Interview with A Day To Remember

I was lucky enough to get a few words in with A Day To Remember's frontman, Jeremy McKinnon. One of the first questions I asked was when he was planning on getting back into the studio again.
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Ever hear of a band called A Day To Remember? Even if the band name doesn't ring the slightest bell, if you've heard the little clips in between MTV's credits from hit shows such as Jersey Shore, Punk'd, or even WWE commercials, there's no doubt you've heard their music and just didn't know them by name. After their most recent album, What Separates Me from You, was released in November 2010, their fame has been sky-rocketing like you wouldn't believe!

These rockers, originally from Florida, have just finished up their 2012 spring tour with another awesome band to check out, Rise Against. I went to their show in Pittsburgh just a few weeks ago to see if they live up to their extremely high standards of performing for their die-hard fans. Needless to say, they didn't let anyone in that whole venue down! Even the older folks there were sincerely enjoying themselves.

Aside from that, though, I was lucky enough to get a few words in with A Day To Remember's frontman, Jeremy McKinnon. One of the first questions I asked was when he and the guys were planning on getting back into the studio again. McKinnon explained that they're going straight to the studio after the tour is over, and that they're not going on anymore tours until the new record (which will be named Common Courtesy) is done! He didn't want to let too many details slip, but that alone will still be pretty exciting for the fans of A Day To Remember.

I also asked what it's truly like to live the "rock star" lifestyle. When I asked if he had ever gotten noticed on the streets and what it feels like, Jeremy said, "Yeah, I do. It depends on how the person handles it. I'm a pretty shy person, but I've gotten a lot better with it over time here. So, it just depends on them. I'm cool with it, as long as they're nice and respectful. I actually like it when people treat you like a normal person. Just like, 'Okay, I like your music, thanks a lot.' That means so much more to me than somebody completely losing their mind and I'm just like, 'Uh, I don't know what to do.'"

Hearing him say that made me gain so much more respect for him and the band. They're getting recognized and becoming more popular, but they aren't letting it get to their head.

Then, of course, I had to get into the dirty questions that every fan would love to know the answer to! I got some pretty interesting answers that I had never expected. In one of A Day To Remember's songs, "1958," the lyrics say, "I'd burn the building, if I knew you'd die. And I'll pray you're a failure and that you won't make it out alive... We're paging 1958!" It's not hard to tell that there were some bitter feelings, but what in the world does "1958" mean? McKinnon said, "It's about our old drummer. Our original drummer quit for a little while before we even put out that first album and this middle guy came in for a little while, but he was terrible and he couldn't really play drums at all. Like, he was really terrible. And we kicked him out; we were very nice about it. We went out of our way to be cool about it, you know, do it the way we would want to be let go and he got really weird and started making threats and stuff to come into my parents' house and stuff with a baseball bat and just stuff like that. So, I wrote a song about it, and 1958 were the last four digits of his cellphone number."

That was definitely one of the coolest meanings I know of behind a song!

To wrap it up, A Day To Remember has a pretty packed agenda for the rest of 2012, and they're sure to please their listeners. With their terrific breakdowns, heavenly clean vocals and awesome song meanings, how on the edge of your seat are you for the new record? I'm pretty sure I'll be camping out to get that album!

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