, I've just been playing video games. My friend loaned me his gaming console and, I've never really been into gaming, but I've been playing it heaps (laughs) But usually just regular things like watching movies, reading books and mostly hanging out with my friends. I don't really go to many shows because I'm also at them while on tour.
Thanks very much for your time and we look forward to seeing you when you're hear with the band next month.
Sweet. Thank you very much.
Matt Barton
Hey Tom, how are you?
Hey Matt, how you doing?
Great. You must be pretty excited for the upcoming Pennywise and Face To Face tour of Australia?
Yeah it's gonna be awesome! I'm really stoked. It'll be our second time back in Australia. The first time we had so much fun that our drummer (Joe Godino) wanted to stay (laughs)
That was for Soundwave. What was that like?
It was great. We've never experienced anything like that with really big bands. We met Fred Durst (of Limp Bizkit) and other funny people like that and we got to watch Marilyn Manson either make a fool of himself or put on a really good show every day. We couldn't decide which one it was (laughs). But it was a really good experience.
What were the crowd reactions like?
It was definitely better than what we anticipated. Especially with the sidewave shows which were with Street Dogs, Bad Religion and Strung Out.
Just back on the Pennywise tour, have you toured with either band before?
No, we haven't.
What are your thoughts on vocalist Jim Lindberg rejoining the band?
I reckon it's great. We actually played with his other band (The Black Pacific) on Warped Tour for a couple of days. He introduced himself to us and was a really nice guy.
What's the Warped Tour like compared to Soundwave?
It's very similar for the most part but very different in the aspect of with Soundwave you're basically ferried around and are part of the festival all the time but with Warped you're basically on your own as far as travel and that is concerned but we made some great friends on Warped. The crowds are certainly different too.
On the band The Menzingers, how did they get started?
Basically from a bunch of older bands. We all played in bands throughout high school and all met through mutual friends to form this band about 7 years ago now.
What made you decide to get into music when you were younger?
That's funny, I was thinking about that recently. It just kinda happened. I basically just didn't take any other offer or anything seriously so I basically just decided to do this.
Who inspired you musically?
A lot of punk bands like Operation Ivy. The Clash were a huge influence for me. Green Day were a big one for us a band when we first started.
What about now?
We get influences from all over the place now especially because we're getting older. A lot of 90's stuff. I've been listening to a lot of Regina Spektor recently even though she's a completely different style she's been a huge influence on me recently.
When it comes to writing the songs is that just you or do you do it as a band?
We do it as a band. Greg (Barnett) the other singer and myself make skeletons of songs with acoustic guitars with maybe a few chords or a chorus or something and then we take them to practise and hammer out the rest of the song as a band.
And what inspires you when writing the lyrics?
There's a bunch of different things. I read a lot of books so I get a lot from that. We are always trying to write new things and try new things.
Are you currently writing for a new album?
Yeah we are. Aside from these Australian shows we have the next few months off to work on the new album and hopefully finish it.
So can we expect another tour maybe next year then with the new album?
We'll definitely be back whenever we can.
That's great to hear. Are you into Australian bands?
Yeah I like The Smith Street Band a lot. We have some mutual friends in Melbourne and we actually saw them when they came to Philadelphia. Bodyjar are also great. I had an aunt that listened to a lot of Midnight Oil too and the singer is now the education minister or something now?
Yeah, Peter Garrett. He's a politician now. When it comes to live shows what is you favourite song to play live?
Definitely a song we have called Gates. I love playing it on the guitar and we all put a lot of energy into it. It's a good little tune.
Which country would you say has the craziest fans?
Probably Germany. They don't exactly go crazy but they are probably the craziest people.
Why is that?
They are different culturally. We have some German friends and they are great but some German fans are very intense. They'll walk up to you and say things like “I wanted to buy one of your t-shirts but I don't like any of them” and then walk off and it's pretty funny I guess.
(laughs) Do you prefer them to be honest like that or should they beat around the bush a bit?
Definitely beat around the bush (laughs) Maybe a bit more passive aggressive.
Which band has been the most fun to tour with?
Probably The Bouncing Souls. We did 3 tours with them last year and they've become really good friends. They are some of the most positive and friendly people we've ever met. They are just spectacular human beings and the same with their crew.
What would you say is the best and worst thing about being in a band?
I think the best thing is probably the worst thing and that's you get to travel all the time. A lot of my friends would kill to be able to just travel all the time and it's great, I love it but at the same time it is very stressful.
What countries have you been to?
Most of western Europe, UK, Australia. This summer we're gonna go to Slovenia, Poland and Ireland which we're stoked about.
Does that ever blow you away that you can tour all these great places just by doing something you love?
Oh yeah, it's incredible. It's been my dream. It's pretty amazing.
Do you have a favourite country to visit?
My favourite would be England so far. I just really like it there. It's a really charming place. I like the humour, the people and love the vibe.
That's great. We'll wrap it up with this question, when you get some time off what do you like to get up to?
This time, honestly, I've just been playing video games. My friend loaned me his gaming console and, I've never really been into gaming, but I've been playing it heaps (laughs) But usually just regular things like watching movies, reading books and mostly hanging out with my friends. I don't really go to many shows because I'm also at them while on tour.
Thanks very much for your time and we look forward to seeing you when you're hear with the band next month.
Sweet. Thank you very much.
Matt Barton