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When I first heard the name, We The Kings, I was really skeptical on hearing them because of just the name alone. I was thinking, who is this band that claim themselves to be kings, what right do they have to claim that. I mean honestly, weren’t a few of you also thinking the same thing? We went to Warped Tour, I heard them playing in passing. I saw Travis hop on stage with The Academy Is, and I thought to myself, ‘mmmm maybe I should give them a listen you know?’ To say I found myself enjoying what I heard would be mild.

Getting a chance recently, when they stopped in town, I got to sit down and talk to them about their music, smoke bombs and what they would do if they saw a dinosaur standing in the middle of the street. Are you ready for this? Because I don’t know if you are... be prepared for some laughs and maybe you’ll learn something you never knew before, like what the magic mirror would say to Travis and Hunter.

"We do this for them because they did this for us."
– Travis Clark: We The Kings

For our readers who don't know, can you tell us who you are and what you do for the band?

Travis: My name is Travis Clark and I sing and play guitar for We the Kings.

Hunter: And I'm Hunter Thomsen and I play guitar and sing for We the Kings.

How did We the Kings come about and where did your name come from?

Travis: We just started writing songs for girls in High school, and it never really worked. We got the name from our Middle School, that we came from which was King Middle School. WE thought it was kind of rare that we had stayed friends for so long and weren't thrown together in a studio or something like that. WE wanted that to kind of represent ourselves and the friends we are and the music that we play and just be uplifting and happy. We just starting playing a lot and touring and now we're here.

Now you are here.

Travis: We are In Toronto.

Hunter: Toronto

What exactly inspires the lyrics for your songs?

Travis: Definitely personal life and situations, events that go on. Each song is kind of a different story. The lyrics, I try to speak them so that people can relate to them and understand exactly what we mean. We don't have any crazy songs about touring on the record, because we weren't really touring at the time when we wrote that record. And not everyone understands touring.

And is there one song that means the most to you?

Hunter: I would say "This Is Our Town"

Travis: It's a song we wrote a while back, it’s completely about our friends, our family and our parents, our siblings and stuff like that. The town that raised us.

That made you who you are?

Travis: Exactly, yeah. That's pretty much it.

Now, yourself titled album came out last October (and it’s amazing by the way), how has it been going on tour and promoting the album?

Hunter: It's been fun. Travis: It's been flattering to see everyone in different cities singing every little song, even the ones that aren't on the internet or aren't promoted with a video or something like that. It's pretty special. I love it.

What is your favourite part of being on tour?

Travis: I think the comerodery between the bands that we tour with, like TAI, Carolina Liar and Hey Monday. Like this tour for example, are all amazing people and it's really an amazing feeling to be on tour with people who know exactly how you feel and you kind of bare with it together and that’s a really cool thing. Then to meet all the people that made us who we are. We are the people that we are because of the people back home. But we are able to do this as our job or a career, whatever. Because so many of the kids that are coming to the shows bought our CD or bought a t-shirt or spread our name. We do this for them because they did this for us.

Well you helped me get a job too.

Travis: We're helping out the Economy

And are there any rituals you guys have before any show?

Hunter: Yah, we do a couple, but we've been this chant from the movie Cool Runnings and we use that just before we go on stage. Travis: Sometimes we sing Michael Jackson's Man in The Mirror. One of our friends back home, like all of our best friend, he karaoke’s. Hunter: He does Karaoke’s real well. Travis: Sometimes, he'll take his shirt off because he gets intoxicated, so we try and reiterate it backstage.

For anyone who hasn't seen one of your live shows can you describe it for us?

Hunter: It's energetic.

Travis: It's very boring, we like to stay still.

Hunter: Yeah we don't move around at all.

So I can bring my own pillow?

Travis: Yeah its B.Y.O.P, Bring Your Own Pillow. No, we try to make the entire show really exciting. Anyone can put a boom box on the stage and play the CD the whole way through and get the music going. We try to do something above and beyond what people expect. We're all running around and tripping over ourselves, just kind of like flopping all over the stage. But it's good, like Hunter was right, as much energy as we can the whole entire show.

Do you have an ultimate goal for your music and are there any things you know you want to accomplish with it?

Hunter: I definitely want to have timeless songs, songs that are not just part of a scene right now. Songs that in a decade or so, people will be like 'you were that band WE The Kings, that song like still is relevant today'. We have so much passion in the songs that we write and the music that we play. I hope that it will transcend everything that is going on right now and carry on into new times.

You guys have been featured in AP and Kerrang, what does it feel like, as a relatively new band, to be getting positive press?

