Jason Eskin from the Rockvine had a chance to talk with Matt Rubano, Bassist of Taking Back Sunday last week. The band kicks off their US tour this week in Los Angeles. read below to check out what Matt had to say about everything from their Live Show to their Denny's Menu item.
RV: You guys are able to produce very consistent albums that area all a bit different, but have a consistent sound. When you go into the studio to make a new record, what do you bring from the last album? Do you try to do something entirely new?
Matt: Well, there are a lot of things that we want to accomplish, but it’s not like you go in making a record like it’s a whole new experience every time. We’re always trying to write the best songs we can and we’re always going for a sonic thing that represents our band. At the point that we’re ready to record, the parts are already written, we just try to go nail the best performances of those parts that we can with good sounding tracks. We feel like we really raised the bar on the last album in the way the record sounds and the songwriting.
RV: What was the switch like from Victory to Warner Bros?
Matt: For us it was just changing partners, and we partnered with people who were much better at working with us and communicating with us and gave us a nicer place to call home. We certainly had some cult success with Victory but it was a difficult relationship to maintain. So we waited a long time, longer than most bands wait, to jump to a major label. We waited until it was just the right time for us and it was the right decision.
RV: Is there anything about making that switch and making the new record and how it was made?
Matt: No… we had a little bit more means to take our time and work with people we wanted to. We had the option to work with Eric Valentine, he’s the producer we really wanted to make Louder Now with and that was great, but I mean ultimately, it comes down to the people you’re working with. Whatever the name on the door of the record label it all comes down to the people you’re working with. Luckily we have a whole good group of people over at Warner.
RV: On to the new album that you’re recording – what’s the inspiration for this one? Any new themes?
Matt: There are things that are different. Certainly, we have a new lead guitarist and we have found this great feeling of wholeness now. Fantastic guitar player, very atypical for us and he has a great voice. Collaborating with him on this record was a more pleasurable experience for us than it’s ever been. We are definitely a stronger unit now. Other than that I think there are things that people are going to pick-up on with this album. A very straight-forward and lyrical approach. One of the things I like about Adam is his creative approach to what he’s saying. There’s a very straightforward honesty on this album and a very literal honesty on this album than there has been the past when he’s been a little bit more cryptic for lack of a better word. We just want to keep on raising the bar for ourselves.
RV: I think that’s something that you guys do well, you know. Listening to each record you hear that this is definitely Taking Back Sunday, but each record is better than the last one…
Matt: Thank you – That’s what we’re trying to do.
RV: How far along are you in the recording process?
Matt: We are nearing the end. We haven’t selected the running order, or of the songs we recorded, which will go on the album, but that’s in the next few days that we should be figuring that out.
RV: Any favorites or songs you want to get out first?
Matt: We’re probably going to release one song first to our fans, but I’m not sure when or how. We haven’t picked one for sure yet. There’s still some working titles on the table. I know people have been waiting for this record for a long time, but I can promise the juice will be worth the squeeze once we let people finally hear it.
RV: I think you can tell when an album is rushed at a certain point in the process – so I think people would rather you take your time than rush.
Matt: Yeah, and in that process we added a new band member to the group, so we really had to wait until things started happening with him before we jumped right in there.
RV: I read that he really injected a new light and new perspective on things. Is that something that will be very apparent on the album or more behind the scenes?
Matt: I think it’ll be apparent and it’ll certainly be apparent on stage. He really injected a boost of energy into the band that made it fresh for us. That definitely will translate on the record and live.
RV: Back in September you started broadcasting some video live on the internet. Why did you decide to do it and what have you seen from that in your connection with your fans?
Matt: It’s really cool, using some of the technological developments to your advantage to stay in touch with your fans. Especially with YouStream where you have real-time interaction. While you’re streaming you can be answering questions and people seem to really enjoy it. It’s the kind of thing where while you’re streaming on the computer, people it’s happening in real-time and it’s live and it’s something for people to be excited about. I feel like it helps bridge the gap between the fans and the artists.
RV: Do you have anything else you know off the top of your head you plan with the live stream?
Matt: We’ve talked about a bunch of things. One of the things, after the first YouStream we did, we asked, what, if any movie scenes, they would want to see us reenact. We got a slew of responses and we’re trying to do a production together for a movie for us to reenact where we’d obviously be the characters. There were a lot of requests for 300 which would be a little hard for us to pull off. A lot of requets for Juno and Star Wars, so we’re waiting to see what the highest stacking one was.
RV: I would love to see you guys do Juno.
Matt: Juno would be good!
RV: Speaking of the tour – I have a 10 year old sister who lives in Philadelphia. She went to the My Chemical Romance show back last spring where you did the surprise opening. She had never heard you guys before and she’s a huge fan now, so you now have at least one more 10 year old girl in your fanbase. Whose idea was it to do the surprise opening, and is that something we’ll see again? Any smaller shows planned on this tour?
Matt: We’ve been friends with My Chem for some time and whenever one of us gets the chance to tour with the other we always hop at it. That was a cool way for us to sort of introduce our fans to Matt, our new guitarist, and also just get on stage. Of course, that week ended with us playing at Madison Square Garden with them. Five years ago, when we were touring the country in vans playing for Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches, that’s not something we thought we’d ever be able to do, let alone together. So that’s just something about the way our bands work. The next tour in December is a little bit smaller of a production but no less exciting. We’re going to have a lot of local support. We’re getting to cities we haven’t been to in a while and giving people a couple of weeks to introduce people to our new line-up.
RV: Are you playing any new stuff during the tour?
Matt: Absolutely, we don’t know what yet, but we’re looking forward to it.
RV: Do you find it hard to introduce new music on the road?
Matt: I think if you’re excited about it and you can translate it on stage then it’s not a problem. I know a lot of people have done that and gotten “crickets,” but we’re always impressed about how fast our fans learn the new music. It’s a little daunting, but when we’re really excited about it and they’ve been waiting, it usually has a pretty heavy impact and little awkwardness.
RV: How would you describe your live show to somebody who hasn’t seen it before?
Matt: I mean, that’s something we’ve always prided ourselves on – having a really exciting and frenetic live show. The things that happen on stage are pretty unpredictable. Also, I’m looking forward to this tour because we’re playing a lot of smaller venues that brings out the intensity of this band’s origin.
RV: Well I have one more question for you, then I’ll let you go. I saw recently, Denny’s does this “Rock Star Menu” thing which is just fun… I saw you have the Grilled Chicken and Sausage Quesadilla? How did that come about?
Matt: We had another item that came together when we were in the kitchen with the Denny’s executive chef. We had a few of them I think and they just kind of picked the one they thought were the most happening. These were all items that were created by the band and lucky enough to be showcased on a Denny’s menu, which is a trip for us. Everything came out our creative culinary mind.
RV: I think it’s hard to go wrong with Chicken, Sausage and Cheese. Thanks again for hopping on the phone with me and I’m looking forward to seeing you here in LA.
Matt: Thanks man, have a great day!
