Into It. Over It. will release his as-of-yet-untitled sophomore album in September, finding a new home on Triple Crown Records for the record’s release. Evan Weiss is currently recording at Chicago’s Soma Studios with Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron & Wine, Owen). See what Weiss had to say about the album and watch a teaser video below!

Since November 1st, I’ve been cooped up in a cold Chicago rehearsal space with Nick Wakim creating, crafting and redrafting a new set of Into It. Over It. songs. The two of us put in place a new and ever-growing skill set to give this record its own feel. Excited about not making the same record twice, I felt this new IIOI project needed a different approach when it came to recording and release.

Enter Triple Crown Records, Brian Deck and Soma Studios in Chicago, IL.

Triple Crown has been super supportive of everything I’ve been a part of for a few years now. Through a long series of conversations, it was obvious this the most supportive and likeminded home for this new set of songs.

Brian Deck has recorded some phenomenal records from bands like Modest Mouse, Iron & Wine, Owen, Rex and many more (as well as playing in bands like Red Red Meat and Ugly Cassanova). His background and style were what I felt would be a great fit for the ideas behind this record. Our separate but similar backgrounds really find a perfect balance.

I can’t wait to tell you guys more about the songs and the process. There is still so much to do. Thanks for everything you guys! I’m really proud of what we’ve been able to create.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b17LZMYTDLQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7FauV3MIUU

We thought “The Summer” was a good meeting of Mat [Kerekes, vocalist]‘s and my writing styles. It ended up being one of my favorites on the record because of that. Mat’s lyrics touch on the repercussions of losing someone you care about, which make it both a personal song, yet one anyone can relate to.

Pre-order the album here!

The band’s growth is clear from the very first second of the album, with the opening notes of “There, There” revealing a fragility never before heard in frontman Dan “Soupy” Campbell’s voice. Even when the gentle guitar gives way to the full band and he breaks into his trademark almost-yell for the song’s refrain of “I’m sorry I don’t laugh at the right times,” it’s with a newfound sense of passion and urgency. The song sets the tone perfectly for The Greatest Generation, somehow managing to showcase the band at both their most vulnerable and their most powerful in just two and a half minutes.

First single “Passing Through A Screen Door” returns to the blistering pop punk fans have come to know and love from The Upsides and Suburbia, but this time the sound is more polished – without losing any of its edge. Bassist Josh Martin dances between pounding drums and a relentless triple-guitar assault as Campbell delivers one of the best vocal performances of the whole album. His voice breaking as he sings, “Jesus Christ, did I fuck up?” is absolutely heart-wrenching, while the chorus shows a command only hinted at on the band’s earlier work. This track is one of the clearest examples of how hard The Wonder Years have pushed themselves musically on this album – they’ve essentially taken each element that was great about their previous material and brought it to an impressive new level.

“We Could Die Like This” and “Dismantling Summer” continue in the same vein, contrasting upbeat music with dark, confessional lyrics in trademark TWY fashion. Even the minor-key punk rock of “The Bastards, The Vultures, The Wolves” is unmistakably the same Wonder Years who wrote songs like “My Life As A Pigeon” and “Coffee Eyes.” But “The Devil In My Bloodstream” is unlike anything the band has ever done before. The song opens with a lone Campbell singing over a piano line that is simple but not understated, slowly layering with light guitar and female vocals courtesy of Laura Stevenson before bursting into full band at the two minute mark. A tribute to Campbell’s grandfather, the song is strikingly intimate both musically and lyrically, carrying that sense of intimacy through even its heaviest moments.

The pace picks back up with “Teenage Parents,” an uptempo song about growing up poor that sounds like The Upsides’ older brother. Though catchy, the track serves more as a bridge between songs that better show off the best of what the band has to offer on The Greatest Generation. The Wonder Years have always had a dark edge to them, but this album brings that edge out more than ever before. “Chaser,” “An American Religion (FSF),” and “A Raindance In Traffic” all strike a greater harmony between the tone of the lyrics and the tone of the music itself without ever letting the sound get too downbeat, a give-and-take balance that the line “If you study the laugh lines, you’ll see that I’m cracking” seems to analogize well.

