So you guys are working on a new album, right? Tell me about it.

(Nick) Yep! Nate’s written a ton of stuff and I’ve done rough vocal ideas for about 20 songs or so. The next step is bringing them all to the practice space and seeing what works. I think we’ve got probably 8 or so that will end up on the next album. Hope to record in the 1st half of 2011, but the timeline really hinges on when we can secure a theramin. Get stoked!

(Nate) Yep, got a bunch of ideas started and now it’s time for the Quality Control stage, so we only keep the stuff that isn’t terrible. That might seem obvious but sometimes you’ve been working on a song for months and then you realize, “Wait a minute, this kind of blows.” But yeah, I think I have 30-40 rough ideas on my computer, so I bet outta that we’ll get at least half an album.

I also read that Resignation Day is being re-mixed/re-mastered, why?

(Nick) It sounded like shit! The original was really tinny sounding and none of us were happy with it. We had hoped everything would be worked out in mastering and it wasn’t. Luckily we were able to get the original Pro Tools files and Jacques Wait (OWTH, Dear Landlord, Soviettes, [also] did Collapser) was willing to see if he could improve it. The difference is night and day. It really sounds like a new record, and now I won’t have to skip it every time it comes on my iPod. We’re thrilled Fat is putting it out.

(Nate) It’s pretty sweet. I’ve caught the remix bug now and want to do more of this stuff; next year we’ll release “Resignation Day 2010 Freestyle Dub Remix” and stuff like that. Just change a few beats and you have a new album. So easy, and lucrative.

How many times have you played the Fest before and what is your most memorable Fest moment?

(Nick) This will be the 5th time in Gainesville and it’s a blast every year. Last year a highlight was playing a warehouse show about 10 miles outside of Gainesville – it was the first time I saw Dead to Me and the first time we played “Skeleton Key” live. The energy at the show was awesome and luckily I didn’t get any more of my teeth busted out from kicked mic stands like during our show at Common Grounds earlier in the day. The year before I saw Paddy from Dillinger Four drunk and passed out next to the Sidebar before Blood Bath and Beyond played, getting eaten by fire ants. That was memorable. Floyd from Fat subbed in on air bass for the show. Ah memories…

(Nate) Just the general sensation of walking around and realizing an entire town has seemingly been taken over by punk kids is always memorable.

I’ve never been to the Fest. What should I expect?

(Nick) Beards and PBR! Great pizza @ Leonardo’s. Avoid 5 Star Pizza no matter how drunk you get (it’s 5 stars out of 100). Lines much longer than you anticipated to see your favorite band (get there early, especially @ Common Grounds). Is the highlight of your year too bold? No I’ll go there. LOVE IT.

(Nate) Yeah, 5 Star is fucking terrible. If you get *extra* drunk, you might say something like, “OK, their pizza made me feel like there was a diseased goblin trapped inside my stomach last night, but maybe their cheezy bread is good!” Resist this temptation! It all sucks. The falafel place on University is pretty sweet; go there instead. Oh, also expect to see rad bands and so on!

What band are you most excited to see at the Fest this year?

(Nick) I think I’m most stoked to see Caves again. They’re a great band we played with in Bristol UK earlier this year when I was super sick so it’ll be awesome to see them again when I’m healthy (assuming I don’t catch FestAids early). Fans of Lemuria should definitely check them out. Also excited to see Blacklist Royals for the first time. The Soviettes reunion should be rad. I expect the Menzingers set to be even crazier than last year. I want to catch the Monikers, Heartsounds, and our pals Teenage Bottlerocket, who are playing the Fest for the first time. I told them to get going on their beards but I don’t have high hopes.

(Nate) Soviettes will definitely be cool, I was out of town for the MPLS shows earlier this year.

What have you guys been listening to in your van?

(Nick) The Dopamines Expect the Worst a lot. Too much. It’s infectious. The new Off With Their Heads record. White Crosses by Against Me! and I’m not ashamed to say that. Faithful standbys like Dead to Me, Riverboat Gamblers and Marked Men. More than anything though we listen to the Howard Stern Show. It makes long drives go by like nothing. Bababooey to you all.

