UN: From First to Last is a band that I know pretty much zero about. I was wondering if you could go through a history of how all of the members came together to form the band. I’m assuming you guys haven’t been together for an incredibly long time yet.
Matt: Me and Travis were the original members. We went through a process of elimination to get the members we have today. Sonny we met on myspace as funny as that sounds.
UN: You guys are signed to what could pretty much be considered the flagship label for punk rock. How does it feel to be signed to Epitaph? It must feel good to be on a label that people will buy just for that logo alone on the back cover. People see the logo and they know that they can expect an amazing release.
Matt: It’s amazing being on Epitaph. We walk in the office all the time and annoy the shit out of everyone . It’s really cool, and were really privileged.
UN: I was wondering if you could possibly explain the meaning behind the album name. “Dear Diary, My Teen Angst has a Bodycount” is a unique title to say the least.
Matt: The title came from the movie Heathers. It’s a line in the movie where the main character is writing in her journal about how her boyfriend is murdering all her popular friends at school.
UN: Breaking conventions seems to be something that FFTL is all about. The debut covers so much ground that it is all together startling. You guys seem to like to throw the listener many curveballs. I never would have expected the rap in the one song. Do you think it’s important to keep both the listeners and the band on their toes? Everyone likes surprises, especially in music.
Matt: Yea I think it’s cool to have an album of different stuff. A lot of listeners get bored when they have an album of 14 of the same songs. All our favorite albums are by bands that try and experiment with variety in their music. You gotta keep your music refreshing I think.
UN: I was curious to ask about the quote that is on the sicker on the front cover of the album. Was that a sarcastic remark or did he hate the band so much that he indeed wants your debut to bomb? From what I’ve heard though it’s been selling remarkably well though.
Matt: Yea, that kid reviewed our old ep and gave it a terrible review and that was a quoted line from his review. Oddly enough he's now a fan and a friend. We just thought it would be kind of different from the norm to put a sticker with a negative comment on the front of our record since the whole sticker with something cool about your band has become so > cliche.
UN: You guys are still a very young band, but are writing music that is more daring then bands that you would consider peers. Do you think that overtime the band will continue to evolve into an even bigger genre bending band, or do you expect the band to remain fairly consistent stylistically?
Matt: We have definitely made it a point to set no limitations to whatever genre music we play so expect to see even more surprising things to come from us in the future.
UN: Although it would be selling the band short, you guys seem to sort of fit into what has become called screamo. Do you think that you guys bring a bit more of a punk rock approach to the genre? You guys aren’t afraid to keep things raw, and aren’t trying to write hit songs. Once I saw the Destroy shirt I knew I wasn’t in for a typical band.
Matt: As far as the whole screamo thing goes, if you told a band like orchid, saetia, or you an I 5 or 6 years ago that bands like us and Thursday and Atreyu would be labeled as screamo they would probably laugh vomit and die. Screamo is being treated as this huge new musical movement when in reality it’s been existent in the underground forever. Most of the bands considered screamo by major magazines and such are just hard rock bands with screaming. But who the hell cares, rock n roll music has been incorporating screaming for like 60 years, it’s not some new thing. I think people blow it way out of proportion.
UN: The bands lyrical approach seems to be rather cryptic yet at the same time it’s easy to follow the emotions that you are trying to convey. Was it important to have lyrics that matched the music's varied nature? Just like the music, you don’t know what to expect next lyrically or vocally.
Matt: We just wanted the lyrics to match the mood of the song. And we tried to make a couple different approaches as far as first person inner conflict, story telling and just general crap. Just so there wasn't a repeating theme.
UN: Do you think it’s hard for a band to stand out in a very overpopulated scene these days? I’m glad to see that you guys aren’t being overlooked. It seems like most of the bands that break the rules or conventions of the genre take awhile to build a fanbase but that fanbase is incredibly loyal. Look at a band like Hot Water Music. They aren’t hugely successful, but they are incredibly original and have a fanbase that would live or die by their musical output. Is that the type of success you’d want with FFTL?
Matt: That is most definitely the success we want. There's so many here today gone tomorrow bands just because they're writing music out of a "rock for dummies" textbook. I have much more respect the kind of success bands like Afi and Mxpx have achieved. Either one of those bands could release literally whatever kind of record they wanted and all the same kids would still support them. It’s amazing to have fans so loyal. Fuck being a passing fad. And we know a lot of people consider us one right now but we've barely broken into the ideas we have, the next record will change a lot of skeptical minds we think.
UN: Do you think that being on the Warped Tour this year has helped open up the band to many new sets of ears? After all it was pretty much perfect timing. You have a new record out and I’m sure sales are directly reflecting being on a tour has high profile as Warped is.
Matt: Yea being on warped was amazing for reaching new people. From the time our record came out at the beginning of warped til now we can tell a noticeable difference in our crowd response which is extremely cool. It’s doing great things for us.
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