Hey TWIST readers,
Canadian pop rock band Marianas Trench recently hung out in the TWIST offices, and we went to their concert with Simple Plan, Forever the Sickest Kids and The Cab in NYC! The guys, Josh Ramsay (lead vocals, guitar), Matt Webb (lead guitar), Mike Ayley (bass) and Ian Casselman (drums), just released their third studio album, Ever After! Check out our exclusive interview with them below!
XOXO,
TWIST
TWIST: Can you tell us about your new album, Ever After?
Josh: The whole thing's about a fairy tale. There's a whole narrative story that's in the CD booklet that is the story of this guy getting trapped in this weird place and trying to get home, like a lot of post-modern fairy tales are. I specifically left it fairly abstract and vague so people could form some of their own ideas, because the idea was that that story is accompanied by the record, and the record is supposed to be the score to the movie. Every song leads to the next song.
TWIST: Where did you draw your inspiration from? Any particular fairy tales?
Josh: I kind of just thought of them as a whole. Most of those stories, like The Wizard of Oz or Narnia, are about people going somewhere and then thinking it's awesome, and then getting stuck and trying to get home. What I did to research for the record was, rather than watch a bunch of stuff like that or read a bunch of books, I just listened to a bunch of movie scores.
Ian: We both went individually and saw the play Wicked, which was kind of inspirational.
TWIST: Who are your musical inspirations?
Mike: I just like good songs. I don't just pick a band and like everything they do. I just like when a song is good, and if you hear it on the radio and something pops out and connects to you, that's all I'm looking for in music in general. And it can be anybody. It can be Eminem to Katy Perry to Metallica, who knows!
Matt: I feel the exact same way, and my influences are really all over the map. I love a lot of '80s music and stuff, and a lot of modern stuff as well, so it's difficult to pick.
Ian: I don't get as attached to bands as I used to. You know when you're like, "This is the band! This is my band!" and you love everything they do? Now it's more where I appreciate good songs, the same as what Mike was saying.
TWIST: Can you guys describe your ideal date?
Josh: My ideal date is when you don't realize you've been on a date until the end, and then you're stoked, like an accidental date.
Mike: For me, I just love it when the date starts and you're kind of like, "Maybe we'll just do this!" and keep adding on the next part and the next part and the next part, because you're like, "I don't think I want this day to end!" That's always a good sign, when it naturally just works.
Ian: You're not thinking about anything. It's all very smooth and just happens naturally. You don't ask the person what you want to do; it just all happens on its own.
TWIST: So what's next for you guys?
Mike: We're about to tour Canada with Simple Plan. We're about to take some time off. We'll shoot one more video in two weeks, and then we're taking about six weeks off.
Ian: Yeah, we're going up to Toronto after this, and we're playing on Much Music which is kind of like Canada's MTV, and we're doing a half hour sort of thing to promote [Ever After], playing some of our old hits and four or five songs off our new album. Then we're shooting a video for our new single, "Fall Out."
TWIST: Thanks guys!
Marianas Trench: Thanks TWIST!
