Editor’s Note: This is the raw draft of the interview published by New Noise Magazine. This draft has not been seen by an editor. There will be errors. You’ve got a new record, HOME, coming out into the world in March. After all the hard work and effort, how does it feel to be putting this thing out into the world? Good. It’s been finished since the end of July. I honestly thought it would be released in the fall, but I guess their deadline was too close to Xmas. I was told it’s a bad idea to release records around that time. I was pretty bummed at first (knowing we would have to wait so long), but I realize that the label certainly knows more than I do about putting out records. It’s a deeper, darker and ever more personal record than the already incredibly personal records that preceded it. Yet, you do it so effortlessly and fearlessly. Do you get nervous putting so much of yourself out there? I wouldn’t say it’s effortless or fearless at all. I hate going in to make records. I know that the only way to make it powerful and meaningful to myself is to dig way into all the shit that I put off dealing with since the last record. I was always afraid that I would run out of things to write about as I got older. It turns out that there seems to be an entirely new set of worries and problems that come with getting older. Back when we did Hospitals, I felt like I could do whatever I wanted and there were no consequences. There weren’t, really. I was 24 and couldn’t die (believe me, we tried!). Now I’m 31 and a full grown man. The problem is that I don’t feel like one or even want to be one! I’m watching all of my friends and old band mates get married and have children, and I just want to get back to 24, you know? I think that’s been my new problem, and that’s obviously not going away. The actual making of the records is stressful in the lyric sense because I’m writing until the minute I record vocals. I might have something, but I usually change it to the most pressing thoughts I have right before they hit record. It’s also pretty embarrassing singing some of the shit I write to an engineer for the first time. I still haven’t gotten over that. It’s the ability of a true artist to make work look effortless!Then I must be a true artist, because that shit is hard! I’m 31 too and I’m in the same boat. I don’t want to grow up, I don’t want to have kids. I want to go out 5 nights a week and go see bands play each and every night. I don’t want to stop. I’m afraid to stop. What I really like and what really grabs me about HOME, is many of the themes hit home for me and hit home hard. I might have made this idea up, but the ideas of feeling alone in a room full of people. The ideas and feelings that I’m in a hole I’ll never get out of. And here’s another guy with the same shit going on in his head, but he can kind of play guitar and can sing. The honesty hits home. How important is honesty, or am I making that up in my head? haha It’s super important. That’s why it takes me so long to write. I procrastinate because to be perfectly honest about it, I’m not a very honest person publicly. If I go out to a show, or hang out at a show that I’m playing, I don’t want to talk about this shit. I want to have fun. The switch flips when I get home though. It’s kinda like that episode of It’s Always Sunny where Charlie is explaining that they have to huff glue and eat the cat food to fall asleep as fast as possible. I have a similar routine. I think Home is kind of a deeper explanation of why I feel the way I do all the time, and less about the specific shittiness like the previous records. So when someone like me comes up to you at a show and tells you that they understand how you feel and feel that way too, that maybe your honesty has helped them through some dark times as well, Does that freak you out? Not at all. I think it’s cool when people say stuff like that. It happens more often these days than it used to. It just depends how that conversation goes down. I think you should use music like this as therapy or an escape. Same goes for the show. People just have to keep in mind that I am not a therapist. I can’t help anyone on a personal level. I can give you some music, but I have no good advice. That’s where the title for the song “Seek Advice Elsewhere” comes into play. When you are at an OWTH show and are having a good time, roll with it. Don’t dwell on whatever problem you have while there, and please don’t put me in the position of feeling bad about it. I’m there doing the same thing! Let’s move in and talk more about that album, entitled HOME. It’s a simple, but loaded title for a loaded album. What does HOME mean to you? I never really have an idea for a theme when doing a record. I think this one stemmed from us touring for 5 years straight. It’s about all the different places that I’ve called home over the years, and why each of them has never clicked and felt right. I still don’t feel like I’ve found the “home” that everyone who is content with their lives has. I guess right now, my