Interview: Andrew Summers (Eat Defeat)

With the up and coming release of Leeds pop punk Eat Defeat's new album "I Think We'll Be OK", I sat down with the band's vocalist and bassist Andrew Summer, to discuss the new albums, the band's eclectic stage shows and the history of the band.

So, you're from Leeds, what's the music scene like there, in your opinion, and what are some of your personally favorite bands from the city?

I mean Leeds is pretty great, we're super lucky as there's always heaps going on. It's the hometown of Slam Dunk, and those guys also run The Key Club so basically every decent pop punk tour is usually guaranteed a Leeds show. As far as our favorite bands, The Human Project are incredible and we're also pretty impressed with Blueprints who are a newer band.

You mentioned Slam Dunk, one of the regulars there are Reel Big Fish, who you opened for, along with Anti-Flag and Mad Caddies. How was that experience, as well as all of the other massive bands in the scene, that you've opened for recently like Ignite and The Ataris?

That night in particular was just amazing, getting to play a venue like the O2 academy with these bands we grew up listening to, it was so surreal. But I mean any time we get to open for a respected, established band it's just awesome. We recently did a weekend with Teenage Bottlerocket and it's just so fun getting to open up for these bands and play to people who before that moment had no idea you even existed. The York date we did, there was a good ten foot or so empty space between the front of the stage and the first row of people, so we did an initial polite 'everyone step forward a bit' before we started, and no one budged. We bang out our first song, ask again and everyone moved forward, just a really positive immediate bit of gratification. I love trying to win those fans over. The Ataris show in Huddersfield was pretty funny though, they ended up having transport issues and no showing, so we ended up basically headlining this gig to a sold out room.

Yeah, that sounds like a dream come true. In contrast, how is this different to when you first formed as a band and released that first EP through Ska Mutiny Records, or even prior with your own work in Kickback UK? And how much do you think the band changed musical style and influence-wise through all that time and the line-up changes.

I mean in those early days it was just super different, we were literally an entirely different band. The original idea was to be a 5 piece with a trombone, so i wonder how different things would have been had our trombonist actually turned up to any practices... It's a thing though, there's a blog somewhere called 'Ska Cred' which basically tells you that every band you love at one point played ska. Like everyone from The Menzingers to A Wilhelm Scream, it's pretty fun. We've changed a bit with every member that's come and gone really, everyone's brought a little something unique to the table and as the only member that's been in the band from the start, my tastes have changed over time as well. You're much more likely to find me listening to Carly Rae Jepsen than a skacore album at this point.

That kind of transitions into the next question I was going to ask. You're releasing your new album "I Think We'll be OK" on August 3rd. What are some new things that fans should expect for this album, and how is it different from your previous effort "Time and Tide"?

So when me and Andy (Hawkins, who produced the album) sat down towards the start of the session the big thing on his mind was he'd read some reviews of Time & Tide that said things like 'it's good, but it gets a bit samey.' So there was a real conscious effort on his part to give every song something a bit different, production wise. He's a genius, and everybody should record with him. So we've worked in a lot of things like keys, synth, samples etc that we hadn't broached before and we're going to have fun trying to replicate live. But I mean even in terms of the songs we've written, they're a bit slower, more considered and thoughtful than the songs on Time & Tide. There was definitely a point when Steve (our drummer) joined where it was like 'he can play double time much better than our previous drummers, let's write a load of fast songs' but we eased up on that for the album. I think maybe people who were into the more skate-punky vibe we had going on might not be as into it, but I think it's a much more rounded collection of songs. Like 'A Little Less Than Ok' is so different from anything we'd ever written before but stil somehow it's got our sound and it's an Eat Defeat song. It's poppier and it's more fun, but it's also got some serious subjects and messages at it's core.

I recently heard about you all playing Secret Santa on stage, do you often do fun stuff like this on stage? And if so, what would be your personal favorite onstage shenanigan?

That was ridiculous and I got absolutely shafted. We set a £5 limit and me, Jimmy and Steve spent that to get some fun things for each other. I got Jimmy 2 Batman Blu Rays and a load of cheap shots. Rich, however, decided he'd spend nothing and I ended up getting a calendar made by one of his students, some leftover mince pieces from his staff room and a water bottle from the schools lost and found. I don't think i'll ever forgive him for that. We just like having fun, there's nothing worse than a band who don't enjoy what they're doing. We've taken a surfboard and made people crowd surf on it before, we chucked a load of beach balls out into the crowd, that sort of thing. We're currently thinking of fun things to do on the album tour, so suggestions are welcome.

And finally, what's your favorite experience that would have never happened if it weren't for the band?

I think a specific experience that still sticks with me and will stick with me until the day I die is going to start the final song of our set on the final night of our Japanese tour, and just being full of love and dread in equal measures because i'd just lived the most amazing week or so of my life and I knew once I started the song, it'd have to end, and we'd have to go home. Getting to go to a country so far away that i'd dreamed of going to my whole life and actually playing to people who knew our music and sang along, it was unreal. It's gonna take a lot to top that.