Hunter: It's crazy because we all grew up like reading those magazines and what not. It's crazy to like pick it up and we're in it.

Travis: We all grew up listening to Blink 182, cause if like Blink was in an AP ad or something we would grab it and look through it and see all the other bands. Now we are one of the other bands.

That other people are looking through to find.

Travis: Yeah exactly, I don't know, we really don't really understand it yet, but it's very flattering.

Now you guys are a fun bunch of guys, I was reading that you are into playing practical jokes and pranks, has there been any pranks on this tour?

Travis: Yeah, actually, Hey Monday, the first band on the tour, tried to prank us because they heard the same thing, so they wanted to get us off the bat. So, they lit a smoke bomb under our bus and then came on and was like 'your bus is smoking I think it's on fire' and you could actually smell it on the inside, so it was actually really well done. Our business manager came in, and he was the business manager for them, so he was the inside feed or whatever and he was like 'you have to get off the bus, the bus might explode, and it might catch fire' or whatever. I was like; I’m not leaving without my stuff (insert arm motions of him grabbing his things). I didn't even get off the bus in time to see the actual prank or whatever. When everybody left the bus they were all outside laughing but I was inside grabbing like my laptop, which has all the songs from the new record, like if I lost it I wouldn't remember one of the songs and it would be miserable, so 'm grabbing my laptop and my new acoustic guitar and I have everything in my hands, like all my valuables. They come back in and are like 'the bus wasn't on fire, it was a smoke bomb, they were playing a joke'. I was like damnit!

And you tossed it all back down.

Travis: Yeah exactly. They did get us though. I guess that’s been the only prank so far.

Hunter: So far.

And what has been the biggest backfire?

Travis: Yes

Hunter: We pranked ourselves once.

Travis: We did fireworks once, and one of the fireworks tilted over and shot our friend's band's manager in the back of the legs and it caused like, it ruined her pants and she had this big burn on her legs. I felt so bad, because I lit it and people told me not too.

Hunter: She was like crying, it was pretty bad.

Travis: She was such like a nice girl, I was bummed out. But she's okay now; there isn't a scar or anything.

What can we expect from you guys in the future?

Travis: More pranks.

Hunter: More pranks, more music.

Travis: Lot's more music. We want to put out like 10 records.

10? Like one every year?

Travis: That's our magic number.

Hunter: We'll try.

Travis: Yeah every year, that seems to be a good way of doing it.

Now us here at the Sound Faction are give of the most random people you are ever going to meet. So, which every interview we try to ask five of the most random questions that you've ever been asked in an Interview, are you up for it?

Hunter: Yeah!

So, first questions, if Batman, Spiderman and superman got into a fight who would win?

Hunter: I think Superman.

Travis: Does any of them not have a girlfriend?

That's a good question.

Travis: Cause, Superman, he's got Lois Lane.

Hunter: Lois Lane.

Travis: Spiderman's got?

Hunter: Mary Jane.

Travis: And Batman's got?

Hunter: Katie Holmes.

Travis: I think Batman would win because he would be pretty pissed that Katie Holmes was a terrible actor.

What was your 5am Saturday morning cartoon?

Travis: Scooby-Doo!

(Note: Travis said the answer the SECOND I finished the question)

Hunter: Definitely Ninja Turtles.

Travis: I've seen like, I mean they have tried to redo the whole Scooby-Doo thing, but I’ve seen every episode of Scooby-doo.

What’s your favourite dinosaur?

Travis: Mine's a Travisaurous Rex.

Hunter: I like the Velociraptor.

Travis: Those things scare me. I feel like if I was just walking down the street of like our hometown and there was a Velociraptor chilling there.

Hunter: That would be scary.

Travis: You just wouldn't want to like crawl up into the fetel position and be like 'Oh my god what’s going on?!'

What would the "magic mirror" say to you?

Hunter: What magic mirror?

The one from Snow White.

Hunter: It would say, "you look very handsome".

Travis: You're a handsome man. I don't know, it would probably be, "dude you aren't magical at all."

Who do you want to win a date with?

Travis: Natalie Portman, she's like my all time favourite person in the world.

Hunter: I would have to say, Eva Mendes?

Travis: You've got to get it right.

Hunter: she's the one from ghost rider?

Travis: The name rings a bell, I just can't put a face to it, I'm sure she's really hot.

Hunter: Yah, she's really hot.

We at the Sound Faction would like to thank Travis and Hunter for giving us a little piece of their time. Want to know more about the band? Then you should head on over to their Myspace.