keytarsaurus.buzznet.com

I co-founded and co-ran an online magazine for a few years, I quit this year, the site has undergone complete well re-vamping :) so this interview is no longer online, so here you go i guess. what i am trying to say is that vU stands for vampedUP and i am too lazy/tired to go through and edit the interview. this is from 2006 when taking back sunday were in town for taste of chaos. love that band. very sweet guys as well.

In the name of securing all the latest & greatest exclusively for vampedUP readers... vampedUP has found ourselves in the strangest of situations... But never before! Have we come across such crazy individuals as the members of TAKING BACK SUNDAY. Fred Mascherino [ guitar/vocals ], Eddie Reyes [ guitar ] and Mark O'Connell [ drums ], took time out from ferry rides around Auckland, visiting Real Groovy and chatting to fans on Queen Street, to equip New Zealand with the precise formulas for Halloween pumpkins and dealing with scary squirrels...

TAKING BACK SUNDAY

vU: So, how does it feel to be in New Zealand?
TBS: Exciting.
Yeah, it’s our first time here and its our first time even visiting so its really exciting for us.  
Its quite beautiful, the countryside and the water.  It’s a very pretty country.  Much cleaner than New York where we’re from.

vU: Have you done much sight-seeing since you’ve been here?
TBS: I walked around today for a couple of hours – just the city though.  
Ed’s luggage hasn’t come yet so he had to go clothes shopping because all he had was a pair of shorts and it seems like everything here is very expensive.  He got a nice pair of jeans though.  
vU: But don’t let that put you off!
TBS: No, we’ll come back for the spring clothes.

vU: Are you excited about performing at Taste Of Chaos?
TBS: We are excited for that.  
That’s going to be crazy because it’s the first time coming to this country and it’s like a really big show for us.  But even at home this would be considered a big show so to play to that many people here in Auckland and it being our first time here, we’re going to be nervous.  
Yeah, it will be very exciting.

vU: What ingredients do Taking Back Sunday put into a live performance?
TBS: Passion, excitement, fun, I think we just go out there and enjoy what we do and I think when you enjoy what you do, then that filters out to the kids coming to see you.  
Yeah, when we play we want the crowd to have a really good time at the same time as us so that’s our main goal.  
Yeah, we feed off each other, you know when the crowd sees that the band is having a good time, then the crowd has a good time, and the band sees the crowd is having a good time and it’s just a big party.
vU: So, it’s all about entertaining the crowd?
TBS: I think there shouldn’t be a big separation between the stage and the crowd.  There should just be one big event going on that all of us are witnessing at the same time.  I don’t want to look at it as some big show, I look at it as some big party I guess.  

vU: If you could chose the ultimate concert line up, who would play?
TBS: For me, The Cure.  The Cure, then The Who.  Led Zepplin absolutely.  That would be fun.

vU: Describe a day in the life of Taking Back Sunday.
TBS: Do you want to hear about today?  Well, I landed today and didn’t have any luggage.  I walked around today looking for new clothes, came back to the hotel, watched some TV.  
A lot of our lives are based on waiting all day so we always have to hurry up, we have to always be at our ride at a certain time or at the show.  Then we get there and we just stand there for 2 hours waiting.
vU: Do you sometimes feel that your whole life has been scheduled out for you?
TBS: Yes!  We haven’t reached that point yet because this is the first day of our tour, so we are still really excited but if you were asking that in two weeks we would be like “please quit, stop the schedule”.  It’s always on the go, like wake up, travel, play, stay up way to late, travel the next day.  And sometimes you have days when you look forward to because you’re not doing anything that day and then mysteriously that day you have to go to radio or you have to go play at some record store, you know.  But you can’t complain about it because that’s what we dreamed about doing anyway...
Our work is to play.

vU: What's the best thing about being in Taking Back Sunday?
TBS: The best thing about being in Taking Back Sunday is being able to come to places that we have never been to before and play.  All I know is there are a lot of kids going to be there on Sunday.  So I guess, if you start a band like your ultimate goal is to be as big as you possibly can be and where we are at right now is a total dream come true.  So, every day is like living the dream and its awesome.  
We are very lucky.  I never thought that in my life I would go to New Zealand.  I can’t complain.  You know, if I landed in New York and I didn’t have my luggage I would probably be more pissed than I am today but I’m not that pissed because I’m like, what am I pissed about, we’re in New Zealand.

