Interview with Billy Talent

With Michael D`Sa (guitar) & Jonathan Gallant (bass)- interviewer Pascal Biermann . 6/13/06 . Cologne/ Germany

Billy Talent - Nothing to lose

Punk76: Welcome to Germany. How are you?
Jon: Very good. Thanks a lot for asking.

Punk76: Maybe you can shortly introduce yourself to the readers?
Jonathan:Yes, I’m Jon and I play the bass.
Ian: And I’m Ian, I play the guitar.

Punk76: So welcome again to Germany. How often have you been here?
Jonathan:I think we’ve been here five or six times. But for this record it is our second tour and our second show in Germany. For this record.
Ian: But we never played cologne before.
Jonathan:When we first came here we played only the small clubs. I mean the first couple tours. It was amazing. And then the last tour we did here we openend up with the Beatsteaks. But it’s our first headlining tour here in such big halls.

Punk76: Cool. Do you like Cologne?
Ian: Yeah, it’s awesome. I climbed the cathedral. Half an our. It was so hard.

Punk76: So, Billy Talent is a quite successful band. I guess it’s a full time job.
Jonathan: Yes, it is. In the past we did other jobs at the same time, but now it is a full time job. Just amazing. It’s great.

Punk76: I ask this question everytime when I do interviews. So, can you please list some bands, that influenced you and your music?
Ian: Okay, over the map: At the Drive In, Led Zeppelin, The Clash, Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers - just to name a few here.

Punk76: Your new record comes out soon. I only heard some samples and I thought the style did not changed on your new album.
Jonathan:No. The style did not changed. It is like a progression from the old one.

Punk76: As I already said: You had great success with Billy Talent I, so what do you expect from the new record?
Jonathan: Hm, I think we don’t make any expectations for ourselves. The only thing we want to do is recording a great record and playing a good show. We want the people to say: “Yeah Billy Talent, I love the music”.
Ian: Yes, like Jon said, we never try to have any expectations on our records

Punk76: Okay. I read something about sometime ago and I liked it a lot: I read, that you need some real life between the records which you record. You need life, so that you can collect ideas and ifluences to write about. So, I meant: What do you have for expactations in this case? I did not mean money, I mean what the record should be.
Ian: Oh, okay. I understand. I expect the record doing well because now it’s a year after we started recording. Also because we’re not one of those bands who release a new record every single year. Like here’s the record company here’s the album. We cannot do the record with one shot. We wanna take our time and make a great record.

Punk76: What do you have for plans after this german tour. Touring through the US and Canada or holdidays?
Jonathan:We will finish this European tour and also we have a lot festival stuff to do. Then we go home to do a couple of shows and then we come back to the U.K. and Europe. Warped Tour is coming up in July. Warped Tour is a lot of fun.

Punk76: What festivals will play at, here in Germany this year?
Ian: We’re doing the NovaRock.

Punk76: Hey man, that’s Austria!
Jonathan: Oh fuck.(laughs). In Germany we’re doing the Southside and Hurricane Festival, which will be a lot o fun.

Punk76: I think you played festivals in Germany before. Do they differ a lot from the ones in America or Canada?
Jonathan: I think they are a little bit different and they are better.
Ian: Yeah they’re better. I think the German festivals are better, because they have a bigger compilation of bands. Not only rock bands. You know in for example in North America you have one specific genre for one festival. Whether Screamo or Heavy-Metal or Country music or whatever. In America we play for example an Heavy-Metal festival. And it’s relly heavy, yeah there are only Heavy-Metal Bands and here we play together with The Secret Machines. That is really cool.
Jonathan: Awesome. Yeah best in America is Warped Tour. And I remember a tour we made in North America with many different bands. That was also great.

Punk76: What do you like more, the whole festival stuff or playing in clubs, like this one?
Ian: They’re both fun.
Jonathan: They’re both amazing. Both have different reasons for beeing good. In a club everything is intermid - in your face. You know? People are sweaty and the crowd is really close. You become one with the audience. And then the festivals: You got huge crowds, sunshine…

Punk76: Can you descripe an ordinary day on tour? What are you doing the whole day?
Ian: Okay I descripe my day: I woke up and then I went for a walk. There is a great music store around the corner. Normally we go shopping, have a coffee and then came back and do the soundcheck and then dinner and play the show.

Punk76: Where do you slept last night. In the bus?
Ian: Yes, in the bus. We drove over night from Berlin.

Punk76: So, what is the most important thing in your life?
Jonathan: Definitely my wife and my family, which includes Billy Talent too.
Ian: Music.

Punk76: Jon. You’re married. And you?
Ian: I have a girlfriend at home.

Punk76: Are you soccer fans? At the moment the world championship is in Germany.
Ian: Yeah, we watched the games a little bit.
Jonathan: We are supporting the Germans. Great team and great coach.

Punk76: Thanks for that! And do you also know german players?
Jonathan: I don’t know any german players. I know about David Beckham from England.

Punk76: Hah, cool. So I think time’s over. Any last words?
Jonathan: Yeah. The record is coming out June 23rd. Get it!

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