#INTERVIEW Vans Warped Tour presents The Maine & Nick Santino
After five years of hiatus, The Maine are finally back on the Vans Warped Tour. Playing a mixture of the songs we love, as well as a few new ones, fans are excited to see them this summer on the Warheads Stage. While in Buffalo, NY at Darien Lake on July 8th, our correspondent, Stephanie Puccinelli sat down with Pat Kirch (Drummer) to discuss how the tour has been going so far.
How does it feel to be back after five years? Has anything changed since then?
It’s awesome, it’s cool… I wasn’t sure what to expect but its been way better than I ever could have imagined . But, not really it seems like we got right back into the groove, it’s like we never left.
Do you find that your fanbase is now older than it once was? Or are there still the young ones that come out?
Yeah there are older fans, there are a lot of people who haven’t watched us in a while. Some younger fans as well, but I think there are some people that come to this tour, who only come to this tour and don’t really go to other concerts or shows so they come watch us to see what we are all about. It’s cool to let them hear what we are doing.
Is there anyone your excited to see on this year’s Warped Tour?
The Mayday Parade guys are good friends of ours. I was excited for… well they aren’t on the tour anymore but they were on the first half, I was excited to watch Finch.
You guys seem to be a very accessible band, you are selling your own C.D’s, holding your own set time sign, and meeting fans everyday. Is doing that important to you guys?
Yeah, I think first off the whole fan aspect thing is that if they weren’t there then we would be here, so we do our best to try and give back to them on that level and we like to hang out, talk to them and thank them for hanging. The walking around with the album stuff like… you know, when else do you have the opportunity to get thousands of people that might have never heard of your music before to take a listen? We just take advantage of that.
How does The Maine go the XTRA Mile?
I think we try and go the Xtra Mile in everything we do. I think we try and make sure that we can keep giving back to our fans, you know? We hang out with them as much as we can, we try and make everything as cheap or free as we can, we just try to treat the fans like they treat us. There are a lot of bands that make people pay to take a picture with them, there is a lot of just crap around but we try and just cut through that and do what we think is right.
Is there anything you would like to say to our readers?
Yeah, give us a listen. I think you might like it and even if you don’t, give us a listen and give us your opinion on it. If you’re already a fan thanks for hanging out with us, it has been an incredible seven years and I can’t wait to do it for another 15!
Check out The Maine’s newest release “Forever Halloween: Deluxe Edition”
Song Title: Love & Drugs
The Xtra Mile presents Nick Santino
Former front man of Rocket to the Moon returns to Van Warped tour on his own. After the end of Rocket to the Moon, Nick Santino decided it was time to start his solo career. With a newly released full length record, playing on the acoustic basement stage he is really excited to be back. Our Correspondent Stephanie Puccinelli, chatted with Santino on his new solo career.
How does it feel to be back on warped tour but now as a solo artist?
It’s awesome. It’s completely different than how it was. I mean I’m an older man now so I’m not like a little kid running around. Its great, I’m playing at this place called the acoustic basement and it’s a really intimate tent. I think starting my solo career that’s the thing I like most is playing intimate crowds and one on one things like that… I’m loving it!
So you get to interact with your fans more?
Yeah and like I get to have conversations with them more and even talk to them while I’m on stage its pretty cool.
What was your inspiration for this record?
Well I put out two EPs and than I put out this record. I did this record out in Arizona with my buddy Pat who plays drums in the band called The Maine(interview above) and all those guys in that band are really my brothers they came in everyday and would help me, play some instruments and kind of put in their creative spin on the record. I was just writing a lot of those songs for a while now, a lot of them I wrote right before I recorded them and it was just a really cool first full length record to do I think. I’m really happy with it and the songs. I think it’s a really honest record.
How has the feedback been since the change?
I think it has been really good. I honestly haven’t heard anything bad and if anything I think a lot of people have been kind of coming over to my side now that I’ve released the record cause they hear some of the old rocket influence to it.
Now back that you are back on Warped Tour are there any acts you are excited to see?
Yeah! There’s tons of friends from Mayday Parade, We are the in Crowd, all of The Maine dudes. I’ve been also catching a lot of guys from my area Massachusetts like a band called Vanna who’s shirt I have right here and there’s this band called Paris that’s on warped for a few days. Also Saves the Day, one of my favourite bands and Every Time I Die is on here so it’s really cool.
So we were wondering how does Nick Santino go the XTRA mile?
I think I can speak for The Maine as well. We try and make our fans see us as normal dudes, you know? We just want them to know that we aren’t bothered by them stopping us to take a picture, kids are always like “I’m so sorry, I know you’re so busy!” and I’m like “I’m busy walking to get food?”… like I’m not busy, I’m never too busy for somebody else. I think that is important. I think there is a lot of bands that think too highly of themselves and they think they are too good and they need to be escorted through a group with their tour manager or whoever because they don’t wanna stop for anybody. That’s is not the case for me or anyone in The Maine. We just wanna hang out with anybody. That’s what we do we try and make that effort to show people that we are real people and we like to hang out, you are not bothering us you know?
Do you have any last words for our readers?
Well I just put out the record, it’s pretty new so get on it if you haven’t listened to it yet and I’m going to the UK with these boys in The Maine in October and then we are working on some fall plans right now for that so come out to a show whenever that gets announced and I’ll just be hanging playing music.
Check out Nick Santino’s newest record Big Skies, and his latest track “Can’t Say I Miss You”
[Interview and review by Stephanie Puccinelli]