Give a brief history about the beginning of what would become The Starting Line.
KENNY VASOLI: I met Matt back in 99 via the internet, and Matt introduced me to Tom and Mike several weeks after. He came up with the name The Starting Line; we used to be called The Sunday Drive, but we had to change it and we kind of didn’t really want to think too hard about it. The Starting Line was the first thing we all didn’t hate.
Besides level of experience, what do you feel has changed about your music the most since your first album, Say It Like You Mean It (Drive-Thru Records)?
KENNY VASOLI: I think a lot has changed. I think it’s slowed down a lot, maybe, and my voice dropped a little bit probably.
TOM GRYSKIEWICZ: We got older and more mature.
KENNY VASOLI: Yeah, I think we started producing more quality music than we did in the beginning.
What is a typical show day like for you on your current headlining tour with Bayside, Four Year Strong, and Steel Train?
TOM GRYSKIEWICZ: Basically a lot of killing time. We sound check at like 4 o’clock, so you kind of have nothing to do until then. Just eat lunch, brush your teeth, and lay around.
KENNY VASOLI: Eat a lot of fast food.
TOM GRYSKIEWICZ: Yeah, eat a lot food.
KENNY VASOLI: Play video games.
TOM GRYSKIEWICZ: Then soundcheck, then do nothing till you play, and that’s about it.
KENNY VASOLI: Then do nothing again.
TOM GRYSKIEWICZ: [Laughs] Yeah. It’s a lot of nothing being in a band basically. A lot of waiting.
KENNY VASOLI: Yeah. Getting creative and filling your time.
On this tour fans have the opportunity to choose songs for your set list. What songs seem to be a fan favorite, and are there any songs that you refuse to play no matter how many times they’ve been requested?
KENNY VASOLI: They like that “Best of Me” song a little bit, and we won’t play “I’m Real.”
TOM GRYSKIEWICZ: Ja Rule’s “I’m Real” has been requested every day a million times– that’s definitely the most requested song, by far, but we don’t give it to them.
In a recent press conference it was announced that the band will be taking a break after the current tour, but fans were assured this does not mean the band is broken up or on hiatus. Are there plans to pursue other music projects during this downtime?
KENNY VASOLI: Yeah, me and Tom have two different projects. His is called The 76 and mine is called Person L. We work really hard on those.
Although the break means there won’t be new music from The Starting Line for a while, are you still planning to release the unreleased album for We The People Records along with a DVD?
TOM GRYSKIEWICZ: Yes, were trying to get it all worked out now.
Is there anything else you’d like to say to those whom are reading this interview?
KENNY VASOLI: Hi Mom!
Add your comment below, or trackback from your own site.
Subscribe to these comments.
Be nice. Keep it clean. Stay on topic. No spam.
You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>