Today I was able to interview vocalist Taylor Whiddon and guitarist Jove Holloway from After Me, The Flood about their new album Still Searching and their favorite bands. Here’s what they had to say.
You recently released your debut album Still Searching. How has reception been thus far? Do you have any plans for a full tour or “mini” tour in the future?
Holloway: It’s actually gotten a lot more positive feedback than negative, and that was definitely something we were stoked on. Because up until the release there were comments like “don’t like the vocals”, “doesn’t sound like Remembrance, not a fan”, “this is generic” or stuff like that, and obviously not EVERYONE is going to enjoy what you put out, we were a little worried but not too much. We knew we loved what we created, and that’s all that mattered. I’m just glad people finally got to hear it, we were sitting on that album for months. We are supposedly doing a little tour in January, but it’s not yet confirmed. Hopefully we can get a full tour going after the new year with some awesome bands, touring is probably one of the hardest things to do for a band our size, I’ve noticed, but it’s definitely one of the best times you can have and now that we are riding on the album, I hope we do start more touring.
What influenced you to drastically change your sound from your EP to your full length?
Holloway: Well even when we were writing the EP, we had ALWAYS listened to melodic hardcore. I mean of course Changes (For the Fallen Dreams), Fury and The Fallen Ones (The Ghost Inside), and other Metalcore releases was a big influence but along with the band becoming what it is today. It Prevails, Saints Never Surrender, More Than Life, also was there. Like I’ve said in forums for people who had asked this question or made a remark towards the matter, we just wanted to be heavy because at the time we loved playing heavy music. We would write a breakdown then form the song around it, no shit. Honestly from my stand point (I don’t know if anyone else feels like this) Metalcore started to die out as far as how excited I used to be when a new album would come out, and I guess that was the start of us changing our sound. By the time we released “Abusive Hands, Abusive Means” and “On Our Own” we all were listening to nothing but Melodic Hardcore. Of course we have received some negative remarks, as I thought we would from the new album, but you just have to keep on keeping on. I’m glad everyone enjoyed the EP as much hype and recognition as it got, but bands change. If we still played music like that, I guarantee none of us would be happy, and being in a band is about playing music that you love.
The lyrics and music on your self titled album are darker than anything that you’ve written in the past. Is there any reason behind this?
Whiddon: Yeah, in the past I guess you could say I was still trying to figure out how to write. I really didn’t know how to talk about something in songs. I never was really the kind of guy to talk about girlfriends breaking my heart type of writing sappy stuff. So on the older stuff I would talk about other people and their experiences and just a few things I thought were important to me. As far as Still Searching goes I’ve grown up a bit and have experienced a few things. The reason I had a darker writing style is because I just wasn’t happy with how my life was going. But who is anymore, you know? Everyone in the band was going through things and we used our band as a outlet to let these emotions run free in. I believe that’s why we wrote a darker album. Plus we weren’t 16/17 and didn’t want to play just breakdowns anymore, we wanted to get more out of our music then just trying to be the heaviest band.
Where did the lyrics on this album come from? Are they based on one member’s experiences, or collective feelings from the band?
Whiddon: I wanted to connect with people on this album a lot more than Remembrance or our two songs we released. All of the experiences I talk about were what I felt but I wanted people that were or still are going through to understand they aren’t alone. From hating the world and all the things we are subjected to, feeling lost and alone, letting yourself and others down, losing friends and family or the fear that you will soon, substance abuse, if there is a god that loves you or if we are just meaningless beings in a giant universe filled with nothing. I just really wasn’t happy with my life and I feel like a lot of people aren’t either. Honestly I just want to feel connect with others so I don’t feel so alone.
What bands inspired you to become the band you are today?
Holloway: SAINTS NEVER SURRENDER & IT PREVAILS. You don’t know how much love we have for them. They really have paved the way for a lot of bands, and we are thankful we have bands like them. Without those bands I’m sure we would be playing Deathcore by now or something. Not only them, but Defeater, Lower Than Atlantis, More Than Life, Architects, Misery Signals, and plenty of other bands.
What is your favorite part about being in a recognized band?
Holloway: It’s pretty cool, I don’t know exactly what “recognized” stipulates, but we have gotten a lot more likes on Facebook, Youtube hits have gone up, more albums being bought day by day, but like I said before we just want to hit the road hard and in hopes work our way up in the music industry. We also have Rick at Famined to thank, without him believing in us like he has done since day one, we wouldn’t be anywhere near where we are now. From the way things are going I see bigger things from not only us, but Famined as well, so maybe that “recognized” can be changed to “known”.
What was the first show that you ever went to? First album you owned?
Whiddon: First show I ever went to my brother in law took me and my best friend to KISS and Aerosmith in 6th grade. There was boobs all over the giant projection screens behind them while they played and man, it was awesome. The first album I can remember owning that wasn’t 90’s rap and that I want to actually want to remember is a burnt CD my cousin gave me of In Flames live in Japan. That CD changed my life and it use to make me want to be in a band when I was in 4th grade. So I have my cousin and that album to thank for me being in this band.
Holloway: My first album I had was In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3, Coheed has always been a major influence for me to even pick up a string instrument and I will always fucking love them with ever ounce of my body. That goes with the next part too. The first show I went to was Coheed and Avenged Sevenfold, though I didn’t stay for Avenged Sevenfold since I wasn’t really into them at the time but damn, Coheed put on such an amazing show. From then on out I HAD to pursue music.
And lastly…Xbox, PS3, or PC?
XBOX FOR BOTH OF US! Xbox Live shits on PS3 Network.
