I See Stars guitarist Brent Allen talks about the band's musical evolution with most recent album "Treehouse" and overcoming their latest lineup change.
Music Connection: To start off…one of my favorite things about you guys is that every single album sounds different. They have a different theme. It’s super amazing to get your hands on a band who can evolve every single album. [Your most recent release] Treehouse is your biggest change in sound—arguably. What caused you to go in that direction?
Brent Allen: I get asked a similar question once in awhile, and I like that people are noticing that we’re changing—that’s important for us. As artists we want to keep it fresh for ourselves and for our fans. For us, we’re constantly changing what we like and what we’re listening to as we get older, and we like to truly bring in the influences that we like as individuals and actually put them into the sound somehow. Obviously over the years we get older and we listen to new things…just keep making fresh music and not recycle our albums, which I’ve seen done too many times.
MC: Yeah it’s unfortunate cause you wanna be like, “Ugh! I wanna grow!” but at the same time fans make it a little hard and want to give a little pushback…
Allen: And that is exactly right! If you follow a band—and you said we’re constantly changing—I feel like at this point if people are surprised, I can’t help you! This is what we do. If you’re not with it then I don’t know what to say.
MC: Was it in the back of your heads the idea that the fans might be like, “Oh this might be a little too much.” Were there any doubts with that?
Allen: Absolutely. In some ways kids feel like you’re writing the records for them as an individual, and the truth is we’re not doing that. We’re not writing music because people bought the last record—we’re writing it because we’re artists and we like to write music. We like all kinds of different things: we like singing, we like screaming, we like electronic. And I can only assume over the years, we’ll create more stuff for those kids over there, we’ll have stuff for those kids over there…if people wanna ditch us in the dark then whatever! I’ll see you when the heavy album comes out! So it’s not something where we’re like, “We have to put in these parameters.” We just go for it and cross our fingers.
MC: Would that be your best advice for a band that has those doubts and to over come those fears?
Allen: It is a fear. It’s easy to look at a band that’s already doing something and you say to yourself, “Well they have fans so I might as well do what they’re doing so that I, too, can have their fans.” Whereas I think it’s important to create something unique so that you create your own fan instead of trying to follow along with what somebody else is doing. It’s important to keep it fresh and do something unique. That is the best way to go about it.
MC: Speaking of writing music, you guys did have a bit of a lineup change before this new album came out. Did that have any effect on your writing process?
Allen: I’m sure it did. But we’ve been writing for so long; even as individuals we like to write music, electronic music, country music or whatever. We’ll do it all. We’ve been doing it for so long—I don’t wanna say we’re GOOD at it—but definitely getting better at it and we’re exercising that whole thing.
This record we’ve brought in some other people too to help out writing the record, producing the record, putting their little spin on things. So it was a whole new process putting this one together, but I wouldn’t say we’ve been hindered by any means.
MC: Say a band is going through a lineup change, what would you advise them on surviving? Cause sometimes a band goes through a lineup change and it’s kind of the end, the snowball effect…
Allen: And that was a thought of ours cause it’s scary when that stuff happens. Coming from a fan perspective, I’ve had enough bands that I’ve seen fall to pieces, and that’s a really sad thing. For us it was important to shut the fuck up and don’t get over-active on the Internet. Don’t try to explain your way out, don’t try to glamorize what’s going on.
Chances are it’s a life thing where people are not agreeing, or somebody’s being pushed into a direction that’s maybe not working for the whole band. That’s kinda just it is what it is. For us we just wanted to keep the ball rolling—didn’t wanna make it a whole big deal. We’re actually still really good friends with those guys. It’s not the worst case scenario.
MC: It’s one of those where everyone grows up different. Sometimes you end up going your separate ways.
Allen: That’s it! We’ve been in this band for a long time, and at some point, the tectonic plates gotta shift. Mountains happen…earthquakes!
MC: You guys have done Warped three times, so I’m considering you guys veterans…
Allen: We’re our junior year! Working on my Bachelor’s right now. Head for the Doctorate later.
MC: How does this year’s Warped Tour compare to the past years? What have you learned?
Allen: I’ve thought about that too. What have I learned? What’s different about my approach this time? This time is very, very successful. A positive presence on the tour, we’ve made a lot of good friends. Coming into it was…I had less of this feeling like this was “our” tour—feel like sometimes bands come in ready to show off, go out and do their thing really hard. I feel like this year we’re really trying to play along, follow the rules and stay within our lines. Just be respectful, be helpful…all those things combine into one leads for a very positive experience on a tour like this.
MC: Was there anybody on the tour that you knew you had to be there to see every day?
Allen: New Found Glory is a big influence of mine. Being younger listening to those guys. Even your Sum 41’s, Good Charlotte’s—those are bands that you looked up to EVER. Even with Yellowcard we did a bowling tournament the other day, and I’m sitting here in Lane 20 and Lane 21 is fucking Yellowcard and the other’s New Found Glory, and I’m like, “I’m not mad! It could be worse! I could be bowling with my grandma or something but it’s these guys!”
MC: Who won?
Allen: Yellowcard won actually. We got out in the first rounds so yeah…
MC: For new bands looking to do Warped Tour, what is the biggest thing they can gain?
Allen: Relationships. You can meet a lot of cool people. Get on a level with people that you thought you never could. Just sitting in the back of your trailer at the end of the show and be parked next to whoever. I’ve managed to have some great conversations with some influential people and you know them on a first name basis, and that, over the course of a career, really helps when you’re able to show up at festivals and be in a circle of people that you might look up to, potentially might tour with one day because you had a decent conversation with them.
The other thing obviously is when you’re performing you have great opportunity to reach a lot of fans. You go out there and do your thing, do it well, don’t act like an asshole, it will be very, very positive.
MC: Last question for you: what do you guys have coming up that fans can look forward to?
Allen: We’re doing a Fall tour with Asking Alexandria and Born of Osiris! I think we have some overseas stuff we’re trying to work out right now. Other than that I’m going to take a long needed nap after this tour, and that’s about it! Probably about three hours on the couch and I’ll be ready to go.
For more information, visit iseestarsmusic.com.
