The Movielife's debut on Revelation Records, 'This Time Next Year' has been very popular. Unfortunately, the band was recently in a traffic accident which made them cancel a month wise of touring. The Movielife are coming back strong though and will begin to get back on the road shortly, so check them out if they come to your town, they are not to be missed. I recently spoke with singer Vinnie Caruana who caught up with me after their show last month at the Metro in Chicago.
I know you guys are all from Long Island. How did you get together?
We came together through various people that we knew in the Long Island Hardcore scene. Alex and Evan started the band with a guy named Ed who they knew through their old bands. Ed saw Vin sing at a Glassjaw show and thought he would make a good singer. Phil was in a band with that guy Ed, and we eventually asked him to join the band. Brandon was in another band that just broke up, and we all knew him from playing shows together. Some other members have come and gone.
How would you describe your sound? I know you were on the comp, Emo Diaries Vol. 4..
We've been asked this question a lot and we decided that we are not an emo band. We play melodic hardcore or aggressive pop punk, but it's too upbeat to be called emo. We were on the emo diaries to help us get exposure-at the time we weren't on a record label. We hope it doesn't classify us as an emo band. The purpose of that comp (as it states) is to make emo a broad classification of music-but all it really does is pigeonhole emo into one specific sound.
So how is your relationship with Revelation Records?
It's as good as can be expected. Revelation delivered on everything they said they would. They let us make the record we wanted to make-they got it into all the mom and pop stores and even some bigger chains-they got us on college radio-they got us played on a few TV shows-they got us a ton of reviews and we did a ton of interviews. Everything has been done according to their plan. So far we have sold 7500 copies in 5 months. We are definitely happy with this number, but we are in no way finished promoting this record. By the way This Time Next Year is our release.
How did you sign with them?
I saw Jason Upright giving a bum a hand-job on the Pacific Coast Hiway. I promised I wouldn't say anything to his wife if he put my band on his label. When I asked him why he gave out sexual favors to bums he replied that it was for label research. Being crammed in an office all day gave him no time to meet the people. His hands were so soft when we met him.
I've read some things with Revelation bribing people with T Shirts? Is that true?
Jordan Cooper bribed us with shirts once. He said that if we never looked at him and never tried to touch him, he would give us all Battery hoodies.
How have you felt about the great response from your newest release, This Time Next Year?
If you say the response has been great, than that makes me feel really, really good. We tried to make a record that we personally all liked, and if kids are digging it than that is an amazing thing. Since the record came out we've noticed more and more kids at our shows singing along, so I guess people are getting into it. All I can say is that we are truly thankful for the opportunity to make this record and we are grateful for all the people that bought it. In addition, we are amazed at all the get well letters and positive emails we got from kids when we got in our van accident. We could have never imagined so many people taking the time to wish us well, and we thank them all.
Is there anything worth noting from behind the scenes of making that album?
Hmmmm....not really. One day we took Brian McTernan's (our beloved producer) dog to go swimming in a lake. Phil backed the van up into a tree that day. Someone farted on a track and Jason Mazzolla sang guest vocals which were pretty cool.
What did Brian McTernan add to the table?
He added many insults and tongue lashings, and he thought one of our songs sounded like bat out of hell. He also came up with a few ideas that worked real well. I can't tell you what or it would kill the magic. For the most part Brian got us to sound great on record. He also refused to sing backup vocals on single white female. He also lent us his dog for the cover.
I really have always liked the album artwork. Who designed that?
Jeff Caudill did it for us while we were recording. Whenever we had free time we would go to places and take pictures with Brian's girlfriend Minu. We tried like 100 ideas for the record but none of them were any good. Finally we thought that a picture of Brian's dog in a motorcycle helmet would be funny. Jeff made it a little more presentable and the rest is history. The back photo is taken from Krazy Fest 3.
What are the coolest places/cities that you have played in?
Las Vegas is always the most fun for us to visit. We love gambling and there's no better place to do it in. California has some cool spots and North Carolina has always been good to us. Dave Owen gave us a ton of shows in Winston-Salem when we first started and kids just seemed to like us there. Burlington, VT was also cool and we've had some real good Connecticut shows lately. The mid west is always tough, but we're hoping to change all that.
What are some of the bands you've toured with?
Kill Your Idols, Glassjaw, Midtown, Dashboard Confessional, New Found Glory, Silent Majority, The Juliana Theory, The Stryder, Reach The Sky.
How did you come up with your name?
Vin and Daryl from Glassjaw were going to start an acoustic band with that name. It never really panned out so we took the name because we liked it and could all relate to it. It refers to the times when your life is like a movie-like when a girl asks you to win her the big teddy bear at the amusement park, or when some drunk fool tries to tattoo you in the middle of Texas, or when the whole school watches you beat up someone and you become popular for one day. Shit like that never happens to ordinary people like us.
Whats your favorite movie?
Exhausted - rent it at your local library.
When you sit down and write new material how do you think it'll compare with This Time Next Year?
We don't think like that at all. "This Time" was already our second CD so we are used to writing with another c.d. in the back of our minds. We write songs all the time, and whatever we have written when we need material gets put on our next release. We don't have a set plan in mind, or an idea to have a certain number of fast songs versus a certain number of heavy songs. Whatever is written when it comes time to record the next record is what we'll use. It will probably sound somewhat different and somewhat similar to our previous c.d.'s.
