Revolution Stage

By: Static Multimedia

Tuesday April 22, 2008

2008 Projekt Revolution, the Revolution stage interview.
In the wake of the festival and mobile tour lineup announcements, there has been an onslaught of new artist profiles, interviews and press conferences. Some up and comers named to the lineup of Projekt Revolution, Atreyu and 10 Years, already have a steady following of die-hard fans. Alex Varkatzas from Atreyu and Jesse Hasek of 10 Years were able sit down and weigh in with thoughts from the second stage as new-comers to the Projekt Revolution tour.

You guys play on the Revolution stage this year. I'm just curious what you guys are going to do in terms of your show and if there's anybody obviously with the great lineup that you're interested to see this year.

Alex: I don't know. We just want to shred. We want to get out there and jam, like – it's an honor to be out there for us with some legendary dudes and legendary bands, so we're just going to get out there and try to like be worthy of being out there.

Jesse: Our band, as a goal we try to get up there and just sort of give everybody a run for their money, and it's almost like competitive, like – it's fun. You like to see the bands, and you see a lot of bands, and you watch – when they have a good performance, you know that you've got to bring your A-game just to stay at par with them. So it's cool and I think we'll all challenge ourselves.

Any bands you're really excited to see that's part of the bill with you?

Alex: I'm just really excited to see Linkin Park... I've never seen them before and I really, really like their new record so I'm really excited to see it every night.

Jesse: I'm going to try to pretty much see everyone, definitely Linkin Park, and to see just how big of a crowd. It's amazing to see that many people come out for a band, but I like to see everyone, especially bands that I haven't seen yet. I'm even curious to see Atreyu.

Alex, I'll ask you this one in particular: You guys have had a pretty good deal of success here with Lead Sails Paper Anchor and a couple of singles have done pretty well. How do you think that success is going to translate to being on this tour? How do you get your own crowd to come out?

Alex: Every step that you can take forward is a good step, and we definitely feel like this tour is a step forward with us, you know what I mean? I don't know about us being like all that successful or anything, that's going to affect how we play. We're just excited to be on a great tour. It's going to be huge. We're just going to play to a ton of people every day that's like a mix of all these different band fans; it's going to be a rad time. We definitely hope that some of the kids who are into us come out.

Jesse, if you can talk a little bit about the Division album and what you guys set out to do, and how much of that you feel like you're going to be able to play during the show.

Jesse: The Division record, we really tried to challenge ourselves and go in a different direction than the last record, but – it's still definitely the 10 Years sound, but we've got a lot of ups and downs, it's like a roller coaster ride. We have some of the most aggressive stuff we've written that really translates well live, and then we have some more chilled-out melodic stuff. As of the set playing, I guess we're a little selfish, because we've played the old songs for so long that – it's going to be pretty new-song heavy, but it will be about 50/50.

Alex, is there going to be a different kind of balance now that Lead Sails Paper Anchor has been out? Also, do you guys have anything you're going to put out new in time for the tour?

Alex: Basically on this tour, the tour that we're on now, we've kind of worked in playing a balance of new songs and select old material. So I think on Projekt Rev it's going to be definitely the same thing; we're going to play like 50% new material and 50% songs from the other three records.

On the 22nd of April we have a re-release of Lead Sails Paper Anchor coming out with enhanced CD-Vue content and a whole bunch of crazy stuff like that. Then it also has a cover of "Epic," Faith No More; a cover of "Clean Sheets" by the Descendants, and a brand-new song that we recorded just for this re-release; it's not from a Lead Sails session, called The Squeeze.

What at this point makes for a good festival for you? At the end of a festival when you look back, what makes it a great experience?

Alex: Being parked close to the port-a-potties usually helps me… we'll be on the normal stage, and then we'll be on a semi truck that like transforms into a stage in the middle of a parking lot. So the only thing that really matters is the shows; if the show is rad, then a positive experience, and there's like good energy, then I walk away from that being like, dude, I don't care. I'm sweaty, I'm a mess; there's nothing to do, but that's the way it goes. As long as the show is good.

Mike of Linkin Park was talking about Projekt Revolution's connection with Music for Relief and how a lot of the tour is very ecologically conscious – biofuel busses and things like that. And as bands and as role models for the kids out there, how important is it for you to be on a tour that's so ecologically conscious?

Alex: I'm going to be honest with you: I don't know if our bus is going to be bio-friendly. That might be a financial alternative that my band cannot afford. I don't think that's as inexpensive as it should be, unfortunately; you know what I mean? But I will be doing some moderate to heavy recycling throughout the tour.

Jesse: I think we fall in the exact same category. I mean, it's cool that technology is going in the way of protecting the environment, but I don't think every bus out there is going to be ecologically friendly. Every step we can take forward is a good direction.

With the way the music industry is going and with the problem with CD's selling fewer copies but downloads and things being up, how important is it for – what kind of role does this type of tour play for you guys in terms of getting people to turn on to your music, whether they wind up buying or getting it in some other way?

Alex: To be honest, we never started the band to be concerned with those things, and at times you're worried about your sales and you think about that kind of stuff, but I'm not going to start getting concerned with them now, you know what I mean? Maybe I should, maybe that's kind of stupid of me, but the way that I was brought up in the scene, we came up and we just played music… I don't need the Internet, I don't need anything else. I need a stage and I need my friends there with me to rock, and that's what we're going to do.

Jesse: I think that times are changing, but it's just like going from records to cassettes and eight-tracks – you'd have to harness change. If you don't accept change and go with it, you're to get lost in the mix. I think that the Internet is a very powerful thing for exposure. There a lot of bands – look, like YouTube and stuff – you can't sneeze without it being on the Internet somewhere. So you're definitely overexposed, and that's a good thing.