Our Last Night Interview

One of the most underrated bands in the scene today, comes New Hampshire’s own Our Last Night, forming in 2004 the band has been a underground powerhouse, signing to a major label, releasing 3 killer albums and touring the United States, Europe & Japan, the band shows no signs of stopping. 

HHM – How did the holidays treat you? Have you guys had a nice break? You recently got off of the tour with Woe Is Me and Secrets [amongst others]; how did that go for you guys?

Our Holidays were great, it was nice getting to spend time with our families and friends. The Woe Is Me tour was a blast, tons of great people on the tour and at the shows. A lot of the kids who came to the shows had never heard of us and thought we were a newer band. We have been touring for 5+ years and I got asked multiple times at the shows if it was our first tour.

HHM – The tour was kind of an all‐star lineup in the scene; was it rad to take part in? Good vibes? Shared fans?

1. Kenny Lofton
2. Derek Jeter
3. Barry Bonds
4. Mark McGwire
5. Manny Ramirez
6. Chipper Jones
7. Geoff Biggio
8. Ivan Rodriguez
9. Pedro Martine
…. Is an all‐star lineup. The tour was good though.

HHM – I’m sure you haven’t cooled down too much seeing as you’re set to hit the road with The Color Moral in January; is it safe to say you’re totally soaked [face palm] for that tour?

We brought extra towels.

HHM – [haha] perfect response.

HHM – I imagine your tour schedule has rallied tremendous support for your latest release Age of Ignorance. How has the fan response been to the album? And do you think you’ve won over some new fans shredding the new jams as a supporting act?

We decided to go a slightly different direction with Age Of Ignorance, a lot of our fans really appreciated something new and fresh while some were disappointed that there is less screaming and “breakdowns”. You lose some and hopefully gain more. We definitely won over a lot of new fans from that Woe Is Me tour, I think we got 15k Facebook likes during the tour and since that’s how the music industry judges a bands success maybe we’ll be able to get a few more cool tours coming up!!!

HHM – Which song from Age of Ignorance are you most proud of and why?

I would have to go with a song called Voices. It was the last song we finished for the album; really didn’t have a specific direction for it until it all came together at the end of our time in the studio. It began with one acoustic track and we kept building off of it as we recorded. We actually had a week long break in our studio time for the holidays so I got to mess around with the rough track in my studio at home. I finalized all of the singing melodies and programmed some cool piano/string backing tracks for it.

HHM – I recently got to check out your latest video for “Invincible” and I must say the live footage compilation complimented the audio so well. I hate to generalize/compare but the words “Linkin” and “Park” came to mind watching you guys jam out in that video. How happy were you with how it turned out? Was it a fun process?

Thank you! Our tour manager Curran filmed all of the footage for that video and I edited it myself. A lot of people compare that song to Linkin Park, probably because it is pretty synth heavy and has drawn out ringing guitar chords in the chorus which Linkin Park does in a few of their songs. We are not offended by being compared to a band that has sold millions upon millions of albums. We like the video, I haven’t edited video footage in years so it was fun relearning how to edit. My computer at home isn’t really ideal for video editing, which uses much more ram, so it got frustrating at times but I do like how it turned out.

HHM – Snap to the present; I understand you guys have completed your 3 record deal with Epitaph. Where do you stand with the label? Are you going to resign? Are you shopping other labels? Or are you joining the DIY trend?

We have completed our 3 record deal with Epitaph, it doesn’t look like we will be resigning. I’m sure the feeling is mutual, we have just run our course. This question is actually something we discuss almost every day in our van. We do have other labels that we have talked to that may be interested, and there are others that we haven’t reached out to that may be interested as well. But at the same time we can’t find too many reasons why that would be a good idea. Every band complains about their label, unless they are one of the labels top bands that gets all of their attention. At this point having a label is like a respect factor, the logic that the band must be good if they got signed to a label or the band is unsigned so they must not be as professional or legitimate as this signed band. Hopefully that assumption will be lost once more bands start going DIY. When owning the rights to our songs, actually receiving the profit from our album sales, and having 100% control over the marketing of our band is a possibility, signing to a label doesn’t sound too appealing.

HHM – What are some of the reasons behind Epitaph and Our Last Night parting ways?

Like I said, we originally signed a 3rd album contract. We have released our 3rd album with them and neither party has discussed a resigning. It’s very likely that we opt to not work with any label period.

HHM – What are your plans for the DIY approach? Are you amped on the idea of owing and putting out your own music?

It’s amazing, with outlets like YouTube and Facebook an independent band can easily reach just as many people with their music as a signed band. A lot of labels are just banks, they loan you money so you do the things real bands do. We are able to record our own music and have made many friends over the years that could help us out with everything else. We have been discussing doing a kickstarter/indigogo to help with some of the funding because there are some costs that come along with making an album. Some people criticize this approach but we see nothing wrong with it. Fans give us money, we give them goods/prizes in return, we have enough money to make an album that we are proud of, and everyone is happy.

HHM – I want to kind of rewind now, for fans, and spotlight some significant events in your career: it’s 2007 and you guys ink a deal with Epitaph Records: one of the undisputed top powerhouse indie labels in the scene. Walk me through that process, the courtship, etc. how did it feel?

It was a long time ago, but it was exciting. The call we got from our manager saying Epitaph was interested was more exciting than actually signing the contract. It was just not a surprise at that point but it was a fun moment. We all took pictures of us signing it and stuff.

HHM – Only a year later: Bam! Your debut release on the label charts Billboard… I mean, how did that feel? Was there any personal vindication for your hard work?

It did? Maybe the heatseekers chart, still crazy though. Yeah I mean every day we play shows and kids come out singing the words to our songs, we get that feeling as well. Probably more so than just numbers on a chart.

HHM – On a similar note Age of Ignorance not only charted Billboard but landed inside the top 200; care to share any thoughts on this accomplishment?

This was great! The real test is whether or not you can stay in the top 200 for the weeks to come after.

HHM – I’ve interviewed/done reviews for a couple bands that have been produced by Andrew Wade and I must say: the guy has some serious mixing magic; so I just wanted to ask about your experience working with him on We Will All Evolve?

Our producer for Age Of Ignorance, David Bendeth, mixed We Will All Evolve. A lot of people don’t look at mixing credits but Andrew does not mix all of his projects.  In a lot of cases the producer/engineer does not end up mixing what he recorded. Andrew is a great producer and most people don’t know but he writes some amazing songs of his own.

Grab your copy of Age of Ignorance on iTunes today.

HHM – It’s been a great chat and I kind of want to wrap things up by asking: what is next for Our Last Night? Seeing as we all survived the apocalypse; what can fans expect to see from you guys in 2013?

Super bummed the apocalypse wasn’t real, I’m sick of making difficult decisions like whether I should get drunk or high tonight, pretty rockstar of me right? We’ll be writing new music as soon as we get home from this tour we’re on with The Color Morale in hopes to put out another release ASAP!

HHM – Is there anything else you wish to say to your fans and our readers?

Look out for some new material in 2013! That’s all that matters!