Any final comments?
Just check out our new CD. This Time Next Year and our old CD It's Go Time and continue to support hardcore and independent music. See you on the road.
We came together through various people that we knew in the Long Island Hardcore scene. Alex and Evan started the band with a guy named Ed who they knew through their old bands. Ed saw Vin sing at a Glassjaw show and thought he would make a good singer. Phil was in a band with that guy Ed, and we eventually asked him to join the band. Brandon was in another band that just broke up, and we all knew him from playing shows together. Some other members have come and gone.
How would you describe your sound? I know you were on the comp, Emo Diaries Vol. 4..
We've been asked this question a lot and we decided that we are not an emo band. We play melodic hardcore or aggressive pop punk, but it's too upbeat to be called emo. We were on the emo diaries to help us get exposure-at the time we weren't on a record label. We hope it doesn't classify us as an emo band. The purpose of that comp (as it states) is to make emo a broad classification of music-but all it really does is pigeonhole emo into one specific sound.
So how is your relationship with Revelation Records?
It's as good as can be expected. Revelation delivered on everything they said they would. They let us make the record we wanted to make-they got it into all the mom and pop stores and even some bigger chains-they got us on college radio-they got us played on a few TV shows-they got us a ton of reviews and we did a ton of interviews. Everything has been done according to their plan. So far we have sold 7500 copies in 5 months. We are definitely happy with this number, but we are in no way finished promoting this record. By the way This Time Next Year is our release.
How did you sign with them?
I saw Jason Upright giving a bum a hand-job on the Pacific Coast Hiway. I promised I wouldn't say anything to his wife if he put my band on his label. When I asked him why he gave out sexual favors to bums he replied that it was for label research. Being crammed in an office all day gave him no time to meet the people. His hands were so soft when we met him.
I've read some things with Revelation bribing people with T Shirts? Is that true?
Jordan Cooper bribed us with shirts once. He said that if we never looked at him and never tried to touch him, he would give us all Battery hoodies.
How have you felt about the great response from your newest release, This Time Next Year?
If you say the response has been great, than that makes me feel really, really good. We tried to make a record that we personally all liked, and if kids are digging it than that is an amazing thing. Since the record came out we've noticed more and more kids at our shows singing along, so I guess people are getting into it. All I can say is that we are truly thankful for the opportunity to make this record and we are grateful for all the people that bought it. In addition, we are amazed at all the get well letters and positive emails we got from kids when we got in our van accident. We could have never imagined so many people taking the time to wish us well, and we thank them all.
Is there anything worth noting from behind the scenes of making that album?
Hmmmm....not really. One day we took Brian McTernan's (our beloved producer) dog to go swimming in a lake. Phil backed the van up into a tree that day. Someone farted on a track and Jason Mazzolla sang guest vocals which were pretty cool.
He added many insults and tongue lashings, and he thought one of our songs sounded like bat out of hell. He also came up with a few ideas that worked real well. I can't tell you what or it would kill the magic. For the most part Brian got us to sound great on record. He also refused to sing backup vocals on single white female. He also lent us his dog for the cover.
I really have always liked the album artwork. Who designed that?
Jeff Caudill did it for us while we were recording. Whenever we had free time we would go to places and take pictures with Brian's girlfriend Minu. We tried like 100 ideas for the record but none of them were any good. Finally we thought that a picture of Brian's dog in a motorcycle helmet would be funny. Jeff made it a little more presentable and the rest is history. The back photo is taken from Krazy Fest 3.
What are the coolest places/cities that you have played in?
Las Vegas is always the most fun for us to visit. We love gambling and there's no better place to do it in. California has some cool spots and North Carolina has always been good to us. Dave Owen gave us a ton of shows in Winston-Salem when we first started and kids just seemed to like us there. Burlington, VT was also cool and we've had some real good Connecticut shows lately. The mid west is always tough, but we're hoping to change all that.
What are some of the bands you've toured with?
Kill Your Idols, Glassjaw, Midtown, Dashboard Confessional, New Found Glory, Silent Majority, The Juliana Theory, The Stryder, Reach The Sky.
Vin and Daryl from Glassjaw were going to start an acoustic band with that name. It never really panned out so we took the name because we liked it and could all relate to it. It refers to the times when your life is like a movie-like when a girl asks you to win her the big teddy bear at the amusement park, or when some drunk fool tries to tattoo you in the middle of Texas, or when the whole school watches you beat up someone and you become popular for one day. Shit like that never happens to ordinary people like us.
Whats your favorite movie?
Exhausted - rent it at your local library.
When you sit down and write new material how do you think it'll compare with This Time Next Year?
We don't think like that at all. "This Time" was already our second CD so we are used to writing with another c.d. in the back of our minds. We write songs all the time, and whatever we have written when we need material gets put on our next release. We don't have a set plan in mind, or an idea to have a certain number of fast songs versus a certain number of heavy songs. Whatever is written when it comes time to record the next record is what we'll use. It will probably sound somewhat different and somewhat similar to our previous c.d.'s.
Any final comments?
Just check out our new CD. This Time Next Year and our old CD It's Go Time and continue to support hardcore and independent music. See you on the road.
