The day before The Academy Is… hit the Schine Underground stage as the headlining act for the semester’s second Bandersnatch Music Series concert, The Daily Orange spoke with bassist Adam Siska. Siska talked about high school stereotypes, collaborating with Andrew McMahon and the future of the band.

So, ‘Fast Times at Barrington High’ came out; what inspired the band to write an album about high school life after many years had passed?

I don’t know. I would never say the album is about, really about high school. I think that just the setting for the imagery and the songs are metaphorical for situations in real life and you can draw parallels to being in high school.

You and William Beckett (the lead singer of The Academy Is…) went to high school together. What was your relationship like back then?

Yeah, we did. I knew him through my older brother, who was three years older than me, and we just hit it off, started talking about bands and sharing CDs, going to record stores, going to concerts and we talked about wanting to start our own band, and in 2003, we did. And we’ve been doing this ever since.

What high school stereotype would you say you were? Stereotype-wise, who were the other members of the band?

I think I would have fallen into the stoner type. I guess people thought I was a stoner, but I wasn’t a stoner at all. I never smoked weed in high school (laughs). Everyone was under the impression that I was a stoner because I was so far out there. William was like the quiet one. Before anyone was ever called emo, he was the emo kid. People just didn’t know what it was yet. Mitch thought he was gay. Mike Carden, he was on the swim team and he was the captain of the debate team. So I don’t really know what stereotype that is, he was pretty talented. And our drummer, Butcher, he went to art school, so he was an art school student. And Michael, our guitar player, dropped out of high school.

How often do you play for a strictly college audience? How will theupcoming show at Syracuse Universitydiffer from yourlargershows?

I think the majority of our fan base is high school or college age. We love playing to college students because I would be in college now if I wasn’t in the band. It’s interesting to come on campus and play shows for people. We’re excited to share our music. I have a feeling it’s going to be a fun show.

What song is your favorite to play live and why?

I don’t really have one. On this tour, I’ve been really enjoying playing a song called ‘Classifieds’ from our first record. We haven’t played it in years and just started playing it again on this tour. The response from the fans has been awesome.

Recently the band has transitioned with its image and sound. What sparked this? How would you classify the new stuff?

I wouldn’t classify it as a new sound. It’s just songs from The Academy Is… And I don’t know if anything really sparked it other than time and circumstance. As you grow, things change. Ideas change, and the band kind of progresses as we go.

You just released the EP ‘Lost in Pacific Time.’ What was the inspiration for that?

‘Lost in Pacific Time’ was a collection of ideas we had during the writing process of the last album. The inspiration, there were songs that we wrote during the last record and some we wrote on tour and the inspiration was totally personal. So we just wanted to put our five songs and surprise our fans with an EP. I don’t think anyone even knew we were making it, so that made it kind of fun to say it was coming out next week and people were a little confused. We like that. Whenever our band is coming out with a new record, you see ads everywhere and they’re kind of shoving it down your throat. With the EP, you could download it if you want.

On the EP, the band collaborates with Andrew McMahon of Jack’s Mannequin. He recently played a show here. How was it working with him?

He’s the best. He’s been a friend of ours for about five or six years now from when he was with his first band, Something Corporate. He’s taught us a lot about being a passionate performer and songwriter, and we’re always thankful for that. And he’s a great friend. It’s just fun to work with him, and we might as well keep doing stuff with him.

Are more episodes of TAI TV on the way?

I wouldn’t say it’s ended. We’re just taking a break from it to focus on writing music. If you’re trying to do too many things, like creating podcasts or videos for the Internet, stuff that can take time away from you’re trying to spend bonding as a band. We did do TAI TV for so long we decided to take a break from it to just be the band that we are, no gimmicks or anything. Just music. And I wouldn’t say it’s died. We have fun with it.

You’ve been consistently touring for a few years now. How does that affect the band’s dynamic?

Last night we played our last day on the fall tour. We ended this tour on a really good note, but we’ve been out for two months and things can get a little crazy. You can get at each other’s throats a little bit. Being around 12 people for two months, it can get a little crazy. It’s going to be nice to have some time away from each other when the tour ends, and when we come back we’ll be really excited and happy to see each other.

What do you enjoy doing during your off-time while on tour and when you’re home?

I’m going sailing right after this tour. I just like relaxing and getting some quiet time. The road can get a little rough. When I’m on tour, I just read a lot of books and stay in my basement. But if the weather is nice in Chicago, I’ll go outside.

What’s next for The Academy Is…? I heard rumors of the band taking some time off…

Yeah, we’re going to take a little time off. We’re just going to see how much time we need to make our best record ever. Then we’ll come out with the new record and be out on tour before you know it.

kmimamur@syr.edu

Published on November 17, 2009 at 12:00 pm