The one song on the album that misses the mark somewhat is “Madelyn,” a stripped-down acoustic track that simply doesn’t offer enough musically to hold attention for long. Thankfully, “Cul-de-sac” comes to the rescue with the irresistible pop punk hooks and made-for-singalong melodies the band does so well. But the indisputable high point of the album comes in the epic closing track “I Just Want To Sell Out My Funeral” – arguably their most ambitious song to date, clocking in near the eight minute mark. The band is well-known for self-referential lyrics, which are littered throughout the rest of the album as well, but “Funeral” takes this to an entirely new level: the song culminates with over four minutes of re-purposed refrains from each of the previous twelve tracks, all working together seamlessly rather than feeling forced into place. There is something inexplicably moving and impossible to put into words about the experience of listening to the album as a whole and feeling it build to such a perfect close with this song. While many albums simply end, The Greatest Generation comes to a fully-realized conclusion with its closing lines: “We all want to be great men / There’s nothing romantic about it / I just want to know that I did all I could with what I was given.”

The Upsides and Suburbia were great pop punk albums, but The Greatest Generation is something more than that. It’s an anthem for awkward and nervous kids everywhere whose only escape is through the music that resonates with them. It’s a testament to the fact that The Wonder Years are those kids too. It’s a record about being pushed to the point of almost giving up but fighting to find the strength to make it through. Above all else, the album makes one thing clear: if The Wonder Years are the voice of a generation, then this may just be the greatest generation after all.

Rating: 4.75/5

Formed in Philadelphia in 2005, The Wonder Years started out as a joke band of friends and developed into one of the most respected groups in the scene. Made up of Dan “Soupy” Campbell (vocals), Casey Cavaliere (guitar), Matt Brasch (guitar), Nick Steinborn (keys/guitar), Josh Martin (bass), and Mike Kennedy (drums), the PA sextet started taking themselves seriously with their 2008 EP Won’t Be Pathetic Forever. By the time 2009 and The Upsides rolled around, they were on the fast-track to the top of the pop punk world, bringing with them an army of kids with “I’m not sad anymore” written on handmade cardboard signs. Following the album’s release, the band graduated from No Sleep Records to Hopeless Records and toured with the likes of New Found Glory, Four Year Strong, and Set Your Goals before 2011′s Allen Ginsberg-inspired Suburbia: I’ve Given You All And Now I’m Nothing. Featuring a more mature take on the irresistible hooks and intensely personal lyrics of The Upsides, Suburbia was met with an incredible response from fans and critics alike. After two years of relentless touring, writing, and recording, the band is poised to release The Greatest Generation this week, the third full-length in a trilogy about the struggles of growing up.

Read our review of the record here!

Listen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jutbr7gwtZQ

Full Band Interview

The Gunz Show: Interview with Dan “Soupy” Campbell

Tour Dates

May 24 – Slam Dunk Scotland – Glasgow, United Kingdom
May 25 – Slam Dunk Festival – Leeds, United Kingdom
May 26 – Slam Dunk Festival – Hatfield, United Kingdom
May 27 – Slam Dunk Festival – Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
May 28 – Slam Dunk Wales – Cardiff, United Kingdom
May 29 – Slam Dunk Ireland – Dublin, Ireland
Jun 07 – Crocks – Thunder Bay, Canada
Jun 08 – The Pyramid Cabaret – Winnipeg, Canada
Jun 09 – The Exchange – Regina, Canada
Jun 11 – The Starlite Room – Edmonton, Canada
Jun 12 – The Den – Calgary, Canada
Jun 14 – The Columbia Theatre – New Westminster, Canada
Jun 15-Aug 4 – Vans Warped Tour

Support

You can stream a new song from Man Overboard titled “Wide Awake” over on Spotify. The album is the last track on their new record Heart Attack, which is due out May 28th on Rise Records. If you like what you hear, you can check out some preorder packages over on MerchNow. Tune into Man Overboard Radio on May 13th as well, with special guest hosts Restorations as they talk about their summer tour with The Menzingers and Fake Problems.

