The Academy Is... By Dylan Newell Published: May 27, 2007 PrintEmail
Date: May 15, 2007 Band Members: Adam Siska, Mike Carden
First, introduce yourself and tell me what you do for the band. I’m Adam Siska.I play bass in the band The Academy Is…
What’s the story behind Santi (the title)? Santi was a word we had been saying for years and it was kind of a synonym of all things positive, along the lines of “hakuna matata”.We said it all the time, it was kind of a nickname for people, and it was just everything.When we were making the record, we had to think of a name because we were so caught up in the writing and all.I think one of us threw out Santi as the name of the album just cause the record had a more serious undertone than what we’re used to, and we wanted to lighten the mood a little bit so we threw an inside joke into the title.
What was it like to have Butch Walker as a producer? It was great.He has been a friend of ours for a long time. Especially Mike, our guitar player, he toured with Butch in the past.Butch was just the perfect guy for us to work with.When we were making “Almost Here”, we thought that our next album we should work with Butch Walker. We’ve been a fan of him since the mid-‘90s when he was in a band called Marvelous 3, and we were all big fans.Just to be friends with him was a dream come true, let alone make a record with him.He was great, and he gave us a lot of space.He really trusted us with our ideas.He put in input if he had an opinion on something, but other than that he trusted us a lot and let us make a record that was natural to us so we thank him for that. Would you do it again? Work with Butch?Of course, yes definitely.I don’t know what our plans are for the future.We like to explore things and try new things, but I would never rule out working with Butch again.He’s a wonderful man.It was a positive experience to make the record with him.
Did your approach to writing and recording change in your approach to Santi? Definitely, on “Almost Here”, I was still in high school, and William and Mike moved into an apartment together, and they wrote the majority of “Almost Here” off of acoustic guitars together and brought it in, and we worked on it as a band on electric.Where as this time around we rented a warehouse in downtown Chicago, and all of us sat there together and literally constructed the songs from the ground up.The whole record we wrote in about a month, and we went out and recorded the record, and we finished the music in 8 or 9 days.Everything was fast-paced.We recorded “Almost Here” in about 3 weeks, which is definitely very fast, but on the scale of this record and everything behind it, we definitely made it very spontaneous, but we kept that vibe on what we did with “Almost Here” which was going into the studio and just going with what felt right, and we did that again.
William losing his lyric book on a plane inspired “LAX To O’Hare”, (laughs) where did the other lyrics come from? That’s a good question.I’ve been wondering some of that myself.Not being William, it’s pretty interesting to me, but for being his friend for as long as I have, I feel like I know him a little bit better, but when I listen to the songs and look at the lyrics, I think I understand a lot of them.That’s a good question though, I’d have to sit down with him and talk to him about some of it.I think that it’s important that the lyrics on this record that we each have our own personal connection to it, and they need to mean something to each of us. Was it hard for him to make up lyrics? I wouldn’t say hard for him to get there, but hard to spark the energy behind writing lyrics, to find the right mood, to find the right setting.To really get down and write something that meant something within his soul.It took him awhile to get there, but when he did, it just came pouring out of him.Within a couple weeks, he came back with a lot of great materiel that we thought it reflected him.I guess it was hard for him to get started, but once he got there, he worked great, and I think that’s the way William Beckett works the best is when it’s down to the wire and he really puts himself into it.
Why did the sound change from “Almost Here” to “Santi”? I think the reason the sound changed was just a gradual growth between us as players and as music lovers.I think “Santi” is a record we would have loved to make in 2004, when we were making “Almost Here”, but we weren’t just quite there yet as musicians or song writers.I think that this time around, for the past 3 years you’ve been driving around in a van or on a tour bus listening to a lot of music, and I think those influences, the bands and music, this is kind of pulled together though touring and listening to music together, and getting into a warehouse with a month to write the record.We just kind of went for it, and a lot of our influences poured out.But I mean, I don’t think it was a conscious decision for “Santi” to sound any different from “Almost Here”.If anything, we tried to write a record that sounded similar. (Mike Carden walks in)
Why wasn’t “The Fever” on Santi? “The Fever” was a song we wrote to play live on a tour we were doing.We wanted to write again.It had been awhile since “Almost Here”.We were trying things out, and we wanted to give our fans a taste of something new for the Truck Stops and State Lines tour.We just didn’t feel like it really effected the album as a whole.
What was your inspiration for the sound of “Bulls in Brooklyn”? The Butcher was riding a bike through Brooklyn, and the drum beat for that song came to his head.He started humming a little melody to it, and he came back, and he wrote the song.He brought it to us, and we said it reminds us of that old stadium beat, the Gary Glitter “Hey Song”.So, we referenced the Chicago Bulls in it, and that’s where the bulls part of it came to be, but the inspiration just came from riding a bike in Brooklyn. Which CD do you feel is your best work so far? “Santi”.
Do you have more music video plans? Yes, we’re talking about our second video for “Santi” right now.It’s exciting. Any clue on the song? What do you say Mike? Mike: It’s hard to say right now, but “Neighbors” Ya, we’re talking about doing a video for “Neighbors” and it hasn’t been decided or anything yet, but we think it would be pretty fun.
