Bayside
by Dave Sharp on Jan 18th, 2010
Yeah, Bayside rocks. Pretty simple. Their debut on Victory Records, Sirens and Condolences has been fixed in my CD player for weeks on end and I don’t see it coming out soon. Their lyrics are powerful and Anthony’s vocal projection has the kind of resonance that makes you short of breath effortlessly. Musically, Bayside is as enhanced as any other Victory band, adding the final backdrop to make everyone of their songs a standout song. Andrew Elderbaum (bass) took the time to talk to Sinizine.net outside of the Mason Jar in Phoenix. This was the kind of interview and interviewee that every journalist loves. He had thought-provoking answers and was amazingly laid back and approachable. Thanks, Andrew.
Sinizine would like to thank Stephanie Marlow of Victory Records (yet again, she’s great) and the staff at the Mason Jar for aiding us in the coordination of this interview.
SZ: State your name and what you do in the band.
AE: I’m Andrew, I play bass and I write the lyrics.
SZ: To start, I’d like to talk about that van. (A Chevy MarkIII-like family van) Where does that come from?
AE: From our guitar players credit card mostly. We got it off of Ebay for a couple thousand dollars. So, that’s where the van came from.
SZ: Awesome. Yeah, most bands are using those big Econolines and stuff.
AE: We had one and it kinda died. And we tried to get something that was a little more comfortable. We don’t have like a big entourage or anything.
SZ: Do you like it better then?
AE: Yeah, it’s a lot more comfortable. It sleeps easier; it’s just better for being on the road.
SZ: When I first heard the album “Sirens and Condolences” the first thing that came to mind was the Alkaline Trio, to be honest. I see a lot of resemblance of them and a lot of similarities. Have they been an influence in your band?
AE: I think more so both of us, Bayside and Alkaline Trio, were influenced by the Smoking Popes. So, I think that kinda comes through in both bands. We’ve heard Alkaline Trio obviously and we like them, but it’s never been a band we were trying to emulate. I think Anthony’s voice just naturally has that Smoking Popes-ish sound to it. And lyrically, I tend to write darker things, so it’s just an easy comparison. But I think musically, we’re not that similar. Like here and there there are similarities.
SZ: Just the same basis, I suppose.
AE: Yeah, I think there’s a little more to music we have. Just with the extra guitar and things like that.
SZ: Other than the Smoking Popes, what other bands do you model your sound after?
AE: We don’t really model our sound after anyone because we have such different influences. Anthony is very into pop music: Morrissey, the Smiths and things like that. Whereas our lead guitarist, Jack, listens to a lot of tech music and metal, like anything from Between the Buried and Me and Hannibal Corpse. For me, I’m very into Jawbreaker and a lot of the Saddle Creek bands. So, those three things don’t really mesh well.
SZ: They come together pretty well on the record.
AE: For us they do, but they don’t really fit together so there’s really no sound we’re trying to emulate.
SZ: Now, I can’t remember who posted it, but I was reading through the Bayside Live Journal and I read one, it was talking about the Agency Group, and it said, “You know they book bands like Creed and Nickelback and shit.” What do you think of the Agency Group? Was that a negative remark?
AE: No, to us it’s a great thing. Their the best booking agents we could get and we want to play in front of as many people as possible. And we want to build something and, for us, that’s the best thing we could have done. I mean, yeah we might not like all the bands they book, but they book hundreds of bands. So for every Nickelback or Creed they’re also booking Anberlin, which is an awesome band that we really like.
SZ: Yeah, the Victory bands seem to get out a lot, many of which are booked by the Agency Group.
AE: Yeah, Tony, if he signs a band, he expects us to go out and work and tour. If he’s gonna put in the work we have to also.
SZ: All right, I’m going to New York this summer, and I don’t know anyone there who shares similar interest with me in respect to music and the like, considering they’re all relatives. Do you have any ideas on what I should check out over there?
AE: Where in New York? In the city? Long Island?
SZ: The city and around Manhattan.
AE: There are all kinds of venues in the city and places to go where people just hang out. I’m trying to think of names off hand; it’s weird because I’m used to just showing up, you know. I don’t know if CBGB’s is till going to be open by then, it might be shut down. Pretty much just walking anywhere, like down in that district, like off St. Mark’s Lane and places like that. There are all these shops and all these stores and little venues and stuff where kids just hang out and walk around. It’s a really cool place to meet people.