Tune in to Man Overboard Radio this Monday, May 13 with special guest hosts Restorations as they gear up for their summer tour with The Menzingers and Fake Problems! As well, all your favorite tunes and the “Off My Chest” rant hotline. Don’t miss it this Monday at 7pm ET only on idobi Radio!

Los Angeles rockers Stars in Stereo are making their debut this year with a self-titled album ridden with strong rock anthems. Though the band only recently formed in 2011, they are bringing rock back to life with upbeat drumming, driven electric guitar chords, and powerful lead vocals. Led by Becca Hollcraft’s impressive singing, the self-titled record brings a different kind of strength to their classic style of rock. Her feminine voice pairs well with the heavier drum and guitar, and manages to belt out some catchy melodies as well.

“Broken” opens the album with a sharp electric guitar riff and Hollcraft’s low and moody vocals. The song, backed by a steady rhythm section and distinct harmonies, is the album’s uniting rally anthem as she cries out the chorus, “I am the strange, the disarranged/ I am possessed, the second-guessed.” Drew Langan’s prominent percussion and the song’s forceful chorus grabs the listeners attention immediately, preparing each for the ride that is Stars In Stereo’s first record.

“Open Your Eyes” starts simpler with Hollcraft’s distinct voice against a synthesized beat and clean piano notes and strings. The harmonies joining in at the end of the verse give the song a dimensional feel that leads into the driven chorus. The guitars don’t enter until the second verse, giving Hollcraft’s voice a chance to shine with a gentle vibrato on this slower but steady track.

“Every Last Thing” begins rhythm-heavy with just a touch of Jordan McGraw’s repeated electric riff playing in the background of the song. The verse builds steadily until the simple but effectively catchy chorus: “It’s not fair/ that I don’t care/ that you’re lonely here/Every last thing we do has a feeling.” The strongest part of the song comes towards the end when the chorus repeats hard. The full band gives their strongest effort in the last sixty seconds, adding a call and response between Hollcraft’s signature voice and the shouting answers of a group, which adds a significant element of strength and variation to the track.

Final track “Queen of Catastrophe” opens beautifully and ends the album with dynamic and powerful emotion. This track features the most relatable lyrics on the record with lines like, “I will take this/ and I will turn this/ And then I’ll fall back down with a shattered heart/ You can’t change me/ and you can’t save me/ watch me walk away as I fall apart.” The album ends on a slightly bittersweet note as Hollcraft’s emotive voice sings about being the queen of making mistakes.

Stars In Stereo bring a simple and true style of rock music back to the table, one that everyone can enjoy. Strong melodies and energetic musicianship from an obviously talented group will see this band go far in the near future. Though this debut features a few predictable melodies and simplistic lyrics, the music and production is solid and holds a lot of potential.

Rating: 3.5/5

If there is one theme that is sure to make a hit summer record, it is the idea of growing up. As schools break for summer and graduates don their caps and gowns, the sense of the freedom of getting older suddenly hits. Cue in Count To Four and their debut full-length album, Between Two Cities. The record begs to be listened to on a hot summer night, with the windows down and the stereo loud, all caution thrown to the wind.

The record has some of your typical pop punk fare, with its catchy guitar riffs, fast and hard drum fills, and simple vocal harmonies. Between Two Cities is reminiscent of Jimmy Eat World’s Bleed American mixed with All Time Low’s So Wrong It’s Right. The album contains all the necessary raw, honest emotion of a pop punk record while remaining clean and polished. It is clear the band cares greatly for not only the feel of the record, but also their musicianship.

Between Two Cities is full of sure-to-be summer hits. The opening track “Hope Not” captures the all-too-relatable feeling of listless youth and constantly waiting for the right time to say what needs to be said. The following track, “Lavender Town,” borrows from the Blink-182 self-deprecating lyrical style at the start of the song, with vocalist Mike Hayden singing, “Well I’m a dick, I gave you hell.” The rest of the song, however, is exceedingly more mature than that lyric alone would have you believe. The ending of this track, with its repeating chorus of “stay strong,” delivered a personal favorite moment off the record.

