ANTHONY RANERI talks about“VACANY”

WITHIN PUNK ZINEINTERVIEW WITH

BAYSIDE/ANTHONY RANERI BY PHONE

JUNE 20,2016COURTESY OF

SARAH LUTZ/HOPELESS REOCRDSJ.B: Hey I’m here talking with the one and only Anthony Raneri from “Bay-side” so let’s talk about the latest upcoming release “Vacancy”?ANTHONY: Ah so far so good we’re really happy with how the record came out just getting exciting and waiting for people to hear it.J.B: Do you find it hard to follow up how amazing ‘Cult” was?ANTHONY: If I thought about it that way it probably would be but we really tried something different, the older we get the more we learn that giving a shit about things like that will only bring you stress and won’t make anything better. You know every record that goes by it gets easier to say let’s just play whatever we want! And not worry if people like it and shit like that.J.B: Yeah exactly! So sixteen years and counting you guys did do the anniver-sary that’s a long time to be in the industry you guys have been through it all (Tour) and seen it all. So how do you reflect back on all that time and what’s your views on the time gone by?ANTHONY: Ah you know when we started the band we we’re just like any other band you know we we’re just playing music we had no expectations. Like you know when we first started there was no one around us getting record deals or touring. We were just a band that was playing music and getting record deals and going on tour at that time just seemed so farfetched to us. And we were just really playing shows around town and once we seen bands like “Black Jaw” and “Taking Back Sunday” a couple of our bands in our scene in long island getting signed we we’re like okay maybe this is going to happen. So we started kind of shifting gears to get the band taken a little bit more seriously and then you know fast forward two years later when we got our first deal in 2003 or 2004. Then we signed to Victory and we were seeing bands like “New Found Glory” which was enormous at that point. And “Fall out Boy” “And My Chemical Romance” got really huge and it got like cross over to the scene and became pretty much like Popstars you know? Yet we we’re watching all that and we made a really conscience effort

or really more of a decision that we weren’t going to chase that. If fans were going to come to us than cool but we knew we were never going to write songs to try and achieve that or look a certain way. And we didn’t want to achieve that we looked up to bands like NOFX and Bad Religion and Social Distortion and the Descendents and bands like that still have careers. All these bands have awesome careers and that’s what we looked up to and that’s what we wanted, we didn’t care if it made us rich or not we just wanted to still be doing this in thirty years! And doing that fifteen year anniversary tour and I don’t even remember when that was it was like five years ago we did the Bouncing Souls Twentieth anniversary tour. And then I was like ah man! That would be crazy well we are doing our fiftieth year tour what’s that going to be like in the next five? And we accomplished what we set out to do and that was to keep giving it all we got and be around for a long time.J.B: Do you feel that touring with “Taking Back Sunday” was what really broke you guys out and got you guys to the forefront?ANTHONY: AH it’s funny it comes in waves you know really? Our first record came out in 2004 it was kind of popular not as much their first record or a lot of the other bands that we’re happening at the time. And then 2005 we put out the self-titled album and that was even more popular in 2007 we put out the “Walk-ing Wounded” that was our first time we we’re able to headline theatres and we we’re on T.V and on Mtv2. So there was defiantly a lot more cross over stuff happening and we did get noticed and become more popular in 2007 and then just kind of kept in rolling along slowly and surely and that’s how we did our careers, you know we did little by little and then a couple of years ago we did that “Taking Back Sunday “tour and it’s been like seven years since our last big jump in popularity? And we we’re like just kind of moving up like sort of slowly. And you know never really taking a step back just sort of slowly climbing up and then ya that “Taking Back Sunday” show did really feel like a big change and getting noticed again for a while.J.B: Obviously Warp Tour also played a huge part of that? And of course some good and some bad there?NATHONY: It’s really hard to gain fans there! It’s like this when you are doing well Warp Tour is great! It’s because of what genre I did Warp Tour for the first time in 2002 we weren’t even old enough yet. I was like nineteen at the time I think maybe twenty I think? So I was twenty “Having a fucking blast” I got to see all these cool bands I was on the Warp Tour I grew up going to the Warp Tour and I was having fun. After a while after that whole thing wears off and until you’re kind of more popular and you have crowds at your stage and stuff and its tuff. I’m not really sure that bands get broken on the Warp Tour but the place is so big and there’s so many bands playing at the same time. Imagine you’re an up and coming band and you’re trying to get noticed and you’re play-

ing a show on a small stage and bands like “Taking back Sunday” are playing shows across the street. So you know that’s pretty tough!J.B: It did lose it a bit there with more commercialization and change up with the feel of it, it’s coming back around again to more of its roots and the way it was. Obviously you did do that video for “Dancing around like a idiot” and that kinds of ties into it. So the video though for “Pretty Vacancy” who did the video for that?ANTHONY: Ah a couple of guys in L.A actually did that and they actually did a solo project video for me About a year or two years ago and they did an awesome job. So when it was time to work on the Bayside video I called them and talked to them very briefly about the video. And within a half an hour came up with an idea and they shot it in L.A and we went even there. And we had so much faith in them to deliver and they did.J.B: So let’s talk about this release “Va-cancy” on this release you have a bit of a change up on this one do you feel that was the natural progression of change of direction with everything that happened?ANTHONY: It’s hard to say where it’s going to go in the future we just kind of do whatever we want! We wanted to try and do some different things on this record with things that we had on our minds and we tried it and we ended up with some other songs’ that didn’t end up on the record. That we took maybe less chances with than the songs that we had at the time. Who’s to say we could put out a record in a couple years that could be completely different who’s to re-ally know? We don’t spend a lot of time into conceptualization I guess? It’s more of a just play whatever we feel like.J.B: On this one you have songs like “Mary” which is a ballad with some quite exceptional lyrics in there “Go and get all your angles worked out” Plan togeth-er to get all your demons out” So what was the creative writing process on this one?

