I recently sat down with Tanner and Anthony from hardcore outfit To The Wind after their set at The Beacham in Orlando, FL. We talked about their new full length album, Warped Tour, favorite concert experiences and more. To The Wind are currently out supporting their second full length album entitled “Block Out The Sun & Sleep”, available now on Pure Noise Records.
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Q – You guys just played your set a little earlier, how did you both feel about it?
Tanner – It was awesome. We were all a little bit tired, it felt like, but when we all got up there and we just did our thing, Orlando went pretty good for us.
Anthony – Yeah, we’re kind of burnt out a little. When we get here it was poring down hard and we were just thinking, “Great, we gotta load in like this.”(laughs). But it stopped raining, we got in and got set up, collected ourselves. It was a good set.
Q – You guys have been keeping pretty busy over the last year, touring with the likes of The Chariot, Comeback Kid, Downpresser, as well as appearing on Warped Tour, and now out with Senses Fail. How has it all been for you growing as a band?
Anthony – It’s crazy to think that The Chariot tour started Oct 15th of last year, and we’ve been on tour ever since.
Tanner – A little time off here and there, but yeah. Comeback Kid are one of the first melodic style of hardcore I ever heard when I was really young. With The Chariot, I never really got into them on record, but every time I saw them live it was insane.
Q – I wanted to ask you guys about Warped Tour. I caught your set at the St Pete date…there definitely weren’t as many people watching your set as I feel like there should have been, although you were on at the same time as Terror and For Today(laughs). How was the whole experience for you guys?
Anthony – (laughs) That was another rainy day situation. It absolutely pored rain there, a lot of people didn’t show up till later, I think they all got burnt out cause they were all muddy. Were were just like, “Oh well, it’ll be a good set.”, and then we realized we were playing against Terror and For Today…(laughs). We love those bands, and I was actually wanting to watch Terror that day, but instead we got to play at the same time. And not only did we play at the same time, they were only like a stone’s throw away from our stage.
Tanner – At a festival like Warped Tour, that’s our demographic, like with Terror and For Today, it’s all of our demographic influences with heavier music.
Anthony – It was kind of cool to see, cause For Today ended like ten minutes before us, and we saw their flood of people come over and just started moshing for like the last two minutes of our set)laughs), which was still pretty cool.
Q – “Block Out The Sun & Sleep” has been out for two months now, how has the overall reception for it been so far?
Tanner – Way more positives than negatives. I didn’t see any negative comments except for when people would compare us to other bands, but other than that it was positive.
Anthony – I feel like Tanner said, people are always going to reference you to a different band, but the cool thing was they were saying the bands we all love, such as Comeback Kid, Have Heart, and someone said Tanner sounds like the guy from Love Is Red(laughs).
Tanner – Someone said that when I’m on stage that I reminded them of Phil Anselmo, and I was just like. “….Naw..”(laughs).
Q – Can you talk a little bit about the lyrical side to the album?
Tanner – There’s a lot of topics that I brush up on that have just been eating at me, stuff I’ve wanted to say for a while. A lot of my thoughts and opinions on things going on around, whether it be past or present. Just stories.
Anthony – You can go a little bit deeper than that(laughs).
Tanner – The song “Hands On The Clock”, it’s sort of a realization of who I am, the mistakes I’ve made and such. Another song is about being on tour, and not being able to be in a solid relationship, I always hated writing about that kind of stuff, but it just comes into play a lot. “21” is about how I felt about my life at 21, how I was really wrapped up in a lot of things, I wasn’t really trying to spend all of my time in this, just not wanting to feel tied down.
Q – What’s been your favorite song from the album to play live?
Tanner – I’ve loved playing “One And The Same”, playing “Growing Numb” has been pretty cool.
Anthony – “Growing Numb” is cool. I like playing “Hands On The Clock” the most, either that or “21”, which I think encompasses everything To The Wind, the melodic circle pit part, the breakdown, it’s fun.
Tanner – Yeah, it’s like the whole record mashed up into one song. I’ve wanted to play “Skin Deep”, I like that one a lot, especially the meaning behind it, which is essentially my site through a kid whose father wasn’t ever there. It was sort of my one song where I just wanted to poor it all out on, lyrically and on the bass, it’s easily my favorite bass song on the album.
Q – What’s the best concert you’ve ever attended that you did not play?
Tanner – I flew out to Tennessee to see Love Is Red, that was a very emotional show cause it was their reunion. I had chills the whole time. I didn’t know whether to cry or get pissed off(laughs). That and the last time I saw a band called Carrier. One of the craziest I saw was a band that I never exactly got into on record, which was Disembodied, that show was insane. I was scared for my life(laughs).
Anthony – Circa Survive a couple years ago, they had a crazy light show, and I think Touche Amore opened…but I mainly just went to see Circa. Andrew WK at Rainfest 2014, I have never seen so many stage dives in my life before that, it was like a Terror show on crack(laughs). They had three guitar players and a bassist, Andrew on keyboard, and their drummer, and the stage wasn’t really big enough. Not to mention his backing band is essentially Obituary, Himsa at Rainfest was sick,
Q – What are some of your favorite music releases from the past year?
Anthony – The new No Bragging Rights record which came out yesterday, we’ve had it since this tour started cause we’re homies with them and we were begging for it. The new Comeback Kid album. I know we toured with both of those bands, but that record seriously smashes hard.
Tanner – “Die Knowing” by Comeback Kid is a banger. I have to give a shout out to all of the pure noise bands to release new albums this year, Heart To Heart, My Iron Lung, Vanna. I love all of the bands on Pure Noise, State Champs as well.
Anthony – The Suburban Scum split with Xibalba, I like the new Architects record as well.
Tanner – Also the new Cruel Hand just came out, Soul Search’s new album came out.
Q – This is your second full length release, both under Pure Noise Records. How has it been working under that label?
Tanner – The best, everything we could have ever asked for, really. It’s more than just a label, we actually hang out with them, he come out to shows and hangs out, he does whatever he can for his bands.
Anthony – Jake and the rest of the Pure Noise guys, every band on that label they back and support 100%. It’s not like they just see a profit in a band, they just see a band that they enjoy and want to push hard for. You can’t hate on that at all.
Q – After this tour has finished, what’s next for To The Wind?
Tanner – Not much, we’re going to be sitting around for a little bit, justa take some time off, recap and get a game plan going. We might have something a little later in December.
Anthony – There might be tours between October and November, but we are going to take like a month to just chill. We’ve been on tour nonstop this last year, which is awesome, I’m not complaining.
Tanner – I’d rather be here than somewhere else, but sometimes there’s just no market when you’ve been somewhere so many times in a short period.
Anthony – We’ve been in Florida a lot, we have friends in Jacksonville, and they told us, “You know, we’ve sen you guys like four times in the last twelve months.”(laughs). And then we just think, “Damn, are we playing here to much…?”(laughs).
Q – Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, is there any last thing you’d like to say to any supporters of To The Wind?
Tanner – Come out to the shows, come hang out, just come and chill.
Anthony – Pretty much that(laughs). I know Facebook has a messaging thing for band pages, if you have anything to say or request just hit us up,
