Interview . A Skylit Drive . w/ Michael "Jag" Jagmin (vocals), Cory LaQuay (drums), Brian White (bass). label fearless records .

interviewer: Laura Schriefer . 13/05/2010 . Knust . Hamburg . Germany .

Punk76: Did you have problems getting to europe because of the dust cloud?

Jag: No, we actually beat it by like two days.

Brian: Yeah, couple of days.

Jag: On our second day here [in europe] we saw a bunch of signs, how all the flights are closed down. It was literally our second day here.

Brian: Emarosa had some delay...

Jag: Their flights, yes. They ended up missing three shows.

Punk76: The shows in Spain, right?

Jag: Yeah.

Brian: They arrived in Spain.

Jag: And they missed Belgium as well.

Punk76: Let's pretend you're flying back home after a few weeks of touring and all your luggage gets lost but you would be able to save one piece that's in your luggage. What would you save?

Jag: I'm going to come and find you 'cause you just said that (laughing) no, I'd probably cry a little.

Cory: Last time I flew home my suitcase didn't come in until like the next day. I was really scared.. so I probably would save my laptop.

Brian: Yeah, my laptop.

Jag: Hold on, there was a question involved?

Punk76: The question was if you could save one piece, what would you choose?

Jag: Well are you talking about my checked bag or my backpack?

Brian: Just your bag, dude.

Jag: Yeah, probably my laptop.

Punk76: Okay, so no stuffed animals or something like that which is important to you?

(all laughing)

Jag, Brian, Cory: Noooo.

Punk76: I see that all of you have lots of tattoos. Do you think they belong to the rock 'n roll lifestyle or why did you get them?

Brian: I wanted a tattoo since I was in 7^th grade so as soon as I turned 18 I was just like "yes, it's possible now". I mean it goes hand in hand with the rock style, you know bands and tattoos. I can't really say why we got them, we just got them.

Cory: I think I was 16 when I got my first one.

Punk76: Oh wow, that's early. And do you still like the tattoo?

Cory: Yeah, it's alright, whatever.. I have some stupid ones, so.

Jag: There's always good memories behind the dumb ones.

Cory: Yeah.

Jag: Like, there's a reason behind all of them whether it's the most stupid reason, it's still something that's a part of you.

Punk76: Which area did hurt the most to get tattooed on?

Cory: My wiener.

Punk76: (laughing) You're kidding, you don't really have a tattoo there?

Cory: No, seriously.

Punk76: Really?

Cory: Yeah. That really sucked.

Punk76: Oh yeah, I can imagine.

Cory: And my chest did hurt a lot.

Jag: My knuckles did hurt the most. It was supposed to be like a joke, fun tattoo. Joey and I got them together at the same time and I was like sweating and thinking "this isn't fun anymore, I'd rather stop, I'm really not enjoying this".

Punk76: Jag, you recently started a clothing line called "Finding Equality" could you tell me something about it?

Jag: Yeah, it's called "Finding Equality" and it's this whole anti-racist movement that I started. I've been growing up and I was raised in a very racist area of Texas, so I was always around it and I never understood the reason why people felt to be that way. So now, that I kind of have a voice that some people listen to I'd rather than only share my music, share some of my beliefs, too. And hopefully people will listen and if they don't, that's fine but at least I'm trying.

Punk76: Right now it's only one shirt, right?

Jag: Yeah but I'm working on the second design right now.

Punk76: Will it be available for the europeans, too?

Jag: Right now it's only on Merchnow(www.merchnow.com) I don't know if people from Europe can order it there?

Punk76: Yeah, but shipping is very expensive and there are taxes and additional fees.

Jag: Oh, really? Well right now the only thing I know is that it's only up there but hopefully in time I'll get the chance to make it more easily available for the people in europe.

Punk76: You've also worked together with "To write love on her arms", what did you do and why do you support that organisation?

Jag: They teamed up with us to make the video for "This isn't the end". They wanted to enlighten people to you know... be happier (smiling).

