Sleeping With Sirens – The 13th Floor Interview

US rockers Sleeping With Sirens are set to return to Auckland’s Powerstation this Sunday night.

The band is on the road supporting their latest album, Gossip, which finds the quintet moving from rock to pop.

But rockers, fear not! As lead vocalist Kellin Quinn tells The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda, “our next record is definitely going to be a little bit heavier”.

Click here to listen to the interview with Sleeping With Sirens’ Kellin Quinn:

 

Or, read a transcription of the interview here:

 

KQ: I’m at home at my house in Michigan right now, actually. Getting prepared to go to Nashville to meet up with my lead guitar player, we’re going to start churning out some new single ideas and stuff before we head over there.

MD: Oh, cool. Did I read somewhere that you were working on some new stuff a little while ago? I guess you did some writing in LA? Is this a continuation of that?

KQ: Yeah, I mean we’ve just been kinda just scratching the surface, it’s really important for us to sonically know where we wanna take the next record, and I think that we finally figured it out. So we’re going to Nashville, to do some writing. Me and Jack with a dude named Whakaio [Taahi], who used to play guitar in Tonight Alive, we’re gonna work with him on some stuff. And yeah, see if we can get some ideas ready to go to LA, after this Australia-New Zealand trip, to actually lay down a recording. The plan is to try to get a single out, hopefully later on this year.

We’re definitely going to go back to a more rock sound I think for the new record.

MD: Cool. So if you’re going to Nashville, have you guys gone country? What’s the story?

KQ: No, man. It’s funny because a lot of rockers actually go into Nashville now, so. My guitar player Jack just moved there. So that’s why I’m heading out there – to work with him.

MD: So you say you’ve got an idea for the direction that you’re headed into? Can you elaborate on that? Can you give us an idea, any insights into what’s going to be happening?

KQ: Well, our record Gossip was a little bit more on the pop side, we’re definitely going to go back to a more rock sound I think for the new record, that kinda bridges the gap. One of my favourite  bands of all time is Incubus, and I think that a lot of Incubus influence and 30 Seconds to Mars influence, probably, for this next record.

MD: Gossip has been out a while, and you guys have been on the road with it for a while. Like you say, it had a distinct change in musical direction for a more pop sound. How did your fans react to it?

KQ: You know, surprisingly the fans, our core fans were really, really receptive to it. I feel like the song Legends goes off really, really well every single night when we play it, and people sing it really, really loud.

MD: I’ll bet.

KQ: You know, we have some rock songs on that too – what’s that?

MD: I said, “I’ll bet they do!”

KQ: Oh, yeah, yeah! And then you know, we have the rockier songs on the record too, like Empire To Ashes, which always does really, really well with the crowd, so. There are some pop influences on the record, but I think that we’ll be able to utilize a lot of those pop influences. In the summer we’re planning to do a… unplugged acoustic tour that we’re talking about doing. We’ll be able to incorporate a lot more of the poppier-sounding stuff, and give like a stripped down version of those songs, which will be really, really cool.

Cause I think that it’s important to showcase the lighter side of our music, I think that we can kinda do both. And I feel like maybe next time around, our next record is definitely going to be a little bit heavier, because I’m in that kind of mood. But I think that this record Gossip that we just did… It was a record I needed to write. It was a direction I needed to take the band, and see what would happen, and we got a lot of really, really cool sounds out of it. Like, the song Trouble and the song Gossip, getting on the more blues realm with band. Jack comes from such a bluesy background, that I wanted to showcase his guitar skills on songs like that. And you know, I have a poppier voice, so I wanted to take the band in a poppier direction. You know, we do what we did!

It was a record I needed to write. It was a direction I needed to take the band, and see what would happen.

MD: So you did! It sounds like you and Jack have quite a relationship. How would you describe how that has developed over the years? You’ve been together for quite a while now.

KQ: Yeah! You know, Nick does a lot with the band too. He’s an incredible rhythm guitar player, he’s incredible in the studio, he’s very consistent. But I think that – I feel like, when it comes to creating, me and Jack have a distinct vision. And one of the things we ran into issues with on the last record, just working with the producer, David [Bendeth], who likes to take control of the “band situation”, we didn’t have the opportunity to be as creative in our own sight as we wanted to. And there are things that I think he and I would have done a little bit differently if we had the opportunity to, looking back on it. So we’re going to dial things back more on this record, bring it back to home base. We’re talking about working with Zakk Cervini, who used to be John Feldmann’s engineer, but now he’s doing a lot of records, which include the new Good Charlotte record that he’s working on currently. And he’s incredible at what he does. And he’s got a killer distinct vision for our band too, he’s grown up listening to our records for a long time. So I think that, with me and Jack and Zakk behind the wheel, it’s going to be – it’ll be a little bit more familiar than this last record.

