Not A Smiths B-Side: Taking Back Sunday Keep It Real

I prepared for this interview by buying some film for my camera, making sure the batteries were fresh, and rocking some of Taking Back Sunday's Tell All Your Friends. I was told I was the photographer for this interview, but like most things in life things changed very quickly.

The day before the interview our editor and expert interviewer Tim, who was supposed to conduct the interview, experienced an unexpected death in the family and would be out of town for the interview. Tim was prepared like any good interviewer would be, he gave me his notes, interview questions, and a reassuring pat on the back with a "you'll do fine,” thus the reins were past. I scrambled to study the notes during the little time I had my nerves took over, all I could think was how many ways I could screw up. This would be my first interview; my place is behind the lens, although I had photographed countless bands, face-to-face interviewing would be a whole new word for me. Not to mention This is Taking Back Sunday (TBS), they have been touring relentlessly with their runaway hit Tell All Your Friends, they have released two videos that have been on heavy rotation on MTV2, and are now headlining and selling out shows across the country.

With all their ducks in a row TBS is posed to take over MTV and the airwaves. I was pretty numb when I met with Bassist Shaun Cooper on the tour bus before they took the stage at Bogart's in Cincinnati Ohio. I nervously explained how things had been switched and I would be conducting the interview with Tim's questions, I was quickly calmed by Shaun's pleasant demeanor and with in moments we were off and running.

Interview conducted in person by Clark.

Names: Shaun Cooper (bass)
Band: Taking Back Sunday

BettaWreckonize: If you would just state your name for us
S: Shaun from taking back Sunday, I play bass

BW: Let’s just start it off, did you guys really start playing in 2002 like it says on Victory Records web site, or have you been playing longer?
S: Well this line up got together, in gawd, 2001

(Eddie the guitar player walks on the bus, says, “hello,” and takes a seat near by.)

S: I’m trying to think, this line up been together for about two years now. I think it was near the end of 2001. It was actually on New Years Eve when we played our first show with this line up.

BW: Oh really, who did you play with?
S: The Reunion Show actually, I think it was just the two of us. It was at our friend’s who actually directed the video for us, his girlfriend’s house.

BW: Cool, I had read you guys have been helping out The Reunion Show a lot.
S: Oh yeah, we try. They’re good friends of ours, and you know we have been on a lot of tours with them.

BW: Are you from the same hometown?
S: Yeah exactly, we’re all from Long Island.

BW: Ah yeah very cool, they are a great band. You guys have toured pretty relentlessly the last six months, has it blown your mind to see the crowds exponentially growing from week to week?
S: Oh yeah its beyond us! We don’t understand what is going on we just know it’s really fuckin' cool! (Everybody laughs.)

BW: Yeah.
S: Yeah its so weird, were not used to it. Every step we take I’m just like,”WOW! This is crazy!”

BW: Has it been hard to stay humble with your popularity growing?
S: I think as a whole we’re pretty humble guys. We realize that we are very very lucky to be in the position that we’re in. So, I think it’s pretty easy to stay humble when that’s just like the person you are.

BW: You guys just got back from Texas?
S: Yeah.

BW: The Stress Fest; where was that at?
S: It was actually at Emo’s.

BW: Ahh right on, in Austin. How did that go?
S: It was awesome we played another show for AMP energy drink that was really cool too. We played that show with Recover then we had The Stress Fest with lots of different bands.

BW: Isn’t that Recover’s hometown?
S: Yeah it is. It was a great time, we had a lot of fun and just got to hang out, it was totally different from last year when we played. We stayed at this motel where there were whores fighting in the parking lot! (laughter) Honestly they were, it was disturbing!

BW: (while laughing) Texas is another place!
S: Yeah it is, it’s another world.

BW: How did you guys get hooked up with that (The Stress Fest)?
S: We’re good friends with Derek Hess.

BW: Oh really?
S: Yeah, he was actually hanging out past couple nights. We were in Cleveland last night and that is where he is based out of.

