| | | |  | More of a power-pop band than anything else, though they're nestled in Southern California's skate/snowboard punk scene, Unwritten Law formed early in the 1990s, with drummer Wade Youman the only holdover from the band's early days. The group eventually...
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| Interview | Access All Areas.net.au: Firstly congrats on the new album – it’s awesome!
Tony (Unwritten Law): Thank you!
Access All Areas.net.au: Before we get into your new record, before signing with Atlantic Records, The band has done a lot of label hopping over your career having previously been signed to two other labels. Do you feel you have now found a home with Atlantic?
Tony (Unwritten Law): It seems to be… I think the band was thrown around a lot and it was uncertain where they wanted to place them you know but now basically this label has a spot for us and they know what they’re doing with us and they’re putting us in to the right markets so it seems to be coming together and it feels great!
Access All Areas.net.au: For those who havn’t heard of Unwritten Law, can you describe your style of music?
Tony (Unwritten Law): I think Unwritten Law proved to fans that they never write the same record twice, it’s a big part of who the band is. Not having that direction and like the change in what you listen to it’s like “why not change what you write” and its been a direct relationship between the stuff we’re listening to over 2 to 3 years and developing it for the next record and I like the way they do that and so do the fans and the fans don’t know what to expect.
Access All Areas.net.au: So tell us about your latest release ‘Here’s To The Mourning’?
Tony (Unwritten Law): Basically, some dark, some sleazy, there’s some cool beats and tunes at the end… it takes you to different places and if you put headphones on then it becomes a lot of ear candy.
Have you heard of Ben Rosen?
Access All Areas.net.au: Yeah?
Tony (Unwritten Law): Well Ben – he came in and polished off the album and he created some cool intros… he modeled that up after my drum beats and gave it a little bit of 2004. I think it takes you to different places and it’s definately something where one week you could be into one song and the next week it’s another song… it goes with moods a lot of them - its cool!
Access All Areas.net.au: How do you feel this album differs to your previous gold-selling album ‘Elva’?
Tony (Unwritten Law): Right… I think it’s a bit darker… it’s a bit harder for me because I wasn’t in the writing process of that album.
Access All Areas.net.au: Is there any one song that you're really proud of?
Tony (Unwritten Law): Umm I’d say, oh jeez, I’d say ahh ‘Get Up’ the first song or um I really like the driving vibe of ‘Lost Control’... that’s pretty strong and obviously ‘Save Me’ which is the single and it’s doing really well on the charts so I guess I have to say that as well [laughs] – I know you asked for 1 but there’s 3! [laughs]
Access All Areas.net.au: The title of your album ‘Here’s To The Mourning’, how did that come about?
Tony (Unwritten Law): Basically, I think started off with a different spelling, it was spelt ‘M-o-r-n-I-n-g’ and then we thought we can’t do that because there was ‘Up All Night’ and it was sort of like too predictable so we changed it to ‘M-o-u-r-n-i-n-g’ just to kind of like “here’s to the morning if your mourning” it could have a double meaning. ‘Mourning’ is a play on words.
Access All Areas.net.au: The first single off the album is titled ‘Save Me’, what were you relating to when writing that song? Was it about writing a phase in your life or an observation?
Tony (Unwritten Law): Its definately Scott, the singer, speaking truthfully. He is basically saying don’t call me a f*#k up because he is calling himself a f*#k up first so it cancels itself out first… it’s pretty much right there.
Access All Areas.net.au: Which artists do you admire or are you influenced by and why?
Tony (Unwritten Law): I know for this record there’s a lot of hip hop influence, some of the kick patterns are not so straight and we funk it up a little more… so some hip hop came into play especially the vocals and the vocal phrasings, and Scott not trying to sing too straight and make it real viby and bouncy!
Access All Areas.net.au: The last time you were in Australia was for your tour in 2004, how does your Australian audience differ to that of other territories?
Tony (Unwritten Law): Well as I head from the band they’ve been in Australia several times before, like ten times, and they’ve built up kind of following and I think it’s exciting to have a built in fan base and it’s super exciting to know there will be kids that night whereas here there it is more spread out. The US is such a vast place, you can play at Bakersfield for example and there might be 500 kids there say, and the next night you could play in a theatre in front of 2500 or 5000 kids so it’s kinda bizarre that way.
Access All Areas.net.au: The idea behind your video clip is fantastic with the computer animation, where did the idea for your video clip come about?
Tony (Unwritten Law): Basically, the idea for us was to not be in a video which stemmed from laziness [laughs]. We don’t like making videos so we’re like can people be in it for us and a producer approached us and said “hey let’s do an animation video but it’s with some new 3D graphic and it’s one of a kind right now I believe. It’s a new style of 3D but where the background is more in depth… which is ultra cool anyway and the Linkin Park video I thought was f*#kin’ awesome!
Access All Areas.net.au: Outside touring, what is it you like to do to chill?
Tony (Unwritten Law): Some of us are into golf, definitely into video games and I fish a lot but not so much anymore because there’s no time… PK collects cds, his cd collection is huge. But we’re getting older now and so it’s more kicking it with our wives and girlfriends and just spending some quality time with them.
Access All Areas.net.au: So what is the plan for the rest of the year with the band?
Tony (Unwritten Law): We’re in the middle of promoting right now like we’ve done a lot of American tv shows like J-Leno and we did Carson Daily the other day so we’re doing that stuff right now.
Tony (Unwritten Law): We’re heading out with Sum 41 in May for a full US and Canadian dates… and like I said we hope to be back in Australia in the next six months or I think that’s the plan. I’d like to go to Japan and Europe but I think the year is just on the road promoting the record. |
| Biography | More of a power-pop band than anything else, though they're nestled in Southern California's skate/snowboard punk scene, Unwritten Law formed early in the 1990s, with drummer Wade Youman the only holdover from the band's early days. The group eventually coalesced around vocalist Scott Russo, guitarists Rob Brewer and Steve Morris, bassist John Bell and Youman.
After releasing their debut Blue Room on an independent label, Unwritten Law toured America several times but grew disgusted by the lack of distribution of their records. The quartet eventually signed to Epic, which re-released Blue Room and in 1996 issued their second album, Oz Factor. The group jumped labels yet again in 1997, to Interscope, and recorded their third album in 1998. Just before its release in June of that year, Bell left and was replaced by Sprung Monkey's Pat Kim. Three years later, the band inked a deal with Interscope and issued their third full-length Elva in early 2002. Debut single "Seein' Red" was a hit among TRL and mainstream radio.
Before the year came to a close, Unwritten Law inked a major deal with Lava Records. The largely acoustic Music In High Places followed in early 2003. Recorded on location at Yellowstone National Park, the album was part of MTV's Music From High Places series, a sort of National Geographic Explorer for the Warped Tour set. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide |
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