While some of the album does get a bit repetitive and can be a bit too typical sounding of a standard pop punk record at times, it certainly has its shining moments. The lyric, “Because growing up was just practice, it’s the life thereafter that’s the test,” from the track “You Got Your Woody Allen In My Gerard Butler” comes to mind, for example. The song “Tear It Apart” is a bit darker than other songs off the album, adding a realistic element. As we all know, growing up has its low points, and with songs like “Tear It Apart” and “Good Days Pt. II,” Count To Four have made sure to capture that not only in sound, but in the lyrics.

Overall, Between Two Cities is sure to please lovers of pop punk everywhere. The record, though slightly monotonous at times, is chock full of emotion. It is clear that Count To Four truly love the music they make, and when that’s the case, it is hard not to enjoy listening to it.

Rating: 3/5

The Gunz Show; Forever The Sickest Kids, Jesse Cannon, and Brian Marquis.

Tune in Sunday at 9pm ET, only on idobi Radio.

A Rocket to the Moon have announced that they’ll be breaking up following their summer US tour with The Maine, This Century, and Brighten. You can check out those dates here, and view a statement from the band below.

Five years ago we played our first show with our best friends The Maine in Tempe Arizona. We were just a bunch of kids setting out to follow our dreams, see the world and make our parents proud. We are so grateful to be sharing the stage with them again this summer. It is with the heaviest of hearts that we’ve decided this will be our final US tour. We couldn’t have asked for a better way to end this chapter than with our friends that were there from the start. Since 2008 a lot has changed. We have grown as a band and also as individuals. We are band mates, best friends, business partners and most importantly, we are brothers. This band has been our family for the last 5 years. We shared everything with each other and experienced the world together. The bond that we’ve created is irreplaceable. This wasn’t the easiest decision for us, but we all felt like it was the right one and the right time. You guys, our fans, have supported us through everything. The good times and the bad. We owe you the world and words simply cannot begin to describe the amount of gratitude and love we have for each and every one of you. We ask that you come see us this summer, share some stories, laugh,sing and cry with us. For every ticket stub you’ve collected, record you purchased or T-shirt you picked up at a show, just know it has not gone unnoticed. We hope our music has been able to help you see the light in the darkest of times and has left a lasting impression in your hearts as you have done in ours. We love you with all of our hearts. Thank you for staying on our side. Lets go out the way we came in, surrounded by loved ones and friends, doing what we love. Here’s to the future. Stay Wild & Free.

-Nick, Andrew, Eric and Justin.
A Rocket To The Moon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVP3kbE6-PU

Relying on mostly just an acoustic guitar and drums, Shane Henderson ensures that his vocals are always at the forefront this time around. Opener “Wasting Time” serves as an effective sample of his new sound. It starts off with just an acoustic guitar with elements of folk and rockabilly mixed in before the chorus kicks in with tinges of Henderson’s pop punk roots while still managing to show off a gentler side to his vocals. It’s nice to know he hasn’t lost any of the passion he always pours into the microphone as well. “I Can Feel a Change” will probably appeal the most to Valencia fans. It contains inspirational lyrics and bright riffs reminiscent of We All Need a Reason to Believe, along with pounding drums courtesy of Will Noon (fun., Straylight Run).

Halfway through the EP, the band slows it down with “Can We Get Away,” a calm acoustic porch jam. Sweet and soft, the track sounds a bit like A Rocket To The Moon’s newer material with Henderson’s vocals calling to mind elements of Jesse Lacey’s brooding croon. Closing out the album is “Control,” which is probably the best song on the EP. A complex, dimensional pop rock song, it contains a greater sonic balance between all the instruments and an extremely infectious hook. Clocking in just over five minutes, it’s obvious the band is leaving everything they have on this last song. It works though, as the track will continue to ring in your head until you’re forced to go right back to the top and listen again.

