After one spin of Shudder, the latest endeavor from the Long Island-based Bayside, it becomes obvious that the band is spreading its wings. As a whole, the record is musically diverse, complete with big punk guitar riffs, ska-influences and even a little metal, but what stands out even more is Bayside’s overall maturation as artists. Anthony Raneri, the band’s vocalist, guitarist and main lyricist shines on all accounts, being able to see what good can come out of the bad and move forward with some optimism. In fact, according to bassist Nick Ghanbarian, optimism is really the main theme of the record.
Fans have seen a more “heads up” viewpoint from Bayside since their first release Sirens and Condolences. It’s a humbling trend to watch considering the band’s history. Many more than likely remember the untimely passing of their drummer John “Beatz” Holohan from an auto accident while on tour in 2005. A tragedy that Ghanbarian says has shaped the band and they still think about it, but has ultimately had to move forward. Maybe that was one of the turning points for Bayside to say, “Hey, maybe things aren’t so bad.” According to Ghanbarian, the band, rounded out by Jack O’Shea on guitar and backing vocals and Chris Gugliemo on drums, are becoming bigger optimists every day.
A week prior to the release of Shudder, we had a chance to talk with Ghanbarian while he was home in New York, shopping for a coat, looking for a quiet place to talk and getting ready to embark on a tour that would have him on the road through the early part of 2009.
PUM: Tell me a little bit about what you guys do during the week before you are getting ready to release a CD?
Nick Ghanbarian: We technically have off, but I guess not really. We have a bunch of in-store plans, we get ready to say goodbye to our loved ones. Maybe physically we’re home, but mentally, we’re gone already.
PUM: I was looking at your schedule and after the release of Shudder you have a pretty rigorous tour schedule from October through February.
Ghanbarian: It’s basically how we do things. Once our album comes out, we tour as much as we can without over saturating ourselves. You know, I think that’s the lifestyle we’ve got ourselves accustomed to; is just never really stopping. We tour and we’re not on tour, we’re writing and we’re recording. It’s kind of the nature of the business now. I don’t think any of us are comfortable enough taking an extended period of time off and not being in people’s minds. There are certain things you can do on the Internet and kind of keeping fan’s mind set on you. I think in this day and age, the less you work, the less you get.
PUM: In this day and age, I would assume that you have to rely more on other ways to make money than just selling CDs.
Ghanbarian: As long as I have been in the band, which has basically been four years, that’s been it. It’s certainly getting less and less about how many records you sell and move verses how many people you draw. That’s definitely one of the prime examples out there in our music scene of record sales where maybe record sales don’t equal your draw because we certainly make a living off of touring, but I can’t say we’ve really sold that many more albums than another band that maybe draws a tenth of [what we do].
PUM: You guys released a preview of Shudder on Myspace. What is the mentality behind that? Do you think it shoots you in the foot for wanting to get people to buy the music?
Ghanbarian: If it was up to me and up to us, we would release the CD a day after it was mastered. I think in this day and age people don’t want to wait and they almost don’t have to wait. Once someone gets a copy of that and puts it on their computer, it’s basically free from that point on and that happened to us a little earlier this time than usual. I think our CD leaked about three and a half weeks before the album [came] out. It leaked about 10 days before Myspace put it up so people were getting it for free anyway. Myspace, besides iTunes is the only other biggest thing out there that is running the internet music business. I think that’s one of the best things we could do. It was sanctioned by us and Myspace. You couldn’t download things and I think it just got people excited. A lot of people who E-mail us and comment us on Myspace basically, are saying, “I had to download it, I couldn’t wait any longer, don’t worry, I’ll buy it.” For the people that don’t like it, that’s definitely record sales we’re not getting, which maybe rightfully so. Maybe if they didn’t like it they shouldn’t buy it. Maybe they’ll feel ripped off and even worse about us if they didn’t like it and they bought it.
PUM: There is a quote from Anthony saying that Shudder is definitely the best material to date. In your opinion what makes it the best material to date?
