All Time Low had one of those success stories you see in movies and read about in books. This pop-punk band got its start when its four members (Alex Gaskarth, Jack Barakat, Zack Merrick and Rian Dawson) were just freshmen in high school. Now they’ve released several albums, tour constantly and have even performed at Warped tour.
We caught up with Jack, the band’s lead guitarist, to hear more about this band’s journey thus far and future plans.
We’d love to hear a little bit of background about All Time Low. How did you guys come together?
We started in 2003, in ninth grade. We were just four high school friends who started in our friend’s basement and then by senior year we were signed in a record deal before we graduated. We performed at Warped Tour that year.
Crazy! Did you guys expect that you’d end up doing this for a living or did you just start the band for fun?
I don’t think when you’re like, 13 you really think about that stuff, to be honest. We were just kind of trying to meet girls and play rock music. Towards the end of high school it started to become a little more of an actual thing. We felt like we could become something and then we felt like we could do it for a living. The first couple years were definitely a little bit more about partying and playing shows and having a good time.
Did you guys seek out a label or did they find you?
Actually, they started to come to us. We were getting a strong local following and doing some shows and I think that’s rare for a high school bands to do. Labels started talking to promoters and flying us out to showcase for them.
You guys are from Baltimore – are you still based there?
Yeah. Me, our singer, Alex, and our bass player, Zack, all live here. Rian, our drummer, and his girlfriend live in Nashville and LA together. She’s a country artist so she’s got to be in Nashville a lot for that.
Were you all just good friends before starting the band?
Me and Alex decided to start the band and we started going out and finding the best players we could find. We just kind of searched them out, almost like a superhero team. We just clicked. We grew up together and we click both musically and personality-wise.
You guys are on the road a lot. What’s that like? How do you maintain your habits while traveling all the time?
We’re a really tight-knit group. We’re not only close with our band, we’re also close with our crew. We go out a lot, we party, we have movie nights. It’s almost like a traveling fraternity: We’ve done a really good job of keeping everyone happy on tour. You just have to keep everyone happy. You’ll go crazy if you’re on tour all year in random countries and everyone is miserable.
You’ve played at Warped Tour. What was that like?
We sort of started our career at Warped Tour. We were in a van and we were 18 years old. We kind of would sit in our tent and play music on our iPods, trying to get people to buy our CDs. We started on the smallest stage at Warped Tour, which was like a locals only stage.
Who are you inspirations?
We started as Blink 182 and Green Day fans. Over the years we’ve changed musically, though. We still love Green Day and we think that’s who we’d love to base our career off of. We’ve really learned a lot from them and how they’ve been able to stay relevant for 20 years in the music industry.
How would you describe your sound?
I would say pop/rock. We have heavier songs, we have poppier songs. I think pop/rock is the best way to out a name to it but it’s kind of all over the place.
What’s the hardest thing about working in music?
I think trying to impress people. You work so hard on an album; it takes month and months and then a song is realized overnight and instantly you have people’s opinions about the song or the album. No one thinks about the work that goes into it when they give their opinions.
What’s the best thing about working in music?
We just have a great time on stage. Our stage show is super banter-oriented. I think the best part is how different every show is and how anything goes.
Can you identify a proudest moment of your career thus far?
We got to open up for Green Day on tour. That was a pretty big deal for us. We grew up going to their shows and then we ended up onstage with them. That was a pretty insane moment.
What advice do you have for people who want to get into the music business?
One thing we really tried to do was get out there and do a lot of shows locally and travel on our own. A lot of bands just try to release music online, which is fine, but I think you need to do the shows and get out there and get better.
