SHREDnews

By: Kayley Guyette with Kelly Cline

Kayley:  Would you guys mind introducing yourselves and saying what you play?

Adam Lopez: I’m Adam Lopez, and I play drums.

Zack Fulton : And I’m Zack Fulton , and I’m the singer, the voice.

Kayley: Alright so when and how did To Write A Riot get started?

Adam Lopez: To Write A Riot started…we’ve all been friends for a, for a really long time doing a bunch of separate projects.  And we finally decided to come together and do something a lot more serious.  So it came together probably about…I don’t know… a year and a half ago it was conceived I guess.

Adam Lopez: And really started to get… it really started picking up….speed probably about…

Zack Fulton : 6 months ago probably Right after we finished recording the EP and did the photo shoot with Taylor Foiles.

Zack Fulton : Started picking up the steam, and getting our…getting everything in line, and getting our goals in order.

Kayley:  Where did you get your name idea?

Adam Lopez: We got the name, it’s…I don’t know…it’s kind of cliché and corny, but our influences are obviously a lot of big pop artists like Michael Jackson and The Beatles, and we saw how their music affected people…by obviously two of the biggest artists the world has ever seen by people like, they started riots, I guess, in the streets because the music was so amazing.  So we kind of that in a literal sense, and we decided on the name To Write A Riot.  Because it’s like writing music so good it starts riots, I suppose.  That’s where that comes from.

Kayley: Very nice.

Zack Fulton : People usually think it’s just a rip off of To Write Love on Her Arms and Paramore

Adam Lopez: And Paramore, yeah.  That’s what people usually think.

Zack Fulton :It literally has nothing to do with it

Kayley:  Alright, what genre of music do you consider the band to be?

Zack Fulton : Ummm…

Adam Lopez: Grind core?

Zack Fulton : Yeah, the angriest music you can get…It’s umm… We try to mix as many genres as we can, but still stay in that happy, power pop, you know, fun type of genre of music. We’re trying to make, you know, we’re trying to live our dreams and have a good time and we’re not trying to be angry and curse and…

Adam Lopez: It’s pop….it’s pop music.

Zack Fulton : It’s pop, it’s happy music.  I’m tangent, I’m on a tangent.

Adam Lopez: You’re on a tangent.

Zack Fulton : I’m on an alley in Boston.

Kayley:  Alright, your EP The Party Law was released in April.  How was recording it?

Adam Lopez: Recording was a lot of fun.  I loved it personally.

Zack Fulton : Yeah, and it was good.  Myself and Adam have been in the studio to do big projects before this.  But a couple of the other guys, Sean and Matt, had never really been in a real studio to record an EP.  It was a lot of fun for them.  And it was good for myself and Adam because we could kind of guide them.  And we had a really good producer…and he really helped us…

Adam Lopez: Really, awesome and flexible.  He helped us find our early sound definitely.

Kayley:  Is there any main song writer in the band?  Or is it a group process?

Adam Lopez: Umm… I’d probably say it’s a group process.

Zack Fulton : Yeah, it’s as much of a group process as it can be.

Adam Lopez: Yeah, that’s true.

Zack Fulton : I usually write the lyrics… and you know everyone writes their own instruments and we bring it all together.

Adam Lopez: We all mess around with melody ideas and stuff and I don’t know, it’s really a cohesive effort.

Zack Fulton : Yeah, since a lot of guys in the band sing it’s pretty easy to do vocals and stuff like that so we can bounce ideas off each other.  But song writing,  itself, is a real group process, so we try to keep it like that.

Kayley:  You guys are out touring… how’s it going?

Zack Fulton : We’re out touring?

Adam Lopez:  Yeah I don’t even know.

Zack Fulton : We were home two days ago!  So it doesn’t even feel like it.  We drove to Florida and then came home, and we were like oh great tour’s over.  And now we’re back out again.

Adam Lopez: It’s been a blast so far.  I mean, it’s been really ridiculous.  The shows have been really, really good.  I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the way shows have been coming out.  Unfortunately Stages and Stereos did have to drop off. But I mean, it was because of their band stuff.  So, I mean, obviously we can’t blame them.  But they were awesome guys, and it was fun while they were on it.

Zack Fulton : And they did have the best van I have ever seen. They had a mini bus, and they built all bunks in it.

Adam Lopez: It was wild, yeah.

Kayley: Really?

Zack Fulton : And they only had couches.  And I said to them “If this gets pulled over…. You guys are all going to jail! There are no seats in this thing.”  And the singer was telling us… he sleeps on the top bunk… he’s like “If we ever got in an accident, I’m flying right through the metal grate.”  Cause it’s a real bus.  He’s all “I’m flying right through all the metal.  I’m gonna get cheese grated.”

