By Adam Barsky

One band plus one band, well, equals the new and improved Taking Back Sunday. Former guitarist and bassist of Breaking Pangaea, Fred Mascherino and Matt Rubano, have jumped into the TBS lineup to help back their mic-swinging vocalist, Adam Lazzara. After finishing a few but successful shows on this past summer's Warped Tour, the band has joined forces with Saves the Day and Canada's finest, Moneen, to conquer the modern punk scene city by city. During an unexplainably frigid November evening in D.C., I had the privilege to hang out with the guys on their bus, which was decorated straight out of of the movie "Sixteen Candles". Check out what they have to say and why the Natural Inquirer's "Bat Boy" is a big part of one of the band member's career!

Shoutweb: So, you guys had some time off. What did you end up doing?

Eddie: We had some time off at Adam's place in North Carolina. We chilled there for a little and had a "brobeque".

Shoutweb: That had to have been nice.

Mark: Yeah its fun to relax a little bit in the middle of the tour, but I'm a little weird about it. I would rather have no days off and just keep on going and going because you get into such a routine. I, personally, make time in my day for rest so that I don't need days off. Days off definitely help, I'm not going to lie, but at this point in the tour, after 25 shows, I just want to go home.

Shoutweb: Warped tour was your first few shows with the new line up. How did that go?

Matt: Yeah. There were two secret shows before Warped.

Shoutweb: For the secret shows, what did you guys call yourselves?

Eddie: We were "Booze and Adventure". Were we? Yeah.

Matt: Yeah, they were crazy because those shows were like 500 to 1000 kids. The energy was pretty amazing. To go from that to the Warped Tour was a pretty huge jump up in, obviously, capacity, and energy as well. It was a really intense way to join a band.

Shoutweb: I'm assuming the response was good?

Matt: Yeah, the response was pretty overwhelmingly crazy; you know, people crying and stuff. It was insane.

Shoutweb: That had to have felt good.

Matt: It definitely felt good to be doing it.

Shoutweb: You played some new material at Warped?

Matt: It's hard to remember. We are doing more new material in our shows now. We are, you know, rotating them in and out of the set.

Shoutweb: How was doing the video for "You're So Last Summer" with Flava Flav. The guy has to be crazy.

Matt: Well, that day was really interesting. He was totally like the X Factor of the day. He's real scattered, like, you can't really hold his attention.

Shoutweb: You mean a little cracked out?

Eddie: Ha-ha...that's exactly what I was going to say!

Matt: He was full of energy. I mean, he was really enthusiastic once he got into it. We had to teach him the lyrics, you know, line by line in between shots. He didn't really come prepared, but he brought lots of energy

Eddie: And a lot of props!

Matt: Yeah, it was fun. It was a weird day. We weren't really sure at the end if we even had a video, but apparently we did.

Shoutweb: Where did you guys shoot the video?

Matt: Underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.

Shoutweb: Moving on....you guys seem to be selling out shows wherever you play. You sold out last night's show ( 11/12 @ 9:30 Club).

Matt: Yeah, it's going great, man.

Eddie: Good times, good times.

Matt: It's crazy when you go to a different major city, or any city for that matter, but when you can sense the energy of the city, when they are totally pushed up against the front, freaking out and really excited that you are there, it makes it pretty intense. It's a lot of fun to hit up the big cities.

Shoutweb: Are your shows now promoting the new material, or are you guys playing old stuff but throwing in your new songs as well?

Matt: I would say its about 70% (old) 30% (new).

Eddie: We play our usual set and then we add 3 or 4 new songs into the mix.

Shoutweb: So let's talk about your new album. When did you start the writing process?

Matt: It started literally at day one. We actually started at my audition. Started jamming out and stuff.

(Mark walks onto the bus.)

Mark: Yeah the first day!

Matt: It's been a continuous process. I mean, we have been on the road, so it hasn't been the easiest writing process, but we have come up with 6 songs and the makings of, hopefully, the rest of the record. Yeah, we still have weeks and weeks of writing to do.

