Warped In Reverse - Episode #9
Interview by Cosmic-A (Monica Demattei) | Transcription by Tyler Peckham
Five boys from Birmingham in the United Kingdom came together in 2011 to make Oceans Ate Alaska, a Metalcore band who in 2014, signed with Fearless Records. The band is made up of Jake Noakes on vocals, James “Jibs” Kennedy on rhythm guitar, Chris Turner on drums, Adam Zytkiewicz on lead guitar, and Mike Stanton on bass. They recently replaced their original vocalist James Harrison for Noakes in early 2017.
I’m Monica with Tour Press Force and I’m here with…
Jibs from Oceans Ate Alaska…And also Adam
How is the tour treating you?
Hot, and bothered, and long, but it’s good. It’s such a humbling experience. The shows that we’re playing, the amount of people that are coming out to watch us, although it’s hot as fuck, it’s really the most amazing experience we’ve had as a band so far.
Have you toured in the U.S. before?
Yes. This is our fourth U.S. tour in the past 12 months so we’ve covered a lot of the U.S.
So how are you finding the regions different? Are fans different at all?
It’s the same everywhere in the world. Some areas are going to be more stoked on you than others. We love playing California, we love playing Michigan, recently Minnesota, just because on this tour it was a really sick day. We weren’t expecting the crowd to be as crazy as it was. We’ve played Minnesota before and it’s been sort of eh alright, and when we played on Warped Tour, it was one of the sickest probably so far.
How were you invited on the tour?
We had our manager reach out to Kevin (Lyman) to put us forward, and something about us Kevin liked. He saw we fit a spot they wanted and so that was kind of how it went down. We really can’t thank Kevin enough for this opportunity to get out to people, this amount of people as well, it’s incredible. We can’t thank him enough.
For those who don’t know you, how would you describe your sound?
Something that you’re going to love and hate and sometimes like and then sometimes also dislike at the same time…eclectic. There’s a lot going on, so there’s going to be something you love there. We write whatever the fuck we want. You’re listening to music that gets us stoked as well. We aren’t only just expressing ourselves; we’re playing music we would personally enjoy. During the writing process if we get stoked about it, it means we feel it’s good enough to make it on the record. We’re essentially writing for ourselves, and we just hope other people are connecting to it, and enjoying it as well.
Do you ever have a concept or a mission or purpose behind what you do?
Just to make people stoked. We don’t really have an agenda as a band. It’s more about us just writing music that gets us stoked and that we hope other people listen to it and have the same feeling as us.
What’s up next after Warped Tour?
We’ve got a few headlining shows in Europe and then we’ll just be taking a break and focusing on recording a new album.
YouTube | High Horse - Oceans Ate Alaska (Official Music Video)
Oceans Ate Alaska is currently working on a new album, set to release this year. Their last single, “High Horse,” was released nine months ago via Fearless Records (see the YouTube above). They are also currently on another U.S. tour, featuring dates across the country. They will be at the Nile Theater in Mesa, Arizona on March 1. Check here for dates and tickets.
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