Interview & photos by Shannon Shumaker
How has tour been so far? Since you’re currently touring with label mates, is it different than other tours you’ve been on?
Yes and no. Yes because this is the first time we’ve done a tour with everyone on Pure Noise – though we’ve toured with other Pure Noise bands before. What makes it different is that we’ve known everybody before this tour. It makes for a lot of fun. It’s been pretty insane.
I think I’m losing my voice mostly because of laughing. I kind of said this in an interview the other day, but it’s kind of like a Jackass tour. That how I look at it – we’re just a bunch of jackasses. But it’s been great.
What do you think has been the coolest or craziest thing that has happened on this tour so far?
From the perspective of watching these bands over the years, it’s been cool watching the bands on this tour sell out a lot of these shows. That’s been crazy.
I heard the Chicago date was crazy.
Yes. Chicago was insane. A lot of the shows have been – New York was great and we still have The Chain Reaction coming up, which is sold out. If you would have asked me three or four years ago if this lineup could sell out any venue I would have said no and told you to fuck off. But it’s been great and it’s been awesome watching these bands grow and being able to grow alongside them – especially Pure Noise Records, too.
Other than that, we had a girl break her hand the other night during one of our sets. And her fingers were completely sideways and it made me kind of feel a little queasy.
So you guys put Dulce out back in June – now that you’ve had time to play it here and on Warped Tour, how has the response been so far?
I think you either love it right away or – with the feedback we’ve been getting – it’s a record that grows on you. You have to listen to it a few times. But it’s been great. It’s been awesome seeing people sing along to a bunch of the new songs. I couldn’t be happier, honestly.
Do you have a favorite song off of the record to play live?
I do. Well, there’s two. We’re not playing “Dulce,” the actual title track, but next to that would be “Daydream.” That song is my absolute favorite to play live.
Is that the track that gets the best crowd response?
It’s all different. It gets me going, that’s for sure. And when I get going I like to get the crowd going.
And the crowd definitely feeds off of your energy.
Yes, definitely. It goes both ways.
So last month, you guys released the video for “Bad Habits” – what was behind the song and video choice?
We actually didn’t choose that song. We let Jake Round and the Pure Noise team and our crew pick the song. We kind of left that up to them, but I love “Bad Habits” a lot and it’s been getting a great reaction. Front Porch Step comes out and sings a little bit of “Bad Habits” with us, so that’s been cool.
I couldn’t be happier with the choice – “Bad Habits” was a good song to release a video for. I think the next one we’re going to do a little more in our control and see what we can come up with. We have some weird concepts we’re coming up with.
What would you like your fans – or even people who haven’t heard of you before you might be hearing you for the first time on this tour – to take away from Dulce or your live performance?
I guess how real it is. I open up a lot about myself – more than I probably would in any other setting. The songs on Dulce all have deep meanings to myself.
But Heart to Heart is known to put on a crazy live show, so if you haven’t seen Heart to Heart live, you should probably start with that first and get that vibe. I think it really doesn’t do the record justice until you see it live.
It’s definitely a cool experience to be introduced to a band live before you’ve listened to them before because you get to learn what they’re all about.
Yeah, we’re weirdos. We get freaky up there.
If you could change anything about the music scene, or do something to better the scene, what would it be?
That’s a good question. I haven’t been asked that before. I guess that I would want more people come out and actually support, or instead of downloading records just buy more records. I read yesterday that not one artist has gone platinum this year and it’s just insane.
I feel that people don’t care as much anymore, or as much as they used to. I feel that, when I was in highschool, I knew so many kids that were in bands. And now, I like to have younger bands come out and play our shows because that’s what the older guys did for me, and it’s hard to find bands. So I just wish that people would get more into the scene. I mean, that’s how I met most of my friends – all through music.
When I was talking with Forever Came Calling earlier, they brought up the problem with genres and how it sort of stops people from getting involved or listening to something, so I think that has something to do with it, as well.
Definitely. I hate when people call Heart to Heart a pop-punk band, I don’t think we’re a pop-punk band. I think there’s some influence in there, but we love playing any show. I actually love playing mixed shows because it gives me something fresh to listen to.
And you guys have toured with a pretty wide variety of other bands, too… Like Rotting Out, which is very different from this tour.
Yes! We’ve done some hardcore tours. We’ve done some odd tours, and that’s what I love about us is that we can do those hardcore tours and be okay, and then we can come on a State Champs and Handguns tour and be okay. We get that full spectrum.
Well I think that’s about it! Thanks for taking the time to chat. Is there anything you’d like to add?
Check out Dulce, it’s out now on Pure Noise Records. Come to a live show. You can follow us on twitter at @hearttoheartca.