MD: Can you imagine a time when the band just self-produces instead of bringing somebody on? Because I know that you’ve brought a different person on board each time to produce. Or do you guys enjoy getting somebody from an outside perspective in there?

KQ: No, the thing about David is that he’s come to so many of our shows, and just, been like, “I really want to do your record, I really want to do your record,” and we really, kind of vibed with him in a sense where we wanted to give him a chance to take our band where he thought it would go. And that’s just the way it works with a lot of producers. John Feldmann’s a lot that way. I mean, he’s more toward that realm as well, where he wants to get behind the wheel and drive the band. We’ve done records with other producers like Cameron Mizell and he’s more hands-off. Like he’s more – you do you, and we’ll tweak things here and there. I think that we have a vision of what we wanna do this time around that’s pretty distinct, so I think bringing it back to the band is going to be a really good thing.

MD: Cool. You’ve had a little bit of time off the road before you’re heading back on, is that right? You’ve been down for a month or so?

KQ: Yeah.

MD: In that time, if I’m not mistaken, you hosted a pop-up art show, is that right?

KQ: Yeah, I did a pop-up art show, and I did a pop-up acoustic performance kinda showcase for my clothing line too.

MD: Right. So you’re doing a relaunch for the clothing…tell me first about your art. And how – what that’s all about.

KQ: Yeah! So about a year ago, I started painting and drawing skulls. And a year went by and I had all these paintings of skulls, and my wife’s like, “What are you going to do with all these paintings?”

And I decided, I have enough of them to do some sort of art showing, and I had a collection. It was always something that I wanted to do, so it kinda made sense to get it done this time around while I was home. So that was really cool, because I got to spend time with around 59 of our fans, who came to the show, and just really get to talk to them about art, talk to them about the band, talk to them about music in general, and it was a really, really cool experience. It was awesome. It puts our fans in more of like a… less of like “hey, I’m looking at you on stage, and I get to see you for a few minutes.” It put more of a human interaction on it, which was really, really cool.

I wanted to create something that has meaning and that has a reason for people wanting to wear it. You know, we’re all about spreading the positivity and good messages.

MD: You say you just started drawing a year or so ago, but have you always been interested in art? Do you have an artists that you look to, and follow, and are influenced by? That kind of thing?

KQ: I’ve been drawing and painting and stuff my whole life, and my grandma is definitely the reason for that. She definitely got me into art when I was a young kid, and that’s kind of what I thought I was going to do for the majority of my life. And then music took a hold, and then took over. So that’s where my life’s been. But I like to do it as much as I can when I have downtime.

MD: Right, right. And the clothing – your line is going through a relaunch? Is that what’s happening?

KQ: Yeah. I think we’re kind of doing a, uh, relaunch and a rebranding of it. It’s something that I’ve always been passionate about, and now that the band’s going to start getting busy again, I wanted to bring it back. I wanted to create something that has meaning and that has a reason for people wanting to wear it. You know, we’re all about spreading the positivity and good messages. I want to start doing this thing once a month where we feature some sort of artist, whether it be like a musician, or an artist, like a painter, someone like that. Or even somebody that like, skateboards or does something like that. And feature them as like an Artist of the Month on our page. And get to help them live their anthem. So you know, if some kid skates and he’s always wanted to go to a certain skate park, I wanna help him make that happen. Or if a band wants to play a certain show, I wanna try to make that happen, and just kinda help people’s dreams come true.

MD: That’s an admirable thing to try to do. Do you still keep in touch with the whole skating thing? Do you get out there and do it yourself, or…? How connected are you with it?

KQ: Yeah! I still like and get out there and do it myself. I mean, I’m not trying to grind rails or do anything like that now. But I like to get on and cruise around. I like to try to be active in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s working out. So, whatever that is.

Going on stage is a joy. And that’s something that I always want to continue to feel playing music.

MD: And not hurt yourself at the same time, I assume.

KQ: Exactly, yeah.

MD: Alright. So – this next leg of the tour is still – it’s a pretty long stretch. I think you start off in Honolulu and then you’re coming down to this part of the world, and then you’re heading off to Europe…how do you prepare – how do you look forward to something like that? Is it like, “Oh my God, I can’t believe I’ve gotta do this,” or … what kinda thing goes through your mind when you see this long string of dates in front of you?

KQ: No, man, I look forward to it. I mean, anytime that we’re not touring at home, in the US, I get excited because I feel like it’s an opportunity to go somewhere else we haven’t been in a while. There’s an energy, there’s an excitement. So it’s like, going on stage is a joy. And that’s something that I always want to continue to feel playing music. So I’m excited to do these next string of tours, and you know, hopefully it inspires me to continue writing, and getting prepared for this next record that we’re about to put out.