There’s no question that Control will undergo constant comparisons to Valencia. While the two acts do have undeniable similarities including the same passion and energy, Shane Henderson and the Future Perfect embody more pop and rock sensibilities, rather than in-your-face pop punk. On “Control,” Henderson sings, “I think a new start is what I need,” and this project gives him the freedom to pursue whatever his musical inclinations lean towards. This EP is sure to appeal to both previous Valencia fans as well as those who prefer a more natural, organic sound.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Wonder Years are now streaming their latest record The Greatest Generation. The album drops next Tuesday, May 14th. Check out the stream below, and if you like what you hear you can still pre-order the album at the band’s Hopeless webstore or pick it up next week!

Check out the interview in the video section, and don’t forget to pre-order the album and catch them on the main stage all summer on Warped Tour 2013!

Don’t forget to pre-order the album and catch them on the main stage all summer on Warped Tour 2013!

On The Gunz Show; Andrew McMahon, Handguns, and Young Rising Sons.

Tune in tonight at 9pm ET, only on idobi Radio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WumCI56iYUk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVdZfHb1xEM

Can you give us a little background on how this band started?

We started somewhere around 2006 or 2007 with just some random people. I played in another band at the time called The Explorer’s Club. It was like a Beach Boys-ish kind of band [laughs]. It was fun. But I played in it and then I stopped going to school, so then I decided I was going to try my own band and if it didn’t work, I’d go back to school. So I started writing some songs and then had a bunch of people play randomly. We just played for like twenty dollars wherever we could. And then members became more solid and we found ourselves doing like two shows a month and then four and then next thing you know, it was every weekend and then it was all year.

Yeah, your bio says you’ve played 250 shows a year. 

That was two years in a row we did that. Years ago though.

What’s it like touring that much? 

It’s weird, our record took about a year to come out and then it took another year to get off the ground, for people to start catching on. We had some time off, so now we’re doing touring like that now where the first half of the year is just booked. Like in December we did two weeks and in January we did three, and then we were home three weeks and then we did six weeks and then we were home for ten days and now we’re doing six and a half. It’s hard, I mean the point is, the older you get it’s more difficult. You start just wanting to be home. But you know, it’s just a lot of fast food.

Gotta save the money.

[Laughs] Yeah it’s the worst way to save money too. But you do save money, it just hurts.

So earlier this year you played two dates with fun. How was it opening for such a huge band?

Awesome. It was weird because usually the first couple shows of a tour you’re getting used to it and your voice is getting back into shape. I mean, you can practice all you want but it’s not going to be the same as if you’re playing live. It was strange to go from small club tours, a couple weeks off, and then playing the sold out Tabernacle to 2600 people, like it was crazy. I don’t want to sound so green about it but it was enough to make you anxious. 

Was that the biggest venue you’ve ever played?

The biggest crowd for sure. We played the Ryman the next day in Nashville and that was a pretty big deal. Usually you have to do a lot more work to get there so we got really lucky. It was amazing.

How’d you get the spot opening for them? 

I’m guessing they called some friends of ours and asked them to play, because we’re not really big enough to be asked to play that. But they called some friends of ours and they were on the road so they suggested us because we’re good friends with them. Yeah, so they asked somebody and they said to pick us so they did. 

What has been your favorite tour ever? 

It’s hard to say because I feel like I’m shooting other people down when I say that their tour was not good, but my favorite tour was La Dispute, Balance & Composure, and Sainthood Reps. That was my absolute favorite tour. 

And why would you say that?

We sit in a weird genre where it’s like we’re not hardcore and we’re not very clean so it’s like a strange middle ground that almost doesn’t exist. So with that you had Balance & Composure, which was kind of like this heavier grungier rock but nothing like hardcore about it, and then you have La Dispute who’s like closer to hardcore but there’s something else, and Sainthood Reps are about the same as us as far as sonically. So you had these four bands that didn’t really fit in one genre, but all four bands together almost made a genre. That’s why I liked it. It just felt the most comfortable and the crowd was eager to listen. 

If you could tour with anyone, who would you want to tour with? 

We did a tour with Manchester Orchestra back in 2008. I would like to do that again. God, if I could tour with anyone…

Like someone you haven’t toured with yet, but you’d want to.

