Why is there such a big gap between
the two albums?
The main reason is that we got dropped from Atlantic; it took them about two years to actually drop us so it was two
years that we couldn’t do anything. Then after that… a lot of the guys who were in the band weren’t
around anymore. All of that… and me with my personal life… being married and having kids… that
took away from it too. It took a long time to get everything going.
Compare the two albums for me.
I don’t think they compare at all. After that much
time… I think bands usually grow over that time. I’m the only one that played on this record that played
on the first record. It’s still my songwriting, but it has a totally different feel… this one is a lot
more directional than the first; the first one was kind of all over the place. We’re a totally different band;
just new members and the same name.
How has family life changed you personally and musically?
Musically… not really… that will take
you in a totally different direction if you start letting your songwriting go in that direction. The biggest way that
it has effected me is…I don’t feel like I’m the same person I used to be. Touring is very important
to do, but it’s now secondary to me now because it’s so hard to be away from home.
So they don’t come with you
on tour?
No, that would be so hard… on them and on everyone else. We’re just not going to tour for more than
six weeks at a time so it doesn’t get out of hand.
How did you get involved with writing a song for Daughtry?
I kind of fell into it;
someone submitted the song…so I really had nothing to do with it. They worked on it from there; I just wrote
the original version of it. I wrote it and it was a song that was going to be on this record for us… and our
label didn’t like the song.
Do you regret it?
No, to think that it would do the same thing for me than it did for him… that’s kind
of ignorant. I still think it did me good to do it; I want to get into that world anyway… so after I’m
done touring I want to get more into writing for other people. I’m working on some songs right now for other people;
and I definitely want to submit some songs for whoever wins American Idol.
You said the lineup in the band has changed; what new elements
or sounds did they bring with them?
No new elements or sounds; our drummer used to be our harmony vocals… and now our guitar
player does. The whole album is two guitars, a bass, drums and a couple vocals…
How has growing up in a small town in Alabama molded you into
the person you are today?
You definitely learn… knowing who you are beforehand… that definitely helps you from
getting lost out there. I had a really good family too; so it was never really a hard thing for me… we’re
actually hoping to move back to Alabama.
How’s the tour with Hurt been so far?
It’s interesting; it’s definitely a different crowd
than what we’re used to… we play a lot more of our rock songs on this tour than we usually do. It’s
going good; the hardest thing for us is the fact that we haven’t toured in four years now… so just touring is
tough.
Any
headlining tours planned
Not headlining, maybe on our major summer tour later. This tour is good for us to get our feet wet,
but it’s not going to be the one that resurrects us.
