“We could not be happier. We’re just ready to go out and play these songs and see how the record’s really sitting with fans,” he says. A Day To Remember’s five album deal with the Chicago-based label Victory commenced with their second record, 2007’s For Those Who Have Heart. Despite not seeing out the contract, McKinnon divulges details about the inscrutable temperament of the label boss, which made it imperative for the band to repossess control.
“This man invested in us and was the only person who supported us when nobody else gave a shit,” he concedes. “At the same time, the way he runs that business and the way he treats the people that are on the label, you can’t work with him. Our contract is so vague; he just uses it as a way of saying whatever he wants. He’s like, ‘You can’t do this because it’s in the contract,’ and we’ll be like, ‘That’s not what the contract says at all,’ and he’ll say, ‘Yes it does, tough shit,’ then send you something from his lawyer saying you’re breaching his contract.”
Taking matters to court is certainly never ideal but the band saw no alternative way to rescue their career. A Day To Remember are now completely responsible for handling release proceedings and rather than being daunted by the increased accountability, McKinnon is optimistic about moving forward on their own terms.
“We get to make all the decisions instead of somebody else just doing what they want regardless of what we say. If anything it’s become easier because we just do what we think we should do, which is 99 per cent of the time the right move.”
The band’s fortunes as an independent entity are looking favourable thus far and A Day To Remember will head back to Australia for the 2014 Soundwave Festival. McKinnon speaks with unabashed excitement about returning to their admitted home-away-from-home for the fifth time.
“We do these meet and greets and acoustic performances almost every show for people to come early and they’ll always ask us, ‘What’s your favourite place to play in the world?’ and we always say, all five of us, ‘Australia.’ You have a beautiful country, the people really support us – on top of that all of you guys are fucking good looking and on top of that you guys actually think American accents are cool.”
The Soundwave festival is often spoken about by the participating artists with great affection and a sense of prestige. Having played Soundwave twice before, McKinnon reveals why the band always jump at the opportunity to play the festival. “It’s like Warped tour in the fact that I get to hang out with people in my own genre and meet people, but then it’s like every other big festival on the planet as well because you have these massive ‘80s and ‘90s rock icons playing this festival too. All of these people I grew up listening to and I used to get in trouble buying their records in high school, these people are headlining every goddamn time I come. Then they actually meet us and I get to hang out with these people like I’m one of them – that’s fucking amazing!”
Standing side-by-side the people who inspired you to diverge from the path to anonymity and chase your dreams in the first place is an unmatched thrill. McKinnon recounts one particularly unreal encounter that occurred during a previous Soundwave tour.
“It was so weird, last tour we went on we were in a bus with Steel Panther and Alter Bridge [the band formed by three members of Creed] and one of the dudes from Steel Panther was showing the guys from Alter Bridge Creed Shreds [a series of video spoofs of Creed songs]. I got to be in the bus when the dudes from Creed saw Creed Shreds!”
A Day To Remember indeed.
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