Adam Lopez: We asked him “Are you afraid to sleep up there?”  He’s like “Nah man, if we ever get in an accident I’m going through the cheese grater.”

Zack Fulton : It was sketchy, the bus was shaking.

Adam Lopez: There was a bunch of plywood, really sketchy.

Zack Fulton : No AC, no radio.  I was like “Oh man…”  But it apparently exploded or something.

Adam Lopez: Something happened.

Zack Fulton : Yeah, something happened.  But they, just as it was they couldn’t finish the tour, but… We’re doing, we’re out… Chris has been really great.  He’s been …the tour manager. Chris has been really helpful for everything.  It’s been a really great time.

Kayley:  Do you guys have any pre-show rituals?

Zack Fulton : Umm…we’ll prep…before we play we always talk, while we’re on stage we’ll talk…

Adam Lopez: We have a little huddle

Zack Fulton : Yeah, we have a huddle on stage.  And we’ll get everyone excited.  Some of the guys are pretty mellow… so we have to get them hyped up… we gotta make fun of their moms or something.

Adam Lopez: Usually I leave the huddle on stage. The huddles have been really sorry recently…

Zack Fulton : We’ve got to start shouting.  I think we’re going to start shouting things.

Adam Lopez: Yeah, we’ve got to find something to say

Zack Fulton : Get excited, it’s like a football huddle. It’s usually like “day 14 of tour guys, yesterday was good, tomorrow will be good, let’s make today good. Let’s go! Yeah!” I’ve lost track of the days, so I can’t lead the huddle.

Adam Lopez: I’m like the Barack Obama of the band.

Zack Fulton : Oh man

Adam Lopez: Very charismatic.

Kayley:  That’s good…Do you guys have any plans, after this tour?

Adam Lopez: Probably break up.

Zack Fulton : Yeah

Kayley: Yeah?

Adam Lopez: At the rate we’re going…

Zack Fulton : Yeah, if Tiger Woods keeps going the way it is, we’re definitely going to end up breaking up.

Adam Lopez: Umm, after this tour we’re going to head back in the studio, and do a bigger scale EP.  We want to do it bigger and better than the last EP.

Zack Fulton : Much bigger

Adam Lopez: Much bigger than the last EP.  We’re working with a lot of awesome people. It’s going to be a lot more mature of a sound than the last one

Zack Fulton : A lot more focused.

Adam Lopez: Yeah, we really think that we are going to find our niche and where we feel like we fit, genre wise.  So it’s going to be really good.  We’re going to go back in and do that, and then we’re hitting the road back again hopefully by January. Probably another…maybe nationwide, maybe another regional tour…something big though.

Zack Fulton : Yeah

Kayley: That’s good

Zack Fulton : Big plans

Kayley: So that’s all the questions I have.  Is there anything else you guys want to add?

Adam Lopez: Boston’s been great so far!

Zack Fulton : Yeah, we’re in Boston!

Adam Lopez: Oh!  It’s Shaugn’s 21^st birthday tomorrow!

Zack Fulton : Yeah, we’re going to get him a birthday cake.

Adam Lopez: No we’re not.

Zack Fulton : I can’t afford it.  Maybe somebody else…Maybe we’ll talk about it tonight and someone will buy him one

Adam Lopez: I’m not buying him one

Zack Fulton : Yeah I’m not going to either

Kayley: We have half of a birthday cake at my apartment!

Adam Lopez: Oh man, let’s do it.  I only have like 6 candles in my pocket.

Zack Fulton : Do you?

Adam Lopez: No

Zack Fulton : That’s a lie…

Adam Lopez: Yeah

Kayley: I think we have 2 candles, so…

Adam Lopez: Well he’s twenty…

Zack Fulton : He’s 2 years old…  He’s 21, so we’ll just put the 2 on there and then we’ll pull one off after he sees that

Zack Fulton : So how’s this van?  Chris, our tour manager, he said this is the worst van he’s every toured in.  Because it doesn’t have air conditioning, and it likes to do crazy things.

Kelly Cline: And it’s hideous?

Zack Fulton : And it’s hideous… listen, listen… his name is Martin Lawrence.  He’s got feelings.

Adam Lopez (talking to van): Don’t listen to them, don’t listen to them.

Kayley: My friend’s van was worse off.  Only one window rolled down, and there was no air conditioning and the roof leaked.  And there were no seatbelts, and we got in a car accident on the way to one of the shows. (talking to Kelly) It was Nemes…well My Sweet Contender.

Kelly: Really?

Kayley: Yeah

Adam Lopez: What’d you do?

Zack Fulton : Like, oh I’m in a car accident.  Woah!

Adam Lopez: Braced rib packed

Kayley: Exactly