This interview was conducted with frontman, Bryce Avary, at the Sleeping with Giants Tour on November 1st, 2007.

1. After being a musician for a long time, how does it feel to finally break out by having “Do You Feel” released on a major label?
It feels really awesome, you know? I’m just thrilled that I get to play music for a living. So yeah.

2.What was your first gig like?
My first gig was at a coffee house in Grapevine, Texas. I was 14 and I had a PA system and I went there. My friend’s band was playing and he asked if he could borrow my PA system if I went and got it. I told him if he let me play two songs, my band play two songs we could do that. So I went and got it and I just made up the words on the spot because I didn’t have any lyrics written.

3. Did anything in particular inspire “A Song is Not a Business Plan?”
Yeah, definitely. It’s a true story. It’s about breaking down on the side of the road on the east coast and having to cancel shows and stuff. Just you know, it’s about staying true to what you believe in musically and lyrically and stuff.

4. Are you worried that your growing fame will hurt your relationship with your fans?
No because I don’t think that we’re much bigger than we used to be to be honest. So it’s like if we were selling hundreds of thousands of albums it might be a different story. Even if we were to get kind of big or whatever, I don’t think it would ever be something that… I mean it’s so important to me, the fan connection and stuff, so I don’t think so.

5. What was it like to be a part of The Early November’s last tour?
It was fun. It was cool. We felt really privileged to be a part of that.

6. Do you think it was beneficial to have started “The Rocket Summer” at such a young age?
I think so. I mean yes and no, you know? As you grow up you shift a little bit in what you believe as far as lyrically and musically, what you wanted this to be. So it’s kind of like a lot kids, especially these days, get a song off the internet or something. It could be a song that I wrote when I was sixteen or a song I wrote last year. Somebody was asking me about a song I wrote, something about some of my lyrics, and it was a song I wrote when I was 14 years old. It was on my EP and I was kind of like, “Man, that was over 10 years ago.” You know? “If you would have known that. (laughs) You know what I’m saying? So that can sometimes be kind of frustrating…” Just like I put out my first EP when I was like a child. You know what I’m saying? But luckily I still think that CD is pretty good so…

7. What’s your stance on bands/band members being called sellouts for involvement with commercials, products, etc?
I don’t think people know what the word “sellout” means to be honest. Selling out is when you change what you believe in for fame. Like you change your sound, you change your like I don’t know your look, you just change what you’re about and, uh, you take naked pictures of yourself and accidentally put them online. You know, stuff like that. That’s selling out. But like having a song get played on the radio or like MTV putting your video on one of those shows, that’s not selling out. That’s like amazing, you know? Like “Whoa I can’t believe people or MTV or somebody would like catch onto something that’s happening.” That’s happened to us like a little bit. I feel like there’s plenty of bands who are selling out right now. I think there’s a new generation of bands that are straight out of high school and really young that just because of the recent years of popular music have grown up to it differently. This new generation of kids care far more about getting famous and doing exactly like I don’t know freakin’ whoever else is doing at the moment. I think boy bands went away but they’re not really gone. They’re back in the form of cute new emo bands. You know what I’m saying? To me that’s selling out. But I don’t know, sorry for that little rant.

8. Kind of going back to “A Song is Not a Business Plan”, a lot of musicians seem to be too caught up in selling their music. What do you think is the driving force that makes you so much more passionate than other musicians about just putting out music you love?
I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s just that my whole life that’s just all I’ve been, a musician. Like an aspiring, trying to be one when I was really young. I don’t know. Music just means so much to me. Like, it’s cool selling lots of records and getting recognized or whatever but that’s not why you’re supposed to play music. I’d be a liar if I said once in awhile I don’t think about that myself, just like, “Oh, I wish we were selling more records.” But that’s not what it’s about. I think it’s about moving people and inspiring people through your music and helping. If someone comes up to you and says, “This song actually changed my life like for real. Like I was thinking about suicide and then I started listening to this song and I really felt what you were saying.” That’s why I continue to play music.

9. You’ve stated in other interviews that as a kid genre wasn’t important to you as long as the song touched your soul. What made you settle on a popish-rock sound for your own music?
Um, that’s a good question because I want to expand on that so much. I think it’s just what I always sort of had a knack for. I don’t know. I think that’s why. It’s what came easiest to me. I don’t know if I’d be good at writing like a certain kind of music but I feel like I’m a decent song writer of like pop songs I guess. That’s why I guess I’ve stuck with that.

10. A lot of bands will put out a new album and they’ll sound like a completely different band which often upsets fans. You’re good at keeping a consistent sound without getting boring or repetitive. How do you think you are able to accomplish this?
I don’t know. I think uh… Well, thank you, by the way. I don’t know. [laughs] With every record I make I try to like definitely do something different but without like, “Now we’re a cool hip Brooklyn band” or something. Like screw that. You know what I’m saying? I think no matter what, the song is what’s most important, like songwriting, no matter what filter it goes through. Whether it’s an Americana filter or like a rock n’ roll filter, a good song is a good song. I think that’s just always what I’ve focused on. And kind of put like hints of different flavors in it when I’m in the studio but I always just focus on the songwriting. That’s the most important thing.

11. If you could play a show absolutely anywhere, where would you play?
It would be really cool to play where The Beatles played when they were on top of the building. It was like one of their last performances or whatever. That would be really cool. Just to stand in that position, you know.

12. What’s your guilty pleasure T.V. show or movie?
I love “Dog the Bounty Hunter”. That’s probably my biggest guilty pleasure. I watch that all the time.

13. What has been your worst tour experience?
My worst tour experience was probably when I broke down on the side of the road on the east coast. And I got robbed, like 3000 dollars. And we had to cancel shows. It was terrible.

14. If you could have lived in a different decade, which decade would you pick?
Maybe like the 50s.

15. Think Fast Questions
Coke or Pepsi? Used to say Pepsi now I’d say Coke.
Pink or Purple? Purple
Warped Tour or Regular Tour? You’re going to get me in trouble. (laughs) Maybe regular tour but Warped Tour’s awesome.
Rap or Country? Country. My gosh.
Planes or Cars? Cars. Definitely.
East Coast or West Coast? West Coast. Sorry. (laughs) Sorry.
Smile or Laugh? Laugh
TV or Movie? Movie
Cookies or Ice Cream? Ice cream although I don’t even really eat dairy ‘cause I’m a singer and it’s bad for my voice.
Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate
Pen or Pencil? Maybe pen. I’m not really sure on that one.