My dream, and it wouldn’t work, but my dream is to tour with David Bazan. He’s my favorite songwriter of all time. That’s my absolute dream, actually, but that wouldn’t really work. Not to sound like every other band, but I’d love to tour with Brand New. That’d be awesome.

Being from South Carolina, how does it compare with California? 

Oh my gosh, it’s otherworldy. Well, we have beaches. I’m from Charleston, which is on the coast, and we have a lot of islands and beaches. The music scene’s finally picking up again back home, but for a long time it died off. Only now, bands are starting to come up and starting to get off their ass and go do it, you know. We were lucky, we had like Manchester Orchestra when they were young. They were the first time we had ever known somebody to have tried and succeeded I guess. So we had that early on, we saw our friends like “well, what did they do?” Ok, they helped us and so we did it. We haven’t really guided anybody but hopefully people back home see that and do that. Yeah, it’s beautiful though. It’s a little swampier and way more humid. 

What’s been your favorite place to play so far?

I love Chain Reaction and I had a kinda bittersweet time with it. 

What made it bittersweet? 

Well, the first time we were there was with La Dispute. It was a really tough crowd, so a lot of hecklers telling me to like shut the fuck up. I don’t know if they said that verbatim, but they said some nasty shit, which was fun because that was the first time I ever told the crowd to shut the fuck up and they just cheered. They loved it and a dude said something again on the next part where it’s just me singing, and this girl turns around and just goes “shut the fuck up!” It was awesome, it was the birth of that. I’ve stopped doing that, but I did it for about a year, telling people to shut the fuck up. It actually made me laugh and a lot of times it doesn’t work, like the guy keeps going and you just start laughing because it’s like, “well I tried.” But yeah, and then it’s sweet because this last time it was packed again. I don’t know if it was sold out but I feel like it was.

The Transit show?

Yeah.

Yeah, it was sold out. 

Yeah, but like the whole place was dead silent. It was amazing. It doesn’t happen very often.

So it’s been almost two years since your full-length, any upcoming releases planned soon? 

We’re working on demos now. We probably have, not all of them are worked out, but we have fifteen to twenty songs and ten of them are pretty done, just for demos. We’re trying to figure out now who to do the record with and all that stuff. So we’re plotting now. Once we get out of the tour season, you know. 

When do you think you’ll start actually recording it?

Well I would like to do it late summer. I don’t know when though, I mean it would be awesome if that could happen but we’ll see.

 So do you think you would release it by this year?

It would be next year because the end of the year is kinda a tough time to put out a new record. That’s what we did with our last one and it gets drowned out because everybody’s trying to get ready to put out their release in the new year.

What’s your usual songwriting process?

It’s kinda backwards from a lot of people, and sometimes it’s even different with me. I used to do full songs just by myself and then take it to the band and work it out to make it sound like a full band, and not make it sound singer-songwritery. Now I’ve been doing music and melody first, which usually come at the same time for me. But lately, I just haven’t been spending that much time on lyrics until it’s time to record them. I just go in there by myself and put them on the spot. It’s weird, it’s not that they mean any less that way. It’s just that it takes off the restraints of being perfect and saying something the exact way you want it versus saying something inside of an emotion, like when you’re arguing and you say something you don’t mean. That’s the good stuff. It puts a sense of humanity into it that I can say things that I don’t mean and because I feel a certain way. Then you can even come back at the end of the song and talk about your rationality. I’ve been finding that way works to get honest lyrics, which just seems so backwards. I felt like I was cheating, but that’s what I’m trying for this record and it’s worked pretty well. I mean you can always go back and edit whatever you think doesn’t sound right or if it’s just too much to say.

Who would you say are your biggest influences?

David Bazan, like I said earlier. That’s my all time biggest. I try not to admit it too often, but Andy Hull is a friend of mine and he’s also just that good. Like I said, I knew exactly what I wanted to do but I didn’t know how, and he didn’t know how, he just did it. I look up to him in a lot of ways.

That’s like the lyrics, like just doing it. 