BW: Right.
S: So that’s how we hooked it up. We actually played a show when we were on the Victory tour that was back in March just over a year ago. Our show was cancelled in Cleveland and he said just come down to my study and just play, dick around, we said, “All right cool!” So we were just hanging out with some of the guys in Grade and we just played a set and it was basically just him and the guys from Grade watching us, we had a good time it was fun. That’s when our relationship started with him.

BW: You guys got an opening spot on the Vans Warped Tour this year what are some of the bands you are you the most excited to spend the summer with?
S: Dropkick Murphy’s and Rancid, by far. I’m in awe of them, I’m so nervous! I grew up on that music; I still listen to it and love it so it’s going to be really intimidating to have to play on the same stage as those guys.

BW: I can only imagine!
S: Weird but very exciting though.

BW: You’ve been out on the road with leagues of bands in a short amount of time and I wanna know the low down. What is the craziest band you ever toured with? Also, if you were forced to “royal rumble” with another band, who do you think you could take and who could take you?
S: Oh gawd, I think a bunch of bands could take us. (laughter) We’re a bunch of wusses!

BW: Like the Dropkick’s maybe?
S: Yeah they would beat the piss outta us, inside of three seconds! They have a lot of dudes and there all like…tough… Boston dudes so don’t wanna mess with them! (Laughter) Reach The Sky is also another one who would beat the piss out of us as well. Who could we take?

BW: Yeah there has got to be somebody?
S: Student Rick! (Laughter) If they were still together I think we could take them. Except for Zack their drummer he was really really cool and Jason their bass player we got to be really tight with. But I think if there was a fight we could….

BW: If you had to throw down.
S: Yeah. If it came down to it we could pull that off.

BW: All right, you guys are touring so much is it hard to maintain relationships with you family, friends, and people at home?
S: Well the family and friends we have back home I think all of us are very lucky and have a very tight knit group of family and friends. I know Marc and I have the same group of friends and nothings really changed, we still talk on the phone with them whenever we get a chance. When we go back home nothing feels like it has changed. Same with family, we have really tight knit families, we can always go back to them and they will always be there for us when we come home.

BW: Very cool. Do you think the lifestyle is worth the stress of constantly being away from home?
S: Yeah, as far as I know with everyone in the band. I don’t think we could really do anything else so its kind of what we have to do, it’s what we love to do, so we’re very fortunate to be able to do “this”, its amazing.

BW: (I fumble with a very long question that sounded something like “blah blah blah plaaaat” that never did quite make sense to me)
S: Wow, long winded question.

BW: Yeah that is a totally long-winded question! I’m not into it let’s skip, it shall we? (Laughter)
S: (while laughing) Yeah why not.

BW: Where and when did you record Tell All Your Friends?
S: We recorded that in December of 2001. We did it at Big Blue Meanie Studios in Jersey City, New Jersey. With Tim Gillason and our producer Sal Villanueva who we love. Hopefully we are going to take him back there when we decide to record our next record

BW: How long did it take you to record?
S: I think it was over the span of a month but there were some times when we had to take off because Adam got sick for about a week or so and he had to get his voice back. So I think the whole process ended up taking about a month.

BW: Cool, I have another big question for you. I notice a lot of gun imagery in a few of the songs, “Tell All Your Friends” and specifically “Cute Without The E” and “There’s No I in Team”. I’m assuming it’s mostly metaphorical; did it seem unusual that MTV censored your mention of the word “gun” in the text that it was in?
S: I thought that was very, very, strange to censor the word, then again I don’t write the lyrics that’s all Adam and John. But it’s very strange that they would censor “that gun.” Its not like I’m gonna shoot you or anything like that

BW: Right, right.
S: I just think there lot worse things that can be said than that. So I think its silly to try to censor that. I don’t even know what that could do? How a kid could misconstrue that and think of it as violence, its weird. You know they censored The Transplants song “Diamonds and Guns,” it’s just “D&G”.

BW: Oh yeah your right!
S: Yeah I was like, “That’s freaking’ weird.”

BW: Yeah I didn’t even notice that one. Do you own a gun?
S: I actually do! (Laughter) I got a shotgun for my 16th birthday because my dad and I used to go hunting and stuff, but I never killed anything.