Ah I normally write about what’s going on in life and on this one I had a lot going on I had just moved to a new State and I had just recently got divorced and I was just kind of sitting around and I just kind of entered the writing mode in that time.J.B: That kind of flows through out the album it’s very personal very deep and an emotional album that many can relate too, on this one you did have a different direction which I was talking about in the previous question and you kind of got an orchestrated refined show tune feel to it especially on Dead All Day” and “Two Letter”? Almost a Punk Opera?ANTHONY: Well I’m really a big fan of Show tunes and I really study Show tunes and as far as that goes songs can really make you feel a certain way and emotionally even without lyrics. The Songs really don’t have parts as much as they have movements and I really wanted to hone in on that in this record. And especially on “Dead All Day” and “Two Letters” and each

part of the song to feel like something new is happening, and if you were to take away the lyrics can the music tell that story?J.B: And of course Hopeless Records?ANTHONY: Ya it’s cool I think people that aren’t really into the industry and put stock into the Labels aren’t really tuned into it. We have always been on an independent label we never have been on major label or on the radio, and we never had some big management company and we kind of do whatever we want really and Hopeless really takes care of us. I think people means more than it does on being on which label but I really doesn’t matter?J.B: You mentioned that a lot of tracks got cut is there a special pre-order thing kind of like “Cult” with Hopeless that maybe you get a 7” of the cut tracks?ANTHONY: Ya we put two songs on a seven inch that is on the pre-order package on a seven inch. One of those songs is an acoustic version of one of the songs on the album and the other is a full band version of one of the songs we

wrote while making the record and will be really hard to get. J.B: The cover art? With the motel?ANTHONY: The theme of the album cover was to make it feel even though you’re away from home you still feel like you home? And home not feeling home and feeling like crap cause you feel like a guest in your own house. And trying to figure out where you’re going where you’re coming from and we feel all that way on tour It’s funny how you can feel more at home going on tour or being there.J.B: Producer? Kings Of Leon Studio?ANTHONY: Ah it was cool man! Jim is a good dude there was defiantly a lot of head butting but it’s cool! And a lot of fights over each other ideas and he’s got a really great ear and he’s really good at what he does. I think it’s the pro-ducer’s job to listen to what the band does and the band gets tied emotionally to what they made and there idea’s. And I have weeks that took me to get to this point and you have heart and the producer’s part is to listen to it as it was the person hearing it and could care less of what or where it came from?J.B: you guys do have a tour coming up starting on the East coast with The Mezingers and then heading central then over to a brief stop at a festival?ANTHONY: Yeah I never toured with them and they are one of my favorite bands that I listen to they are super fun guys I’ve been listening to them since 95.I would always love to tour with Green Day though a very important band that influenced everyone back in the day.J.B: How do you view the scene?ANTHONY: I think it’s cool there are so many sub scenes like The Casual-ties to the Toasters and there’s more of a divide though from Skate punk to Hardcore to Ska and so on. It’s Splintered of I’m not sure everyone listens to all of it it’s not like it was back in the day with Counter Culture.J.B: We always end with a famous book or quote or that inspired your life?ANTHONY: Not really my dad always drilled it into my head to follow my dreams and now I say that same thing to my daughter”.

Aug 11 Revolutionw/ The Menzingers, Fort Lauderdale, FL Aug 12 Hard Rock Live w/ The Menzingers, Orlando, FL Aug 13 The Wrecking Ball ATL,Atlanta, GAAug 14 Amos’s South w/ The Menzingers, Charlotte, NCAug 15 Norva w/ The Menzingers, Norfolk, VAAug 17 Rams Head w/ The Menzingers, Baltimore, MDAug 18 Electric Factory w/ The Menzingers, Philadelphia, PAAug 19 Playstation Theater w/ The Menzingers, New York, NYAug 20 Starland w/ The Menzingers, Sayreville, NJ Aug 21 House of Blues w/ The Menzingers,Boston, MAAug 23 Spirit Hall w/ The Menzingers, Pittsburgh, PAAug 24 Agora w/ The Menzingers,Cleveland, OHAug 25 Opera House w/ The Menzingers, Toronto, CanadaAug 26 The Majestic w/ The Menzingers,Detroit, MI Aug 27 Fest at Tinley Park Convention Center w/ MxPx Chicago, IL Aug 28 Mill City Nights w/ The Menzingers, Minneapolis, MNAug 30 Odgen w/ The Menzingers,Denver, COAug 31 Complex w/ The Menzingers,Salt Lake City, UTSep 02 The Showbox w/ The Menzingers, Seattle, WASep 03 The Hawthorne w/ The Menzingers, Portland, OR Sep 04 Regency w/ The Menzingers, San Francisco, CASep 06 The Observatory w/ The Menzingers, Santa Ana, CA Sep 07 Regent W/ The Menzingers,Los Angeles, CA Sep 08 The Observatory North Park w/ The Menzingers,San Diego, CA Sep 09 Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas w/ The Menzingers,Las Vegas, Sep 10 The Pressroom w/ The Menzingers,Phoenix, AZSep 11 The Sunshine Theater w/ The Menzingers,Albuquerque, NM Sep 13 Alamo City Music Hall w/ The Menzingers, San Antonio, TX Sep 14 House Of Blues w/ The Menzingers,Houston, TXSep 15 Gas Monkey w/ The Menzingers, Dallas, TX Sep 16 Granada w/ The Menzingers, Lawrence, KS Sep 17 The Ready Room w/ The Menzingers, St Louis, MO Sep 18 Exit/In w/ The Menzingers,Nashville, TN