{"id":10767,"date":"2012-08-03T07:30:50","date_gmt":"2012-08-02T21:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=10767"},"modified":"2012-08-03T00:22:27","modified_gmt":"2012-08-02T14:22:27","slug":"mike-davenport-of-versus-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2012\/08\/mike-davenport-of-versus-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Davenport of Versus The World"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\n<\/a>\u201cIt\u2019s crazy because we\u2019re seven years in between records and that\u2019s ridiculous, but it\u2019s not that long to us, because we toured for two years on the last record and then we took three years off, completely off, then we started writing this record three years ago.\u00a0 Seven years when you put it on paper it just looks so crazy, but it doesn\u2019t feel that long to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Versus the World, now consisting of Mike Davenport (The Ataris), Chris Flippin (Lagwagon), Donald Spence and Bryan Charleson (Crooks and Liars), formed in the back of The Ataris owned record store, Down On Haley, in Santa Barbara and released their debut self-titled album in 2005. They spent the next few years touring in support of the release with bands like Suicide Machines, Bouncing Souls, The Lawrence Arms, Social Distortion, No Use For A Name, The Vandals, I Am The Avalanche and the Vans Warped Tour building up a worldwide fan base along the way. Versus The World reconvened in 2010 and began writing and recording their long awaited follow-up which they wrapped in early 2012 and have now just released.<\/p>\n

After he told us how much he and the band loved the name of our website, we thought we\u2019d chat to Mike Davenport about the return of Versus The World, how the band has evolved, their kick ass new album, and what we can expect for the future\u2026 oh and are they coming for Soundwave?\u00a0 Read on\u2026<\/p>\n

May the Rock be with You Mike\u2026<\/p>\n

The album drops in Australia today, here\u2019s your chance to give us your mini review of \u2018Drink, Sing, Live, Love\u2019 and a reason why people should check out the album\u2026<\/strong>
\nYou know I think it\u2019s a perfect mix of rock, pop, and punk and I think it\u2019s a great mix and it\u2019s not too much of any of any of them, it\u2019s a perfect blend of all of them, and the lyrics are fabulous. The biggest reason I would check it out if it wasn\u2019t my album and I was reviewing it or telling someone about it is, Chris Flippin, my guitar player, he\u2019s a guitar god, he\u2019s been in Lagwagon for the past twenty years and he\u2019s one of the greatest guitarists in punk rock and he just is all over it, he shreds, so that\u2019s why you should check it out.\u00a0 We worked really hard for like two and a half years on this album, so at first it started as an EP that we were going to put out, then as we started writing songs we recorded six songs and we were like \u2018we\u2019re just getting going\u2019 so we really took our time so we went back to writing and we\u2019d go back to recording and go back to writing, so we really put everything we have in to this record.<\/p>\n

So was it truly a case of taking your time to make the best album you could rather than rush out a release?<\/strong>
\nYeah that was it at first, it\u2019s crazy because we\u2019re seven years in between records and that\u2019s ridiculous, but it\u2019s not that long to us, because we toured for two years on the last record and then we took three years off, completely off, then we started writing this record three years ago.\u00a0 Seven years when you put it on paper it just looks so crazy, but it doesn\u2019t feel that long to us.\u00a0 Our first album like most of the albums I did in The Ataris, you\u2019re constantly touring so you rush the album because somebody\u2019s waiting for it, so what happened is after we took the break and we reconvened with the new line up, at first we wanted to do what we knew and we had always done was \u2018Rush, let\u2019s rush a release out because it\u2019s been so long.\u2019\u00a0 Then as we got as I told you earlier, recording it, our mid set became why not take our time?\u00a0 It\u2019s been so long anyway, but the time we really do it right it\u2019ll be great and really that strategy worked for us.\u00a0 So the songs we wrote at the end of the recording were probably the best ones, so every time we were writing they were getting better.<\/p>\n

Why do you think after seven years between releases it was the right time for Versus The World to release new material?<\/strong>
\nWell I think that what happened and because I was in The Ataris for ten years and then I did straight two years of touring with \u2018Versus\u2019 that after twelve years of touring, I was burnt man, I really didn\u2019t have my heart in to it and I know some people can just go for it forever, but I needed a break, so my break really rejuvenated me and then by a few years ago I was ready to put some stuff out, but I just wanted to make it right that\u2019s why it took so long. \u00a0It\u2019s more like five years, but that\u2019s still too long you know?\u00a0 In my career and at this point in my career I just needed a break, I needed to not tour and not stress about writing a new record because I\u2019d done that record after record for like seven records in a row. \u00a0So between that grind I just wanted to see how life was, I started a family, I\u2019ve got a beautiful wife and a two year old daughter, and during that time I started establishing all those roots so, I really wanted to enjoy life, but just like the mafia, I can\u2019t resist, it sucked me back in, I was not complacent at all, I needed to start playing again and this is what happens.\u00a0 Once you\u2019re in you never get out\u2026<\/p>\n

You mentioned before about Chris being the greatest guitar player in punk rock\u2026<\/strong>
\nRight\u2026
\n So what has the addition of Chris and Bryan brought to this incarnation of the band?<\/strong>
\nWell Bryan believe it or not has always been around.\u00a0 Bryan filled in for us on Warped tour on the first incarnation of the band and he actually worked at the record store, Down On Haley, The Ataris record store where Donald and I started the band at the same time.\u00a0 So he\u2019s always been around and always been part of it, then as soon as I took my break from music, Donald grabbed him and they started \u2018Crooks and Liars\u2019 so Bryan\u2019s always been around in there, he wasn\u2019t officially the first drummer, but he did a lot of drumming for us in the early days, so Bryan\u2019s always been there.<\/p>\n