Brian: Just to love life and don't get down on yourself. It was all about good things, so it was cool to work with them.

Jag: It's about cherishing what you have rather than pining what you don't have.

Punk76.com: What would you say is the most apparent difference between your first record "Wires... and the Concept of Breathing" and your recent record "Adelphia"?

Jag: They're both kind of rushed so that are similarities. I think Adelphia is a little more experimental, everybody really jumped out of their shell on that one. Everyone was trying a lot of new things. On wires it seems like everybody.. (talking to Cory and Brian) well, actually you guys know better, for meit would be just what it seemed like.

Brian: Wires was just more straight forward and Adelphia is, like Jag said, a little more experimental with everyone's ideas coming together mashed to make this CD. We're not disappointed with either of them but we would have liked to have a little more time to work on both of them. But they seem to be alright so you can't complain too much. Overall I think they're both.. solid.

Punk76: They are, definitely.

(all three smiling): Well, thank you!

Punk76: After Jordan Blake (former singer) left the band Jonny Craig replaced him for a few shows, where do you know him from and how does it feel do share the stage with his band Emarosa today?

Cory: We've toured with him more than just this time.

Brian: We've played some of our first shows with Jonny.

Cory: He's like one of our brothers.

Jag: On my second tour, Emarosa was on the tour and he's really supportive, you know things happen for a reason and he's happy with his band, I'm happy with my band. So there's no grudge or anything like that. He was helping his friends out..

Cory: Yeah, that's all it was, just helping us out 'cause we didn't want to drop off that tour, it was the biggest tour we've ever done with From First To last and we just didn't want to go home. So he said "yeah, sure I'll help you guys out".

Brian: He's a good dude, one of our best friends.

Punk76: I read that Craig Mabbitt who was in Blessthefall and now sings in Ecape The Fate wanted to become your new lead vocalist, why didn't you choose him?

Brian: Well, we hit him up if he wanted to become our new singer and he actually contacted the wrong person, he was meant to contact our guitarist Joey but he contacted the manager of Escape The Fate who's also called Joey.

Jag: It was weird how it happened.

Cory: He wanted to join our band and he looked in his phone to call Joey, meaning A Skylit Drive-Joey, but he accidently called the Escape The Fate manager Joey and said "yeah, I'll join, I'm in".

Punk76: That's crazy! I didn't know that.

Cory: Yeah but it seemed to work out for everyone.

Brian: We love that dude, he's a great guy. We've also toured with them.

Jag: And there are no hard feelings, it's like with Emarosa, everybody's happy where they are. And even when I wrote them, it took them a month to write me back and I was starting auditioning for other bands. And it was perfect timing, both Joey and Kyle wrote me on the exact same day without knowing that they both wrote me. And it was like within 10 minutes of eachother. And I was looking at their pictures thinking "I recognize those two dudes why are two of them writing me?" and they both pretty much said the same thing, something like "we like you, wanna come out and audition?" and I was wondering if the knew that both of them were writing me.

Punk76: Did you like Escape The Fate with Ronnie Radke singing more than you like them with Craig Mabbitt?

Brian: I like them both.

Cory: I like them both I mean they're both good I would just say I like the new ones better because I know Craig and I don't know Ronnie.

Punk76: You did a song for the "Punk goes classic rock" sampler. Why did you choose Journey's "Separate Ways"?

Brian: Why not?

Cory: Fuck, yeah..

Jag: It's so weird that we didn't pick Journey to start with because there is a strict list that we had to pick from and that Journey song wasn't even on there, don't stop believing was on there. So first we picked The Who with baba 'o riley, the teenage wasteland song and after a week of really thinking about it and listening to it, we thought it's kind of a too weird song for us, it's just like the same thing over and over again and we didn't want our song to just get skipped over so we wanted to choose a new song that really would catch people's attention and speak well for us. And then we picked a couple 80's rocksongs like Motley Crue but then we were told that those are "too metal" and then we were like "alright, what about Journey?" and they were like "well you guys can do don't stop believing" and we didn't want to do that song because anybody would do that song and that's just way too typical. So we told them we would like to do "separate ways" and they were like "well, it's not on the list" and we said..