vU: If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be and why?
TBS: I would be Pharell Williams
vU: So you could get the girls?
TBS: No, because that guy is everywhere, he’s with rock music, he’s with hip hop, he’s always working in different situations, working with different people and he’s always out there.  It seems like he’s got a good life.  
I would be a 1 year old kid, because somebody would carry me around all day and I could ride in a stroller and get fed as much as you like.  
vU: I'd buy you an ice-cream...
TBS: I love ice-cream! Except I have to get vegan ice-cream and that's kinda tricky...

vU: If you could have secret hero powers, what would they be and why?
TBS: My secret hero power would be to be invisible.  I like that idea.
I wish I could fly.
I wish I could travel back in time and to the future.

vU: Your biggest fear?
TBS: Heights.  Once time were doing a photo shoot on a roof and Mark had a panic attack because he was so nervous, it was very high though.  
He had to hold on to us, it was okay.  We were there for  him.
My biggest fear is sharks.  Falling off a boat.  It’s true.  I wouldn’t say tornados because they’re awesome.  But sharks scare the crap out of me.
My biggest fear is scary movies.  Eddie watches horror movies with me.
People always run away from things, like monsters...
I’ve been known to scream like a woman.
There was a squirrel in my attic last week and I went up and I had to get him out because I’m the man in the house and it was like, get up there and get that thing out of here.  I went up and I was definitely kind of nervous about it.  I had a big fight with this squirrel.  I yelled at it, and it yelled back at me and well I’m afraid of squirrels, I guess that’s the thing.

vU: Speaking of movies, are we going to be seeing any more home movies?
TBS: Oh yes!  We have tonnes and tonnes and hours worth of footage of us acting like idiots.  As long as we are together we are always going to have movies cos we love to expose and embarrass each other.  
vU: I'd like to see a Taking Back Sunday DVD released...
TBS: Christmas time/January.  DVD. 2 discs.  Our very first one and we are very excited. We’re actually doing the editing now and we are like, funny embarrassing stuff.  Mark is trying to edit out stuff where he is embarrassed and we won’t let him.  You get to see us acting weird and ridiculous.
vU: I’m looking forward to it!
TBS: You get to see [ a certain Taking Back Sunday member's name is mumbled... ] in a pair Speedos.  
You even get to hear stories about Mark taking out male models.  

vU: You know you’re famous when...
TBS: We’re not famous.  I hate that.  You know people know who you are when you’re at the supermarket and people stop what they’re doing and they follow you out.  So, what are you saying, that you’re famous?  No, I’m saying that that’s cool.  
I dunno.  I dunno how to say it, like, I think we can go out and play and lots of people come but we can also go out in public and no one bothers us.  And when people do recognise us they don’t bother us, that’s cool.

vU: Tell us something that no one else knows about you.
TBS: Do you want to know what no one else knows about us?  
We’re all completely nuts!
Ed is a pretty good artist actually.
He knows two languages.

vU: Who/what inspires you in writing songs?
TBS: I think a lot of the hard core punk bands that we listened to whilst growing up in High School and after High School have really inspired us to do this and to do music that has energy and excitement and isn’t just trying to sound perfect and polished but has a rock edge to it.  Rock and roll isn’t supposed to be perfect so a lot of the bands that we listen to are like that.  
vU: What bands would you recommend to Taking Back Sunday fans?
TBS: I love Bad Brains, Gorilla Biscuits, Minor Threat.
But also Mick Drake, when you think about writing a rift that like gets you emotionally like it definitely comes from people like Jeff Buckley or Mick Drake and stuff like that.  I’ll listen to really brutal heavy stuff and then I’ll put on Jeff Buckley.

vU: What’s your take on the 'emo' debate?
TBS: I’ve read all about it.  The new thing I hear now, I heard on the radio, is that in Spain or something like that ... The Killers are making fun of bands and they say that it is a scene that is dying and I think there is no such thing because all music is emotional.  I think it is just a label that they are going to put on you like I’m sure grunge bands didn’t want to be called grunge but it is something you can’t control, you can’t stop people doing it but I just figure this is a rock & roll band or a punk rock band you know, just with a different style.
We don’t care – you can call us whatever you want, its not going to change the way we sound.