Now Chris and I have always been friends as Lagwagon is a Bay area band like The Ataris, so we always talked about playing together and we actually started a project during my break that was just to play some parties and some shows, we were called \u2018Cave Mummy.\u2019 It was another ex Atari, Marko, the guitar player for The Ataris and we did parties and rock and roll circuses, but we were never going to release anything and we were never going to take it too seriously, but that\u2019s how you get sucked back in, you play some good shows and then you think \u2018oh man, I miss this\u2019 or \u2018I could do this\u2019 so Donald was playing in \u2018Crooks and Liars\u2019 with Bryan, I\u2019m playing in \u2018Cave Mummy\u2019 with Chris and so Donald came to a show and saw us play and said \u2018We\u2019ve gotta do Versus like this.\u2019\u00a0 So we merged both bands and here we are again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>So, what was the idea behind the name \u2018Drink, Sing, Live, Love?\u2019<\/strong>
\nOh that one is Donald runs the rock club here in Santa Barbara, called the Velvet Jones, he\u2019s a bartender and the manager and Bryan is the front of house guy, he does all the sound, all the bands that are medium sized, Strung Out, Lagwagon\u2019s just played some shows there, it\u2019s about a 500 person rock club, it reminds me of the typical European rock club with just a stage and bar you know what I mean?\u00a0 All the bands come through town and Donald not only takes care of all the bands because he\u2019s a musician himself, he\u2019s not the promoter but he runs the club, so they come, they see him, he usually puts these bands up at his house where we have our studio.\u00a0 So what usually happens is all these musicians five nights a week are touring through and they all hang out at Donald\u2019s house, drink all night and start playing guitar and talking about girls.\u00a0 So basically, it\u2019s just about how Donald\u2019s living his life the last five years, drink, sing, live, love is basically the life of running the club and being a musician around all these great musicians.\u00a0 They don\u2019t get much sleep, I can tell you that though ha ha.<\/p>\n

Song wise there was one that stood out for me on the album, can you tell us the idea behind the song \u2018The Kids Are Fucked\u2019? Which PS is an amazing title\u2026<\/strong>
\nYou know it\u2019s crazy because that song is striking a nerve, we\u2019ve had all good reviews so far which is so awesome, but everyone singles out that song so far, everybody has, and it\u2019s about an event that Donald questions\u2026 well Donald is 30 now, he\u2019s exactly 30 years old now and ten years ago at the height of punk rock and he was working at The Ataris record store, all the kids were so cool and in to helping each other and in to the scene.\u00a0 As he\u2019s run this club he\u2019s seen all these kids\u2026 this song \u2018The Kids Are Fucked\u2019 is actually about an incident where a guy got stabbed at a punk show at his club, a friend of his and he just can\u2019t believe how the kids have no respect these days.\u00a0 So, it\u2019s pretty true, he always starts the song off live by saying that kids tell him that house music is the next big thing, so that\u2019s how he knows the kids are fucked.<\/p>\n

The album is just full of great pop punk rock tracks, was there a specific concept \/ idea \/ sound you had in mind going in to making this album?<\/strong>
\nNo, you know, Flip, Chris Flippin definitely makes it heavier, he\u2019s the element that was missing on the first \u2018Versus\u2019 record, Donald\u2019s a great vocalist, great lyricist, that was there, my bass playing and Bryan and Trevor\u2019s drumming are very similar, but I think the difference maker on this record is Chris.\u00a0 His guitar tones are just thick and crunchy and just brilliant, so I think it\u2019s like having two great singers in the band, Chris sings with his guitar and Donald sings the melodies with his voice and it\u2019s really taken the band to the next level.\u00a0 Even farther I think musically than \u2018The Ataris\u2019, we might have been that little bit catchier, but we didn\u2019t have that dichotomy of the guitar and the vocals which I just find amazing, so as a musician I really dig being in that band, it\u2019s really cool<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve signed with 3 Wise records here in Australia, which will obviously help to get your music out to us Aussies, but are there any plans to come and see us anytime soon?<\/strong>
\nWell we\u2019re trying we have a couple of things that we\u2019re talking about, but for sure we\u2019ll be there for Soundwave, we\u2019re not supposed to technically be spouting that, but we\u2019re on 3 Wise\u2019s label, they run Soundwave and they want us down there, so I\u2019m pretty sure well be there for Soundwave in the summertime.\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait, I think the last tour for me down there was 2003, it\u2019s been a long time, it\u2019s been nine years, so I\u2019m really excited, I think Chris too man, he\u2019s had some troubles getting in to Australia because of some stuff but he just got that squared away so I think he\u2019ll be down there with The \u2018Wagon\u2019 too\u2026<\/p>\n

What are your plans for the rest of the year?<\/strong>
\nWe are headed out in a week we\u2019re doing the western US and we\u2019re doing that with our label mates \u2018Authority Zero\u2019 who are awesome, they do like a reggae punk, very \u2018NO FX\u2019 and they\u2019re super cool guys and we just did Europe with them.\u00a0 We\u2019re label mates and we get along really well so we\u2019re doing Western US promoting the release of the album, the album comes out here in America the 31st<\/sup> of July, so the video we just did yesterday, then we\u2019ve got another couple of tours coming up, Sum 41 in Canada and we\u2019re looking at \u2018Useless ID\u2019 in Japan, so it\u2019s looking good!<\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Santa Barbara, CA – USA<\/p>\n

Band members: <\/strong>Donald Spence- Vocals & Guitar, Bryan Charlson- Drums, Mike Davenport- Bass, Chris Flippin- Guitar<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> \u00a0http:\/\/www.VERSUSTHEWORLD.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release: <\/strong>Drink, Sing, Live, Love \u2013 (3 Wise Records)<\/p>\n

Read our review of ‘Drink, Sing, Live, Love’ here…<\/a><\/p>\n

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