Interview: This Time Next Year

Just before taking the stage at the 2010 Slam Dunk Festival, Alter The Press managed to speak to Dennis Cohen and Pete Dowdalls of This Time Next Year.

The guys spoke to ATP about the origin of the band, their debut full-length, 'Road Maps and Heart Attacks', signing to Equal Vision Records and more.

Alter The Press: How has your first visit to the UK been, so far?
Dennis Cohen (guitar): This is our first time to Europe ever, so it's pretty exciting to come here and be able to play shows. We played our first show last night with The Wonder Years and Fireworks, and it was awesome.

ATP: What were your expectations of playing the UK?
Dennis: We were thinking that we were just going to be coming over, play some shows, hopefully in front of people. It's been awesome so far; the response has been sweet. It's really exciting.

ATP: How did the band get together originally?
Pete Dowdalls (vocals): We were originally in a hardcore band before this, about four years ago, called The Starting Point. In that band we always talked about doing a pop-punk band. I think, one day at practice, we were like, 'Fuck it, lets start writing demos for a pop-punk band'. We didn't have a name or anything; we just started writing songs.

Dennis: We came together, recorded a demo, played a couple of shows and started to get a lot of good responses. Everything started happening from there.

ATP: How has the response been to your debut album, 'Road Maps and Heart Attacks'?
Dennis: Awesome, people seem to really like it. Our label actually did a thing, where they put it on a website called 'Bandcamp,' where you can buy it for whatever price you want. We had a ton of downloads from that, and then we got to tour with the record. It's been good.

ATP: What was the highest someone paid for the album?
Dennis: I don't know, they told us the average. What was the average someone paid? (to Pete).

Pete: Probably like my dad, five dollars.

Dennis: I don't care if people want to take it for free, that's fine.

Pete: The average was around three dollars.

ATP: How would you compare the album, to the band's earlier material?
Dennis: I'd say it's a lot more mature. The songs are a lot more structured.

ATP: How did you end up signing to Equal Vision Records?
Dennis: We had some friends pass out our record to a bunch of industry people. It got circulated to this guy called Dan Sandshaw, the main A&R guy. He contacted us and said he really enjoyed our music. So, he flew out to LA, we played a show, and he was really stoked.

ATP: Looking at the label's roster, do you feel like you're the odd band out? (Roster includes Bane, The Dear & Departed etc).
Dennis: I mean, Equal Vision started off as a hardcore label, but then it started branching out to all types of music. If you look at the label now, it's all different kinds of stuff. I think everyone is an outcast on the label, which is awesome. Saves The Day was on there for a couple of records, so that definitely appealed to us.

ATP: Recently, you asked fans what they would like to see as your next music video. What is it going to be?
Dennis: It's 'New Sensation'. We did it about a month ago, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and we're just waiting to see what it comes out like. It was awesome; we had a live performance, had some shots in other places.

ATP: The album was released in October last year. Have you been working on anything since?
Dennis: We're in the process of writing, and have parts here or there. We plan on doing a record soon, at some point.

ATP: What's planned after this tour?
Dennis: We go home, then have a tour with two bands, A Loss For Words and Transit, then we’re on the last two weeks of Warped Tour on the West Coast.

ATP: Thanks guys, anything else you would like to add?
Pete: See you next time UK! Come hang out, be our friends!

'Road Maps and Heart Attacks' is out now via Equal Vision Records.

- Jon Ableson