Exclusive interview with the Yellowcard lead singer Ryan Key.
Zach Fraser.
Date: 04/25/2008 | Section: Arts & Entertainment
Source: Mindy Tucker
Zach Fraser: I know you guys are from Jacksonville and you moved to California and obviously you're in Tampa, so I have to ask. What is it California or Florida?
Ryan Key: Weird, it's kind of like, changing as I get older. Florida now, but we moved to California for a lot of reasons. I mean our first record deal we signed was with a really small label company in Santa Barbara, CA. The guy that owned the label was the guy that worked there. So we sort of felt like we were working pretty hands on, you know, when it comes to the work and the band. So we felt like we should be there and help. Long story short, I also made some friends with a bunch of guys that live in that area while I was in another band in California, which was my second trip out with a band. So, Yellowcard was actually my second band. So, that's kind of why we went out there and then it ended up working out. So we stayed, you know what I mean. So, I kind of enjoyed going home to see my family and kicking back a little bit in Florida.ZF: I saw you guys in Warped Tour in Georgia this summer and obviously Warped Tour is a big arena. How does it feel to be able to play smaller venues and get back with your fans?
RK: I mean its amazing, dude. You know it's funny. I feel like I would be lying if I said we chose to go play small venues, because we are not selling as much tickets as we used to sell. But in a way that affords me the opportunity to get back to that intimacy which is honestly a very nice, unexpected thing about selling less tickets, you kind of forget what that's like but it is kind of amazing to get back to it. And then combine it with doing it in an acoustic setting. It has really been one of, if not the best tours I have ever been on. I mean we had so much fun. You really just get to hang out with people on the show and on stage. It doesn't have to be quite as structured as far as the songs go on one after the other and how one song goes into another song. It's a little more free. I think the fans have really responded well to it and I'm glad we did it.ZF: How does it feel to be able to watch, Spill Canvas, Play Radio Play, those are some up and coming bands, if not the best?
RK: I mean obviously Spill Canvas, they're really doing well. I think they are about to go on the proverbial run to the top. I mean, the single they are going to put out next, is just amazing. They are just so talented for how young they are. It's cool they are from South Dakota. Like, who is from South Dakota?ZF: As this tour is wrapping up, what are your plans for the rest of the year?
RK: You know, you are the first person that has ever asked that in an interview. That's kind of weird. I have to finally answer it. We really don't have any plans. We are calling it an "Indefinite Hiatus." After this tour, so, I don't know. It could be a year, 10 years, or 6 months. It's been an interesting time in this business and our record label. It's just. We kind of need a break. I think it appears everything is ok on its surface but we definitely need a little bit of time to figure out our personal lives. It doesn't have anything to do with turmoil in the band. It's more of a, facing adulthood now, and we can't stay in Neverland forever. You know what I mean. I think we just need a break. Hopefully we will get back to making another record sometime, if not it may be our last but we don't really know. We're just keeping the door open.ZF: So how's it been, a lot of kids listen to the music and they look at you guys. How's does it feel to be that guy that, to be able to live the dream that most people want?
RK: I mean it's amazing dude. I set out to do this and I kind of told myself that there is no way that I was going to stop. There was nobody that was going to tell me that we couldn't do it at the level that we have done it. Having that mentality is the way you do it is when one day you just wake up and realize your there. I mean, I really think this tour has been one of the most influential times of my life in the band. Even though it is sort of the last tour for a long time. Just playing the songs that we have, stripped down, proves to you what a lot of your work is worth to people. You really get to see that you do kind of move people in a way. It's a good feeling. I'm really grateful for everything that we have done. Mistakes and triumphs, I don't have any regrets, I have learned from every single thing we have done the whole way. We have been touring now for eight years now without a break. We stopped to make a record and that's about it. So we learned a lot along the way. You know, I think we have helped a lot of people and changed a lot of people's lives in a good way. That's the stuff you take with you.ZF: We mentioned Spill Canvas earlier and you think they're about to blow up. So what kind of bands are you listening to now a days?
RK: I don't really listen to, music in the scene, so to speak. I have been listening to a lot of country music, but not like the music they play on the radio. Like Ryan Adams, Ryan Adams with an "R." Yeah, People are always like "really you listen to Bryan Adams." No, Ryan Adams. I always enjoyed that style. I grew up listening to, not listening to, but growing up in that southern style a lot of Jimmy Buffet a lot of Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and Willie Nelson. My grandpa is a huge Willie Nelson fan. So I was always around that style of music but it wasn't until a couple or years ago that I really discovered it for myself. So I have been diving way back in the Ryan Adams catalog, the old Whisky 500s, all that stuff. I am also into to another country artist named Gillian Welch, she does like really old 20s and 30s, kind a real front porch bang your foot on the floor country music. I love it. After the new Foo Fighters album came out, that was probably the last really big rock record that I really got obsessed with. But the new Weezer record is coming on June 24 and I am sure I will be the first in line to pick that up. I think Ben Folds is working on a record that should come out some point this year. I'm excited for that. He's like my all time favorite song writer and I have never seen him live. I talked to him on the phone once for about two hours for an interview, but I have never met him in person or see him play. Some day I hope. Hopefully when we take some time off I'll be able see his shows.ZF: You mentioned indefinite hiatus, eight years touring, is there any city in particular you'll look back on and say. "Wow, that was a bunch of great choices to go play."
RK: Yeah for sure man, even down to specific shows and experiences, we took our first trip to South America two years ago right before we started working on Paper Walls. We had never been down there, but apparently our band is massive down there. I mean we didn't really know. We knew our shows were great, but we didn't know at what level. And in August (2006), we went and did our first tour. We went to cities in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. The shows were like 5...6,000 people a night. They asked us to come back immediately to play with Fall Out Boy in the festival and 46,000 people showed up to this festival in Sao Paolo, Brazil. I mean we have played these festivals before and it feels like, ok, we are playing the festival and the kids in the front row know your music. But this was like 46,000 people coming to a Yellowcard concert. It was absolutely insane. Fall Out Boy too. As much as Fall Out Boy has blown up here over the last couple of years it was like we were back both on an even keel and co-headlining the show together. It was really awesome, so South America, out of the touring we did was probably the most breath taking experience being on stage with the sheer number of people coming to the show was just mind blowing.ZF: What are you looking for tonight, UT 5...6,000 students? There has been a lot of buzz around campus about the first major concert. What do you expect out of it?
RK: I hope everyone likes it. I know it's not a full show and I don't want people coming out thinking that it is. It's just like a couple of weeks on the tour even, it took a couple of weeks, before it got on the internet saying, 'we didn't know it was going to be that way.' Everyone seems to enjoy it anyway. I just hope that everyone out there is going to have a good time tonight!Labels: Break-up, Interviews, Ryan
