INTERVIEW BY JOE FITZPATRICK
PHOTOS PROVED BY OLIVER BAXTER
Very little information has been released on the specifics of BROADSIDE’s first full-length album, which will be the long overdue follow up to the band’s debut EP Far From Home, released July 18, 2012 on Ice Grill$. The band, however, is much different now than they were when that album was released. They have endured multiple tours, several changes to their lineup, as well as honing their sound to a heavier, yet polished performance standard that many punk bands in the Virginia and Washington, D.C. music scenes aspire to. We spoke with their vocalist Ollie regarding the secrecy behind the release of the new album and his personal connections to the songs, the band’s cross country trip to record in Los Angeles, and who stinks the most on tour.
Over the past couple years, you guys have experienced multiple changes in your lineup, most recently bringing on Dorian Cooke, formerly of BATTLEGHOST, as your latest guitarist. Do you think you guys have found a lineup that will stick around for a while?
Oh yeah, absolutely. With brining on [new] members, it’s natural to be extremely excited for a new project or anything in that sort, and a lot of people just, for the lack of better words, don’t have the hearts to stick it out. Naturally, they miss their family, or they don’t want to sleep in a van, or they don’t want to get paid in French fries and hot wings (laughs) from venues. Ultimately, no one in the long run does, but I think with this lineup, it’s pretty solid. Dorian has helped us out in the past when other guitar players have dropped or anything came up. Niles [guitarist] moved all the way down here from New York, and I’ve been in the band for two years now. We all get along really well. It feels right, which sounds kind of corny, but the camaraderie is definitely there.
In the last interview we did with Andrew, Niles, and Josh, Niles mentioned that your upcoming album is going to be “a lot more rock and less bubblegum.” Having completed the recordings, do you feel like this description accurately describes your new songs?
When we got into the studio, we brought 11 heavy songs, and then we got in there and started working with our producer, Kyle Black. He was like, “These are good. These are solid,” and then he broke everything apart. I wouldn’t say that we went more bubblegum or cookie cutter with it, but we definitely made a moment happen in each song. So for lack of better words, I feel like you can take that for what it’s worth to anyone who hears it, but I feel like [the songs] are a lot more diverse in the sense of a lot of different people will have a lot of different songs. We definitely kind of softened up a lot of the record, but not soft in the sense of [the word]. More so soft in the sense of easily taken into but not by the average consumer. I feel like if you listen to this record from start to finish, you could listen to it again in the same headset without feeling ready to punch a pumpkin in half (laughs).
How was your experience going across the country to Los Angeles to record the new album?
It was super rad, man. I went into it knowing that I was the biggest metro[sexual] in the band, and I was going to find a way to take a shower in that travel. I went in knowing Dorian was probably going to stink the most; I’ll put that on record. He does (laughs). It was nuts though because at first, we were so stoked to get to Los Angeles, and now that Andrew [guitarist] lives in San Francisco, we were like, “Okay, the sooner we get to California, the girls will be way more babely; we get to see Andrew; and we’ll probably get a hotel and jump up and down on the bed,” but in a cool way, not like a corny way (laughs). So going there, we just tried to bang out all the hours at one time, and I remember at one point we had to just stop in the middle of the country and throw the football around and be like, “Hey, we’re human beings. We’re not these machines that just drive and drive.” It was tiring, to say the least, but we were just so driven by our desire to be in the sunshine. On the way back, it was literally the opposite (laughs). We drove to snow; it was just a bummer (laughs) to come home and be leaving the babes, the bed jumping, and the sunshine behind us. We know it won’t be the last [time] for a while.
Do you have any memorable stories from the trip?
The guys from HEART TO HEART crashed at our house one night, and I’m the only one in the band that doesn’t drink, aside from Niles. He’s more of an “every now and then” type of drinker. So everyone just got smashed, and they were talking all this game about never having played a straight edge kid in Cee-lo. Cee-lo is a dice gambling game. Keep in mind this was a $1 game, but they were smashed and willing to put up these ridiculous prices. From that $1 game, I pulled a $25 Chili’s gift card, a $10 Chick-fil-A gift card, a portable phone charger, [and] I think I got some Vans. Someone put a 40 [ounce of malt liquor], which I later traded and bartered for more games of Cee-lo (laughs). Then I think I got $5 in cash. Keep in mind [I got all that] for $1 (laughs).
