Cautionary Tales
Frank Zummo used to build stages, now he sells them out
We’re aware you know who Frank Zummo is—after all, you voted him for Best Drummer at last year’s Alternative Press Music Awards. The drum dynamo—co-founder of rhythm-and-noise franchise Street Drum Corps and timekeeper for Sum 41—can boast a career of bum-out lows and stratospheric highs. So when Zummo and SJC Drums co-founder Mike Ciprari rolled […]
Motion City Soundtrack's Justin Pierre on why everything's still alright
What do you do when your long-running band decides to call it a day? Sulk into depression? Go acoustic? Live on your laptop for six weeks to learn programming to secure yourself a spacebar-pressing Vegas residency playing EDM? Motion City Soundtrack frontman Justin Pierre had a different plan: stuff himself full of pizza and ice […]
FFTL's Matt Good says you might be too naive to be in the music industry
Matt Good knows the score. He remembers what he went through leading esteemed metalcore/screamo outfit From First To Last since the earlier part of this decade. He vividly recalls how the great alliance he had with Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows never really achieved its full potential. And he was terrified when both bands went […]
Helmet’s Page Hamilton fights musical mediocrity—and the business around it
In these cynical times, it’s easy to throw shade at bands who’ve been around a while, long after they’ve ceased to excite or inspire. But Helmet, the idiosyncratic, reductionist metal outfit formed by Page Hamilton in 1989, falls waaay outside that category. Read more: Davey Suicide dishes on taking his career back and why a lot […]
Buddy Nielsen: “When [Senses Fail] was at its height, we were broke”
Buddy Nielsen, the hip-shooting majordomo from post-hardcore veterans Senses Fail, stopped by the AP offices to chat up editor in chief Jason Pettigrew for his Cautionary Tales podcast. Nielsen, the fearless dude that he is, pulled no punches about his band’s storied 16-year career, discussing the legal and psychic tripwires his band have gotten caught […]
John 5 walked away from running his show to join Rob Zombie’s circus
A look through super-guitarist John 5’s resumé looks like an overview of contemporary rock history. Before he cemented his world-class abilities recording and touring with bona fide rock stars as Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson and David Lee Roth, the artist formerly known as John Lowery crossed playing paths with everyone from Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander […]
That time Anti-Flag told Fat Mike and Jimmy Iovine to f--k off
A few weeks ago, Chris 2 of passionate Pittsburgh punks Anti-Flag stopped by to appear on the Cautionary Tales podcast. Although the program focuses on how bands endure or flame out over certain aspects of the music industry, Chris flipped the script on us and informed us about how great Anti-Flag’s tenure on BMG/RCA was […]
That time Anti-Flag told Fat Mike and Jimmy Iovine to f--k off
A few weeks ago, Chris 2 of passionate Pittsburgh punks Anti-Flag stopped by to appear on the Cautionary Tales podcast. Although the program focuses on how bands endure or flame out over certain aspects of the music industry, Chris flipped the script on us and informed us about how great Anti-Flag’s tenure on BMG/RCA was […]
Geoff Rickly on the life and death of Thursday, his encounter with MCR and more
[Photo by: Keeahtay Lewis] As his résumé details everything from emo vocalist to record label founder, Geoff Rickly is a busy man. But AP's Jason Pettigrew was able to sit down with Rickly and discuss his former band, Thursday, and the pitfalls of being a musician. “The one thing you really have to tend, and really look after, is […]
