Paul: Hi! Please introduce yourself and your role in the band
Nick: My name is Nick and I sing lead vocals and play guitar in The Years Gone By.
Paul: How did the band form? Can you please give us a little history of TYGB…
Nick: The band started in Freehold, NJ. While Mike and I we’re in the 8th grade we met our drummer Louis. We spent countless years touring and making friends. Now we have a new bassist named Will and the band is going great!
Paul: For anyone yet to hear you, how would you describe your sound?
Nick: Pop Punk!
Paul: Is there anything symbolic about the name of the album?
Nick: Yea! Forever Comes Too Soon, is the theme of the CD. Most of the songs are about Living, Loving and Losing. You need to do those to the utmost because you never know when your time is up on this planet.
Paul: How did the recording process go? Which producer did you use?
Nick: Recording our new CD was an amazing month. We hired our friend Mike Kalajian and rented an apartment in orange county, New York where we did all the tracking. Lots of video games, pasta dinners and sleeping took place. Oh yea, we recorded a bit too!
Paul: How did the deal with Rise come about?
Nick: We actually contacted Rise while we were in the studio. They were really excited about the direction of our band and we felt really comfortable with them so we decided to work together!
Paul: You were a DIY band for quite some time, do you think bands need labels as much as they did, say, 2 or 3 years ago?
Nick: No way. With myspace, the ability to get your own distribution now and the ease that you can set up merch stores and book tours…It’s not a necessity for a record label.
Paul: The artwork for the new record is pretty
distinctive…who came up with the concept? Is it reflective of the band in any way?
Nick: The artists name is Wes Yossi. The band came up with a central theme that the record is based around. Living, Loving and Losing. We fell on the name “Forever Comes Too Soon” and the art reflects it in some what of a dreamscape. It’s open to interpretation.
Paul: Is it true the artwork was actually a last minute thing as another artists let you down very late in the project?
Nick: Yea..That fool! But it ended up working out perfectly for us.
Paul: “Live life spend your money you only get one shot” – is this the TYGB life philosophy?
Nick: Absolutely! It’s unfortunate because we can’t pay our bills now! Haha, For real though, your time in this world is a gift and a privilege. Live it up.
Paul: You’ve gone against the grain by keeping song titles short and it’s actually something you sing about on the album. Is it important to you to not follow the trends and do the same things other bands do, even if it means it may give you a commercial advantage?
Nick: The first song on our record is a call out to bands that follow trends, get big, fall out. We hope that our record is some what of a fork in the road for all bands and records to come. We don’t play music for fame or to reach a commercial level. We love to tour and meet new people everyday. That’s what music is about. How a band styles their hair or what shirt they have on should not be the reason for album sales. We’re firm believers that a resurgence of great music will arrive soon!
Paul: What music are you guys currently listening to? Any bands/records you would recommend we check out?
Nick: We have been listening to Set Your Goals (Mutiny), New Found Glory( Self Titled), Attack Attack, and Jimmy Eat World (Clarity).
Paul: Any plans to tour the UK at all?
Nick: We sure hope so! We never thought people would really take notice to us over there and to see some of the comments on the punktastic board have been overwhelming. We would love to come over as soon as the opportunity arises, our friends in SYG told us the kids are amazing!
Paul: What’s next for The Years Gone By?
Nick: We’re going to be touring the states for the rest of the year. Hopefully tour a bit over seas as well when we are giving the chance too! The main focus is getting our music heard as much as possible. Our new CD is something we’re super proud of and we want the world to hear it.