{"id":31938,"date":"2017-04-27T18:10:18","date_gmt":"2017-04-27T08:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=31938"},"modified":"2017-04-27T18:10:41","modified_gmt":"2017-04-27T08:10:41","slug":"atom-willard-of-against-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2017\/04\/atom-willard-of-against-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Atom Willard of Against Me!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\n\u201cI do like to say we\u2019re a real high energy live show and everybody\u2019s very happy to be there, everybody on stage is excited to be where we\u2019re at and we\u2019re all having the most fun. We take it seriously, it\u2019s not goofy by any means but we take having fun very seriously too.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Release: Celebrated American rock band\u00a0Against Me!\u00a0have announced they will be heading out this May for a run of Australian headline dates to celebrate the release of their new album,\u00a0Shape Shift With Me<\/em>. They will be in the country as part of the\u00a0Groovin The Moo lineup and will be playing additional shows in Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Wollongong, Sydney and Perth supported by Melbourne’s own\u00a0Camp Cope.<\/p>\n

At home in Los Angeles, Atom of Against Me! gave us a call to talk about the band\u2019s return to Australia for Groovin\u2019 The Moo and headline shows, set lists, their newest album, and more\u2026<\/p>\n

You’re heading back to Australia for Groovin’ the Moo as well as some headline shows, do you have to approach festival sets and headlines differently?<\/strong>
\nI mean you have to do it a little bit differently, you can\u2019t play the same songs in the festivals that you would in a headline show you know what I mean? You\u2019re pretty sure that all the fans are there to see you at your own shows but at a festival you know you\u2019re gonna reach some new ears so you don\u2019t wanna play the stuff that may be a little less familiar. People get excited when you pull something out from the first or second record at a headline show they\u2019re like \u201cWow, I can\u2019t believe they\u2019re playing that\u201d or whatever but in the bigger festival situations it doesn\u2019t work out that way I think.<\/p>\n

As the catalogue does grow does it get harder to put a set together even for festival shows as new material comes in?<\/strong>
\nYou know what? The thing that\u2019s hard is keeping it short enough *laughs* we make a set list of all the songs we want to play and we\u2019re excited about and then all of a sudden it\u2019s like holy mackerel that\u2019s thirty five songs and none of us really want to do that, so we end up cutting it down and it\u2019s like \u201cOK\u2026 well shoot, who really wants to play this song?\u201d and it\u2019s like \u201cOh I do!\u201d or whatever and it\u2019s a challenge but like I say it\u2019s a good problem to have.<\/p>\n

I personally haven’t yet seen Against Me! live, so for the people like me who will be experiencing you for the first time, how would you best describe your live show?<\/strong>
\nI mean I never want to build it up too much and have somebody be let down. I do like to say we\u2019re a real high energy live show and everybody\u2019s very happy to be there, everybody on stage is excited to be where we\u2019re at and we\u2019re all having the most fun. We take it seriously, it\u2019s not goofy by any means but we take having fun very seriously too.<\/p>\n

And thirty five song sets\u2026<\/strong>
\nHey, hey, hey\u2026 *laughs* really we try to keep it to twenty five for a headline show, maybe twenty seven or something and that\u2019s a lot of songs when you really look at it. It tends to go by really quickly but holy cow.<\/p>\n

In being to Australia before, is there a memory that stands out from a previous trip here?<\/strong>
\nI mean I\u2019ve had so many trips to Australia, I\u2019ve been going there since the mid 90\u2019s or something *laughs* so there\u2019s been a lot of good times for sure. I\u2019ve had really good shows with Against Me! there more recently, the crowds are so fun, everyone\u2019s so excited and so stoked to be there and not afraid to let loose and that kind of thing is pretty nice to come across, you want to see people out there that are psyched and that are super stoked to come and see you play.<\/p>\n

\u2018Shape Shift With Me\u2019 is your second album with the band, was it somewhat easier this time around working with them in the studio?<\/strong>
\nYou know it was different because a lot of the songs on \u2018Transgender Dysphoria Blues\u2019 had already been written before I came into the fold and although I was able to colour the drum parts and do what I wanted to do and Laura\u2019s very receptive to suggestions and that kind of thing, so there wasn\u2019t much song writing besides \u2018Unconditional Love\u2019 and maybe a couple of other ones on \u2018Transgender Dysphoria Blues\u2019. Whereas this one every song was new, it came together from basically being on tour and playing songs at sound check and Laura says \u201chey come and listen to this idea\u201d and we\u2019d go back and forth on stuff and it was really an organic process and it came together over the course of two or two and a half years of touring, but yeah it was pretty easy but it\u2019s all just degrees of easy *laughs* nothing\u2019s really that hard.<\/p>\n

