From The Editor's Floor: Alkaline Trio

Posted by Mission Media on 14-Jul-08 @ 10:48 AM

You're probably rockin' Agony & Irony by the quite righteous ALKALINE TRIO as you focus on your screen. But if you haven't picked up AP 241 yet, maybe these outtakes from our recent Trio story will pique your curiosity a bit.

EXCUSE ME, YOU'VE GOT SOME LIGHT IN MY BLACK
"Throughout the record, there's definitely these themes of duality, this sort of inner struggle tat we all have. Another thing that was a big influence was on 'I Found Away.' We've all been in awful places, we've all been in desperate days. The song opens with a line from Dante's Inferno, and without getting too personal, living in a personal hell and finding your way out of it was kind of the inspiration behind that song. I think it's a fun, dancey, anthemic song, but the inferno metaphor was definitely appropriate. The song was basically inspired by transcendental meditation, which is something that I started doing about a year and a half ago. Even in this dark subject matter, it's really given me a perspective of peace. Even when I'm having a terrible day, I'm always reminded of what my problems are, and how lucky I am to have these problems. Even in the darkest of moments on the record, there's always that constant hope; there's always perspective.

"The main point of most of the songs on the record deal with death in some way or another, or an end or loss, and for the first time, we're doing it in a way that there's life and there's hope after death. And after that loss, [realizing] death isn't something to be sitting around worrying about; it's just a step in the life process. In singing about those things, there's definitely a new perspective, and there's definitely hope, and I think that especially in this day and age, we all need a little of that." -Matt Skiba, guitar

"When I was 18 or 20, and just on tour in bands, and everything was great and I was partying like crazy, everything was fine. I might not have really cared if I hurt someone's feelings, or if I slept until 5 o'clock in the afternoon and woke up and played a show and went right back to bed, letting a whole day disappear without really trying to contributing anything to the better good of anyone else's life.

"My writing has definitely been more introspective and freaked out. Within the span of the last couple of years, certain things have happened in our lives that make you take a step back and say, 'This is a crossroads,' not to be totally cliché. If you ask yourself whether or not you're making the people around you happy, and the answer is 'no,' you've got to wonder, 'What's going on with me? I'm not happy truly, deep down inside.' Then you start asking yourself why, and what you need to do to make yourself happy." -Dan Andriano, bass/vocals

ASSORTED STATES OF MIND
"When I first joined the band, we were all in kind of various states of relationships. Everybody was kind of at a different point in life. Sometimes it was hard to relate. Like, Danny was in a very serious relationship; it was a priority in his life, and understandably so, whereas that might not have been the case for Matt at the time. Matt wanted to keep touring, and Dan was like, 'I want to take some time off to be with my fiancé.' It was a little rough there for a while, but eventually we all kind of like landed in the same place. It was a lot easier to relate to each other. We had all mellowed a little bit-there was a lot more focus on being healthy on the road and taking care of ourselves, and just trying to stay happy and put on the best show that we can, which doesn't always happen, but we try. [Laughs.] Now, everyone's kind of in the same place.

"A lot of it comes with age. We're all older, and hopefully, a bit wiser. Partying all the time and just trying to have fun constantly, no matter what the cost, just really isn't the focus anymore. We all love what we do, we all feel really fortunate to be doing what we're doing, and we all care immensely for each other, so trying to keep everything in perspective and make sure everyone's doing well and everyone's happy, just makes for a better environment all the way around." -Derek Grant, drums


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