Exclusive: The Boys After - "The Break-Up" EP Stream, Interview

Featuring ex-members of Fight Fair and This Time Next Year, California's The Boys After are back from their hiatus with their recently-released sophomore EP, The Break-Up. We're excited to bring you an exclusive stream of the EP plus an interview with the band. Make sure to either pick it up from iTunes or Amazon! Click the Read More… link to stream the EP and read the interview.



For the record, can you state your names and roles in The Boys After?

Chris: Chris, I play guitar, Brian here plays guitar as well and Aaron on drums.

Earlier in the year the band re-formed from a hiatus with original members Chris (ex-Fight Fair), Aaron (ex-This Time Next Year) and Brian. Tell us about the hiatus and the changes the band has gone through.

Brian: The hiatus gave The Boys After the maturing that we needed. We still enjoy the music that we made on You'll Be Missing Home, but feel like now from the experiences we've had, we know exactly what we want. We know the sacrifices we have to make to tour, record and keep going as a band.

Did you guys always know you'd come out of the hiatus to re-form the band or was the hiatus indefinite with no future plans?

Aaron: I think all of us really wanted to come back together, but it just wasn't in the cards at the time. Having joined other bands, there just wasn't any time with tour schedules, works schedules, etc. Needless to say we are ecstatic to be back again, and it feels like we never left.

So the new EP, The Break-Up, is out now and the band seems to be making up for lost time. What has the general reception to the new songs been like?

Chris: So far the overall reception that we have seen has been very positive. We've really been working hard trying to get this EP to as many people as possible, not only to newer fans, but we wanted to reach out again to the fans who had followed our band and helped us to get even as far as we did in the first place. I mean, the hardest part about being away from a band for a long time is people forget about you, and obviously we were no exception. But at the same time, we have always had a lot of fans asking us to release more music so we are just pumped to be back together doing what we love and know.

When did you guys initially begin working on the EP? Can you explain the title and overall themes behind the songs and perhaps what they mean to you?

Brian: When we got back together earlier this year we knew we wanted to record a new EP. We had several demos of songs we recorded before we split that we knew we wanted to use. We re-wrote them and 2 made it on this album. Other than that, we wrote everything else fresh. We were in no rush, so we demoed everything out several times before we went into the studio.

The title of the album is from the title of our 26 second song about the hate for an ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend. The overall theme of this EP has to do with different aspects of going through a break up in a relationship. Writing love songs is nothing new for a band, our first EP You'll Be Missing Home had a few love songs… But with this EP we decided to write about the other side of relationships. We've all been through break ups, and feel it was easy for us to write about something personal that could be relate-able. Everyone has gone through a break up that made them bitter, hopeless and strung along, so I think this EP lyrically speaks as an anthem to those people. Don't let that fool you though, this EP isn't a downer, The Break-Up is 17 minutes of fast-fun-poppy songs.

Under the circumstances, how did writing and recording the new EP compare to 2007's You'll Be Missing Home EP?

Aaron: The recording experiences between the two EP's was quite different. Most of us were young, and had little or no recording experience when we wrote You'll Be Missing Home. During the hiatus, we had a chance to work with different record producers and recording engineers, which made writing and recording, 'The Break-Up' a much more efficient experience.

Do you guys have any plans to hit the road anytime soon or to play more local shows?

Chris: Yeah we do, we are working closely on a few things and should know more by January. That's all we really want to do. Touring is such an important part of being a band and it's equally if not more important to the fans of your band to see live shows. We love connecting with different people through music and touring really allows that for that bond between artist and fan of music to exist. We can't wait to hit the road and if anyone ever has recommendations of who they'd liked to see us out with feel free to hit us up!

Being based in California, have you found it particularly difficult to stand out with the abundance of existing Pop Punk bands in the area?

Brian: No matter where you live you got to work hard to stand out. If anything, I find the abundance of Pop Punk bands in California helpful to us. You make a few friends, trade shows, promote each other and it's ultimately up to the listener on what they like. We're not in a competition, but we do work hard on standing out from some bands with something new to offer.

As the year comes to an end, have you guys set yourselves any personal or collective goals to achieve with the band for next year?

Aaron: I think all of us just want to tour. We are getting a little stir crazy at home, and now that we're done with the EP, our first priority is getting on the road.

Thanks for your time, is there anything else you'd like to add?

Chris: We just want to stay thank you to everyone who picked up our new EP The Break-Up, it's available on iTunes, Amazon and a lot of other sites so if you like upbeat, fast, Pop Punk music, please check it out and also check out our Facebook page, blah, blah, blah, and all that jazz. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and greetings from California!

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