SZ: That’s awesome. See around here, everything spread out. We’ve got the Mason Jar and then tire places and Burger Kings.
AE: We’ve been here a bunch of times, actually. I don’t know if its Phoenix or Tempe, but Nita’s Hideaway.
SZ: Yeah, Tempe.
AE: We played some pizza place in Phoenix once and some Metal Zone or something like that. So we’ve been here a few times.
SZ: All right then, since you’ve been to both: East Coast or West Coast, which do you prefer?
AE: Kids come out more on the West Coast. There’s definitely a bigger, ‘We’re going to a show to see whoever’s playing.’ On the East Coast, more of it’s like ‘If this band is playing, I’ll come and watch them.’ Not every show is like that, but a lot of them are. On the West Coast it seems that kids are more about just coming and hanging out at the show and watching all the bands, giving everyone a chance.
SZ: You guys formed in 2000, right?
AE: Roughly, yeah. Maybe a little later.
SZ: And you were signed to Dying Wish in 2003, correct?
AE: No, it was shortly after we formed. I think it was about 2001. We put out one EP with them, called “Long Story Short” and a split with Name Taken on Dying Wish. And we appeared on two of their compilations like the Jawbreaker tribute and “From Brooklyn with Love” and then we moved on to Victory.
SZ: Yeah, that’s a pretty swift and steady rise in only three or four years.
AE: Yeah, we were surprised by how quickly things moved.
SZ: What kind of work ethic did you have to adopt to make that rise happen?
AE: We toured non-stop for those first three years before Victory on our own, like DIY. We were booking the shows, going out ourselves, losing hundreds of dollars every tour [laughs]. It was really hard. We went through a lot of members, because some people just couldn’t handle it. In the end, I think it has worked out for the best.
SZ: So, when did the lineup kind of solidify?
AE: It was around a year ago now, when we got our drummer Jim and lead guitar player Jack. We did a tour, not last November, but the one before with Unsung Zeroes and Junction 18 and our drummer was playing bass for Junction 18 as a friend filling in. We met him and we really liked him and we weren’t happy with out old drummer and he wasn’t happy with us, so we asked him to join. We were playing as a three-piece then and he brought Jack with him to a practice and it just fit right away. Everyone is real happy with this lineup.
SZ: When you’re writing the lyrics, do you find that there’s an underlying theme that a majority of your songs project or do you try to touch all the bases?
AE: I don’t really think about what I’m going to write, I just sit and write and whatever comes out comes out. I don’t know what the music is going to sound like for it, like Anthony, when he writes the music, doesn’t know what the lyrics are going to be. There might be sort of an underlying theme, because its all one period of my life as things were kind of changing and stuff. But, its not really meant to be, its not a concerted effort to be like ‘I’m gonna write this kind of song,’ its just whatever happened happened.
SZ: What is your schooling background? Did any of you go to college?
AE: Some of us did. Jack actually graduated from Tufts, which I think is like an Ivy League School, with an English degree. I am about three classes away from being finished with school, but I dropped out to tour. Jim had some college; I’m not sure how much. I don’t know for Anthony how far the schooling went.
SZ: What were you going for?
AE: I was majoring in Psychology, then I was going to shift over to English, but before I made the move, I dropped out.
SZ: Was it a worthwhile decision?
AE: I think so, because I can always go back to school to finish up, whereas this is a really lucky opportunity, I have to do this. I probably would have wished I had done it.
SZ: All right, last one. Give me the scenario for the perfect show, like lineup, playlist or venue – any of those elements.
AE: Hmmm. Its weird, because for us, it’s all different, I’m trying to think of where we’d like to be. For me, my favorite place to play is in Chicago at the Fireside Bowl. I just love it there. Our shows there are always great and the kids are amazing, it’s my favorite place to play. I’d like to play a show with our friends. I’m sure you know Silverstein. We love those guys; they’re like our best friends.
SZ: Yeah, they’re great guys.
AE: I’d love to play a show with Silverstein, for me there’s this band Park that I love, they’re on Lobster, and they’re a great band. And I guess, for the other guys, I know they love Brand New, so a probably a lineup like that, where all the bands fit together, but they’re all a little bit different. It’d be a good time for everyone.
SZ: All right, I appreciate your time.
AE: Its no problem, thank you for taking an interest
Interviewer: Dave Sharp