stick to your guns sofia

Metal Hangar 18 talked with guitarist Chris Rawson from STICK TO YOUR GUNS about superpowers, pop music and what can we expect from the band’s upcoming album. The interview took place right before the band’s second show in Bulgaria on 21.04 along with PARKWAY DRIVE, DARKEST HOUR and an incredible crowd.

Welcome back to Bulgaria!
Thank you!

How was your trip?
I took some pills last night and I slept the whole way so it was nice.

How is the tour going to far?
The tour’s been great! Shows are big! PARKWAY is a very nice people to be around, so they are great band to be on tour with.

Nice! How about DARKEST HOUR?
DARKEST HOUR, they just came on. Yeah, they are sick too, they are nice, they’re funny, they like to party. We are very polar opposites but we get along so it’s cool.

What are your memories from your first concert here in Bulgaria and what do you think of our country? Was there any culture shock?
From my first experience here…

It was like three years ago.
Honestly I don’t really remember much. Being honest, being on tour is all like one big blur. But I definitely… I enjoyed walking around the city last time. Today I’m kinda grumpy so I’m not doing that so much.

Did you expect that it would be so cold?
No, I did not not expect it to be so cold! It was snowing the other day!

Yeah, we also did not expect it!
I brought a wind breaker and I’m like freezing…

Throughout the years, STICK TO YOUR GUNS has gone through numerous line-up changes, with Jesse being the only original member left. In what way do you think this affected the band?
The band just evolved, I guess. The band started like… Jesse and his friends started a band when they were young, they were like 15 and when you’re 15 and you start playing in a band versus now, we are all like… I’m in my 30s, Josh is in his 30s, Jesse is almost 30, so it is like as you get older some people realize they don’t want to do this. They probably never planned to be on tour. Like this was never a plan, you know, you didn’t go like „Oh, we’re going to play in Bulgaria one day“, nobody ever does that. So when you are 15 and then it starts escalating into something bigger than you anticipated some people just quit and get jobs.

The way of life..
Yeah, we are just people who are passionate about playing music. It has it’s way of finding the right people.

Most people assume that it is musician’s job to win over his fans. But listening and giving feedback is also considered an active process. What do you think of the role a fan has in the musical communication process?
The role that fans play in it? I don’t know really. It really depends on whether you are talking about… For me personally, I judge the future of how I write a song based of how people react to it. So, if like, a song like „Against Them All“ or whatever, that’s like one of our quite bigger songs that does very well, that makes me go like „OK, why does that work?“ and now I’m going to recreate that in a new way like in a „Against Them All“ 2.0 kinda thing, you know. So I always try to, not that I try to please other people but I get excited when the other people are excited so therefor I want to make them excited. So it’s like this circular… that’s sounds so hippie… passing of energy though.

What do you think of the value music has nowadays and do you think it’s affected by any way by the musical abundance that surrounds us?
Well, I think people just have shorter attention spans now cause you can get everything immediately so that devalues it, I would say but at the same time when you find a band, like a good example is PARKWAY, when you find a band that could like, whether they are your cup of tea, you know, but hey are able to connect with their audience and rise above through all of that white noise of a hundreds thousands other bands that sound like PARKWAY. They are doing something special, they resonate with people and I feel like when you are able to achieve that in this claimant of white noise and too much information there has to be something special there, so that itself is cool.

I can say that you guys are doing the same thing!
Aw, thank you! That the goal I guess…

What’s your opinion on the current state the world is in right now and what can people do in order to make it a better place for the next generations to come?
That’s a heavy question I guess cause there is lots of specific thing you could do but for me, I just try to be a good person, try to treat people how I want to be treated, that’s like the most basic level thing but just like don’t be a dick. I don’t believe in… you can’t have something and tell someone they can’t have it regardless of whatever, it’s like in a political sense versus like the government being upset about „Oh, they are having nuclear bombs“ and you’re like „Well, you have nuclear bombs“ so I just find it… I don’t know… just don’t be a dick.

So life motto: Don’t be a dick!
Yeah, Don’t be a dick. Stop trying to control people and let people live their own lives.

We heard that you were the first American hardcore band to play in Kenya. How would you describe this experience? How do you felt on such a different part of the world?
I feel like there was extreme culture shock.

