UpBeetMusic

A sit down with Leighton Antelman while on tour with Love Drug, Copeland and Lights covering a wide range of topics including their first music video and overly loving fans…

How do you feel the reception has been from fans after moving to a bigger label and re-releasing your album?

I actually think it’s been very well received, because you know, up until now we’ve done everything very DIY. You know how a lot of times a band will move to a major label and everyone’s just, “ugh they went to a major label?” It hasn’t been like that, everyone’s just been really receptive and supportive of it because they know that we’ve been doing it on our own for a while, so they’re just actually happy that we’re getting some help from the industry now.

There was a big gap between the first release of the album and the second, were you at all eager to maybe put out some new material instead of just pushing the same album out there?

We were definitely trying to put out new material, it was just a matter of… I don’t know we kind of have this writing process that takes a little longer than most. A lot of bands can just pump out a cd every year, but for some reason it just takes a us a little longer. I personally like to take my time while writing, so it wasn’t that I didn’t want to put new music out, it was just that I wanted to take my time.

Do you spend any time on the road writing or is it something that you have to set time aside for while you’re home or at the studio?

I think it’s probably like eighty percent at home twenty percent on the road. Every once in a while I’ll just jam outside of a venue on the acoustic and come up with a song, but most of the songs that Steve and I write are at home.

I know you recently got into an accident where you hit a deer with the fan, has that hurt the band financially?

You could say that, for a while it was one thing after the next. The deer totaled the van, then our trailer broke right after that, then I got my laptop and phone stolen and Steve’s amp head broke and then we got into a big fight with our manager. It was just one thing after the next, but I guess it was pretty fun just kind strapping.

A lot of fans don’t realize how hard it is to be on the road, touring constantly. What is it that keeps you going?

The light at the end of the tunnel is coming back to a city, like tonight in San Antonio and seeing twice the size of a crowd. Because otherwise you’re just doing the same thing over and over. We’ve been touring three and a half years now I believe and I’m just now starting to see the progression. Advice to bands out there, it’s tough, but if you get past those first two years you’ll actually start seeing some progression, so just keep with it.

What experiences do you think you’ll take away from being in Lydia, even after it’s all said and done?

Well it pretty much is my life right now, I can’t really see myself doing anything else, especially at this point. I think when it’s all said and done, whenever it is that’ll be, I’d just like to travel. I’m happy now that I get to see all these places, friends of mine say, “really you’ve been to every major city in the US that’s crazy.” I’m just really happy, especially being 22, so that’s probably what I’d take away from it. Hopefully it’ll get even better and we’ll get to see the UK, Japan and Australia.

Are there any plans to head overseas at this point?

There are plans to go over to the UK, it’s all just kind of tentative right now. It’s going to happen but they’re just trying to work out the details.

When are the plans to try to do that?

Well, we’ll be home for the holidays, just because we’ve been touring our asses off this whole year. We have two members from Nebraska, two from Nashville and all the rest are from Arizona, so everyone’s flying home and staying there for the holidays. But then after that, in mid February to the middle of March, we’re going to be doing a headlining tour. We’ll be able to play longer sets and bring out bands that we want to bring out.

If you had your choice who is it that you would try to bring out with you?

I don’t know, that’s tough. It’s hard to say because this is going to be our first headlining tour and I don’t know what kind of bands are going to want to come out. We were talking a lot about The Snake the Cross the Crown, which is one of my favorite bands, if they could come out that’d be amazing.

Any one else on the list?

Manchester Orchestra would be cool. I would also love to go out with Deer in the Headlights.

What albums are you listening to as of late?

Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s are really good, I think their record just came out in the last couple of months. So if anyone hasn’t heard of them you should definitely check them out, they’re a really good band.

How difficult is it to find time for yourselves when you’re together on the road constantly?

On tour you get zero privacy, you’re around at least one other person 90 percent of the time and it’s really hard to find time to do what you have to do. I personally like to be alone a lot, I don’t know if that’s weird or not but I try to get away from the van and venue every once in a while and go off and walk somewhere just to keep my head straight, because if you don’t you can go crazy.

How do you think having a female in the band effects what you’re trying to do as a band? Obviously it adds a lot musically but do you think there are any downsides to it?

I think there are definitely some downsides, but you know there’s always going to be that asshole on the message boards that’s like, “I love Mindy, she’s so unbelievable, blah blah blah.” But I think most of our fans take the music for what it’s worth and don’t try to read into the whole, this girls very attractive, that guys very attractive thing. I just try to ignore it basically, because that’s not why I play music at all and that’s not why anyone should be listening to it.

It seems like a lot of your fan base is younger, do you think that effects fans that might otherwise be into your band?

Usually at shows I try to meet people afterwards at the merch table, but I run into a pretty ridiculous variety of people. I wouldn’t want to say it’s just a young crowd. In the public eye I’m not really sure, because we haven’t really been there. We just started, we put out the album on the big label so I guess we’ll see how people take us.

Have you decided on the first music video?

I’m pretty sure it just got decided today. It’s going to be, “I woke up near the sea.” We’re going to be filming in mid December and hopefully releasing it soon after, before our headline tour in mid February. I’m pretty excited. I’ve never done a video before, especially with a budget and directors and extras and makeup people, the whole thing, so it should be pretty cool.

Do you think signing to the major label has taken any weight off your shoulders as a band?

Yea I definitely think it has. we used to have a management group that tried to do everything from publicity to marketing to radio, so I think it takes the stress off of them. But that definitely reflects onto us as well because we don’t have to worry about two guys handling everything, now we have a team of people. I’m excited, so far they’ve been really cool, so I’m just excited to see where they can take us.