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A lot of people now how much I love my metal music. Well when the chance came up to interview this next band, I couldn't in anyway at all pass it up! I had always heard this bands name dropped and I had their music on my ipod. However, as with a lot of bands, I had never had the chance to talk to them and see what really made them tick. So, recently I got to sit down with Jeremy and talk about the band, the inspiration and the music it was a great honor. Please enjoy!

"I think actually that’s a problem in music today, that people don’t play shows, they don’t go on tour as much because I think a lot more music is like kind of aimed at MySpace and stuff like that" - Jeremy McKinnon: A Day To Remember

First of all for our readers who don’t know, can you tell us who you are and what you do for the band?

I’m Jeremy and I sing for A Day to Remember.

Ok, can you tell us how A Day to Remember came about?

It was more just like a collection of all of us from different local bands like around our town and then the final one was Alex for over like a period of time. We had been a band for like a year, year and a half, two years something like that and our drummer quit, and then he was just a friend of ours we were like in this little side band and we asked him to do it as a joke really, because he was only 15 years old at the time. He was like, ya sure, let me ask my mom, and she said yes so that’s how that went down.

What was the inspiration behind the name?

The name? Well, we were tossing a few names around and we had this guy in our band at the time, and nobody really wanted Dan, he was kind of like forced into the band by our drummer at the time, the original guy. He liked worked with him, his good friend or whatever, and he just came up for practice one day to try out and then like left his equipment. We were all like, hey we’re not sure we really want this guy in the band, he was like, oh well I told him he was in so it was like oh great. So what happened was he had a band name and it was A Day to Remember, and we were like, well that’s pretty good, I was like I kind of like that and everybody else liked it to, so it was like why don’t we just use that? So we used it and then kicked him out two weeks later.

Nice. So you released your first album in 2006 and then in the Fall of 2007 you just recently released your new album Home Sick, what has been the biggest growth as a band between each album?

Well, the first record may have been released in 2006 or 2005 or whenever but we wrote that a long time ago, so we didn’t even really write that record for anyone else besides ourselves so. I mean that’s definitely the thoughts when we were younger and then the second record is more of like us trying to take it seriously you know what I mean, trying to actually write decent songs for other people other than ourselves. We were all really happy for those, then with Home Sick we got involved with Chad Gilbert from New Found Glory who produced our record, so I mean he definitely helped us kind of like take what we were doing and make it flow a lot better which is what I think all the other records lacked so, I definitely think he helped make us exactly what we wanted to be.

Now how do you feel about the new album and is there one song you can say means the most to you?

Um, to be honest with you I would say Home Sick, the actual song Home Sick means the most to me because you know, to me that’s a really personal song. Talks about exactly how I feel or about how I felt when we were writing it. That’s what I try to do, try to keep it as personal as possible, I write about everyday stuff and that one definitely, I’m really proud of that song when it comes to lyrics and stuff. I’ve heard a lot of people criticize it because I write kind of simple stuff that everybody can relate to, but if you actually read it, if you knew me as a person you would understand that’s not like me trying to just, like people criticize me because I say, hey mom, and stuff like that, sounds like cliché or something but it’s not. My parents were a really big part of why our band is a band because they’ve backed us from day one and they bought us the van and stuff to go on tour so, they’re really involved with our band. That song definitely means a lot to me and all of the band members.

Ok, now I just have to say that Down Fall of Us is one of my favourites and there’s one lyric that states “I sold my sole to the open road”, is there anything you can tell us about that specific lyric or that song in general?

It’s just about how the foundation of our band has always been touring so, and it’s going to remain touring because it’s definitely made us who we are today, like the kind of band that we are you know what I mean? So, I think actually that’s a problem in music today, that people don’t play shows, they don’t go on tour as much because I think a lot more music is like kind of aimed at MySpace and stuff like that. Like people will just write music and put it on MySpace then they go on a tour. That’s why people don’t take bands seriously you know what I mean, you haven’t been out there, you don’t really know how to play your songs for people, to entertain people. Like when we first started you can look up on YouTube there’s some really old videos up there, we had no clue, it was just something you can’t learn to practice, you learn to like play in a bunch of shows and you learn over time, you take things from other people and it’s just something I think a lot more bands should get involved in.

