SHREDnews

Jay Rowland: Let’s start out by talking about your hometown, Flint. Where the city was as you grew up and where it is now. How do you guys feel about it?

Nick Diener: Alright, we pretty much moved here, to Genesee County… I think it was in 2001. My brother and I, and my family, we used to live in Grand Rapids. We came over here because my dad got a job in Auburn Hills. We pretty much came up to flint, ya know, to go to the mall, to go shopping, do whatever, just run some errands. And then one day after we started our band, some kids were like, “Have you heard of the Flint Local 432?” So we ended up getting our first show there, and just going to shows every weekend there around 2002. So, that brought us to downtown Flint. At the time, there wasn’t really much going on. It was a lot of abandoned store fronts and stuff like that. The Local scene about a year later, 2003-2004 started just REALLY picking up, just brought way more people down town. It was kind of a hustle and bustle happening. It was pretty cool. And then after the Local disappeared there wasn’t any more shows going on down town. We kinda just stopped coming here. There really wasn’t anything for us. I mean, I went to school at U of M Flint for a semester before we started touring full time, so that was pretty much all I came to town for. But now that we’re back here a little more often I’ve been going up to the loft, in Flint, to hang out with my buddies. There are shows happening every now and then. There’s a bunch of store’s opening up on Saginaw St and making it look really nice. I think Flint, right now is looking better than I’ve ever seen it, like, in my lifetime. So, I’m pretty excited. And I think things could be possibly turning around and hopefully we’ll get more shows happening, bring more people downtown. But yea, it’s always been one of my favorite places to go no matter what it’s like. It’s always great coming here, because this is kind of where we got our start.

Jay Rowland: I notice the Team Swellers t-shirts have Flint, MI on them. And you guys are constantly mentioning your home town. Is it a passion of the band to promote Flint?

Nick Diener: You know what, it doesn’t hurt. It’s really cool, being able to… Like, I don’t want to say our band is from Fenton, MI, because then you have to explain yourself. Where is that? What is that? Who lives there? So when we say Flint, that’s where we played our first show, that’s where we did our first CD release show, that’s where we made all of our friends. And we learned SO much about being in a band from this city and the people in it and like, the shows here. So, Flint is defiantly our headquarters. We still live really near by, we practice really near by. Just because the Local’s not still here doesn’t mean the spirits not still alive. I mean, this show is co-sponsored by the Local. So I defiantly say I feel good to call this place home for the band at least. Maybe not me as a person, but this is where I spent most of my growing years. This is my place you know.

Jay Rowland: Fueled By Ramen. That’s a big break for you guys? How’s it feel?

Nick Diener: It’s incredible. We’ve been making baby steps ever since we started the band. We’ve never had a CRAZY jump in popularity. It’s always kinda been a steady thing. So we went from putting out our own records, to putting out records on a small label, to now, putting out records on a large label. It’s just the logical progression. I mean, honestly, I wasn’t expecting something THIS big. So that was probably the biggest jump that happened so far. They believe in us. We believe in them, so it’s a really good team.

Jay Rowland: I’ve heard rumors about you guys slapping The Swellers sticker on Hayley from Paramore’s car, tell me about that.

Nick Diener: (Laughs) Uh, that was actually how we started talking to Hayley in Paramore. And actually a couple of days before that is when Fueled By Ramen contacted us for the first time. So, we got on their radar and then we stayed at Hayley’s house when she wasn’t there. Her roommate was like, “Ya that’s her car. Haha, lot of stickers on it.” So, Ryan took a Swellers sticker, slapped it on there. We were all flipped out, “I can’t believe you did that, that’s rude, she probably has no idea who we are.” We found out like a month later from Fueled By Ramen that Hayley thought it was awesome and she really likes us. From there we ended up getting in touch with her. We sent her some of our new songs. She was freaking out on Fueled By Ramen, saying, “Sign these guys right away. Make this happen!” So, she’s been gunning for us ever since then. So, it’s cool that we can be called friends now just because of vandalizing her property.

Jay Rowland: What are some of your musical influences as a band?

Nick Diener: I pretty much started this band because I wanted to sound like Weezer and No Use For A Name and like The Ghetto Kids and NOFX. You know, just all the 90’s bands that were kinda like punk rock and all the 90’s bands that were more indie, emo, alternative kinda sounding. I really love both styles of music. I didn’t wanna just choose one. We’ve always kinda been bouncing back and forth. And I think this new record; Ups And Downsizing is the one where we finally got it right. We kinda got both sounds melded into one and just did exactly what we wanted to do. We didn’t really hold back and didn’t worry about if it’s punk enough or if it’s too hard, too fast. We just did it ya know. I think those four bands are still huge influences. It’s cool how we just stuck with it. We just got better at what we do over the past seven years. We just got better at our instruments and song writing.

Jay Rowland: Let’s go ahead and talk about the new album; Ups And Downsizing. Tell us about the inspiration and the writing process of the new album.

Nick Diener: Pretty much over the past two years, ever since we released, My Everest, we’ve been writing this record. Music always comes first for me. I always write the music, the compositions, arrangements, all that kinda stuff. Through how the song sounds that’s usually when we decide what we want the song to be about, like the meaning behind it. We always have ideas floating in our heads. Like, Ups And Downsizing is about having to pack your bags and just move away and start a new life because of the times and the economy. A song like Feet First, is kind of an anti-suicide anthem. These are all things we wanted to cover. We just got lucky and were able to place them with the music that we thought fitting. Pretty much my brother helps me write the lyrics and as well as the music. He pretty much describes it as summing up our lives since the time we were little kids till now and how things have changed and how we’re dealing with it and the good times and the bad times. You know, ups and downs. Ups and Downsizing, it’s kind of a play on words with the economy and it’s like good things, bad t hings, just life in general.

