{"id":30380,"date":"2016-09-12T07:31:28","date_gmt":"2016-09-11T21:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=30380"},"modified":"2016-09-12T07:31:47","modified_gmt":"2016-09-11T21:31:47","slug":"neil-westfall-day-remember","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2016\/09\/neil-westfall-day-remember\/","title":{"rendered":"Neil Westfall of A Day To Remember"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ADTR\"<\/a>
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not really that hard for us because honestly we got to where we are now by writing about what came naturally or what we were influenced by at the time and stuff like that. So this one is still A Day To Remember but it sounds a little different because it\u2019s a different time in our lives\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

From release: Over the course of the past several years, each of A Day To Remember’s releases have hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Rock, Indie and\/or Alternative Charts, they’ve sold in excess of a million units, racked up more than 400 million Spotify streams and 500 million YouTube views, garnered two gold-selling albums and singles and sold out entire continental tours, amassing a global fanbase whose members number in the millions. All of which explains why Rolling Stone called them “An Artist You Need To Know.” Now A Day To Remember have recorded Bad Vibrations which is released on the band’s own ADTR Records and distributed by Epitaph, the album is the follow-up to 2013’s Common Courtesy.<\/p>\n

In Scranton, Pennsylvania which is a pretty happenin\u2019 place Neil tells us\u2026 he gave us a call to talk about the band\u2019s new album \u2018Bad Vibrations\u2019, its creation, the upcoming Australian tour and much more\u2026<\/p>\n

So we have the new album \u2018Bad Vibrations\u2019 out now, what are you feelings around album release time?<\/strong>
\nOh fuck I hope they like it\u2026 that\u2019s kind of the first feeling I go with\u2026 the second feeling is if they don\u2019t well it\u2019s already done so I\u2019m just gonna keep living my life.<\/p>\n

Do you still get the same excitement when you release an album, is there still that same buzz?<\/strong>
\nYeah I mean it\u2019s pretty awesome, we haven\u2019t really had a leak yet but I\u2019m just excited to show the people and for them to hear it, it\u2019s like we\u2019ve been keeping a secret for the last year of our lives and haven\u2019t really let anyone listen to it yet and now we\u2019re gonna let all the people that want to hear it to hold it and to have it, and it\u2019ll be cool we don\u2019t have to keep it a secret anymore. So I think there is that kind of relief to kind of be all \u2018here it is\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

What does the title \u2018Bad Vibrations\u2019 represent to you personally?<\/strong>
\nI just thought it sounded awesome, and I thought it represented a time when we were writing and recording these songs pretty accurately. We were going pretty hard in the time we were writing and recording the album, we were doing two songs a day and we were in the studio for a month and a half straight, in this little 10 x 10 room, and that was kind of the vibe towards the end when we thought about naming the album, so\u2026<\/p>\n

How if in any way did the creative process in making this album differ compared to previous releases?<\/strong>
\nWell, this was kind of the first album we went back and we wrote everything in a room as a band rather than on a bus with a computer, you know? Like we all got together in Colorado in February of last year and we didn\u2019t have any ideas or any kind of songs to work off of, and just started writing. Then we\u2019re were in there a month and\u00a0 half I\u2019d say, then we went to Europe and when we came back we were in there for another two months and ended up just recording the whole album. When we started we had about forty songs to work with, yeah that\u2019s what made it different from other albums, we kind of went in with nothing and wrote it all in a room together.<\/p>\n

Do you find that it becomes easier to make albums as you add to the catalogue or is it in fact more challenging as you need to create something new and try and in a way better the last?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s not really that hard for us because honestly we got to where we are now by writing about what came naturally or what we were influenced by at the time and stuff like that. So this one is still A Day To Remember but it sounds a little different because it\u2019s a different time in our lives, and we\u2019re influenced by different stuff or even the same stuff just different songs, it\u2019s not really hard or easy, I think the hardest part is \u2018hey I really like this, let\u2019s do this\u2019 or \u2018hey this is not cool and I don\u2019t want to have this on our album\u2019, that\u2019s the hardest part, knowing actually what you want to put out there.<\/p>\n

I wanted to single out one song and that\u2019s \u2018Justified\u2019 as there\u2019s always one song that jumps out at me on an album. Is there a story you can tell us a bit about that one?<\/strong>
\nYeah, that was one of the ideas I brought to recording, I just got together, me and my roommate and Cody, he plays guitar for Wage War, I was at my house one day and said \u2018hey you should come over and we\u2019ll write some music\u2019 not really for anything, just for fun and we kinda hashed that song out music wise in one day, put a bunch of riffs together and demoed most of it out. So I wrote most of that and I brought it and we were there maybe like two or three weeks into the writing process and I said \u2018hey I have this idea it\u2019s almost finished if you want to jam it?\u2019 So we started jamming it and we ended up playing it through and then Jeremy came in and just ended up laying down all of the vocals pretty much as soon as he heard the song. That\u2019s pretty much the most backwards way we\u2019ve written a song, usually they\u2019re all based on a chorus, or melody or something like that, or a riff and then we write the song around it. This has most of the music done and then Jeremy just wrote all the vocals and the melody on the spot which is pretty crazy, so I mean that song is just an anomaly in itself.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always loved the melodic vibe to A Day To Remember, what\u2019s the creative process like in writing these songs that blend beautiful melodies with sometimes brutal metal hardcore, how do you maintain the balance?<\/strong>
\nUsually when we\u2019re doing\u2026 like say on this record it just kind of flows, you\u2019re writing a song, and you get to a pre-chorus part and you just need a release and it\u2019s almost like this anxious build up and it just needs to be released and then you keep pushing and pushing, that\u2019s the whole vibe of the song, you build to the release whether it\u2019s a chorus or a breakdown it\u2019s like that\u2019s the thought process of it, you know?<\/p>\n