Ghanbarian: I think it’s just that we are all happy with every part of the lyric, everything else that everyone else is doing; we really spent just as much time if not more time talking about every single thing then we did actually recording or writing. From every song’s inception, we really had an outline with no instruments, just the four of us talking like, “You know, we should have a fast Bad Religion style song.” It’s what we love; it’s what we listen to. It might come out of left field for some people, but not for us. We’ve always wanted to be in a band like that. That’s where a song like “RoShamBo” comes from. It’s just a fast NOFX, Bad Religion type song and makes us happy that we can do that and show off our influences even more. I think with every album we get better as song writers and musicians. As much as this album sounds like us, it’s also our most eclectic album. I think a lot of songs sound different from each other. At the same time it does sound like us spreading our wings a little bit more.
PUM: How was recording with Dave Schiffman?
Ghanbarian: Absolutely amazing. I mean, this is the third CD we’ve done [since Ghanbarian has been with the band] and we’ve done the previous two with the same two guys and we’ve done them at home, in New York and that kind of lends a stressful hand. Just being home and not being away and you don’t have a clear head coming into the studio. Being out in California and that’s all we really had to think about. The weather absolutely has a lot to do with it. We didn’t see a cloud in the sky for six weeks. It just put us in a good mood and Dave knew how to wrangle each and everyone of us separately. All four of us are different musicians and different people and I think he worked to each and every one of our needs and got the best out of us. I can’t say that’s happened in the past.
PUM: From the standpoint of the lyrical writing process, is that something that the band does collaboratively or is it mainly one person?
Ghanbarian: I guess I’ll start from the beginning. The first album was the old bass player Andrew [Elderbaum] wrote a good portion of the lyrics and that’s sort of where the whole somber, melancholy kind of vibe of Sirens and Condolences comes from. Once he left the band, I tried to help out a little bit with Anthony, but it was still mostly him on Self-Titled and on The Walking Wounded he did a little more and I did a little less. On this last album it was all him. We’re all still learning and trying to do better and I think this album, more so than any, I’m proud of Anthony how he put all of his thoughts to words. It shows that he worked hard on them and really had good points and things he wanted to sing about.
PUM: I definitely see some growth in the lyricism on Shudder.
Ghanbarian: Yeah, we’re all moving into adulthood and dealing with figuring out about the things that matter. We’re trying to be some kind of positive influence or dare I say role model people? I don’t think there is enough positive natured people and positive music out there that can affect someone and show them how to deal with things in their life.
PUM: It’s interesting because in the lyrics of “What and What Not;” it’s kind of a dark song, but I sense some optimism there.
Ghanbarian: Yeah, I think if there is any kind of goal we have with lyrics or the mood of our music is to kind of show the light at the end of the tunnel. I think we’re all turning into optimists, but I think at the same time the optimism has to start in a bad place. I think there are a lot of bad things out there and people kind of dwell on them. We’ve learned to live with the bad stuff and kind of make the most out of the bad stuff.
PUM: The song “Howard” is obviously about Howard Hughes, but what is the inspiration behind that song?
Ghanbarian: That one was strictly Anthony being a fan of all the folklore and all that type of stuff about Howard Hughes. I think the song went from being a Howard Hughes fan song to him trying to figure out a way to kind of relate himself or just anyone to being an outcast. It was definitely a new take on a Bayside song. Even the music itself has a ska tinge to it.
PUM: What is your favorite song on the album and why?
Ghanbarian: “Boy” is definitely my favorite song. I feel like it’s the ultimate rallying song for Bayside. I think that surmises everything we’re about. It’s about an underdog and someone who maybe doesn’t try because they’re scared and learning to drown before learning to swim. You got to try and fail before you can [succeed] and people don’t even try sometimes.
PUM: So what is your overall goal with Shudder?
Ghanbarian: Until we reach a point where we are happy with how many people we play in front of and how many people get in touch with us, it’s always going to be just get more fans, get more people to listen to us and get more people that understand what we’re about. There are probably so many people out there that would like us. We’ve always said that. I don’t know if that is our own unbridled optimism in our own band, but I think that’s something that is always a goal in the back of our head.
By: Adam K. Zak III - Senior Editor / Founder
Photos By: Lisa Johnson
