Interview: Anthony Raneri of Bayside answers fan questions

Bayside frontman Anthony Raneri is perpetually busy, both at home and on the road, and while juggling multiple projects. While Bayside continue to support their well-received 2011 full-length Killing Time—they'll be playing some midwest one-offs in mid-June before heading out on the entire Vans Warped Tour—Raneri released his first solo EP, New Cathedrals, earlier this year during some downtime for the band. He embarked on the Where's The Band? Tour in support of the EP (about which we spoke to him here) and is kicking off a solo run of dates beginning tonight in Pittsburgh.

Raneri took the time to answer ten reader-submitted questions, viewable below. 

What is your favorite song or lyric that you have ever written? And how do you come up with such intricate lyrics and melodies? —Chris Roth
It would be hard to come up with a line that is my favorite, but I have always really liked the lyrics in “Popular Science.” That is one of those songs that I listen back to now and think “Man, how did I think of that?” I write lyrics just like I talk, really. My lyrics start out as journal entries. Sort of a stream of consciousness so the words themselves are just words and phrases are ones that I would use if I were talking. The melodies I'm not too sure of. That's just how I hear them.

Who were your top three favorite bands to see live when you were growing up? —Gabriel Føwler
When I was younger I would go see Lagwagon just about every time they came to NYC. Them and Bad Religion were my favorite live bands, I think. I also grew up seeing Glassjaw about every month or so in Long Island.

What music are you listening to when your trying to find inspiration for your music? What's a band or artist that's a guilty pleasure of yours to listen to? —Gage Johnson
Most of the music I listen to these days are guilty pleasures. When I'm writing I listen to a lot of pop music and anything weird I can find. I listen to a lot of Abba, show tunes, and foreign music. Stuff like that. My vision for Bayside has always been to be interesting music with pop sensibilities.

What's your favorite song you have written, but have yet to play live? —Garrett Wheeler
We have played most songs live at one time or another. I really like a B-side we did called “Don't Come Easy.” I'd like to try and do that live sometime.

I know that you devoted pretty much everything to Bayside and your music. I'm curious, if it didn't all fall into place, what was your backup plan? —Vivian Phelan
I never really had one. I have been in Bayside since I was 17, so I never really had a chance to start thinking about a backup plan.

What band(s) are you currently listening to at the moment? Any recommendations? —Gianna Arr
I've been going back to some older stuff I haven't listened to in a while. I've been big on the Superdrag “Headtrip in Every Key” record that I loved growing up. I also really dig Say Anything's new record. As far as new bands, I've gotten into some Hostage Calm and a local NYC band called Bodyface.

How big of an influence was the New York Hardcore scene growing up? Are there any bands of that scene that you wish were still around? —Jared Johnson
Not much of an influence, actually. I was never big into hardcore. I was into Madball, No Redeeming Social Value and a couple of others, but mainly I was always into punk.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? —Emily Armitage
It depends on your definition of a kid. When I was 10 I wanted to be a baseball player. When I was a teenager I wanted to be in a band.

If you had the choice to tour with any band, active or disbanded who would they be? —KJ Joseph
Smoking Popes were always a band I dreamt about touring with and we got to do it. Other than that, I would love to go out with Green Day.

I've seen a million (approximately) Bayside tattoos on the internet or people at shows. I know I love mine. How awesome is that for you to see that level of dedication from your fans? —Brandon Sheehan
It's amazing. It's truly the highest level of devotion for a band. We set out 12 years ago to start a band that would be remembered by people and that people would want to tell their kids about. When people put our lyrics or logo on them forever, it tells us that we have the staying power and timelessness that we set out to have. We made a lot of decisions that may have cost us more success or more money in the name of being important and things like tattoos let us know we made the right choices. alt