Why did you put William’s number in the video for “We’ve got a Big Mess on Our Hands”? It wasn’t actually William’s number.It was a number, was it T-Mobile Mike? Mike: Nokia Nokia,we had to work their phone into the video and there was a lot of dialogue and phone conversations and stuff.I had this band phone and I put the number into a version of the video on the internet and see who called, and we could talk to the fans, make it pretty interactive leading up to the release of “Santi”.It was pretty fun.We had an excellent time with the band phone. What happened to it? We still have it.It got pretty crazy after awhile, it was ringing constantly.We’re still planning on turning it on every now and then.
What's the real deal regarding Tom's departure from the band? (laughs)We just weren’t quite gelling in the band, writing the record the way we wanted to, and we felt the four of us had a really strong bond, and we were ready to attack the work that was carved out for us, and we just didn’t feel that from him as much as the other members of the band.The time that we were together, we just wanted to progress musically and make a record like this.We’re really happy with Michael, and we’re happy with the way the band is right now. Were there any problems during the transition to Michael? No, I think weather we knew Michael was going to come in to the picture or not, or weather it was just going to be the four of us, and we were just going to write a record together, we would figure the rest out from there.Michael’s a great guy.We called him up, and he flew in to audition with the band and try out and see if we were fit for each other.The moment he got there, we felt this strong bond.We felt better than ever.
How was the switch from LLR Records to Fueled By Ramen? That was the point that I think we thought we could move this band and tour and do other things. LLR was a big part of our past.Johnny and Tony, the owners of LLR, Johnny has a job at Fueled By Ramen now, and Tony is our tour manager.So, they are still involved with everything we do.Signing with Fueled By Ramen was a dream for us.We were big fans of The Stereo and Animal Chin and The Impossibles.I remember the day John called, and I was really excited.Even LLR, those guys were really happy for us, they were our best friends, and they were really excited about us signing to FBR too. The band has been around for 5 years now, do you have any regrets? Any regrets… Santi did you have any regrets? Mike: Not one. Not one regret.I stand by that.
As TAI gains popularity how does it make you feel? It makes me feel great.We’re out on a great tour right now, playing for a lot of people, some of which have heard us, some of which haven’t.We’re trying to put on the best show we can, and we hope people will enjoy it.
What’s your favorite song to play live? My favorite song to play live is actually “Neighbors”.I have a great time playing that.It’s upbeat, and I get to sing a little bit which is fun.I like playing that one a lot.We just started playing “Everything We Had” the other day, and I have a great time playing that one too.
What’s your favorite song on Santi? My favorite song is track 4, “Sleeping With Giants”.It’s something I thought was really special with the band.It’s hard to really say, I think every song stands for itself on the record, and I feel something different for every song.
What is their most favorite part about performing to a big audience? Playing for new people, new people hearing our band, it’s something we can hope for everyday when we wake up is someone new will listen to our band, and enjoy our band.A tour like this has been a great opportunity to do that.
What are your plans after the Honda Civic Tour? This summer, we’re wanting to do some international stuff in the U.K. and Australia, Japan as well.We’re gonna do that and keep on doing the summer touring and come back in the fall and do a headlining tour in the U.S.
Any plans for an album yet? Any plans for an album Mike? Mike: There’s always plans for an album.I don’t know when though.We’re still in the preliminary stages of writing, but sooner than later.I think this next one is going to come out faster than the gap between “Almost Here” and “Santi”.
What are your favorite bands to tour with? We’re loving touring with Cobra Starship.Gabe is an old buddy of ours when he was touring with Midtown, the guys in his band now are all just wonderful people.We love touring with Fall Out Boy too.We’ve been doing it forever.I think Fall Out Boy fans are very open to hearing new music and checking things out.Every time we have toured with Fall Out Boy, it has been very positive and good growth for our band.So I would say Fall Out Boy is one of our favorite bands to tour with.
What's their favorite color and ice cream flavor? My favorite color is purple.My favorite ice cream flavor is...I’m kind of into Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked.It’s like a cookie with cookie dough in it too, cookie dough and actual cookie, and it’s really good.I like anything with cookie dough.I eat mint chocolate chip a lot, stuff like that.
Do you guys know what William’s jean size is? I don’t. Mike: A small. Size small. Sorry, I get some weird people giving me questions. (laughs) That’s fine.
Do you guys have any regrets about the ellipses (...) that are in the band name? Not at all.It is what it is.Dot dot dot (laughs)
What is the highest and lowest note William can hit? (Mike starts trying to figure it out on his guitar) What do you think? Mike: I don’t know. I think the highest and lowest note would probably be the same note, so a low E is the lowest he can go, and a high E is the highest he can go (laughs). Mike: No, I know his range (continues trying to figure it out on his guitar).It just matters how he’s singing.I don’t know. (continues trying on guitar)I don’t know.Sorry though (laughs).
Do you have anything to say to the readers at forthesound.com? Thanks for reading the interview, and I hope you make it out to the Honda Civic Tour.It’s been a blast so far, the shows have been great.We hope you like “Santi”.We hope you enjoy it.Look forward to video #2, as well as a headlining tour in the fall, and the international tour this summer.
Thanks to Adam and Mike for answering my questions! Also, thanks to Tony, the band's manager, and Joe Schneider, the band's publicist, for setting this all up!
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Ryan McDonoughNov 20 2008 07:40:32
