A Day To Remember

Tue 10th Feb, 2009 in Features

With the recent release of their newest album Homesick receiving rave reviews, one could easily expect A Day To Remember to be a bit of a pain to interview, with one-word answers and whole lot of attitude. Thankfully this is far from the reality.

Softly-spoken lead singer Jeremy McKinnon begins by mentioning the band is a bit stressed after guitarist Tom broke his wrist on the weekend. “He was standing on some box and fell off and landed on his wrist. Now we’re trying to find a replacement for our European tour next week, but we’re still going to be doing it no matter what.”

Aside from that, the band couldn’t be happier with the reception to Homesick. “We’re pretty fortunate when it comes to how many people actually like our band. A lot of times it’s people you wouldn’t expect, so I think that’s pretty cool that we can play to different crowds, like Parkway Drive fans and New Found Glory fans.”

“It’s heavier than out other stuff but at the same time, it’s more pop,” McKinnon continues about the new album. “We recorded it while on we were tour. A typical day was: get up, record in the back lounge of the bus, do a show, change, then continue writing and recording after. Made me want to jump out of a moving bus.” The stressful recording process helped the band produce some of their best material, dealing with their hectic touring life and missing their friends and family. “I think it turned out way more honest than a record about being at home while we were at home.”

Being on tour while recording also helped A Day To Remember convince a few friends to lend their vocals to the album. Mike from Devil Wears Prada, Vincent of The Acacia Strain and local Florida band Versa Emerge all add their own flavour to the record.

The influence of other musicians doesn’t stop there. Adam from Killswitch Engage mixed the album, while Chad from New Found Glory acted as producer. “When we were looking for a producer we needed someone who was a really good pop producer and a really good hardcore producer at the same time,” McKinnon explains. “Then we thought, who better than Chad? It was awesome to be able to work with him. They’re one of our biggest influences.”

Getting on to the topic of A Day To Remember’s influences, it was hard to avoid asking McKinnon’s opinion on the Blink 182 reunion. “We’re all really excited because they’re doing a new record, which means they’re going to be touring a lot. Which means we’re going to be touring with them eventually [hopefully], so I’m pretty excited about that!”

So what’s in store for A Day To Remember in 2009 apart from next week’s European tour? “Well, we’re going to do the Warped tour again and we are going to Russia with Devil Wears Prada. We’re pretty excited about that. And, I dunno, we’re going to try and get back to Australia after the Warped Tour…It was great to get to go there [the band toured Australia last November]. I’ve always wanted to go to Australia.”

A Day To Remember’s Homesick is out now on Victory Records through Stomp.