(Nate) I’ve been really into some stuff from England lately like Johnny Foreigner and Los Campesinos. Against Me’s album is probably my favorite of the year so far.

You guys have always been supportive of CYSTSFTS. How do you guys feel about music blogs? Are they are similar to what fanzines were in the 90′s? Discuss.

(Nick) I’m a much bigger fan of blogs that write a review about a release and post one or two tracks than sites originating in the Soviet Union that just post Rapidshare links to entire records. But yeah I guess they probably do take the place of what zines were in the 90s… not sure how many kids are going through MRR anymore highlighting reviews that have SCREECHING WEASEL capitalized like I used to do.

(Nate) I think they fill the same niche or whatever you want to call it, but they’re definitely better and more useful. You can listen to the band you’re reading about within seconds; couldn’t do that back in the fanzine days. Plus you can do obvious things like link to other places, have comment sections, etc, that weren’t possible in the same way with fanzines. There’s still something great about having a physical magazine, so it’s cool when someone like Razorcake can pull that off AND have a nifty website.

Any closing comments?

(Nick) Come see us at the Fest on Saturday! We’re playing early at the Venue in the Fat Wreck Chords showcase showdown. If you make it through us you get to see such luminaries as Dead to Me, the Flatliners, Teenage Bottlerocket, Smoke or Fire, Cobra Skulls and Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies. Also, thanks Eric for getting the word out about our little band from the frozen tundra of Minnesota. Check is in the mail.
(Nate) Thanks for the interview! Check out my other band The Gateway District, too. This will be our first time down there, so it’d be cool to have some people watch us!

I’ve been looking forward to hearing Collapser since I first heard (via their @bannerpilot Twitter account) that the guys in Banner Pilot were working on a new record. I mean, it’s kinda hard to believe that the band has a new record out already considering their debut full-length, Resignation Day, was released barely a year ago. I got even more excited when I found out that Collapser would be released on Fat Wreck Chords.

Now, I’ve been big fan of Banner Pilot and everything they’ve released since they sent me their Pass The Poison EP back in 2006, and I can honestly say that Collapser is the best thing they’ve released. I wasn’t quite as instantly smitten with Collapser like I was with Resignation Day but once I got my head around the songs on Collapser I was (again) hooked. Banner Pilot’s balls-to-the-wall full-throttle approach to pop-punk is near flawless. There is zero filler on this record, just killer hooks and shitty basement punk rock (and I mean that in the best possible way). It’s pop-punk with an emphasis on the punk and not the pop. The vocals are raspy and the bass playing is great with fills in all the right places.

The production (while better than on Resignation Day) is kinda muddy in places where I’d like more clarity, the guitars sound overly washed out at times, and the bass is too high in the mix. In other words, it is perfect. Collapser just feels comfortable and familiar in all its irresistible melodic glory. Worn and weathered like a combination of This Shit Is Genius, Duct Tape Soup, and My Brain Hurts. It’s a contender for my favorite album of 2009 and the album finishes with a bang as the second half is actually a bit stronger than the first half.

After meeting the guys in Banner Pilot last weekend I can honestly say they are friendly and seem as “normal” as you and me. I also think that some of the words I wrote about Resignation Day also fit perfectly when describing Collapser. “Banner Pilot makes me feel young and reminds me of everything that I love about punk rock music… it’s a little slice of heaven on a [vinyl platter] like photocopied fliers hanging on your bedroom wall, tattered Chuck Taylors, and the crackle of a 7″ on the stereo… Banner Pilot isn’t rewriting any punk rock rulebooks here [but] the difference is they do it better than just about anyone else right now and it’s fucking great.”

MP3 | Banner Pilot – Skeleton Key Collapser
MP3 | Banner Pilot – Greenwood Collapser

Overwinter

Losing Daylight