Perth Music

The Starting Line are a pop/punk band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who have released three albums with three different record labels. They have experienced the ups and downs of the music industry and are currently on a very big up with their latest album, Direction, being released by Virgin Records late last year and touring tirelessly including their first trip to Australia to be part of the 2008 Soundwave Festival. Guitarist, Matt Watts from The Starting Line talked to Justin Middleton for this exclusive interview.

Click here to download the podcast of the entire interview. (10:19 - 4.8Mb)

Talking about the creation of their third album Matt explains “It was a really organic process. I felt that we were not stressed out at all during the making of the record. We were just in our practice space and the songs came out organically, Kenny (Vasoli, vocalist/bassist) had the bulk of the ideas written and we just kind of put them together. It was probably one of the most fun songwriting processes we’ve had in a long time.”

The bands previous album, Based On A True Story, reached number 18 on the US Billboard Charts but there were major dilemmas during the making of the record between the band and their record company at the time, Geffen Records. “We were undergoing a lot of pressure from the label. There was crazy label stuff going on and we weren’t seeing eye to eye with them because we weren’t making the record they wanted us to make. This time around, with Virgin, they let us have the reins of control and it was really nice. They totally trusted our judgement and we are really thankful for that.” Matt says.

Known for their extensive touring The Starting Line have played with such bands as The Ataris, Sum 41, Yellowcard, Fall Out Boy, Motion City Soundtrack, Reel Big Fish and Panic at The Disco to name but a few, and they will soon be adding another 40 odd bands to that list when they head to Australia for Soundwave 2008. Matt says enthusiastically “Yeah it’s our first trip down under, I’ve always wanted to go there. I’ve been a big fan of Silverchair ever since I was a little kid and they are probably one of my favourite bands. They have been getting better and better and as soon as they released Diorama I was floored by that record. And I’m a huge fan of Natalie Imbruglia. Big, big time Natalie Imbruglia fan.” I then gave Matt the news that Daniel Johns and Natalie Imbruglia are getting divorced. Astounded, Matt replied “NO WAY! Are you telling me I have a shot? Put a good word in for me.”

Having played the American Vans Warped Tour a few times, the band are excited about playing another festival and especially one as organized as Soundwave. Matt explains “It’s a little more rushed (playing festivals). We’ve never really played a festival where we know what time we are playing. With the Warped Tour they tell you what time you are playing every morning so they could wake you up at ten o’clock in the morning and tell you that you’re on in an hour. But with this (Soundwave) everything is set up so it feel almost like it’s a normal show. We know what time we are playing every day so I think it’s going to be pretty cool.”

You can catch The Starting Line playing around the country at the following dates:
24 Feb Soundwaves Festival, Sydney, NSW
27 Feb Gaelic Theatre, Sydney, NSW
28 Feb Prince Of Wales, Melbourne, VIC
29 Feb Soundwaves Festival, Melbourne, VIC
1 Mar Soundwaves Festival, Adelaide, SA
3 Mar Soundwave Festival, Perth, WA

For more info visit www.startinglinerock.com. The album Direction is out now.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2008 at 2:19 pm and is filed under Music Festivals, Touring, Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.