Punk76: Put it on the list!

Jag: Yeah, we wanted them to let us do that song because everybody knows it especially since the movie "Yes man" came out, everybody knows that song. And if don't stop believing is their most popular then separate ways is right below it. It's just a better fit for us and I feel that our version sounds like a song that we could have written. It just fits us very well, to me it doesn't sound like a coversong. It sounds just like another sound that could have been on Wires [Album Wires... and the Concept of Breathing]. And that's what I love about it that we so easily could make it our own.

Punk76: Is any of you married?

Jag (laughing): No. But Kyle is. He got too drunk in Vegas and married a hooker. And now she wont give him the divorce.

Punk76: Which song would you choose to do your wedding dance to?

Jag: That's a good one.

Brian: I never thought about it.

Cory: I don't think I'll ever get married so I'm out.

Brian: Probably something really cheesy.

Punk76: For example?

Jag: Celine Dion!

Punk76: Noooo!

Jag: I love Celine Dion.

Brian: Maybe something like..

Cory: Norah Jones.

Brian: Limp Bizkit...or Slipknot.. or Metallica.

Punk76: Yeah, why not? That would be great.

Punk76: In your career you've met a lot of other bands. Has there been one band or just one person you've met that made you nervous?

Brian: Chiodos!

(Cory and Jag agree)

Brian: When we met them Craig Owens walked out of the bus..

Jag: We're all fans.

Brian: And we were just like "holy shit"

Cory: When I was 16 or 17 I worshipped them. So it was kind of weird metting them and touring with them but it was awesome!

Brian: Warped tour last year, too. We had like every band there that we like to listen to, like Alexisonfire, Underoath, Chiodos, NOFX.. every band that we listen to was on that tour and we got the chance to see them every day.. I was like "holy shit"..

Cory: But once you get to know them you realize they're just people like you, just guys in a band.

Jag: But the first meeting is so surreal, the fact that we got on that tour, there were 5 bands on the tour and luckily we're one of them. And to these guys music I was jamming out in my car through out highschool and now I'm friends with them..

Cory: Haste The day.. I was jamming to their music and then we played with them.

Jag: yeah, in Belgium, we ate dinner with them and everything. It's just crazy how it works out.

Brian: When you're younger wou're not thinking that you would be hanging out with all those bands you've listened to one day.

Punk76: Did your parents support your career or did they want you to learn like a solid job first?

Jag: At first my parents wanted me to go to music school and I just kept telling them "I'm not gonna fail I'm not gonna let myself fail so just trust me that I wont". And then they kept telling me and telling me.. but now at this point they're proud that they didn't push me too hard and now they trust me (smiling).

Cory: My brother is two years older than me and he's already wealthy and set. He graduated from the Naval Academy which is the hardest college in America to get into. Obviously we're doing totally different things but my parents support either way.

Brian: We're very lucky with all the support of our parents.

Punk76: Could you please complete the sentence "If I could be anywhere in the world right now I'd like to be...?"

Cory, Brian, Jag (without thinking one second): TACO BELL!

Punk76: Wow, that was quick!

Jag: We've been away for over a month now, so we miss our food.

Brian: Yeah, food back home is incredible.

Jag: It's the first thing we do when we get home is eat a bunch of food and then go in a food coma.

Punk76: Well.. okay.

(everyone laughing)

Jag: It's so weird, I know.

Punk76: But I think german food is alright?

Jag: Yeah it's good but just imagine growing up in America and then coming to Germany, we just miss our food. And I miss having my phone on, I haven't had my phone for this whole tour and when I turn it on all these messages appear.

Punk76: Alright, thank you for taking the time!

Brian: Thank you for not asking any stupid questions (smiling).

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