Interview With I Call Fives

I Call Fives is one of those younger bands out there bringing the good name back into pop punk. While they lean towards the poppy side, they keep enough energy and honesty to put them well within the praised category of bands. Bassist Drew from the band took some time during their recording process to talk to us at MuzikDizcovery, where we talked about the band's brand new 7", recording with Paul Leavitt, the Pure Noise Records tour, their special one-off show with All Time Low, and much more which you can read below.

The Someone That’s Not You 7” is being released on March 20^th, and three of the four songs have already been released for streaming. How has the reaction been to the songs so far?

People seem into it. We’re just happy to have a chance to put out more music again, since it’s been a while and we were looking to put out more songs. The 7” is out on the 20^th, and then we have a full length coming out in the summer. It feels great to have a flow of new music coming out.

This 7” is being called a “teaser” 7”. Are any of the songs from the 7” going to be on the album?

“Backup Plan” is going to be on the LP, but it’s otherwise going to be 11 brand new songs. Twelve songs total.

Are there any new little quirks that we’re going to hear on the full length, such as the shouts on the title track of the 7”?

When we play shows, I’ve always kind of yelled at random little parts. It’s a little more prevelant on the newer stuff. Otherwise it’s just a pretty good mix of music from our last two EPs to make this style. I think we’ve really found a good flow for these songs. I think it’s pretty cool. We also have this one really fast song that’s about 50 seconds long, so that’s a fun song. We’ve never had a super fast song before. We’re almost done recording, and it’s been a cool experience.

You guys are recording the full length with Paul Leavitt, who has worked with bands such as All Time Low and The Dangerous Summer. How’s it like working with him?

It’s been great. Paul’s a legit dude. It’s funny, going into it we didn’t know him all that well. He’s actually mastered most of our recordings, but we never had a chance to get to know the guy. We went to him with the songs that we had and we picked it apart with him, got his opinion on everything, and then we recorded everything. We just need to record vocals, and we’re about to be out of here really soon. I think we’ll be out of here before the weekend, and we’ll be beginning the tour on Tuesday (March 20^th). We did it pretty quickly, but it’s awesome, especially because as you said, Paul has worked with All Time Low and The Dangerous Summer, as well as a ton of other great stuff, and it’s cool to get to work with someone that really has had those opportunities and has worked with those sorts of bands. It was just a pleasure to work with him, and it’s been cool.

This is your first full length record. How different is it from recording the EPs?

It’s a totally different process. When we were writing the EPs before, it was kind of like “we need to write five or six or seven songs” and that was kind of it. But on the full length, it’s been a long time coming. We’ve been working on it for over a year. Some of the songs go back almost two years now. We knew we had plenty of time, but you kind of want to keep the same ideas and fluidity throughout the songs, so when we were writing it, we were just prepared to write a bunch of songs and that’s what we did. We put a lot more time and effort into the lyrics and writing, but it was cool. I hope we get to write a whole bunch more full lengths because it was a cool experience. After writing so many EPs, it was great to just do something different. It was about time. You never really know how long you’re going to be a band, and you never know if you’re ever going to do a full length, and it’s great to be able to do it with Paul Leavitt and the guys in the band.

You guys are hopping onto the Pure Noise Tour at the end of the tour, and as headliners nonetheless! Do you think there is going to be any awkwardness with jumping onto an already active tour so late, and as a headliner, too?

It’s a cool tour. The way it works out is that on the West Coast and some of the Midwest dates The Story So Far will be headlining. Then Handguns headlines another portion, and we get the last leg of it. I’m sure that the consistent bands on the bill, which are American Scene and Forever Came Calling, they have some chemistry going on, but we’re going to be on the last five shows and it’s going to be a great time, the headlining thing aside. We haven’t really played with those guys, maybe one time each of those bands, so it’d be nice to get another four or five shows with the guys, and do the whole Pure Noise thing. It’s a cool label, and we’re glad to be on the tour. Doubly so because we have a new release to go with it, and we get to play some new fucking songs.

At the beginning of the month, you did a one off show with All Time Low. It was a fairly unique show because it featured All Time Low’s most “pop punk” support in quite some time. How was the show?

You’re right. Generally it seems like they’re leaning more towards the “pop” side of things, but at the end of the day, they sound pretty similar to us. Initially they were more of a straightforward pop punk band, but they’re still the same guys. They were super awesome, and it was a really great time. They filled the place out. It wasn’t the biggest thing, but it was awesome. They put on an awesome show, and luckily people received it pretty well. Because at the end of the day, we aren’t that different. Same with With The Punches. We’re all basically pop punk and pop rock bands, and it’s really just rock.

Will there be any other tours between the Pure Noise Tour and Warped Tour in the summer?

That’s kind of it. Basically we get out of the studio in a couple of days, and then we go to the Pure Noise tour. After that, we’re in April, and we’re going to be home for all of April and May, and the first half of June. In June, we’re going to try and do something to take us into Warped Tour, but right now we’re just getting ready for the full length to come out. Come Warped Tour and come the record being out, at the end of June, we’re going to be on tour for a while. It’s cool to be around and save up some money and see your friends, but when the record comes out, we’re going to be on tour full time, and hopefully tour the US and some international spots.

Anything else you have to say?

The EP comes out on the 20^th. If you don’t see us on the Pure Noise tour, we’ll probably see you guys this summer.

I'd like to thank Drew again for taking time out of his busy life to speak to us. The 7" is great, and definitely signifies great things to come for the band and their upcoming full length. The Pure Noise tour will be hitting a bunch of East Coast dates in the end of March, but if you can't see them headline, you will definitely see them on Warped Tour this summer. Check out all the dates and listen to some music on the band's Facebook page.