MAKEOUT might be a young band, but it’s clear that they know what they’re doing. The pop-punk quartet exploded onto the scene last year with the release of their catchy as hell, in your face debut album, The Good Life and have been growing ever since. For The Good Life, MAKEOUT partnered with iconic producer John Feldmann [blink-182, Good Charlotte, Sleeping With Sirens] and collaborated with the likes of 5 Seconds of Summer’s Ashton Irwin and Calum Hood as well as blink-182’s Travis Barker. With an incredible team behind them and a drive to bring pop-punk back to the forefront of the music scene, it comes as no surprise that The Good Life was a hit.
With The Good Life out now, MAKEOUT are currently gearing up to head out on the final cross country run of the Vans Warped Tour this summer. Get to know a little bit more about them and listen to their debut album below!
Interview by Shannon Shumaker
Can you tell us a little bit about MAKEOUT for any readers who might be hearing you for the first time?
Alex Lofton [bass]: MAKEOUT is a high energy blast of pop punk goodness haha.
You guys have been playing together for a while now, but Makeout is a relatively new project. What lessons have you learned from previous bands that you’ve been able to apply to this one?
Yeah, we actually just had our one year anniversary of being a band on our last tour. I feel like we all learned a lot from previous bands, we all have lived in a van many times haha
Last year, you guys exploded into the scene with your debut album, The Good Life. It being your first release as Makeout and your debut release on Rise Records, what goals did you have in mind for it?
We just want to get it everywhere! We think we’ve wrote such a great record that pulls from the older pop punk era, we feel like we are bringing that back
For the creation of The Good Life, you recorded with John Feldmann and got to collaborate with not only Ashton Irwin and Calum Hood but also Travis Barker. How do you feel having all of these different personalities involved affected the album?
It was the best writing experiences we’ve ever had. John really pulled the most out of us and was able to create such a strong record for us. Working with Ashton and Calum was amazing, those dudes are crazy talented. Working with Travis and having him be apart of the record and take us on tour was a dream come true!
Just all the responses from fans about how its helped them get through tough times, or how its just genuinely made them happy. I think thats the most rewarding thing for all of us.
How do you feel you’ve grown as musicians and songwriters with the writing and recording of the album?
We have grown tremulously, I think we look at songs differently than we have before and try and paint a more cohesive picture.
What would you like listeners to take away from The Good Life?
To have fun, life is about the little things and happiness is there. You can make it to the good life!
With the album out now, you’re gearing up for an even bigger 2018, playing on the entirety of the Vans Warped Tour. What are you most excited for this year?
We are beyond excited about Warped this summer. Its gonna be such a blast, so many of our friends are on the tour. Plus our stage is just packed with so many awesome bands, I know this last year is going to be something special
If someone is seeing you for the first time on Warped, what would you want their first impression to be?
Fun or energy, I think thats our main thing is that we missed the days of pop punk shows being just fun and super high energy.
Thank you for taking the time to chat with us! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Check us out this summer on the full Vans Warped Tour, we’ll be playing most of the record and a lot of cool stuff happening soon
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