Nathan: The next couple of months we'll actually be going just coast to coast....it's pretty much all over the Midwest, up in the Northeast, back down through the South and then we'll be home for 2 weeks...

RAPT: It's a very packed summer...is that something you're accustomed to doing? Because I know you also did a lot of touring with your last album...

Nathan: We've stepped it up considerably in the past year. We've been circulating places every few months...just to stay out there. We basically want to get a lot of people to hear our band ya' know and the only way to do that is to drive through their town and play for them...

RAPT: So you enjoy the pace...

Jeremy: We all enjoy it pretty well, it's fun...a lotta those pictures [from the RAPT shoot] that we thought were the best were just us sitting around, talking shit and laughing and we do that most of the time. We're pretty good traveling together so...it works out. If all you have to do is drive around and play shows...you can't really beat that.

Photo by Marleigh Jones

Justin: I like traveling but I've definitely had those moments where I thought I was losing my mind (smiles).

RAPT: With Itinerant Youth having been out for a while, how long did you spend producing that one?

Justin: Well we did most of it in one day...

Nathan: Yeah, we just recorded it in a day with maybe three or four days of over-dubs. A lot of those were first takes. Then I went in and played some guitars, had some friends come in and play banjo and shit.....and that was it. The first record was done and I had just been writing songs and as soon as we had enough that we liked for a new record, we just did another one. And we'll do that again...write, record, get out and tour.

RAPT: So that was the process for the first album as well just live recordings/one day?

Justin: No that was a lot more...

Jeremy: The drums were.

Nathan: Jeremy and I were in this other band together and as soon as that band parted, I thought, ‘Well I got these songs, I wanna make this record and just keep doing this.‘ I had these songs already ready so I was thinking ‘let's go.‘ So we [Jeremy and Nathan) went and recorded it and then Justin played bass on it...I asked him to come and play bass...

Justin: Yeah at that point I was kind of just a hired gun....

Nathan: He came along after we'd got the record out. The touring and the constantly playing [together]...it just gelled into this single organism. There were a lot more musicians on the first record...there was a lot more instrumentation. The second album sounds a lot more like a band.

RAPT: Justin, what were you doing before you came on to play with Jeremy and Nathan?

Justin: I was playing with a band called The Pink Swords. We'd been signed to an international label and it kind of seemed like everything was going good but then things went one way so....I remember when these guys started up, they kept wanting me to play with them...

Nathan: (laughing) We were bugging him every day...

Justin: (laughing) I just got so...I was just being so picky. But then I read Nathan's lyrics and that's what sold it. I'm a big fan of poetry and literature and I thought his lyrics were good...and I like to travel.

RAPT: "Pascal‘s Wager"....those lyrics were really interesting and the whole feel of that song was unique...what can you tell me about where the songs come from or how you guys collaborate?

Nathan: I grew up in East TX...my parents weren't really religious or anything, well...it's a long boring story, nobody gives a shit about (laughing). It's just kind of how I feel about the religious orientation of the area of the country that I'm from. It's not knocking anybody's belief or anything...

Jeremy: It's knocking people's push of their beliefs onto other people when they might not necessarily want them.

Nathan: Yeah. As far as putting songs together, I write songs on an acoustic guitar and then I bring it to the band. I have a general idea [on songs] but mainly they just start playing. I mean it's really quick. We have problems sometimes. We have one song that we've been working on for a fucking month...

Jeremy: (laughing) We have to keep coming back to it...

Nathan: But most of the time I just start playing the song and then they start playing along. I don't know...I'm really lucky...

Jeremy: We all work really well together.

RAPT: It sounds like it's really organic way of working.

Nathan: It is. There's not a lot of talking...I mean I've been in bands where you're banging your head against the wall trying to make something work. There's not a lot of that [with us]. It's painless.

RAPT: You ever clash?

Nathan: I don't think so...

Justin: (smiles) Nathan tries to tell Jeremy how to play drums....

Jeremy: He likes to do that. He plays a mean ‘mouth drum set' but I still haven't figured out how to decipher it. So basically he does that and I pretty much roll my eyes and say, "Alright now shut the fuck up and play the song.." I've asked for his opinion for which way something should go...but that's just a joke between all of us because he always pulls that shit right before we run a song (laughing).

Nathan: (gesturing between himself and Jeremy) It's because I'm left handed and he's right handed so we're just missing each other

Jeremy: Oh so that's what it is...(laughing)

RAPT: Gabriel Gonzalez...a long time collaborator and he's also worked on the album...

Nathan: Genius. He plays all over both records...

RAPT: How is it with working with him, obviously he's not here but..

Nathan: I told him to come! Son of a bitch. No, he's great...

Justin: He's definitely one of the easiest people in the studio that I've ever worked with...

Jeremy: You're immediately comfortable with Gabe. Because they're your songs, you know how to play your songs. I've worked with producers or engineers where it's been really difficult...but as soon as we walked into the studio, I felt like I could play it down. That first record, those are basically all first takes. That's a testament to how good Gabe is with what he does.