This interview was conducted with singer, Alex Gaskarth, at Warped Tour 2007 in Camden, NJ.

1. When the band was first starting out, what were some of your goals? And how do you think you’re doing at accomplishing them?
Um, I think when the band first started we weren’t really trying to accomplish anything. We were just having a good time. I mean we still are but uh obviously now we’ve set goals for ourselves. But when we first started out it was really just for fun. It was you know to hang out with our friends, to have something to talk about on the weekends and stuff like that. So, that’s how it spun.

2. How do you feel about some of your fans who act elite and possessive when it comes to you guys?
Um, people who act obsessive?
MLM: Possessive.
Oh, possessive.
MLM: Yea, like kind of being mean to new fans.
Um, I don’t know. It does get a little strange sometimes like I think I don’t really understand the concept of like fans or listeners like talking shit to other listeners just because they were there first. Like the idea of a band is to create a community I think and so at least the way we try to you know encourage our listeners is you know to be like a family and to accept everybody and you know hopefully grow a lot larger. Um you know that was always the idea so it bums me out but you know um I think we do our best to like get the message across.

3. What’s one of the weirdest/coolest moments you’ve ever had with a fan?
With a van?
MLM: Fan
Sorry um (in a sarcastic tone) This one time I took a van off a jump..no
There’s a lot like every moment is really cool. I know that sounds cheesy but um the acknowledgement that people are out there and listening and like care about us not only as musicians but as like people cause we tried to make this very personal connection with our fans. So you know everything’s really cool but um I don’t know. I’m trying to think of like unique experiences. Oh, we have like light saber fights with people and stuff like that. And that’s always good times. Water gun fights. Shit like that.

4. What’s a crazy tour story you never get sick of telling?
Oh man, uh, there was this one that happened forever ago. We were staying at a hotel and there was a door on either end, right. And one opened up to the hallway and the other opened up onto the beach. And if you opened both of them it created like this crazy wind tunnel. So, like first of all we experimented by opening both doors and just like throwing shit into the path of the wind as it rushed through. So it would all like fly out into the hallway. Then, apparently there were a bunch of seagulls outside and next thing we know there is a bunch of seagulls flying at the open door. So we slammed the door closed and all we hear for like the next half hour is just seagulls like slamming into the door. (laughs) It was really kind of scary.

5. You guys will be facing a lot of change now that you’re becoming more popular? Are you prepared for it? And are you worried about how it might hurt your relationship with fans?
Um yea, actually I really do worry. I notice it already. Just in the past week there’s been a few like little flare ups where people like you know commented on us acting like were a big deal and stuff like that. And it really bums me out cause like first of all we read all that stuff like we play closer attention to these things than a lot of people realize. So like it’s very strange kind of you know going on a website and being like “Oh shit like this person thinks I’m a dick.” It’s okay for me to swear right?
MLM: Yeah, that’s fine.
Ok, cool, I just realized I’ve been talking like a sailor this whole time. Um, yea so it’s really weird but I think the bigger and like more well know a band gets it’s like inevitable. Like you do face that because everyday it gets to the point where’s there more people for us to try to say hi to. There’s more you have to deal with and um it takes its toll on the band members because like you know we’re people. We get tired and don’t always want to have to talk to people and stuff. But at the same time it’s like our job and our duty. We owe it to everybody. And that’s always been our standpoint so like you know we’re just trying to find that balance now. I’m sure we’ll continue to have to do that. But I think we’ve been pretty good with it. And I hope people understand.

6. Now for the mandatory new album question. What should fans expect from your new album?
You can expect a lot of pop. It’s fun. Uh, we had a really good time making the record. Um. We didn’t go out on any crazy like you know experimental tangents. It’s really just straightforward pop punk record like we always set out to make. Um, I think we just stepped it up. The EP songs are all pretty old. They’re a few years old. We wrote them when we were all really young. Um, were still young but I think we’ve learned a lot since then.

7. Compared to “Put Up or Shut Up” and “The Party Scene”, describe it in one word.
Energy, there’s just more of it.

8. If you could pick absolutely anywhere to play a show, where would you pick?
Absolutely anywhere? Umm, it would be cool. I always thought it would be cool to like you know like that Avril Lavigne music video where they all roll up and they’re all playing in the street on top of cars?
MLM: Yea
Yea, like that. I’d love to do that. I had this other really funny idea that would be fun to do and we’re still gonna try this out one day I think. Like get a hotel room and get 2 rooms that connect and then open one of the side doors and bring all our equipment including a PA into our room and move all the furniture to one side. And then like inform people. And have all these people show up through the side doors. And then basically like before the hotel even knows what’s going on just have a show in our room. I think that would piss people off a lot but it would be funny.

9. Are you guys excited for your new fan club?
I’m pumped. I’m really excited. That was actually one of the things that people uh got really upset over. Uh there were a few people on like absolutepunk.net and stuff that were not down with it. I think they thought that the idea of like a paid fan club was kind of saying like you have to pay to be our fan. But that’s not the idea at all. Like we don’t see any of that money. We can’t actually run the fan club ourselves. It’s just too big and you know it’s going to require way too much organization. So the money that you pay actually goes to a company so that they can set up promotional things. It will allow people to like bypass ticketmaster and things like that so you can get your tickets for cheaper. It will also give us a way to kind of like find like you know that demographic of people who are like really into being a part of what we’re doing. It’s not by any means saying that if you don’t pay for the fan club you’re not a fan. You don’t have to join. We’ll still love you. We’re still going to be the same dudes that we’ve always been to you. We’re still going to come out after shows and hug everyone. Just if you sign up for the fan club you’ll get things sent to you in the mail and stuff like that cause we’ll know your address. Which is kind of scary. We’ll send you bombs.

10. Think Fast Questions

Coke or Pepsi: Pepsi
Pink or Purple: Pink
Warped Tour or Regular Tour : Oh God. Warped.. I don’t know. Regular tour I guess.
Rap or Country: Rap
Planes or Cars: Planes
East Coast or West Coast: East Coast. Sorry.
Smile or Laugh: Smile
TV or Movie: Movie

11.Describe each member in one word:
Yourself: Leonardo
Rian: Donatello
Jack: Michaelangelo
Zack: Raphael