BW: That is quality!
S: (laughing) Well yeah, I am a gun owner.

BW: During the video for “Cute Without The E”, girls are kicking the crap out of you. Can you talk a little bit about the concept behind that video and did you end up with any actual injuries during the video shoot?
S: Well the concept, Adam had an idea from a long time ago about "Fight Club," he is a big fan of Fight Club and all of that author’s work, so that’s why he decided to do that and we thought, “Yeah that’s a really cool idea. That will work.” So we had our friend, Christian Winters, who directed our first video, do that and he did it really well. There were a bunch of injuries; I got punched in the mouth a bunch of times. The girl didn’t know how to pull a punch, so I was just getting nailed.

BW: Really!?
S: Yeah I was all cut up on the inside of my mouth and my teeth hurt pretty badly.

BW: Was it worth it?
S: Oh yeah, absolutely!

BW: Who is the girl singing back up during “Bike Scene?”
S: That is Michelle Nolan, she is John’s sister. We knew she had a great voice, we used her on the demo, we just thought it would be a cool thing and she did it, it turned out great.

BW: Keeping it in the family?
S: Yeah.

BW: Did the name Taking back Sunday really come from a Smith’s song?
S: No!

BW: No?
S: No that’s a load of shit, we don’t really know were it came from. So that’s why we came up with that little story. I think there might have been a band that used to play shows on Long Island who had a song called “Taking Back Sunday.” I think that might be were it came from because when I joined the band that is one of the first questions I asked them, “where did this name come from?” and no one knew.

BW: (laughing) Not from a Smith’s song?
S: Definitely there is not a Smith’s B-side. You’ll have a really hard time finding it because it doesn’t exist.

BW: We should send people on a hunt for it. Are you fans of The Smith’s?
S: I am not but John is a very big Smiths fan, The Smiths and Morrissey

BW: What kinds of bands have influenced the way you write music or the kind of band you would like to be?
S: I very happy with the kind of band we are. This is music that I really like and am very proud of. I wouldn’t want to pick any other band, if I were to do that I wouldn’t be in this band, I would be doing that. But we all listen to such a mixture of music it ridiculous. Eddie is a big Quicksand fan, John The Smiths and Morrissey, Adam is a big Lifetime fan, Mark loves Hatebreed, and I love punk rock like you know Rancid, Dropkick, and all those bands. It is just a big mixture.

BW: Has being around any of the other guys influenced any new stuff that you listen to?
S: Oh yeah a little bit because it all kind of rubs off.

BW: Open some doors maybe?
S: Yeah I have been listening to a lot more Radiohead because John was listening to it, that kind of drew me in. Whiskeytown is also very good, that is what Adam is listening to a lot.

BW: Has the fact that Thursday has left Victory for another label generated any pressure for you guys in terms of deciding what your most logical next step is?
S: I don’t think it added any pressure for us because we’re all in the band and were gonna do whatever were gonna do. We have been very happy with the way Victory has been treating us.

BW: It seems like there is always gossip about who Kelly Osbourne is dating. If I were to make up a rumor that she was dating one of you guys, which pair would be the most believable?
S: Most believable? Gee I dunno, I think it would be fairly believable that anyone in the band, except for the guys who have girlfriends of course…

(One of the band member’s girlfriends chimes in, “Good answer Shaun, Good answer!”)

BW: That was nice, you liked that! (Laughter and nodding approval from the girl) Lastly what is the coolest thing a fan has ever done for a member of Taking Back Sunday?
S: People do lots of cool stuff, hmm…

(Eddie jumps in now, “Coolest thing anyone has ever done? These four kids drove 44 hours from Canada to see us play in New York.”)

BW: Really?! That is pretty cool, that is dedication
S: Yeah that was pretty cool

BW: Are you going to agree with that one?
S: Yeah because I just remember lots of little things like this one girl knitted us all little pillows with our name on them, That was really cute. Lots of collages (points to one they received earlier) we get stuff like that all the time but nothing that sticks out like that, that 44 hour drive was something. I leave it at that.

BW: Cool that’s it man, thanks a lot!
S: Thank you.