Interviews

Boys Night Out

Interview with Jeff Davis on Jul 5, 2007 by Archive Bot

The guys from Canada in Boys Night Out have all ready made a name for themselves with there past two records.  I had the privilege to talk with Jeff Davis, the guitarist for the band, about their new record and the past and future of the band. Their latest release titled “Boys Night Out” was just recently released through Ferret Records.
 
By: Wade Rice
 
Can you start of with introducing yourself?
 
Jeff Davis: Sure. Um, my name is Jeff and I play guitar in Boys Night Out.
 
Sweet, first question; your last record, Trainwreck, was a concept album that you guys recorded and you guys were playing a lot more experimental stuff than you used to.  For the new record that is coming out this month, it seems like the band, from what I’ve listened to on Myspace, has matured a lot while still trying to refine your sound.  It seems like a more musically accomplished album from what I’ve heard. Did you guys want to write a more mature record overall? Was that the plan?
 
JD: No, definitely not.  We kind of didn’t go into it with any kind of intentions or any of that stuff.  I can say for sure that we learned a lot while writing Trainwreck. You know, that was a really unique experience for us, the writing process and working with a producer for the first time and we just definitely learned a lot about writing music and were we wanted to be as a band.  So, coming from making that record and the maturing we did in between the two records, when we started writing this record, we were in a different place as a band than we have been in the past and, like I said, we definitely did not have a concise effort to make something more mature, but I think it’s probably come out that way just because it’s really a breeze working with each other and writing over the years and stuff like that. Credit that we have had some member changes but the core of the band has sort of always remained the same.  So yeah, we’ve just learned to write uh, I don’t know, I don’t want to say better but uh.
 
More mature.
 
JD: We’re more mature writers than when we came out.
 
Right gotcha, I completely understand.  So more like a natural maturity is what you’re trying to say?
 
JD: Yeah, definitely.
 
You just talked about the member changes that you guys have had, but now since you’ve been together for about a year it seems like there is good solidarity in the band.  Do you guys feel like this is the Boys Night Out that is going to stay?
 
JD: Absolutely.  That was our reasoning behind putting out a self-titled record. You know, we’ve been screwing around with line-up changes the past couple of years and we’ve been trying to experiment with things, like Kara playing keyboards for example.  We were just trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t.  We’ve got Andy [Lewis] playing guitar for us and we also have Ben [Arseneau], our original drummer, back in the band.  We starting writing and we were like “Wow, this feels right. For once this feels like the way it should be.”  It all sort of came naturally and we got Ben back in the band so it was kind of like an old family reunion. This just feels like Boys Night Out. Trainwreck was cool, but we were really stressing ourselves to do something unique and different, but now we’re just settled in and we’re Boys Night Out and it just feels good.
 
That’s good.  I wanted to talk about that I heard somewhere that you guys have straightedge tattoos.  Is everyone in the band straightedge or just a select few?
 
JD: There is nobody in the band that is straightedge.
 
Oh ok, so I’m a complete idiot.
 
JD: No, no, no.  There are a couple of guys in the band that have straightedge tattoos.
 
Oh, so they’re not straightedge anymore.
 
JD: No. I’m one of those guys. It’s myself and Connor [Lovat-Fraser].  We were both straightedge for a long time and we’re not anymore.  I think that, well most of the guys I know that have straightedge tattoos aren’t straightedge, that just seems to be the way it goes with the people that I know.  But yeah that’s finished.
 
Okay, gotcha!  I saw online that your singer, Connor, had an interview with PETA.  Are other people in the band vegetarian as well?
 
JD: No, and actually you know what?  That video is pretty dated; Connor hasn’t been vegan for at least, I want say several years.  And you know, even this year, PETA has him as like sexiest vegetarian or something like that. [Laughs]  So we told him he should send PETA a picture of him eating like a massive plate of chicken wings and cheeseburger in one hand. [Laughs]  Ask them how sexy they think that is.  Yeah, there is no one in the band that is vegetarian or vegan anymore.
 
Then you guys have definitely changed a lot recently?
 
JD: Yes.  You know, we had some morals and standards when we were vegan and straightedge, but the full brunt and weight of the world is too much.  We just completely gave in and collapsed, and we were totally fucked.
 
[Laughs] Nah man it’s cool, I’m not either of the two anyways, so no bad on you. [Laughs] I wanted to talk about, once again, Connor; he seems like a big topic.  He’s grown his hair out and he’s got a rocking beard going.
 
