On June 21st, the Warped Tour held its second day show in San Francisco, California. Of all the bands to play, one of the biggest crowd reactions was begot by upcoming pop-rock stars The Academy Is... If anyone doubted their burgeoning breakthrough potential before hand, they’d be hard-pressed to do so after seeing their early-day set on the Warped Tour main-stage. The band was picked as one of the headliners this year, and after seeing the way the crowd reacted to them it is not hard to understand why.
Loosing his thin frame all about the stage with the precision of a dancer, and a recklessness somewhat reminiscent of The Who’s Roger Daltry, lead singer William Beckett was able to parlay the energy of the whole set through himself, then back out to kids below. The energy of the band was contagious, and soon the crowd watching them was to catch it.
In between the hook-laden pop tunes one’s ears would be nearly deafened by the sound of young girls screaming their hearts out. Beckett fed the fire by blowing kisses back at them, and the heart-filled pandemonium within the fans was palpable. Indeed, it seems that the band is not only poised to breakthrough as one of the next big names of pop-rock, alongside bands such as Fall Out Boy and Panic At the Disco, but they’re ready to pick up some heart-throb status for good measure.
All Access Magazine was able to get a one-on-one interview with party-hard lead singer William Beckett, to discuss what the band thinks of their pregnant success, their recording process, and the live music scene in general. We were also able to ask a few questions as sent in by the fans, so read carefully near the bottom, and you might see one of yours.
AAM: You guys have been getting a pretty steady fan-base for a while now. Apparently at a Panic At the Disco show a while ago, before they came on one of your videos came on the screen and the fans seemed to react to that almost as much as when the band itself came on. It seems like you guys are poised to sort of break through to the next level. How does that make you feel? Are you really anticipating that, or do you just take it as it comes?
William Beckett: Well, you know, we’ve been touring for five years now, four years, I think, actually, and we have amazing fans. We’ve built from the ground up. We started playing in front of twelve people, and then it was tour after tour after tour, and more people came. And we’re here now, and we’re one of the headliners of Warped Tour, which is crazy ‘cause we’re just fans as well, huge music fans. Being out here like this is incredible. And we’re all really excited about our new record, which we just finished recording. I can’t wait for people to hear it, it’s exactly the record we wanted to make.
AAM: Can you talk a little about that. What was your process? Did you decide to go in a new direction or anything like that?
WB: Well, it was very natural. We kind of went, we sat down, we’re like, when do we write our best songs? What process does that take? A lot of that has to do with me writing on my own. Writing songs on acoustic and bringing it into the band. That’s what we did with our first record, that’s how we did that one. So you know, getting back to what’s most natural for me as a song writer, and us as a whole. We ended up doing something, finding the exact, the process that works best with us.
AAM: You played at least one song off the new album today. Have you been playing a lot of them on the road, or do you tend to keep most of them to yourself until they’re ready?
WB: Well, they’re all ready to go, but we can’t very well play more then two songs, otherwise it’s all gonna leak on the internet. All hell breaks loose. The gates of hell literally break loose. We’ve been playing a couple new songs on Warped Tour, testing them out, seeing what people think. We’re gonna continue doing that. So far the response has been pretty amazing. I can’t wait for people to actually sit down with the album because we’re all so proud of the album. I cannot wait for it to come out. I think the album speaks for itself. I think people are gonna be really surprised when they hear it.
AAM: You guys have gone from The Civic Tour to the Sleeping With Giants tour to this one. Has the time on the road taken its toll on you, or are you guys as psyched as when you first started?
WB: We’re used to it, but we had a bit of a break after Sleeping With Giants, we had a break. And we did the record, and back out already. But it’s what we love doing. Touring and playing music for our fans. Live performances and live shows are so important, especially in a world right now where CD’s don’t exist anymore. MP3’s become exactly what everyone listens to. Getting music is so easy, and you can get music for free no matter what. But there’s something about a live show, experiencing a live show, and being there and like, being with a band. Like, I remember back when I used to go to shows all the time, and sing along all the time to my favorite bands. It’s the same feeling. It’s a feeling that’s unparalleled by sitting in your room or driving in your car, listening to music. Which is also amazing, but this is something that’s unparalleled. Live music, I think, will always be important. Us touring and playing shows for our fans and a lot of fans that wouldn’t be able to see us if we didn’t tour there, a lot of smaller city’s and smaller towns, rural America. It’s really important for us to hit all those spots as well, which is something we hit on with Giants really well.
AAM: What’s your idea of a perfect set?
WB: Perfect set? Half-an-hour is nice, but I’d like to play longer. I like to play longer for the fans, give the fans exactly what they want. Perfect set is like a perfect mesh between our energy and the fans energy. How the crowd reacts to us and how we react to the crowd. It’s one of those really, really special days, in my eyes, and in all of our eyes, it’s a very, very special day. Its days like today, here in San Francisco on Warped Tour, that remind me, remind us, what we love about doing this so much.
AAM: We walked around talking to fans today and i decided to pick three random quastions for you from fans just for fun
WB: Great!
AAM: First one is from raul : Are you a whiskey or beer kind of guy?
WB: I don’t know. I’d say whiskey. I’m drinking a beer right now, but…whiskey.
AA: This one’s from Melissa. She wants to know: when would be the best time to ask you for autographs and pictures?
WB: On Warped Tour?
AAM: She didn’t specify. But in general, you know, some people really like their meals and don’t want to be bothered.
WB: (laughs) I mean, I’m pretty easy going. I don’t really have too many hang-ups about being approached at all. But you know, when I’m not eating, when it doesn’t look like I’m with someone who I’m having a conversation with. You know, just like when you would approach somebody that you were friends with. You know, show respect and everything. But I’m a pretty nice guy, I’ll usually sign whatever people want, take pictures. Whatever they want.
AAM: Jennifer asks: If a fan asked you to do their voice-mail, what would you say?
WB: (laughs) I mean, I’ve done it a few times. I don’t know, a couple of dozen times. They’ll ask me, like after a club show, or something, we’ll be chilling. I mean yeah, I’ll leave a voice mail, and usually it’s longer than people are willing to wait on a voice mail anyway, so I apologize for that, but if you ask for it, you got it.
Certainly, Beckett was stoked to know how much their fans were excited about the band, and likewise the fans are excited to see more of them. The Academy Is… has an exciting future on the scene, and we would like to thank Mr. Beckett for taking the time to answer all of our (and your) questions. We’ll be hearing from them again soon enough.
