Following their set on the Vans Warped Tour, 07/22/2016, in Auburn Hills, Michigan, we sat with Matt Brandyberry and Lance Dowdle of From Ashes to New. While he never sat down with us, Brandon ‘Boo’ Kreider made several appearances as well.
Side Stage Magazine: So, how is it going so far? Are you guys having fun on this…?
Matt Brandyberry: How is it going for you?
Lance Dowdle: I think ah…
MB: Putting us on the spot.
LD: It’s probably between… I’ve lost seven or eight pounds so far.
Really?
MB: Six.
LD: All in sweat.
I believe it. It’s probably just water weight, it doesn’t count.
MB: I’ve lost six.
LD: I wanna feel good about myself.
MB: It’s good though. The bands are all hot. I think it all depends on your time slot. They’re saying, out there, it depends on your time slot during the day. If you get a later time slot, like pretty much everyone is dead. (stops talking, looks at us) What are you laughing at?
We point at Lance’s bracelet, which he has been playing with, and it appears to be Pokemon-related)
MB: He’s Team Valor.
LD: That’s right.
It’s very cute.
MB: (shrugs) I don’t know what that is. I just know that I hear you saying it. (laughs) But, the fans have been amazing. Like I said, at the end of the day, they’re kind of dead. So, I’ve been making the comment, if you’re going to die, we’re dying together, you know what I mean. It’s hot; it’s the middle of the summer. Everyone’s out there all day long. Today, we played at noon. You missed it, but it was amazing.
LD: It’s kind of weird …. the headliner goes first and last is the opening slots.
I don’t understand that. It makes no sense.
MB: You’re out in the sun that long…
LD: I understand ‘cuz I hate the sun. This is like as tan as I’ve ever been in my life.
Don’t they give you different time slots every day? They do change it every day, right?
MB: Yes, it changes every day.
Ah. This is my first Warped Tour, so.
MB: Me too.
How many dates have you been on so far? The whole time? The whole thing?
MB: (nods) Mm hm.
I thought so. I didn’t think.. cuz those other guys were just added on…
MB: Yeah, we’ve been on since the beginning.
I know Atreyu just got added on.
MB: Yeah, they were just added on like two days ago. It’s good to see those guys again.
Branden Kreider: (walks up to the table) Don’t believe anything either of them say.
(Matt and Lance laugh.)
Ringing endorsement.
LD: I’m right there with you, Branden. She’s been busting my balls ever since I sat down.
BK: You have?
She actually has.
BK: Good, he deserves it.
In a good way.
LD: Hey, I thought you said not to listen to her, man.
SS (Kelly) and MB (simultaneous): No, he told me/her not to listen to you.
LD: Oh. I thought he…
Is there much of a difference between inside arenas and outside?
MB: Yes. (laughs)
LD: Definitely. (laughs)
Aside from the obvious?
BK: It’s much cooler on the inside than the outside. Unless it’s winter. Outside. Then it would definitely be much cooler outside.
As Branden leaned into the recorder to speak, I noted he had a cut below his right eye.
What did you do to your face?
BK: Me and my guitar got into a fight while we played today.
Aww, we missed it.
Obviously, your guitar won.
BK: Yeah, my guitar wins.
Which do you prefer, playing inside or outside?
LD: Inside
Or does it depend on the season?
MB: Inside. It’s all about … honestly, for me, as a vocalist, it’s all about air quality.
BK: Definitely inside.
MB: If the air quality is terrible…
If it wasn’t 95 degrees in Michigan humidity, would outside be better?
BK: Yeah, I prefer places without UV.
Is there such a thing?
BK: I don’t know, but I want to find it.
There is a thing called sunblock.
LD: Oh, we have plenty of that.
MB: You see Lance walking around with an umbrella.
We could get him one.
LD: Not one of those. I do have a few manly qualities. Holding an umbrella in the sun is just not going to happen.
MB: Do you want me to hold it for you?
BK: Wasn’t that ah.. P-Diddy had his little side-kick? What was his name?
MB: P-Diddy?
BK: Yeah, held his umbrella for him.
We could find you one… a sidekick to hold your umbrella. Kelly? Would you like to volunteer? I will hold an umbrella.
LD: All right.
I have nothing better to do. I’ll be the girl.
MB: (pretending to interview) What’s your job? (pretending to be me) I hold an umbrella for Lance.
I read that you all had full-time jobs while you were recording?
MB: Mm hmm.
SS (Kelly): So what were doing? Can you say?
MB: He wasn’t there (pointing to Lance).
LD: Yep, I wasn’t there.
MB: His full-time job was to be in another band. I was working for ComCast. I was a cable guy.
Actually going out to people’s houses and installing…
MB: Yep, I was a service technician, in the union. Brandon was an ironworker. Chris was…
BK: Yeah, I built steel buildings and crap. (wanders away from the table)
MB: Yeah, Brandon built steel buildings and crap. He was also a stunt double for Mel Gibson.
(silence)
Very nice. Are you … serious?
MB: Yeah, look at him.
BK: Wait? What? (coming back, having heard his name)
MB: Chris was a stripper.
LD: (to Brandon): Matt said you were Mel Gibson’s stunt guy.