JD: He sure does.
 
I looked at him and he reminded me so much of Ryan Dunn. Does he get that a lot?
 
JD: Yeah, he gets that a lot, and lately, well, he gets a lot of Ryan Dunn, he gets a lot of homeless man [Laughs] and he gets a lot of Jim Morrison.  They come up to him and are like “Yo, you know when Jim Morrison grew his hair out and a beard, he died in a bathtub.  Are you all right man?”  He’s like “No, no, no I’m fine.” [Laughs]  But yeah he gets Ryan Dunn a lot, for sure.
 
Oh okay, great.  I wanted to talk about you guys coming up with doing a tour with June and Olympia right after the record comes out.  Do you guys have plans after that, which just hasn’t been solidified?
 
JD: After the headlining stuff?
 
Yeah, the tour that ends at the end of June…no, I mean July.
 
JD: Yeah, end of July.  We’re pretty much leaving the day after that tour for another tour; we’re opening for Scary Kids Scaring Kids, and that covers like a month and a half or so, and then we go back into Canada.  We do a whole Canada tour and then into Europe and hopefully Japan and Australia.  So pretty much we will be touring for the rest of the year.
 
Nice, so you’re going pretty much all over, world tour.
 
JD: World Tour, yep.
 
This is kind of a vague question, with the new record, how was the writing and recording process?  Was it smooth, was it rocky?
 
JD: It was entirely smooth; the writing was great.  Usually, well, the way we did Make Yourself Sick and Trainwreck is like we don’t really write over a large period of time; a little bit here and there, but you know by nature we’re just procrastinators.  [Laughs]
 
Or you guys all have A.D.D.
 
JD: That’s true too.  It kind of comes down to like the last month before deadline, and we’re like “Ok, we’ve got a month, let’s bust our asses.”  So we just got a rehearsal place and we’re in there all day, everyday, and wrote it.  It was great, it was natural, it was fun, and, uh, I wouldn’t say it was easy, but it just felt good and it was fun to do.  So it was work, difficult and challenging to do, but we definitely had a great time. It didn’t feel like work.  We worked with the producer and, you know, that was cool.  He came to our rehearsal space up in Canada for like a week and he did pre-production with us.  Then we moved into the studio and there was a loft right above it and we lived in it, so that was pretty cool, constantly be around the music and working.  It was a really easy working environment and he is a really great producer to work with.  He helped us make a great sounding record and we had fun, so yeah it was cool.
 
The Digital EP you guys released, 50 Million People can’t be Wrong, I noticed that Connor did more singing instead of screaming on the re-recordings of the older songs.  Is that something that you guys are doing, avoiding screaming purposely?
 
JD: Well, the reason we did it on those songs was because we just wanted to give it a different taste on the old songs with new recordings.  We did those recordings, as you know, something for fun, you know, just to do something different.  So we just were like “Yeah, we’ll re-do them and we’ll put a new stamp on it and we’ll sing during the screaming parts.”  But, in general, the real reason why we stopped doing it is that it sucks for Connor to do it.  When were on the road, Connor would blow his voice out constantly going from screaming to singing all over the place; it was impossible.  Some nights he could do it, but it was a huge possibility [that he couldn’t almost every night].  Also, coming into Boys Night Out, Connor was a hardcore screamer.  You know, Connor used to scream in a hardcore band, coming into Boys Night Out, with this more melodic stuff, it was like a learning process and it has been over the years, learning to be a singer and write vocal melodies.  When we started, there was more screaming and stuff like that, just because it was easier and more natural and now, as we have gone along, he has just learned to be a singer.  He has learned that screaming completely kills him and he doesn’t want to lose his voice for his whole life, so it is just what had to happen.
 
So it is more of a health reason more than anything, isn’t it?
 
JD: Yeah it is, and truth be told, it is also something we’re not entirely interested in.  You know our style of music, pop punk and rock, I don’t think that it caters very well with screaming.  Some kids disagree with me, but I just don’t think it’s necessary with what we do.  You know, in our new record there is a little bit of screaming. At times, it is appropriate and it will always be there a little bit.  Having it there every song is just to have it there; I really don’t understand and I really don’t have any interest in it like that.
 
No, I agree with you completely.  With the newer stuff you guys are releasing, it does seem out of place.  I wanted to talk about you childhood star days.
 
JD: Oh [Laughs]!
 
I think you were in Goosebumps and Santa Claus the movie or something like that.
 