Six albums in now, looking back to your debut eleven years ago is there anything you learned in those first recording sessions that you still use to this day?<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t know\u2026 I mean the first couple of recording sessions were so bare bones, I mean we do a lot of things the same and I guess I never realised it, I mean just how to record in general we kind of learned then, and kind of learned to build off that experience. Just learning the basics I guess. Gotta have a good guitar that\u2019s in tune *laughs* you\u2019ve gotta be willing to take criticism and just keep playing and pushing\u2026<\/p>\n

You\u2019re heading back to Australia in December, in always having an amazing relationship with Australia, what can we expect on this run of shows?<\/strong>
\nWe\u2019ve got a pretty rad show that we\u2019re doing, we built a production and it\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve ever seen anything like this, so it\u2019s gonna be pretty cool and it\u2019s going to be the first time we can bring our production we\u2019ve done in The States over to Australia and not just base something new off of Australia you know? We\u2019ve got like midgets and we\u2019re gonna give out free Taco Bell\u2026 yeah we\u2019re not gonna do that\u2026 *laughs*<\/p>\n

Do you have a stand out memory of a previous trip down here?<\/strong>
\nAustralia is just like an awesome country in general, it\u2019s one of the places where from the moment we got there we just kind of felt comfortable and it wasn\u2019t like we had to learn a new language or a new culture\u2026 Hey, Australia it\u2019s basically like America just different and awesome in its own way, so just that you can go there and from the moment you got there you just felt accepted and you kind of felt that you could go around and immerse yourself in all of it and understand everyone, I think that\u2019s kind of it\u2019s not one memory but I just like going to Australia so much. I\u2019ve been able to be myself there from the moment we went there.<\/p>\n

I think you just nailed our new slogan\u2026 \u2018Australia, it\u2019s like America just different\u2019<\/strong>
\nDifferent and awesome, and no guns *laughs*<\/p>\n

Now you\u2019ve been in the band for thirteen years, is there still one thing you want to do that you haven\u2019t had a chance to do yet?<\/strong>
\nYeah, I\u2019d still like to go and play a lot of places we haven\u2019t got to go to yet, I\u2019d like to go and play like places in the Middle East and South Africa, I\u2019d like to play some places in Central America, stuff like that. Getting to do things you wouldn\u2019t normally get to do except we\u2019re in this place where we were given the opportunity to do them you know?<\/p>\n

Lastly with the year truly on the downhill let\u2019s see if we can predict something, so finish this sentence for me, by the end of 2016 the one thing A Day To Remember wants to do is\u2026<\/strong>
\nPlay a show where we don\u2019t look retarded\u2026 *laughs*<\/p>\n

Well feel free to do that in Sydney\u2026<\/strong>
\nYou know\u2026 I think Sydney might be the one where we finally do it *laughs*<\/p>\n

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Catch A Day To Remember with Of Mice & Men and Tonight Alive in Australia at the following dates<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"ADTR<\/a>RED HILL AUDITORIUM, PERTH
\nSATURDAY DECEMBER 10<\/p>\n

AEC THEATRE, ADELAIDE
\nTUESDAY DECEMBER 13<\/p>\n

FESTIVAL HALL, MELBOURNE
\nWEDNESDAY DECEMBER 14<\/p>\n

HORDERN PAVILION, SYDNEY
\nFRIDAY DECEMBER 16<\/p>\n

RIVERSTAGE, BRISBANE
\nSUNDAY DECEMBER 18<\/p>\n

all shows are licensed all ages<\/p>\n

Ticket information HERE – livenation.com.au<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

From:<\/strong>\u00a0Ocala, Florida, USA<\/p>\n

Band Members:<\/strong>\u00a0Jeremy McKinnon \u2013 Vocals, Neil Westfall \u2013 Guitar, Joshua Woodward \u2013 Bass, Kevin Skaff \u2013 Guitar, Alex Shelnutt – Drums<\/p>\n

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

Latest Release:<\/strong>\u00a0Bad Vibrations \u2013 (Out Now \u2013 ADTR Records \/ Epitaph)<\/p>\n

\"iTunes<\/a><\/p>\n

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