Shoutweb: So, I guess I'm not going to ask for the title yet.

Matt: Yeah, we are really trying to do like 10 things at once now. So, this winter, we will all be knee deep in that stuff.

Mark: We are going to be busy, busy boys!

Shoutweb: Taking Back Sunday is now the combination of two bands (TBS and Breaking Pangaea). Do you feel like the new record is going to be different than any of the band's previous material?

Mark: Oh yeah. I definitely think so. It's inevitable that it's going to be different. We have a different back up singer, and a different bass player. I think Eddie's writing has changed, I think my writing has changed, and Adam...yeah. It is going to be Taking Back Sunday with a little progression.

Matt: You are going to hear us, especially in certain tunes, playing a little harder. It's silly to say that because some people will go, "Oh yeah Metal" or , "Oh yeah, Nu-Metal" or some crazy shit. It's going to be more of a rhythmic harder thing going on, while some of the other songs are a little more chilled out. Like Mark said, it's definitely still going to be Taking Back Sunday without a doubt.

Shoutweb: Do you guys have a favorite song that you've written so far that you are really psyched to put on the new album?

Matt: I mean, every time we come up with a new tune, we are always like, "that's the joint!" So, and then a week later we come up with something else, and you know. We have a lot of favorites. What's yours (to Mark)?

Mark: We have this song called "Father Format" and there's one right now that really doesn't have a name to it. Adam has been calling it "Post Post" or some crap. I don't know. It's a bad name but it's a really good song.

Shoutweb: So, this will be the second time I photograph you guys. Adam has almost hit me with his swinging microphone easily over five times. Have you guys been knocked out yet?

Matt: Check this out. (shows me a swollen knuckle) That was done at the Philly Warped Tour. He really smashed my finger when we were going into "Bike Scene", which was our second song that night. So I played the rest of Warped Tour with this thing wrapped up. I catch it in the leg sometimes.

Eddie: Last night I caught it in the head.

Matt: Adam and I are getting really good because we are probably the most mobile. When I see him coming and he sees the bass coming around, we do all kinds of ducks and sort of Crouching Tiger moves.

Shoutweb: Mark, you're protected so I'm sure you don't worry about this stuff.

Mark: Yeah. There was only one occasion when he was flipping the mic towards me and he just let it go. It flew up and landed on my snare drum, but besides that, I've never been hit.

Matt: It's like anything else. You learn and are more aware of your surroundings, so you just have to deal. I love it though. I love opening my eyes to see 10 feet of cord fly past my face. It's super fun.

Shoutweb: I heard that you guys pull pranks on the other bands on tour.

Matt: Ha-ha...yeah. I would say that we have gotten pranked the most. Saves the Day got us the best the night before Halloween. They completely covered our entire stage during our last song, with toilet paper. Like they had the whole band and the crew with 7 rolls each and just showered everything. At the end, it looked like Blue Man Group. They also covered Moneen's van in ketchup and relish. We have gotten back at them a little bit, but proper retribution has not been served.

Shoutweb: Yeah, you definitely need to think of something big. So Matt, I found out that you played bass in some musical based on the Nation Inquirer's "Bat Boy"?

Matt: Yeah.... wow!

Shoutweb: Nice. What was the premise of this play?

Matt: Well, there's this character, Bat Boy, who was discovered in a cave in West Virginia. He was assimilated into typical family life and half of the town he lives is against him. It was a love story essentially. It was crazy.

Shoutweb: Whoa, so he fell in love?

Matt: Ha-ha yeah. He fell in love with a human girl. It was a really fun thing to be a part of. It was really insane and goofy. It was kind of in that, like, Rocky Horror spirit. Everyone in the cast and stuff were really fun to hang out with. It was a good time.

Shoutweb: So, is there anything you want to say that we haven't covered?

Matt: Just thank you to all of the kids that have come out on this tour. As the new guy, they really make me feel like everything is still intact. We owe everything to them. They have been really supportive.

Mark: And you guys won't be disappointed with the new album.