It’s a big week for FOREVER THE SICKEST KIDS. While they’re currently crisscrossing the country on the Cheap Date Tour, they’re also celebrating the release of their new mini-album, Friday, which is the first in The Weekend series featuring three discs dedicated to the end of the week. It’s the first new music from FTSK since their 2008 debut full-length, Underdog Alma Mater. Considering their music so far seems to borrow themes from high school, we thought we would check in with bassist AUSTIN BELLO to find out what his experience with music was like during his own high school years.

INTERVIEW: Lucy Albers

What’s the first show you ever went to?
The first concert that I ever went to was Warped Tour in, like, 2000 with Caleb [Turman, guitar]. I remember crowdsurfing to New Found Glory’s “My Friends Over You” on Warped Tour, and it’s still the first concert experience I have in my mind.

Did your family have much influence in what you listened to?
One time, when I was first starting to write music, my dad took me to his room and said, “Son, if you’re going to start playing music, you have to listen to this.” Then he put on “Freebird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. It’s the one that goes [singing], “’Cause I’m as free as a bird now, and this bird you cannot change.” You know that one? And then there’s this, like, 14-minute guitar solo. Dad said, “Son, if you want to know anything about music, you have to listen to this solo,” and blasted it in his room. That’s the first experience I remember of him telling me anything about music.

When did you start playing music?
My mom and my grandma played piano in church and everything, and my dad’s side has a few musicians in it. I just remember I was sick and stayed at home for, like, a week with pneumonia and saw a guitar in my mom’s closet. I was in, like, seventh grade at the time and I said, “Mom, teach me how to play guitar.” She showed me three or four chords, and after that, I basically taught myself. I couldn’t stop playing music.

How did you learn songs?
I just got guitar tabs–usually off the internet. I could find tabs to pretty much any song, and it basically shows you how to play them on guitar. Then through those songs, you start to get better and write yourself.

What were the first songs you learned to play?
One of them was “Higher” by Creed. Remember that song? [Laughs.] And then “What’s My Age Again?” by Blink-182 from back in the day.

How old were you when you started playing in bands?
Caleb and I started playing together at 12 or 13 and formed a band. We’ve basically been in and out of bands together for about 10 years now. The first song I ever wrote was with Caleb, and we’ve kind of grown together with guitars and learned how to play from each other.

When did you start singing?
I started to write music when I was 12 or 13, so I have tapes of songs where I’m singing and sound like a dying monkey or something. It was awful. I don’t know how my family put up with me singing when I was growing up. But you can’t really write a song without singing, so I just learned it.

What was the music scene like growing up in the Dallas area?
There were a lot of bands from the Rockwell and Dallas area back then. There’s this band from back in the day called Bowling For Soup, and one of their members went to my high school. I think it was before I got there. There were always bands and always places to play. I started playing for the youth group where I worshipped. That’s kind of how I started. I’d always want to jam or start a band with anyone else who played music. Caleb and I played throughout high school at a bunch of local shows. It’s just, like, if you played music and lived in our town, you were in a band.

What influence did your faith have while you were starting to play music?
It’s kind of weird, but when you look at the song structure of how worship songs are written, they’re very pop-oriented and kind of sing-along-ish. So when we started writing music, we weren’t necessarily writing worship songs or anything, but they were definitely songs that meant something to us. They were about real experiences that happened in our life. We wrote a song about a guy from a gas station denying us a pizza roll or something. Anything that happened, we ended up writing music about it.

If you made a playlist from songs you listened to during high school, what albums would be on it?
Honestly, there were only two albums that I ever bought when I was growing up. I know that’s really sad. I bought Third Eye Blind’s self-titled album and then New Found Glory’s Sticks And Stones. I listened to those two albums to death. I know every little thing on every song on those albums. Those two have shaped my influences growing up.

Now, I don’t even own an iPod; I never have. When I want to listen to music, I would rather go and sit in my room and make music than listen to someone else’s creation. It’s weird. I love hearing songs and stuff, but I think I enjoy creating and making something new.

Are there any newer artists or songs that you like right now?
I do like Owl City’s new stuff and Under The Influence Of Giants, who have been around forever but I’m just getting into them. Then there’s this band Phoenix and a band called Passion Pit who are really good. I just stick to melodies. alt

FOREVER THE SICKEST KIDS WOULDN’T EXIST WITHOUT … (according to Austin Bello)

Blink 182 — “They’re the godfathers of pop-punk. They showed that simplicity is something amazing. A lot of times musicians try to over-complicate things, and Blink showed that sometimes easy guitar parts and catchy melodies are all you really need.”

Third Eye Blind — “Lyrically, I think [Stephan Jenkins] is one of the greatest lyricists that I’ve ever listened to. The way he describes things and uses similes, and the irony he puts into almost all of his songs is amazing.”

New Found Glory — “I’ve always loved going to a concert and watching something live and being part of the concert. Any time that I’ve gone to see them live, all the fans are in to it. It feels good to be at their shows.”