vU: So what does Taking Back Sunday do for fun?
TBS: When we get together as a group, as a band, and we’re on tour together and its nice out, we really enjoy playing kick ball.  You guys know what kick ball is?  It is basically baseball but with a bouncy ball and instead of hitting you kick.  You can tag each other with it you know.  It’s a really great game and if you guys have a chance to play kick ball ever in your lives I would recommend it because you can have a good time.

vU: What's your favourite holiday?
TBS: Halloween.  The whole smell of Fall and the leaves... Getting a pumpkin done, cutting the pumpkin, trick or treating.  You guys do celebrate halloween then?  Americans take Halloween pretty serious.  Do you know what we do?  We get the pumpkin from the pumpkin farm, scoop it out, put salt on the seeds, put the seeds in the oven, carve a mad face into the pumpkin and put a candle in it and then put it outside the door and give little kids some candy and you have a great night.  
Didn’t I tell you we were all completely out of our minds?
vU: I’m believing it now!

vU: Did you receive much of a back-lash from fans with the major label move from Victory records to Warners?
TBS: No, we haven’t really.  I think we have been left out of that whole silly way of looking at things.  The people who support us have always stood by us no matter what, so we are real lucky and fortunate to have that so we’ve never really been confronted with that yet.  But when people do say that about bands I just think its ridiculous, you know that some bands can’t help what becomes of them you know.  I think if a band changes their sound and stops doing stuff standing for what they once stood for then that is selling out.  To me its more, if you are going to change your style because you think it is going to sell you more records, then you have sold out but you know...
In my opinion selling out is bands that really don’t come from where we come from and they just basically steal our style or take our beliefs or what we do and figure out a way to use that to further their career and basically do what we do but they are fake about it.
vU: So, what exactly does Taking Back stand for?
TBS: Our music is what comes naturally to us.  When the 5 of us come together and play music it is a very organic process.  We go through all the debating about how a song should go and we bring up bands like we mentioned from when we were young, lets do…so-and-so wouldn’t have done this, lets make this part really rock you know.  We try not to do things for the sake of being tricky or showing off, we just try to make a good song and play it as rocking as we can and that no- one writes our music for us, well obviously, yes.

vU: A lot of 'top 40' bands use gimmicks to reach fame. What would Taking Back Sunday never do as a publicity stunt?
TBS: I think that, you know, a lot of bands dress up and wear make up and do the whole 'emo' thing. But I can’t see us as a band going out and wearing eye liner.  We like to dress up a little...
I think the thing about us is we are pretty normal guys, we’re nerds basically.  But we are maturing as people so when you mature as people you tend to have a subtle change dressing wise, I think we are just progressing for our age and out time.  I mean we’ve been doing it for so long we really don’t need a gimmick you know. Some people do I guess, I don’t know.

vU: There's been a lot of drama in the Taking Back Sunday member line-up... How have you managed to keep the band going?
TBS: That was a long time ago and since this is our first time here we can touch on it but we normally don’t talk about it any more.  It’s just old news.  We haven’t come and shared ourselves with you. This line up has been going for 3.5 years and we have now done our second album and we think it’s the best album we have ever done so you know we’re kinda happy now and we have found the music that we want to play and everythings good the guys who left are playing in their own band and doing something totally different.  So everyones happy.

vU: If you could work with a charity who would it be and why?
TBS: We do work with a few charities. Cancer, because cancer has affected family members and we have recently been supporting some causes to stop global warming and trying to do some stuff that will help that issue.  That’s a benefit show that we do.

vU: Future plans for Taking Back Sunday?
Playing shows, touring, touring and keep getting to new countries that we haven’t been to.  We’re going to like 5 counties this month that we haven’t been to before.  That’s usually our most exciting time just doing that.  We’re just going to be touring and hanging out.  We have a video for 'Liar...' coming out over here eventually.
vU: Will there be any more singles off 'Louder Now'?
TBS: Yes, hopefully, it’s always up to, you know, fate, it’s out of our control but yes we would love to, I dunno.  

vU: What’s it like being away from your family, i.e. wives and children, for so long while on tour?
TBS: Yeah, it’s the hardest part about touring, everything else about touring is easy compared with that, yeah it’s hard, you know my kids do have a hard time sometimes but I try to think that we’re doing this for their future and its what I do for a living so that helps to rationalise it anyway.  
I have a little daughter so its real heart breaking to leave.  I’m usually a mess and then when I get on a plane I’m okay.
I have nothing, I have a dog. My parents have a dog.