I know, that’s exactly him. I didn’t even think about this, but it’s exactly what he does. You’ll hear him make up songs on the spot. I remember when they did, before Mean Everything to Nothing, they were doing “Shake It Out” live and I asked like “Hey man, I’m playing this solo show, can you sing me the lyrics to ‘Shake It Out’?” and he was like “I don’t know, write them. I don’t know what they are, make them up.” So I wrote “Shake It Out” once [laughs]. But yeah, Andy Hull’s a big one, David Bazan’s the biggest. Musically, everybody loves Brand New. I’m sure they don’t want to hear that but I’m just gonna be honest about it. Another one is Colour Revolt, they’re huge.

So what do you think you’ll spend the rest of the year doing after this tour? 

Writing. Writing and recording, and I had a solo record I was almost done with but then my hard drive crashed so I lost it. But I’m gonna try and do something. I don’t know when though. I’m pretty slack about it because it’s hard to get motivated. And I was writing these songs for this record coming up so I didn’t want to risk putting a song in the wrong boat.

So what does get you motivated then, when you say it’s hard to get motivated?

It’s weird, it’s like a lot of people say to write when you’re sad or whatever. I like to be a little more objective with it and wait until I’m not. Time crunch is a big motivation. It’s just like college where you don’t want to study until the day of. You should be studying, I mean you’d be a lot better if you did. I don’t read very often, but I started reading last year like recreationally, and that was a big motivation. Like a lot of sci-fi, Ender’s Game in particular. I wrote a couple songs about those books. Yeah, and I’m married so being away is a motivation, like I don’t want to be away. It’s really push and pull, like taking this seriously and I have to leave home. It’s hard to say. It’s hard to balance that for sure, and that’s motivation, and touring for The Season. The Season’s all about touring so that’s probably the biggest motivation. It’s just because you’re fucking tired. People say it’s like a vacation, and yeah a lot of it is, but it’s so much over time that it’s just exhausting. It might be like between set up, tear down, playing, and selling merch I’m only doing 3 hours of work a day but you’re either driving a van for six to twelve hours or sitting in a van for six to twelve hours. It’s weird, but that’s the biggest motivation, touring in the lapse of being gone. 

Any last words to say?

Thanks for reading. If you’re in a band, get off your ass if you’re serious, and start playing for nobody and hope people start coming.

On The Gunz Show; Ilan Rubin and NK.

Tune in tonight at 9pm ET, only on idobi Radio.

Monday’s new installment of Man Overboard radio will feature guest hosts The Wonder Years. Tune in May 6 at 7pm EST!

Cartel will be headlining some shows before and after their tour with New Found Glory this summer. State Champs will support Cartel’s headlining dates.

Cartel headlining dates w/State Champs

• 5/11 Douglasville, GA @ The Seven Venue
• 5/12 Columbia, SC @ The New Brookland Tavern
• 5/13 Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre
• 5/15 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
• 5/16 Pittsburgh, PA @ The Altar Bar

Cartel w/New Found Glory

• 5/17 Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall
• 5/18 New Haven, CT @ Toad’s Place
• 5/19 Freehold, NJ @ Skate and Surf 2013
• 5/21 Grand Rapids, MI @ The Intersection
• 5/22 Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
• 5/23 Newport, KY @ Thompson House
• 5/24 Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave
• 5/25 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
• 5/26 Winnipeg, Canada @ Garrick Centre
• 5/28 Saskatoon, Canada @ Louis’ Pub
• 5/29 Calgary, Canada @ University of Calgary
• 5/30 Edmonton, Candaa @ Starlite Room
• 6/1 Vancouver, Canada @ Rickshaw Theatre
• 6/2 Seattle, WA @ Showbox at the Market
• 6/3 Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
• 6/5 Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst
• 6/6 Ventura, CA @ Majestic Ventura Theater
• 6/7 San Diego, CA @ House of Blues

Cartel headlining dates w/State Champs

• 6/8 Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
• 6/11 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Grand
• 6/12 Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre
• 6/14 Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
• 6/15 Sauget, IL @ Pop’s
• 6/16 Joliet, IL @ Mojoe’s
• 6/17 Indianapolis, IN @ The Irving Theater
• 6/18 Nashville, TN @ Exit In