BAYSIDE JOINS THE BATTLE WITH TWLOHA

November 1, 2007 12:36 am

Brooklyn-based rockers Bayside's own story helped form an immediate bond with To Write Love on Her Arms.

Victory Records band Bayside is one of the growing number of music acts that have gotten involved with the nonprofit To Write Love on Her Arms.

Bassist Nick Ghanbarian took some time out of a mid-tour practice session for a phone interview with it! reporter Brinkley Sharpe. The edited transcript follows:

Brinkley Sharpe: How would you describe your music? Your MySpace says "Alternative/Punk/Rock," but genre labels are nondescript.

Nick Ghanbarian:

We all grew up listening to punk rock, but the whole political side of punk rock isn't something that we're necessarily about. We're about the energy.

Alternative, we say that sometimes, too, because sometimes we feel like writing a different song, not just a fast, upbeat punk-rock song.

Whenever anyone asks us what we sound like I always just say other bands. I'll say Alkaline Trio or Green Day--something that someone can relate to, a bigger band that maybe we're comparable to.

B.S: What are Bayside's origins: High school garage band? College rock project?

N.G.:

Bayside started definitely off a message board called the Long Island Zoo, where people were talking about the Long Island music scene and there was a good way to network. Almost seven years ago now.

B.S.: When did you become involved with To Write Love on Her Arms?

N.G.:

We first met Jamie and his crew on tour with Anberlin this past February through April. We'd seen the shirts pop up here and there before then and knew a little bit about it We really just grew close to them ever since.

B.S.: How did you guys get involved with TWLOHA?

N.G.:

On that tour we saw Jamie every day and we just talked more and more about what he was doing, and a lot of it hit home with us. We've had, certainly, some tragedies in our past band lives and our personal lives We want to be able to help people, and we see that Jamie is out there to do that.

B.S: Was this idea of helping people in your mind when you started the band, or was the goal just to make music?

N.G.:

I think it's always in the back of your head. People start bands for different reasons. The reason I even listened to any music whatsoever is it helped me, when I was younger find the way and kind of develop as a human being. I didn't have a lot of people around me to [set] me in the right direction, but music, lyrics and going to see bands provide a positive atmosphere for you. So that's kind of the direction we want to take our band. It's not necessarily for the big pop hit on the radio. It's more about how many people we can affect positively at the end of the day.

B.S.: So far, what kind of part has Bayside played in the movement?

N.G.:

I think the most we can do with TWLOHA is have people focus on it and give as much exposure as possible to them, wear the shirt, direct them to the MySpace and have people take it from there.

We're not ever going to be a band that overly preaches or shoves one point of view down anyone's throat--but when we respect something [we] show people things that we believe in and hope they also take the time to read about it, learn about it and feel the same way we do.

B.S.: Another band that's involved, Between the Trees, has two songs on their debut album relating to TWLOHA and Renee's story. Have you done--or do you plan to do--anything similar?

N.G.:

It hasn't come up, but we're certainly open to it. I believe [Jamie's] starting the idea of having a compilation presented by TWLOHA. We'd certainly love to be involved with that.

B.S.: Is there anything about TWLOHA that really hits home with you or the rest of the band--personal connections that you wouldn't mind sharing?

N.G.:

A couple of years ago, we were involved, as a band, in an accident that took the life of our drummer, and the aftershocks of that were a lot of what Jamie's organization deals with--depression and self-harm. In the accident I'd broken my back and was out of commission for six months, and our drummer passed away, so it was a public affair. We knew that two things could happen: Either we could fold and not be a band anymore, or we could persevere and really show everyone that was paying attention what we're made out of and that you can make it through a tough time.

B.S.: Do you think that you've garnered a fan base that you wouldn't have reached otherwise, simply because you're involved with the project?

N.G.:

Whenever you're involved with something, you might get other people to kind of jump on the bandwagon, if they think it's a cool thing to do. But I hope people who have heard about us through TWLOHA understand what we're all about and have realized that we're our own entity. [We'd] love to be synonymous with his organization, but at the same time we certainly don't need to be one thing.

B.S.: What about vice versa--do you think that your music has been a bridge for some to their own recovery?

N.G.:

Yeah. We get a lot of messages on our MySpace and e-mails saying that our music was there for them when their friends or family [weren't]. Our music is very rehabilitating to people and it is to us, too. We need to do this to make ourselves feel better, so that's certainly the kind of band we want to be and the kind of music we want to write.

B.S.: You just put out your new album, "The Walking Wounded," at the beginning of this year. Is there anything else in the works or are you just cooling down?

N.G.:

We're still supporting that one. This tour we're doing currently is our first headlining tour on the album, and then we're going to continue to tour after that. We're always working on new songs, but we probably won't sit down as a band until next summer to work on our next album.