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Pre-Pre-Production: Forever The Sickest Kids

Alternative Press - Tim Karan on 6/8/09 @ 7:00 AM - altpress.com

Find out what FTSK are planning for their next album before they ever even set foot in the studio.


Since their 2006 formation, FOREVER THE SICKEST KIDS have been rocketing through the pop scene thanks to infectious hooks, energetic performances and more than a little savvy internet marketing. The Texas natives are gearing up to head back into the studio with Matt Squire to begin recording the follow up to their debut Universal full length, Underdog Alma Mater this month before heading onto Warped Tour. But before the band get into the studio, keyboardist KENT GARRISON gave LUCY ALBERS a peek into FTSK's hopes for their encore.

How long have you guys been writing for the new album?
Actually, like the day after we finished [Underdog Alma Mater] we started working on the second one--just to see what direction it would be and just to get some ideas nailed down. We definitely have a lot of ideas and a bank full of verses and choruses and bridges and guitar parts and piano parts.

So you guys are going in to record right before heading out on Warped Tour and finishing it after?
Yeah, we're going to start on a few songs and then do Warped Tour and end in Los Angeles right where we left off. We'll have it done at least by the first week of September and hopefully it'll come out soon after that.

You're re-releasing Underdog Alma Mater this summer as a deluxe edition. Will that have any of the new tracks on it?
We'll have one new track that hopefully we'll be re-doing in the studio [for the new album]. The deluxe edition will have all the original tracks from Underdog, plus a lot of the demos from the original sessions--like the first ever recordings of "Whoa Oh! (Me vs. Everyone)," "Hey Brittany," "She's A Lady," "Believe Me I'm Lying" and songs like that. And it's going to have acoustic demos on there, too. We basically wanted it to be a history of our band, like where we started up to where we are now. It's going to be a really cool lead-in to the next album.

What do you think is the biggest difference this time around?
First off, when we were doing Underdog, we were all so new to being in a band together. We had only been playing together for, like, a month at that point. When we started writing for the record, we were still getting used to how each other wrote and writing styles and our songs in general. But now, a few years down the road, with the writing and everything, we kind of know how to do it now. I think that we all seem to know what we want with these new songs. We've just gone back to our roots in writing catchier guitar parts and catchier melodies and just simpler songs in general than the last one. It's a little more structured than the last one and just more presentable. I don't honestly know if I can say there's a huge difference. I feel like we're the same people as we were back then; we're the same band. I think now we're just better at what we do. I think we're better friends, better people and better at writing music, and that's going to be the only difference that people will be able to hear from the last album. They can just kind of listen to it and say, "This is where I expected them to go." We don't want to change much about who we are and what we do, we just want to stay Forever The Sickest Kids and bring something new and fresh.

Are there any artists you've been listening to lately that you've been pulling inspiration from?
I wouldn't say we're really pulling inspiration from anything. Whenever we're recording, all the other guys except for me go into a sort of silent mode and won't listen to any other projects because they don't want to be influenced by any other bands. But me--I listen to everything from the Beatles to Metallica to Dixie Chicks. I don't know if we have any certain styles on this next album, I think it's just Forever The Sickest Kids; we didn't change anything from the first album. We're not going to go into this album and turn into the Beatles or really change our style and get our fans all confused or anything. We're just trying to stick to our roots, do what we do, write some new jams and hopefully kids will enjoy them.

Will there be any sort of concept?
I don't think it'll really be a concept record. I think the songs, in my opinion, are all really based on truth--things that we've actually gone through and things that we feel in our hearts. When fans listen to these songs, they'll get a better opinion on what kind of people we are and a how we live our lives. These songs are really personal to us and I think people will be able to tell that we really put a lot of effort into them and making them special and emotional.

Any plans for collaborations?
We haven't really thought of any collaborations, but we have some ideas and we've talked to the label about getting maybe some rappers or something. We did a track with Ron Browz last year, who is getting pretty big in the rap game so we might bring him in on a track or something. You never know. It just depends on the resources as far as who we can get, but we would love to have at least one guest on the album. That would be sweet.

Will you be playing any new stuff on Warped? Oh yeah. We'll play at least one new song.

What kind of reaction are you hoping to get from the new album?
You can only hope for the best. If everyone hates this new album, I don't think any of us are going to quit the band or anything like that. We all feel passionately about these songs because we wrote them. The reaction that we hope to get is, of course, that everyone like it and buy it and come to our show and sing along to it.

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alyssajdc Posted 06.08.09 at 10:11AM
that seems awesome :D cant wait for the album!



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