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Chalkboard Confessional: Aaron Gillespie

Alternative Press - Tim Karan on 10/26/09 @ 7:00 AM - altpress.com

Growing up in a devout Christian home, AARON GILLESPIE was exposed to music at an early age-although most of it came from the choir box. But long before he became drummer/vocalist for UNDEROATH and even longer before he started THE ALMOST, Gillespie was deemed too loud of a drummer to play in church. Luckily, his love of music like Shai Hulud and Dashboard Confessional helped steer him into venues that applaud him for playing too loud. LUCY ALBERS spoke with Gillespie to find out which bands and albums helped direct him to where he is now.

What are your earliest memories of music?
I grew up in church, so my earliest memories were probably church music. My mom sang in this really good choir. I kind of always loved the aesthetic of music. I think I was drawn to drums as a kid because of the way they looked. I know that sounds kind of weird, but it's true.

My first memory of really loving something comes from my dad. Every Friday night, he'd buy beer and he had, like, 250 classic-rock vinyl albums and he'd listen to them. Only on that night. I can remember we had this record player that had a headphone jack in it, and he would plug these old Panasonic headphones into it and I'd listen to records with him. That's the first time I remember really being enthralled by music. He would play any kind of classic rock like the Beatles, the Eagles, Chicago and the Mamas And The Papas. He let me borrow the Beach Boys Greatest Hits on vinyl. I remember being totally elated by the sound that was all around me. You know, with headphones on, everything is stereo.

How did church affect your relationship with music?
I never really wanted to go on to become a gospel singer or anything; I just kind of grew up doing that as a kid. Somehow, by default, I got into heavy music. When I was a kid, there was this Christian bookstore by our house and I'd walk there and I remember being freaked out by this band called Mortification. It was, like, this death metal band, and for some reason, I picked up the CD. This was when they had the demo sections in record stores where you could listen to CDs. I remember being totally frightened by it, but I liked the way it made me feel. My uncle used to listen to Nirvana, and he'd play it when we'd go places. That was the first time I thought, "Oh, man, this is so wrong but it feels so right."

Did you first start playing drums in church?
Yes, I did. I was 7 years-old.

I read somewhere that they told you that you couldn't play because you were too loud.
Yes, that's true. I got my heart broken as a kid. They wouldn't allow me to play because of that. It was heart wrenching as a little boy. I had this big falling out as a drummer after that. I didn't play for a really long time. I felt inadequate. I didn't really grasp yet that I could play differently or that I could play a different style of music that would accommodate me. I was too young to understand. When someone told me I was playing too hard, I didn't even know what that meant. I guess it was just the way that I heard it or saw it and thought it should be. So I stopped playing drums for a while and didn't start playing again till my early teens. There was this time where they needed two drummers for some production and they let me play again.

You started Underoath when you were really young.
Yes, I was like 15 when we started playing just on the weekends and doing that whole thing. When I was 15, I never thought I'd still be doing it now. I assumed that I would always play music, but I never thought I would be in the same band. It's a weird thought.

What was the local music scene like where you grew up?
There was this place called the Refuge in St. Petersburg, Florida. It's kind of hard to explain. It was like a social change outreach center, a homeless shelter and it held church on Sundays. Then it was a venue on the weekends. It was a really small venue, but everyone played there back then. I saw MxPx there. Any band that was a band in the hardcore and punk scene came through. New Found Glory played there when they were just starting out. It's been shut down for about 10 years now, I think. Most of the music that was from Florida was from South Florida, like Dashboard [Confessional] and New Found Glory and Poison the Well. But in our area, there was a band called SaGoh 24/7, who went onto become Anberlin. There was also a band called Sleeping By The Riverside who we really loved. We grew up with a lot of bands in our area and then they kind of went away. A lot of things changed.

If you made a playlist of the music you listened to in high school, who would be on it?
Shai Hulud were like my high school "thing." I was a fan of Further Seems Forever and their first album, The Moon Is Down and Nirvana's Nevermind. There'd also probably be some sort of country music that I can't really think of. We used to listen to so many local demo tapes that it's difficult to remember the mainstream stuff. The Foo Fighters were great. I'd also probably have some Metallica from a record that I don't even remember the name of.

Are there any albums that you listen to and automatically revert you back to your high school years?
Definitely. I didn't really sing until I was like 17 or 18 years old. I didn't discover that that was something I did or could do or was interested in doing until then. When we were recording the first Underoath record in Florida, [then-Further Seems Forever frontman] Chris Carrabba brought us this thing that he "tried" called Dashboard Confessional. It was his first record, [2000's] The Swiss Army Romance, and that record made me want to be a singer. I pretty much burned a whole in that record in high school. [Carrabba] was one of those guys who worked on writing songs that you believe were made for you. I really liked that record. I thought it was for me in high school. It really got me through the awkward high school moments.

Were there any specific artists that influenced you to becoming a musician?
[Nirvana drummer and the Foo Fighters frontman] Dave Grohl was great. There was also a band called Strongarm that influenced me. Those types of bands had drummers who hit hard and it was okay. I thought was rad. I don't really remember what specific piece of music made me want to be a drummer but bands like that definitely helped. I was also into Saves The Day a lot back then--a little after high school, around [2001's] Stay What You Are. When I started the Almost, I wanted to make better songs than I had. The songs were so simple and that was the plan. I wanted to make verse-chorus-bridge-chorus type rock songs and try to make it the biggest and most brain stimulating we could. I loved At the Drive-In and the Used and those kinds of bands that had their own sound. I loved the music and craziness of it. When Hot Topic first became popular, they had At the Drive-In's album at a listening station and I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever heard. It was so manic and crazy.

Are there any genres of music you'd still like to try?
Country music. My mom is really into country music and it's a part of my life. I'd love to do that, although I don't know in what arena. Mainstream country music is so blurred now. It's the only style of music that isn't infected by decline in finance. I listened to country music growing up. I don't mention it in a lot in interviews or anything because it doesn't really pertain to the style of music I play now, but country music was a huge deal in the south and my home. I feel like the music is just kind of storytelling. Really, country music is the most pure form of storytelling there is. I think some of the mainstream stuff is good, too. Keith Urban makes great music and Brad Paisley is such a talented guitar player. But sometimes it might as well be pop music. A lot of country music these days doesn't even have country music instruments, which is crazy. alt

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