Im Zeitalter von Pop-Punk sollte man kaum meinen, dass es tatsächlich noch immer Bands in eben dieser Sparte gibt, die zu großen Überraschungen fähig sind. Dass dem jedoch durchaus noch so sein kann, bewiesen Attention, welche sich aus ehemaligen Mitgliedern der Bands Gratitude, New End Original, The Stereo und The Gloria Record zusammensetzen, bereits mit ihrer Debüt-CD "Say What You Mean What You Say" aus dem Jahr 2003, die einer Band wie Jimmy Eat World seinerzeit das Fürchten hätte lehren können. Und obwohl man es hier zweifelsfrei mit einer Band zu tun hatte, die durchaus zu einem waschechten Untergrund-Juwel hätte avancieren können, blieben Attention hier zu Lande sogar gänzlich unentdeckt. Für uns jedenfalls Grund genug, um uns mit Attention-Sänger und Gitarrist Jeremy Tappero über deren neuestes Werk "Through The Wire" zu unterhalten:


SJM: "Through The Wire", the new release you recorded in January and released in February 2010, has been online for almost two weeks now. How about the overall feedback on the new songs and the concept of the recording session as such?

Jeremy Tappero / Attention: The feedback has been absolutely fantastic! It’s been the best we’ve ever had. I think people really liked the webcam factor; it made them a part of the process. I mean there were times when I would be writing lyrics and be stuck on a line or trying to decide between a couple different word options and people viewing the webcam would chime in with thoughts and ideas. It was really fun that way. I think it really added another dynamic to the studio for us. Just knowing that the camera was on and that we could chat with people outside of the studio added a bit of excitement for us.

SJM: As for the first two weeks right after the release of "Through The Wire": Could you please tell us how many people downloaded your new record so far? What do you personally think about that amount of people? I do think that not all of these people would have bought the record. So would you say that the mission has been successfull so far?

Jeremy Tappero / Attention: At the 2 week point we’ve had about 13,500 downloads. I think that number is a great start considering it’s been done with very little press at all, just word of mouth. I hope the numbers continue to climb as the album starts getting press coverage and reviews, and as we start adding live dates. For me Through the Wire was a total success as of Jan 30th. The fact that our band made a plan, went into the studio, and totally achieved what we set out to do in 30 days felt great.
Also we really made an effort to do things a bit differently in the studio this time around as far as production and I’m really happy with the way it sounds. I feel this album is more “alive” than anything we’ve done before.

SJM: Well, I do think that it's groundbreaking to some extent to record and release a record with all of its artwork and stuff within 30 days. So I guess, as for Attention, this idea has a history. Who came up with the idea to do it the way you did it and how did you make this idea become a record?

Jeremy Tappero / Attention: As we all know, his music industry is changing, and I think bands are changing as well, I think bands need to find creative ways to set their band apart from the zillions of other bands out in the world. That is where the idea started for me… The question to myself was, what can we do? Touring as a relatively unknown band can be very difficult and winter is the worst time to do it. Our band practices quite a bit and we’re always writing new songs so all of a sudden we had enough songs to make another record.
The idea of going into the studio and just starting another record after basically just releasing “Everything Takes Forever” didn’t feel quite right. That is until it put a little spin on it. I don’t know it just kind of came to me on the way to practice one night, so when I got there I said “Why don’t we make a record in January and release it for free on February 1st? And why don’t we set up a webcam so people can watch it all come together”
Everyone was into the idea; the idea and we talked about the logistics of actually making it happen, and then decided to go for it. (The best part is, it was about December 17th that day)

SJM: You will "just" release "Through The Wire" digitally without the help of any label, so you won't make a single dollar by sharing it. Some people would definitely say that this is completely unrewarding. What would you retort to that?

Jeremy Tappero / Attention: I would totally disagree; first of all if any of us were in music for “the money” we would have stopped playing music a LONG time ago.
The rewards are simple; January 2010 was one of the best months of my life to date. I woke up every morning and went to a recording studio to work on the music that me and my 3 best friends create.
Now that it is released we get emails and comments on a daily basis saying little things like “great job!” or “I love the new record!” and that is a great feeling. It’s fun to be able to see how many people download it everyday. And frankly I’m just plain proud of the record and the songs so I want as many people as possible to have the chance to hear it. SJM: You kept your fans up-to-date via several streams every day. How about that one? Was it kinda like a new experience for you to keep fans that close to the band?

Jeremy Tappero / Attention: It was totally new for us. We’ve never done anything like it before. I think its just a part of growing up a band, for instance when we started this band I’d never been a singer in a band so I was really shy about it, I didn’t even like to record vocals when the other band members were around because I was insecure or worried that I would make mistakes and they would think I sucked. Or whatever.
Now when we tracked vocals for this record… there were times where the guys are in the same room with me, and there is a webcam with god knows how many people watching and chatting about it. There really is nothing to be shy about, and there is no reason not to share that part of a bands life with the people who want to be a part of it.

SJM: I would say that you have to listen to "Through The Wire" quite a few times in order to comprehend it in its entirety. I would even say its digging a lot deeper than "Everything Takes Forever". Was this a conscious decision or was it just how the songs came out?

Jeremy Tappero / Attention: Maybe a bit of both… I mean obviously the idea is to always be improving as songwriter’s and as a band in general, and I like to think that we’re doing a great job of that. I also think the fact that the album was both written and recorded very quickly has a lot to do with it. Its almost like it’s a concept record in a way, they songs really tie into each other and I think it is really meant to flow as an album, not just a collection of songs. Maybe that’s the biggest difference.

SJM: From my point of view one could call Attention's songs pop punk, but all of them seem to take a quite melancholic viewpoint on life. What would you retort to that? Am I partially right with this?

Jeremy Tappero / Attention: I think so... I write how I feel, sometimes I don’t really even know what I’m talking about till later, then it hits me and I think wow, that is totally about this… but it wasn’t always by plan. I guess I’d say I like the contrast of sad and hopeful. And 9 times out of 10 that’s what I end up writing. There is definitely a pop songwriting element in that we love the hook of a big catchy chorus but it’s very important to have content and a story.

SJM: My impression is that there's quite a few things to discover on "Through The Wire". Just to name one example: Before the final bridge on "Whispers" can be heard, there's a laughter you do not hear when listening to the record for the first time. It's these things that make such a record a personal record: Would you say that it was your intention to create a personal record that is digging deep at the same time?

Jeremy Tappero / Attention: Very much so… We really wanted everything to be more raw and real, it’s so easy to “clean things up” in pro tools but why? So we left things in, things like people talking in the background of a room mic, or Dave setting his sticks down after a take. The whole thing from webcam to the way the record sounds is the feeling that you are right in the room with us, and we’re telling you our story.

SJM: Let's just briefly talk about your plans in 2010. What are the most important aims and plans with Attention? Any chance to see you guys playing live over here in Europe?

Jeremy Tappero / Attention: We would LOVE LOVE LOVE to be touring over in Europe. Our plans are simple; spread the word as much as possible… We would love to do as much playing as possible and travel as many places as possible. We will be writing more songs and just doing our thing. As it stands right now we have some US shows planned for March and April and we’ll be trying to add as much as we can.

(Dennis Grenzel)