The boys of Allstar Weekend have come a long way since their debut album, SUDDENLY YOURS, and today, they’re launching their latest album, ALL THE WAY to the public. The Mag got the chance to sit down with the boys of Allstar Weekend, Zach Porter, Cameron Quiseng and Michael Martinez to talk about their latest concert, making the album, and the departure of lead guitarist Nathan Darmody…
How was performing at THE NEXT STAR?
Cameron: It was great, it was the first time we’ve ever played on any type of finale for anything. And it’s cool that we got to come up here to Canada, we don’t get to come up here often so that was nice to see all of our Canadian fans. It was especially cool to see the contestants because at one point in time we were in a similar situation and it kind of brought us back to what it felt like to finally get a big break. For the winner, that was huge! Like, you go from just being a normal kid to going to the competition to now getting a record deal, so it was incredible.
How do you like performing for Canadian crowds?
Zach: Oh, we love coming up here! The kids are always super excited and we did a Canadian tour last spring, we played in a bunch of cities and it was really amazing… They’re really excited, really appreciative of music.
How does it feel to finally have the album go out?
Zach: Oh, it’s amazing. I think it’s a piece of work that we’re really, really proud of and it’s exciting because it really is a lot different than our first record. It’s raw and real and who we are.
Cameron: It opens up a new door, musically. And it’s for our fans, too because it’s a completely different side of Allstar Weekend, completely different than our first album… if you listened to our first stuff, give us a second chance. We promise you’ll like it.
In what way is it different than your first album?
Zach: Musically, it’s a little more complicated… the first record was very power pop and this one is a lot more of other stuff we’ve been working on like, it sort of fuses rock, soul and hip-hop together so it’s different. We all love playing them, we were doing rehearsals last week, preparing to play the new songs live, and they’re just fun to play, it’s refreshing.
Cameron: I think what people are going to notice about this album is that, kind of like other artists in the sense that you listen to Maroon 5 you know that’s a Maroon 5 sound, or when you hear ACDC you know that that’s an ACDC sound, with this album it has a unique Allstar Weekend sound to it, so we’re excited about that.
Do you guys have any favourite tracks on the album?
Cameron: I think we all have different favourite, I really like song called “All the Way”, which is our title track, it’s a pretty good one.
Zach: I really like all of them, so it’s hard to say. I guess “All the Way”, “Undercover”…
Cameron: We actually just listened to the album again last night and we listened to everything but the singles because we’ve heard them so many times.
Michael: I like all of them, but I like all of them at different periods… its different everyday.
What was the biggest thing you learned throughout the process of creating ALL THE WAY?
Zach: That’s a good question, I think the biggest thing that we learned was to survive and take criticism to develop and not be stuck within your own ideas. You just have to be open, as soon as you accept that you’re not perfect, as you progress you’re able to see a side of yourself that you wouldn’t normally see.
Now that ALL THE WAY is out, is there anything in particular that you’d like to try for future albums?
Michael: Yeah, definitely, I think that with this album we were listening to a lot more music… just listening to a lot more things and I think that if you keep doing that it just broadens your approach to music because you create music the way it’s produced. I think that on the next record, there will be a lot more of that. You need to be open to anything because there are all sorts of music styles and when you listen to it you hear that there are cool things that are in every genre of music, but it’s cool to mix everything up, throw it in, and see how it works.
Zach: I think the way we are too, we’re always looking to be creative in other ways… I just did a song the other day that had a spoken verse, we did our own version of “Monster Mash” for Halloween, and it’s things like that, it’s an ongoing process of getting new stuff and playing around with things.
You guys announced recently that Nathan is no longer with the band. How has his leaving affected you guys?
Cameron: One thing about us that not everybody knows is that we were friends long before we were even in a band, so we already have that strong bond. Like, I’ve known Zach since we were in seventh grade, years before we were even musicians. Nathan also went to high school with us, so he was a good friend. Now he’s doing his own thing, he’s at home and he’s doing well, but for us, because we already have that strong bond we’ve accepted everything that’s happened and we’ve moved on and we’re still doing what we were doing before.
Zach: The cool thing is that, because we were that close, we understand and we get him, he’s our best friend, so we understand.
Michael: We’re happy for him knowing he wants to do something else.
Zach: Sometimes these things come up as a crossroads, but the cool thing is that at the end of the day, we can still come together and we’re still friends, and that’s the most important thing, that friendship. We’ve always had that, and we’ll always have that.
Thank you, Cameron, Michael and Zach! For everything Allstar Weekend, check out their website or watch their latest music video of “Blame it on September” below…
http://youtu.be/a2ViIPwFEdY