It’s been out for just over six months, how has the cycle been so far?<\/strong>
\nI mean it\u2019s been great, it\u2019s kind of wild though we haven\u2019t played too many shows of our own, we did two maybe three weeks in Europe where it was all headline shows and then we\u2019ve had headline shows here and there but we\u2019ve just had a long tour opening for Bad Religion, we just did a long tour opening for Green Day and that kind of stuff it\u2019s hard to gauge what those people think of the new record because you\u2019re just trying to figure out what those people think of you period *laughs*. I mean the Bad Religion fans there\u2019s a lot more crossover and they were easier to read, but with the Green Day fans there was a lot of new faces out there.<\/p>\n

In your four years with the band, what if anything have you been able to do that you haven’t been able to do previously with other acts?<\/strong>
\nI think the main thing is being able to kind of jam out on certain things during a live show and a type of looseness and a type of spontaneity that hasn\u2019t really been that present with a lot of other things that I\u2019ve done, either because we were dealing with computer tracks and it wasn\u2019t that kind of scenario or environment but with Against Me! there\u2019s a lot of stuff that happens on the fly, and I\u2019m not saying it happens every show but it happens enough for me to be aware of it and excited about it.<\/p>\n

After Australia what’s next for the band?<\/strong>
\nOK so we come home and I think we\u2019re off for maybe ten or twelve days and then we go to Europe for six weeks *laughs* that\u2019ll be a lot of festivals and actually a string of shows with The Bronx, we\u2019re doing a co-headline thing with The Bronx which I\u2019m really excited about because I love The Bronx, so we\u2019re going to rage through France with The Bronx.<\/p>\n

Lastly let’s look ahead to the future, finish this sentence for me, by the end of 2017 Against Me! wants to…\u00a0<\/strong>
\nOpen a restaurant *laughs* I don\u2019t know\u2026 first thing that pops into my head. By the end of 2017 Against Me! Wants to have 2018 figured out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

WEDNESDAY 3 MAY \u2013 THE TRIFFID, BRISBANE<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Tickets available from\u00a0thetriffid.com.au<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/strong>
\nTHURSDAY 4 MAY \u2013 BRISBANE HOTEL, HOBART
\n<\/strong>Tickets available from Oztix outlets and\u00a0Oztix.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n

FRIDAY 5 MAY \u2013 MAX WATTS, MELBOURNE
\nTickets available from\u00a0www.maxwatts.com.au\/melbourne<\/a><\/p>\n

WEDNESDAY 10 MAY \u2013 UNI BAR, WOLLONGONG
\nTickets available from\u00a0moshtix.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n

THURSDAY 11 MAY \u2013 MANNING BAR, SYDNEY
\nTickets available from\u00a0manningbar.com<\/a><\/p>\n

FRIDAY 12 MAY \u2013 ROSEMOUNT, PERTH
\nTickets available from\u00a0rosemounthotel.com.au<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

GROOVIN THE MOO TOUR DATES:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

FRIDAY 28 APRIL<\/strong> \u2013 WAYVILLE
\nSATURDAY 29 APRIL<\/strong> \u2013 MAITLAND
\nSUNDAY 30 APRIL<\/strong> – TOWNSVILLE
\nSATURDAY 6 MAY<\/strong> \u2013 BENDIGO
\nSUNDAY 7 MAY<\/strong> \u2013 CANBERRA
\nSATURDAY 13 MAY<\/strong> – BUNBURY<\/p>\n

Tickets available from\u00a0gtm.net.au<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

From: Gainesville,<\/strong> FL, USA<\/p>\n

Band members:<\/strong> Laura Jane Grace \u2013 guitar \/ lead vocals, James Bowman\u2013 guitar, Inge Johansson \u2013 bass, Atom Willard \u2013 drums<\/p>\n

Website:\u00a0<\/strong> http:\/\/www.againstme.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release:<\/strong> Shape Shift With Me (Out Now – Total Treble\/Cooking Vinyl Australia)<\/p>\n

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

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

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n