| On the phone with WE CAME AS ROMANS' JOSH MOORE. |
| Written by Shahlin Graves |
| Friday, 14 October 2011 11:46 |
 Michigan band WE CAME AS ROMANS have been on a rollercoaster ride over the past couple of years. As well as travelling to New Zealand and Australia in late 2010 as part of the No Sleep Til festival, the band have been touring non-stop in the Northern Hemisphere, have written and released their second album ‘Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be’ and in a few weeks time, are back on our shores for their own headlining shows. Coup De Main caught up with guitarist JOSH MOORE for a quick chat about their latest album and upcoming NZ shows... COUP DE MAIN: How are you doing today? WE CAME AS ROMANS - JOSH MOORE: I’m okay. A little hungry, I’m going to try get dinner soon. CDM: So pretty soon you’ll be back in New Zealand for the second time in less than a year... JOSH: Yeah we’re coming back in October with The Devil Wears Prada! CDM: Unfortunately TDWP are only doing the Australian leg of the tour, you guys are doing your own headlining show here. JOSH: Oh, cool I did not know that. CDM: Are you guys excited to be coming back? JOSH: Definitely. When we were there the first time, we got there and we had the whole day off so we got to hang out, go walk around see things - it was really nice and the weather was beautiful so I’m excited to be coming back. CDM: Was there anything about NZ in particular you're looking forward to doing again, or that you didn’t get to do last time? JOSH: No, well not really. I think it’s going to be really cool playing a club show and headlining as opposed to playing a festival which will be good.  CDM: Your new album 'Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be’ is out now. For anyone who hasn’t heard the album can you tell us a little about it? JOSH: Well, musically and lyrically it’s the best we’ve done as a band. Musically it’s a little heavier than our older stuff and lyrically, it’s more honest and a little raw. We’re excited about it. It’s about finding out how to be happy in life and how to retain that happiness. CDM: You finished the album a couple of months before it was released. What was that wait like - having the finished product in your hands but being unable to share it? JOSH: We were on Warped Tour and we had the mixes of the songs and it was not necessarily a nervous thing but more of an anxious thing where we really wanted to share it and let everyone hear it but we had to wait for 2.5 months before people could. CDM: It’s been said that this album has a darker tone compared to your previous - was that a deliberate choice or something that just occurred naturally? JOSH: Our music is a continuation of our band as people and it is just something we experienced as a band you know, being on the road all the time and not really having the stability that a lot of people have. CDM: Being that it's your second album, did you feel much pressure from fans? How do you channel that out? JOSH: When we write music we want to write music that makes us happy as a band before we try to make our fans happy. We definitely want to keep our fans happy and appreciate their support but as a band you have to write music that keeps you happy first. CDM: You’ve had a seemingly endless touring cycle... did writing the album while juggling touring commitments change how you approach writing? JOSH: Not necessarily, but it definitely really really shaped the way that the record came out, especially lyrically.  CDM: Earlier this year, you were admitted to hospital for bacterial meningitis. Did that experience impact the way you approached the album lyrically? JOSH: A little bit. It definitely changed my outlook a little bit, like on the whole band and where my priorities were and everything. Like I said earlier, our music is always a continuation of who we are as people so it definitely somehow would connect, maybe not directly lyrically but if it’s influencing me and my band then it’s definitely got to come out somewhere in the songs. CDM: The album seems to have a theme of personal growth - what has been the area you feel like WCAR has grown in? JOSH: I guess being able to cope with being on the road and not having a normal life. When we released 'To Plant A Seed' we were still really new to the whole touring thing and being on the road constantly for two years really changed, not us as people, but it has helped us grow up. CDM: Is there an area that you still want to grow in? JOSH: I would say on a global level we really want to make it to a lot of countries that we haven’t been to - just growing internationally is a focus of the band. CDM: The album leaked late August, what was the vibe like in the band when you realized it had leaked a few weeks early? JOSH: Everyone was really bummed because we’d worked so hard on it. It really sucks when you put so much time into something and then everyone’s stealing it and getting it for free when they’re not even supposed to have it at all. Hopefully it does more good than it does harm and a good amount of people who torrented it will buy it, or come to a show and buy a t-shirt so hopefully we’ll still get support out of it. It’s a bummer but it is part of life and something we have to deal with and move on. CDM: When it leaked initially it was unknown what was the source. Do you have any further details on how it leaked? JOSH: I still don’t really know. CDM: For your current U.S. tour you are running a photo competition for fans to submit their photos. What was the idea behind that? JOSH: One of our managers Matt, he always comes up with really good ideas to keep our buzz up and keep kids really in the loop with our stuff, try to keep them involved and everything and he came up with a lot of the marketing ideas for our new CD and when he told us we were all really excited about it. CDM: We Came As Romans are always asking fans questions on Twitter etc. - as the band is on tour and getting more popular has it been harder to connect with fans? JOSH: Yeah, definitely. Especially with how much we’ve been on the road it’s been really hard as there is a lot to concentrate on, but still we try our best. The easiest way for us to stay connected with fans is at our shows, being able to hang out with fans, sign a poster etc. It is always better than not being able to do anything. All of us try to reply to as many fans as we can on Twitter. CDM: So it’s safe to assume you will you be hanging out at the NZ show? JOSH: Yeah we always like to hang at the merch table after our set and hang around after the show.  CDM: You were part of the 'Game Changers' tour with Bring Me The Horizon and A Day To Remember. What do you think makes a game changer? JOSH: I don’t know... it's getting harder and harder to try to do things that haven’t been done, but as long as you’re doing it with passion then you are on the right step - you’re doing something right. CDM: Are there any musicians you consider to be game changers? JOSH: I don’t know. I don’t listen to heavy music really ever. I spend enough time listening to it at shows and playing it that I don’t really listen to it when I get the chance to listen to my iPod. CDM: So what is on your playlist? JOSH: Actually my favourite band just announced a reunion show, the band is As Cities Burn and they’re going to be playing their first ever CD in its entirety which has always been my go-to album - I’ve been listening to [it] front to back for five years. I’m very excited. CDM: As we mentioned earlier, you’re playing your own show this time as opposed to a festival. Do you prefer one over the other? JOSH: Both have their ups and downs. It’s going to be nice playing a club show after having played a festival show and maybe after the club show I can tell you which I like better. CDM: You mention that you like to keep your lyrics honest. The music scene in general quite often comes across as having shady or dishonest characters. Has it been hard to surround yourselves with honest people? JOSH: There are some shady things and people that happen, but at the same time there are some really good people and there are honourable things being done. It’s definitely always easier to see and pick out the bad things, but there’s a little bit of both. CDM: Finally, is there anything you’d like to say to your NZ fans ahead of your show? JOSH: Just that we hope to see everyone while we’re there, it’ll be fun to play a club show and we’ll play a little of the new stuff and the older songs too. It’ll be a good time. |