Now we have a culture shock.
Yeah, I have never seen anything like that in my life like even the amount of poverty. But at the same time you see people that have very little and they seem happy. I’m not saying that everyone seem happy with their situation but it made me realize that… made me not want to complain about the small stuff.

Makes you humble.
Yeah, don’t sweat about the small stuff cause really, when it comes down to it, I feel like it made me feel like I’ve won the lottery of life, being born where I was born and not have to deal with that stuff. Like seeing a little kid come out with a worn out shoe, it’s just heartbreaking, you know.

So can you say that this experience made you a better person, more or lees?
I don’t know, I hope! I hope I took something from it. I definitely just try to be more grateful for everything. It’s all prospective I guess.

When will the next STICK TO YOUR GUNS studio album arrive and what can we expect from it?
We start recording in May and we already have bunch of demos down and stuff but what to expect I have no idea.

Would it sound similar to the newer stuff or the older stuff?
I don’t know, mix of both probably, you know. There is a couple of like throwback type parts but it’s always evolving, who knows. I think it’s supposed to be out in the fall.

As we already know about Jesse’s involvement in TRADE WIND. Do any of you guys, from the rest of the band  have any  side projects or fun hobbies for example?
Josh plays in EIGHTEEN VISIONS and he plays in XTRMST which doesn’t really do much I think, I play in another band called WALLS OF JERICHO, which doesn’t really do much. George might be playing drums in a new band soon but I don’t want to say what band it is because I don’t think it’s a 100% yet.

Is it a famous band?
Nah, I don’t know famous, but they are good though so it’s pretty cool.

Okay, we’ll hear about it…
Yeah, I mean, everyone is just occupied all the time.

So every time it’s music?
No, not all the time, there is other things, I like making picture frames. I’ve only done two but I’m into it.

How do you imagine your life without playing in a band? For example does any of you guys or you ever imagine being a doctor?
Being A doctor?!

Or anything, an astronaut..
Honestly I don’t know cause I’ve been doing this since I was in high school. All my jobs have been all a means to get to this. Like saving money to buy and amp, it was all about this and I feel very lucky to find myself in Bulgaria and that’s cool.

We are also lucky! So we actually finished with the main questions but we have a few bonus questions.
Alright, are they like tough?

No no…

How do you feel so far away from home and do you get homesick while you’re on tour?
Yes I do!

How do you deal with this?
I have a daughter and I FaceTime her every single day and then I’ll just watch videos of her so that’s what makes me really homesick and it helps me deal with it at the same time. But even just having everyone in the band, we are all pretty close, we are all really close friends, so we help each other deal with this stuff.

If you had any superpowers, what would they be?
Superpowers? I would make it so no one can lie. I don’t want no one to lie around me. I don’t want no one to lie in general. We debate this a lot cause obviously some people think it’s okay to lie about like someone is like „Do i look good in this shirt“ „Yeah, you like nice“ but I fell like if everyone just told the truth about everything I think we would get pass some stuff quicker.

Do you have any guilty pleasures in therms of other music genres?
Guilty as in like I should be embarrassed? I don’t really feel like I’m embarrassed by anything! I like ONEREPUBLIC! But I’m not like „I don’t want anyone to find out“ I just like that kind of stuff. Any like overly produced pop music I would normally get excited about.

That’s great. Do you like the new Ed Sheeran album?
The new what album?

Ed Sheeran.
Oh, actually yeah, I don’t know his new record but I watched a documentary of his on a airplane once and it made me like him. I don’t really listen to him but the documentary was cool. He was playing in Wimbledon or something. He’s cool.

I recommend you the new album if you really like overproduced pop music.
He did write a Justin Bieber song that I like though. „You should go and love yourself“ song from Justin Bieber and when I found out it was him I was like „Oh makes total sense, it sounds like an Ed Sheeran song“. So respect Ed Sheeran.

What is your dream tour? Which bands would you like to tour with that you haven’t already been on tour with?
We have been lucky enough to tour with almost everybody that I love. Except for like somebody ridiculous like Metallica, something like that. But we even played shows with Metallica I would have to say Metallica probably.