BK: Oh, yeah, I also did a little bit of Mel Gibson’s stunt double work.
MB: Chris was a stripper.
LD and BK (simultaneous): Chris was a stripper.
Full or just top [less]?
MB: No, airplanes. He stripped paint of airplanes.
(complete laughter)
I did read that. Why didn’t I remember that?
MB: What did you think I meant?
Um.. Something with a pole.
MB: And Tim was a fluffer.
(everyone laughs)
MB: And that’s exactly what you thought. You take that for what it’s worth.
This is probably the worst interview you’ve ever had.
MB: No, that was a good one.
LD: These are the ones we like.
MB: Yeah, this is the best kind of interview.
So, I think you’ve all officially quit those jobs?
MB: No, Tim’s still a fluffer.
(everyone laughs)
At this point, Branden has grabbed my notepad (with my questions) from me and is studying it.
I’m not necessarily asking all of those.
LD: Branden, what are you doing?
BK: Um, taking over this interview.
LD: You want to ask us questions?
Go for it. I already asked this one (pointing to one). You know you can make up your own questions.
BK: Which one have you asked?
I pointed to one question
BK: Just that one? We’ve only got that far?
Well, I’m skipping around.
MB: Martha Stewart, … , and Oprah Winfrey. You’ve got to kill one, marry one and …
BK: How much do you make before taxes a year?
LD: Before taxes? I don’t know.
That is not on the list, by the way.
MB: I don’t feel comfortable answering this question.
BK: What’s your social security number?
MB: Seven
BK: Who influenced you to suck as a guitar player?
MB: Branden Kreider
BK: I quit. (throws my notepad down and walks around the table, repeating) I quit. I quit.
MB: Branden Kreider influenced me to suck at guitar.
That was supposed to be who influenced you to play…
BK: That hurts my feelings.
MB: Let’s try to be serious.
BK: Lance, did you catch any Pokemon in here?
LD: No, I’d get arrested. They’d kick me right out.
MB (reading a sign in the press room) : No catching Pokemon in the press area.
So, when you’re out touring, have you guys got a best venue that you’ve played?
MB: A best venue? That we’ve played? In like all of touring?
In all of touring.
MB: Ahhhhh….
Maybe the coolest place you’ve played? Or maybe just the coolest crowd.
MB: I mean, hometown. I’m going to go with home, because you’re home. It’s home. Home is home. Home’s cool. Home is where the heart is.
Like literally playing in your back yard?
MB: Yes, playing in my basement. It’s got a dirt floor. Playing in my dirt floor basement.
(laughter)
MB: No, Chameleon Club, Lancaster Pennsylvania. And my dirt floor basement.
What about the worst venue, if you can say?
MB: Oh, we played this shitty venue…
LD: Jerry’s Pizza.
MB: Oh, Jerry’s Pizza,
LD: Jerry’s Pizza, Bakersfield California.
MB: But, we played this other shitty venue before Lance was in the band. It was in New Jersey. I forget what it was called, but it was in Trenton. It was in the basement of a bar, but it smelled like people had just been pissing on the floor for like weeks. There were six people there. It was actually worse that Jerry’s Pizza with turnout. If that’s possible.
LD: You guys played anyways?
MB: We played in front of six people. One of the kids came out and saw us in Homedale. He’s like, you remember this show? And I was like, yeah, I do. He was like, I was there. I was one of the only people there. I was like, thanks for coming to see us again.
Touring… what would your dream lineup to play with be?
LD: Babymetal would open, then we’d be main support and Michael Jackson would come back from the dead. For three hours.
MB: I like that. I like that. I’m going to go with Barry Manilow, opening. Us, main support and then Eminem is the headliner. It’s a helluva tour, you know.
That would be, cross genre.
MB: At the very end, the last song, we’d all collab. Picture that, Barry Manilow and Chris, just killing it. Barry Manilow’ll wear contacts.
(laughter)
What do you do in your downtime when you’re on tour? Besides chase Pokemon?
LD: Yeah, I’m a total nerd. I just play games.
MB: I work out. And, try to sleep as much as I can.
Do you bring stuff with you?
MB: No, I have a gym membership to a gym that’s pretty much everywhere. We all do. We all work out.
So we can see you working out in the gym.
MB: That’s absolutely right. No one ever notices us. Apparently, the people who go to the gym don’t listen to our music. At least the gyms that we go to.
If they’re in every place, they’d have to be pretty common gyms.
MB: We get, on social media, a lot of people say they work out listening to our music, it helps with their work outs. I’m really surprised that we haven’t been noticed in gyms.I think that Lance needs to wear his mask and people will know who we are.
Let’s ask one serious question. Your first album did amazing. How is this one doing in reference to that? Is it as good as you expected at this point?
MB: Our record?
Yeah.
MB: Well, this is our first record.
Oh, right, the other is an EP.
MB: The EP did well, but the record… way better. It was the top debut record in the last ten years. So. Insane. The fans are amazing. Satellite radio is what found us and the fans are what continue to drive us forward. (turns and looks at Lance, who has pulled a lock of his hair across his face as a mustache and laughs). If you could have a picture of Lance’s face right now. It’s been fun.
Well, thanks so much. It has been fun.