Jay Rowland: What’s your favorite song on the album?

Nick Diener: My favorite song is, Do you feel better yet? Because it’s short and really powerful at the end. It’s really driving and to the point. It’s one of the most different sounding ones we’ve ever written yet.  I think I’d have to say that’s my favorite. Either that or Fire Away just because also that’s a fun one to play so it sounds a lot different. Do You Feel Better Yet? Might be collectively one of our favorite ones to play. I just like how it starts too. It just really kicks you in the butt.

Jay Rowland: Fire Away. It’s on the radio! What’s it like hearing your music on the radio?

Nick Diener: It’s really cool. I mean, I think if it was seven years ago I’d be absolutely freaking out. But, any cool thing that happens to our band I pretty much have this mentality like, “Cool. It’s about time. Finally!” Now that we are on the radio I’m excited. It’s a milestone for me for sure. We were on Detroit’s biggest rock radio station and we have been every day for like the past week. So, that’s really, really cool for me. And also I heard we were on K-Rock, LA’s biggest station on the other side of the country. That’s just huge for me too. We’re just gonna keep trying to get our stuff out to radio and see what happens from there. It’s a really cool opportunity I never personally thought we would have.

Jay Rowland: So, you’re right in the middle of of a huge tour with Paramore. What’s it like?

Nick Diener: It’s the biggest tour we’ve done so far. A lot more kids that are hungry for new music. So we seem a lot more exciting than we really are I think to a lot of little kids who want our autographs and to take pictures. But when they pick up our record we’re just hoping that they will listen to it and dig it and possibly listen to some other bands that sound like us as they’re growing into this new style of music. There are a lot of kids that it’s their first concert they have ever been to. And that’s the thing, these are pretty much concerts. We play shows. And what we’re doing is we’re playing for these concert goers. It’s totally a new thing for us. We’re defiantly shining on stage. It’s nothing new to us. We just get up there and play our songs and say see ya later. That’s it, that’s that. We’re just trying to hang out with the crowd a lot more. Try and become friends with the fans. So we don’t seem like rock stars with egos. We just like to hang out I guess.

Jay Rowland: What show on the tour has been your favorite so far?

Nick Diener: We’ve only done a couple of the Paramore shows because there were so many dates that were postponed. We pretty much have another month of the Paramore tour to go; which is really exciting.  Detroit was probably one of my most favorites because lot of friends and family were there. We sold a lot of merchandise. A lot of kids that are gonna be able to check us out now. It was also one of the worst ones. Just because there was a power outage on stage and it was super strange. We’ve never had that happen in front of that many people before. We kept our cool though and it ended up being all right. That was interesting and it was also very stressful. Again, it had its ups and downs. It was probably my favorite night. It was really great.

Jay Rowland: After this tour you go on tour with Less Than Jake, right?

Nick Diener: Ya. We pretty much go from LA, when the Paramore tour ends and we go all the way to the East Coast and then start that tour.

Jay Rowland: Right away?

Nick Diener: Ya, we have like three days to drive across the country and then start that tour. It’s gonna be nuts!

Jay Rowland: Do you have any plans for after the tour with Less Than Jake?

Nick Diener: Pretty much just hanging out for the holidays for a month. And then more tour.

Jay Rowland: Can’t announce it yet right?

Nick Diener: Ya, We don’t have all the info yet. It’s gonna be another full US tour with some great bands. It’ll be cool ya know. We’re doing the Paramore tour which is like a pop tour. Then we’re doing the Less Than Jake/ Casualties tour which is a punk rock tour. And then this next tour, it’s gonna be a mix of both. You know, the pop kids are gonna be able to come out, the punk rock kids are gonna come out. It’s gonna be great! And hopefully Europe in the spring. And that’s as far as we’re looking forward. Anything past that is a little bit far away. It’s a kinda scary, but that’s where we are now.

Jay Rowland: Warped Tour 2010? Hoping to be part of that?

Nick Diener: Ya. Hoping to get in that. I mean, at least some of it if not all of it. It’s a really great tour and were gonna leave our summer open for it. We’ll see what happens.

Jay Rowland: Any message for your fans?

Nick Diener: I wanna say thanks to any one that bought the record or even just heard the record. Any one that’s paying attention to what I’m doing with my life. It’s just unreal to me. I’ve had a couple people tell me that we’re one of their favorite bands. That just trips me out like crazy, because I’m a kid that listens to music. I have my favorite bands. So, for someone to include me in that list is just super crazy. It means the world to me. I’ve always been kinda one to say, “I don’t care about what people think of our music, I’m gonna play what I wanna play.” Which is true, but now that we have so many people in our corner that have been so awesome I wanna make sure that what we’re doing is for every one body too. I’m hoping that we don’t do anything to disappoint any one cause they’ve been super helpful. And obviously we wouldn’t be here doing what we are doing without the people that are buying our records and coming to the shows so thanks. To you too, thanks for doing this interview. This is incredible. I really appreciate it.