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"Two"
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We Sat down with Alex Band from The Calling and talked
about the new record, his connection with Radford, and his lyrical
and musical inspirations.
AA: First of all, congratulations on a great
sophomore album. What would you say is your favorite track on the new
album?
Alex: For me, it's definitely "Anything", a big love song and our new
single.
I was thinking of my girlfriend when Aaron and I wrote it and now she
and I are married and she stars in the video as well...So it has a lot
of meaning for me.
AA: Yes, Anything is one of our favorites
too, is it true you guys wrote the song separate from the rest of the
record?
Alex: Yes actually, by the end of last year our new record was
completely finished and we were excited to get it out. Yet Clive Davis,
who produced the record with us, said he wanted us to write one more
"hit" to add to the record. So at the last minute, we came up with"
Anything". Although it delayed the release of the record, we're really
happy Clive pushed us to write more cause I love that song the most!
AA: It's a very cool video you guys shot for that
song. Who's idea was it
for the concept of the video?
Alex: We were totally busy traveling on tour all over the world and
found out
at the last minute that we had to shoot a video for "Anything" right
away. There was this one weekend that came up where we had a day off in
New York, so we squeezed the entire shoot into one very long day in Long
Island. I always wanted to put my girlfriend in one of our videos, and
since we had just got married, it seemed right. So she and I wrote this
crazy concept and two days later we were shooting it. It was pretty
natural to play lovers in the video and a lot of fun!
AA: One of our favorite songs on "Two" is
the Track "Chasing The Sun" which from what I understand was written by
The Calling years ago, and covered by the band Radford (who we are big
fans of as well) on a soundtrack a few years back. I was just wondering
if you could tell us a little bit about that song, and what made you
decide to use it on the new album?
Alex: Aaron and I wrote "Sweet Summer", now known as "Chasing The Sun",
for a not so great movie called Summer Catch, shortly after releasing
Camino Palmero. Because of a few different reasons, we ended up giving
the song to the band Radford to cover for the movie's soundtrack. We
always loved that song and wanted to put it on our second record. We
also wanted to do it justice, since we weren't too thrilled about the
recording Radford did. So we changed the words and concept and title and
ended up with this rocking version of it on "Two".
AA: Was it a struggle for you guys to write
and record "Two" in such a short
period of time, after having so much longer to write "Camino Palmero"?
Alex: Honestly, the only struggle was getting ourselves to go back into
writing mode. We had just finished two years of touring off Camino
Palmero and we really wanted to catch our breathes for a moment before
jumping into another record. We really actually took our sweet time
making this record, compared to most artists...I mean, we spent an
entire year doing it. Once we started writing and songs like "Our Lives"
and "Things Will Go My Way" came out, the rest was easy and there really
wasn't any struggle or time crunch.
AA: Did you feel a lot of pressure to make an
album that would be as good as your debut?
Alex: That was Clive Davis's most important contribution to this
record...the first thing he said to us was that he didn't care how long
it took or how much it cost to make this record, we were going to make
it right.
AA: I've always thought lyrically and musically
you guys have a very unique
mix of sounds, what bands and artists have your drawn inspiration from?
Alex: Aaron and I both grew up with music loving Fathers who got us into
the greats, like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, U2,
etc.
I really never listened to much of my generation's music, except for
Pearl Jam and Bon Jovi.
AA: While we will always enjoy your ballads like
"Anything" and "Wherever
You Will Go", I think one of the really unique aspects of your writing
style is your ability to write songs about society and life, like on the
track "We're Forgiven" from your last album. Could you tell us a little
bit about what inspires you to write some of these uniquely themed
songs?
Alex: Once in a while we'll come across an issue, whether political or
personal, that just immediately inspires us to write something different
and unique. With "We're Forgiven", it was this one homeless guy that we
always saw near our homes in LA that brought about the concept. We
always ignored him, thinking he was dangerous or a drunk or we just
didn't have time to give him money or a few seconds of our life. But one
day we finally talked to him and he was so intelligent and his story
about how he ended up homeless was just incredible. Granted he just
wanted some money from us to go buy booze and drink his troubles away,
the point was we took a moment and listened and it made his day and
opened our minds a little bit. He went on about how everyone ignores him
and the millions of other homeless people, never giving them a chance to
turn their lives around...then they go to church and confess their sins
and expect that to make up for it.
AA: What was it like working with the legendary
Clive Davis on the new CD?
Alex: Working with Clive was awesome. He pushed us to perfection, to do
our best and create the best record we could. He had so many great
stories
of working with so many amazing artists over the last 40+ years. His
love for the music we were writing and the time he invested in our
project gave us the confidence we needed.
AA: What other bands/artists are you guys
listening to right now?
Alex: I'm a huge U2 fan, so I've been listening to their new record like
crazy. Keane is a great new band. I love Coldplay, Dido, Seal, Dave
Matthews Band, Gavin DeGraw, Ours, Vanessa Carlton, lots!
AA: What can we look forward to from The Calling
in 2005? A headlining tour? or will you be opening for someone big?
Alex: We spent most of 2004 touring outside of the US, so for 2005 we're
definitely going to be focusing on American touring. I can't say who
we're going out with yet, but we definitely will be doing a big tour
with another great artist and headlining our own shows as well.
AA: We've heard that The Calling is working on a
new DVD and if so, what
kind of DVD will it be? A live one..?
Alex: We were putting together a DVD of all our videos so far and some
extra features for this year, but we decided to hold off and wait to put
together a live DVD for next year. Expect it to also include our new
videos and some funny on the road footage as well.
AA: Thanks so much for
your time Alex. Again, congratulations on a great new album, and
the best of luck to you and your band in the new year! |