Actually I was on your My Space and when you recorded Home Sick you did a whole pile of video blogs, is that just so your fans know you’re process of recordings and how the band works or?

Well, kind of. It was coming then showing them how everything works but then again, maybe check them out, they’re meant to be funny so. We try to have a really good time with it and you know, just kind of be goofy, kind of keep people interested in the whole process because you know everybody has seen these video updates with everybody, it’s all the same stuff and we just wanted to do something funny and that people would talk about and we had a good time doing it.

Well that’s good. Now this tour actually has an amazing line up, what would you say has been your favourite moment so far?

Favourite moment, um, they have all been amazing, I mean this is the first time we have played the U.S. and we’re happy to be here, so I mean we’ve been doing a lot of stuff out of the country up until now. So I mean this is the first time we are actually playing the U.S. on the new CD so it’s been really awesome just seeing the reaction from people in the U.S. compared to people in the UK and Germany. It’s been amazing you know, the record is going over really well pretty much everywhere and we’re really excited about everything, so..

Now you did Warped Tour last year and you’re on the line-up for this year, what are your thoughts and feelings on Warped Tour kind of being a springboard for opening today’s youths to new music?

Well, Warped Tour was one of those things that like we grew up going to as kids and you know you’re just like, god I’d love to play Warped Tour one day and that was like one of our goals as a band, and we did that last year and it was like half the tour but this year we got the whole thing. It’s pretty sick the way it went down too because, Warped Tour I don’t know if you’ve heard but they’ve cut it back this year. There’s a lot less bands, lot less stages stuff like that so, after we did last year we were like, man we want to be on this next year, our manager was like, well you know next year is going to be a little bit more exclusive, there’s not going to be as many bands, so you might not be on it, so don’t be upset if you don’t get chosen. But then when Kevin Lyman himself put out offers to bands for the first thing and then he accepted a few people that wanted to be on it, but we were in the first group of bands that actually got chosen by him to go on tour, so we were really excited about that.

Nice, that’s pretty awesome. Now my next question is kind of a loaded question for you. Now if you were in charge of the music industry, what would be the first thing you would change?

To be honest with you, I don’t know. That’s why I’m playing music and not putting out music. I think we’re in a really weird time for like lead bolts and stuff. I don’t think anybody really knows what is the next route that everybody is going to take you know, so everybody’s kind of just scrambling. Some people are doing okay, some people aren’t going to survive you know what I mean, I mean we’re just real fortunate to be doing okay, our label is doing well. We can’t complain but you know, it will be interesting to see where it goes in the next five years because there will definitely be a big change in the next five years.

I can see that. Now with the new album out, what else can we expect from you guys in the future?

Just a lot more touring you know, this time we’re going to remain writing throughout the entire year so who knows. We might actually have a new record well before two years, like last summer we pretty much toured the whole time and didn’t really think about it until like last minute. So I mean, this year we’re going to be a little more prepared you know, non-stop touring everywhere, we’re going to try and hit every major continent. So we’ll see.

Okay now with every interview we do we try and end it with five of the most random questions that you’ve ever been asked, are you up for that?

Sure.

If you could morph into anything, what would it be and why?

Would have to be a bird just because it would just be awesome to fly. I know it’s not kind of a good answer but...

It’s a good one though. If you were a scented candle what would you smell like?

Hmm, Christmas because that makes everybody happy.

That’s true. Would you be the butcher, the baker or the candlestick maker?

I would just say the butcher. Not because I like cutting up things but because that just sounds cooler.

Ok. Now if you could be stuck in any 80s movie which one would it be and why?

Oh man. Back to the Future, that was in the 80s wasn’t it? Back to the Future.

What’s your hidden talent?

Um, it’s not really, well I guess it’s hidden. I actually play guitar and a lot of different instruments. A lot of people don’t know that I can play a lot of instruments; they think I’m just a singer. That surprises people a lot. I’m a musician haha.

Huge thank you to Jeremy for taking a bit out of his busy schedule to chat with us! If you'd like to hear A Day To Remember's music, drop by their MySpace Page!