JD: Yep.
 
I was wandering, how did that all come about?  Is it just something you did when you were younger?
 
JD: Yeah, I started when I was about 9 or 10 years old, just because I wanted to.  I started taking acting lessons and I don’t know, I wanted to be on TV. [Laughs]  I think I did it from when I was 9 or 10 until I was 14 or something.  Then I started playing music, I started playing guitar and that sort of took precedence.  I was in school and I started playing in bands and I got more interested in music when I wasn’t acting and I sort of gave up on it.  It was fun, and I made some money.  I sort of regret it.
 
Is there any band that you guys all agree on as being an influence to all of you guys personally and as a band as well?
 
JD: It’s kind of hard to nail down influences for the whole band; we have really different and diverse musical tastes.  There is definitely stuff that we all agree on like Lifetime for example.  As diverse as our taste are, say like hip-hop, country, metal, old-school punk rock or classic rock, I think a common bond that we all have is that we love Lifetime, and we always have since we were like 13.  Jawbreaker is one as well that we all agree on as well.  Other than that, our influences are completely all over the place.  I think that when you draw influences from the same pool, it can make for uninteresting music.  So, I think it has always helped us.  But other than Jawbreaker and Lifetime, I can’t really think of any other bands that tie us all together.
 
Did you like the new Lifetime record?
 
JD: I loved the new record.  I’m such a big Lifetime fan that seriously, they’re the kind of band that can put anything out and [I’d] love it, regardless.  Yeah I loved it, I couldn’t ask for anything more.
 
You guys had a past vocalist and synth player, Kara.  With the fact that your name is Boys Night Out, did you guys ever get a lot of confusion from that?
 
JD: Yeah, we did, and kind of going into it we were like, “Yeah, you know what, we don’t really care.”  The band name has been around since I we were like 13 years old and at this point, it is just a band name, it’s not like lifestyle. Yeah, Boys Night Out, that is our band name.  We just thought that adding Kara to the band would just help after writing Trainwreck and being the fact that she played on that album, it would just be seriously like a necessity and we weren’t… you know we weren’t going to disrespect her by not letting her in the band.  We didn’t think it mattered, and we did catch a lot of shit for it.  Kids were like “It’s Boys Night Out you idiots.  What’s with the girl in the band?”  Like really do we care that much [Laughs], like why don’t you listen to the music and if you like that then cool, if not then [Laughs] fuck off.
 
Yeah, seriously, I agree.  The last question I have for you is just, that you guys are from Canada and you guys have toured in the states, so you have a pretty good view of the country.  Is there one thing that you think is a big difference between the two countries?
 
JD: There are a lot of things [Laughs].  I don’t know, to me, like a few…religion is so much more in your face all across America.  It is one of the first things I notice every time; it is not something you see in Canada.  There are no signs anywhere saying anything, there are churches here you know, but nothing like billboards.  It gets more noticeable once you get into the Bible belt, you know.  That is one thing that I’ve noticed that is way different, is religion and obviously our governments are different and in turn, makes the people different.  People in general in Canada seem to maybe, and we’re stereotyped, which is true that people in Canada are generally a bit more laid back and a bit more polite. [Laughs] I’m not speaking for myself, more in general.
 
No, I’ve been to Canada and I would agree with that.
 
JD: I’m not saying everyone over there [in America] are assholes, but some Americans are assholes [Laughs].
 
I agree. [Laughs]
 
JD: Aside from that, everything is pretty much the same.  If you go to a big city like Toronto in Canada and a big city in the states, it is pretty much the same type of vibe.  As far as shows go in Canada versus the U.S, if you’re playing a show in the middle of nowhere in like Texas, outside a city in the U.S., and if you were playing a show in the middle of nowhere in Canada, it will be the same thing.  You’re just going to get weird fucking kids regardless [Laughs] and if you’re playing in the city, it is the same in both countries, same demographic at the shows.
 
That is pretty much it.  Anything else you want to say, mention, plug in?
 
JD: Our new album comes out in a couple weeks and we just shot a video for a song called “Up With Me” and we’re hopefully going to try and get it up on Myspace obviously and hopefully on television.
 
Thank you to Jeff for taking the time to talk to me, and apologize to him for the bad service I had on my cell phone. Also thanks to Judy over at Warm Fuzzy for settin’ everything up.
 
www.myspace.com/boysnightout
www.boysnightout.com
www.ferretstyle.com