Some more memorable stuff was really just spending 13 hours in the studio with the dudes and just sweating with five artistic people being forced to pick each other apart, and it just got really aggravating until we reached the end of it, when Kyle was like, “Alright guys, everything is good to go.” We didn’t know what we were expecting, and there wasn’t a physical record in front of us. We couldn’t even hear it yet because it was yet to be mixed down. … We don’t know what it’s going to sound like, [but] we have faith that it’s gonna sound incredible because [of] us as musicians who are true to our own hearts and Kyle’s magic. We’re just lost in the dark, but I remember in that moment looking at each other and being like, “In this moment right now, we each get it. … We’re each fucking drained, and we all understand that moment.” That to me was like a weird, brotherhood bonding emotional moment, which I would probably never tell them, but now it’s out there.
Have you guys decided on a title yet for the new album?
We have; however, I’m not sure that we can release it just yet. But it’s definitely set in stone. I can tell you more about the concept of the title?
Sure. How would you describe that?
I went into this writing an album from a perspective of assessing situations as a grown man. We’re all 25, 26, and 27. Andrew just got engaged. So I really wanted to write an album about when you’ve taken on the weight of the world and you’ve crawled through life, and you look at it from the perspective of “I didn’t give up,” whatever that means, whether you work every day; or you are in a band; or you have no money; or your girlfriend drives you around and you sleep on her couch. Whatever that means, you’ve made it to this point in life where you are just trying to grasp these ideas and ideals that as a child of an inexperienced mindset, you couldn’t really understand because you didn’t have the knowledge and/or experience with life itself. I’m not saying I’m wise beyond my years; however, I have learned a lot from struggles through friendships, family, and the natural trials of Mother Nature. It’s an album where [I want people to be like,] “Damn, that’s real.” Like I said, there is a moment in every song, … but it’s not all “Woe, is me.” There is some hopeful, uplifting stuff in there too. … We’re all in this together, but separate.
Is there any song in particular on your new album that is very personal to you more so than the others?
I wrote a song about my brother, but again, I can’t release the title yet. My brother is 19, and he’s very headstrong. He’s very ambitious in the sense that I am, but he speaks before he thinks. He’s a go-getter and very “in the moment,” and he makes these very rash decisions. So it’s [about] me being an older brother but him being old enough to not be my baby brother, if that makes sense. I wrote this song about how he’s this young person forced into the world with this crazy heard that’s just doesn’t know how to express itself, but everyone around him is like [telling him], “You need to be the best that you can,” and he’s just trying to pick up those pieces. That was a bizarre moment for me to pick apart someone else’s life, let alone my own adult brother.
Can you disclose when the new album will be released?
It will definitely be within the next five months [February to June 2015]. That’s for sure. There is no specific date just yet.
Have you booked a CD release show for it yet?
Not yet, but that is definitely in the works. We’re planning on having a CD release show. I personally think we should rent a giant hotel and eat nothing but Twizzlers and just get so wild in the hotel. So that’s in the works. I’m definitely trying to make that happen, but the CD release show will definitely be popping off for sure man.
If that does happen, I expect an invite (laughs). Do you know when you guys will begin touring to promote the release of the new album?
We’re probably going to start touring literally as soon as, if not a couple weeks before, the record. I say that for the band, we’re just people’s people. I think maybe that’s because we’re older. But I think we do much better being in front of people with the record, as opposed to an Internet hyped band. You can probably guarantee we’ll be on the road eight out of 12 months. Hopefully 13 months out of 12 months, we’ll be on the road.
Do you have any final thoughts or comments?
I’m incredibly humbled by the amount of people that are holding on to the fact that we’re putting out a record and staying faithful to us. I’m nervous and shaking to my bones, but I’m so excited to put something solid out into the world. From me and the rest of the boys in BROADSIDE, this is so unreal and so flattering, and we are just so excited for people to hear it.
