I was really blown away by the versatility of this band. It would be hard to put them under one category. I always find it fascinating to hear how a band came to be. We hear so much negative about the music industry and file sharing. This is actually a band that made it because their band was discovered on the Internet!!
Barbara: For our Readers that don’t know of Boys Night Out, can you tell us a little information about the band? How did you come together?
Jeff: We’re high school friends. We played in local bands in our home town, Burlington, Ontario, since we were like 13 or 14 years old. We played in metal bands, hardcore bands, ska bands, punk, and everything else. Eventually me and Connor started doing some demos; Connor is the singer by the way, and writing songs. We went and recorded them on our own, just me and him and got a band together and recorded a 4 song demo. Then we got signed to Ferret Records. They found us on the internet and contacted us. We didn’t really do much for a while because we were still a local band. Eventually we started doing more shows and put a CD together for Ferret which was “Make Yourself Sick.” We started touring full time; we’ve been touring for like 3 years I guess. Our last CD Trainwreck came out in July.
Barbara: How did you come up with the name Boys Night Out?
Jeff: It was the name of a band I was in when I was 13, 14 years old that had no other members from the current Boys Night Out. We played one show and broke up. When me and Connor started writing songs again a few years later, when we actually got together it still seemed like a fitting band name. It worked and we thought it was catchy. It’s from Billy Madison, the Adam Sandler movie. There’s a part in it where he says boys night out.
Barbara: I love Adam Sandler. Machine produced Trainwreck, how did that come about?
Jeff: It was getting down to the wire and we were talking about producers and we just kind of generally unhappy with the way things were going. We were kind of in a tough spot, we were writing and the deadline for finding a producer and getting demos in and everything else was coming up. Finally Ferret was like this guy, Machine, he’s doing the Everytime I Die record, he’s a rad dude and Carl sent him some of our demos, he’s like he wants to talk to you guys, he wants to fly out to Canada and hang out when you jam and see what happens. So I talked to him and he flew up for a day and came to our practice and hung out and he clicked with him right away. He was on the exact same page as us and what we wanted to do musically, conceptually, and what we wanted the record to be and he’s done some amazing records so it was perfect, it was a perfect match. Once we actually got into the studio with him it was just an amazing experience for us. We’ve never worked with a producer or even been in a real studio so it was very, very cool.
Barbara: How did the whole concept of Trainwreck come about? There seems to be a whole story with this album. Tell us about it.
Jeff: It was originally a short story that I had written; I can’t even remember when I wrote it I just had a collection of stuff that I had written. When me and Connor were talking about it and deciding that we wanted to make this record follow a continuous storyline. I said I have some stuff written that could maybe work for this let me see what I have. We took the story and expanded on it we decided to say hypothetically the record is going to have 12 tracks, let’s break up the story into 12 chapters and make sure each chapter tells an interesting part in the story. Then from there start trying to adapt it lyrically and write some music. So the story came first and then after that we started working on the music.
Barbara: How long did the production of Trainwreck take?
Jeff: We started really writing after Christmas of 2004, that’s when we really got to it. We wrote in January and February and then we went down and did the record in Hoboken, we were there for all of March recording and doing preproduction and the first couple weeks of April as well.
Barbara: How does Trainwreck differ from your prior release, Make Yourself Sick?
Jeff: In many ways, as far as production goes I think it sounds a whole hell of a lot better. Having a producer there was a great help. Musically it’s still a Boys Night Out record, it’s still got everything Boys Night Out had before. We just kind of wanted to experiment more. There’s more electronic stuff and some acoustic and we have Kara in the band now who plays keyboards and sings as well so that was definitely a big addition. It’s kind of us challenging ourselves to explore as many different aspects of music as we could as opposed to just being a screamo band. We just wanted to branch out from that and try other things. With that being said there’s still screaming on the record and heavy parts and breakdowns and stuff. We’re a little different.
Barbara: That’s one thing I really liked about this record, you didn’t just stick to one thing. There were different kinds of music, it impressed me.
Jeff: Thank you. We have a huge range of musical tastes and inspirations. Whatever we write and whatever we’re having fun with what sounds good it’s going to be a Boys Night Out song whether it’s completely acoustic or if it’s really heavy or a pop, punk song. Whatever it is, if it sounds good we’ll keep it.
Barbara: Since the release of Trainwreck on July 26, it has been rather impressive on sales and chart positions. Do you feel starting the Warped Tour helped the sales?
Jeff: Warped Tour was good for that, we were on the tour for like a month and a half leading up to it so it was very good exposure getting out there and playing to all these kids that have never heard of us and letting them know that we have a new CD come out. Once the CD did come out and being on the tour for another few weeks after that definitely helped a lot. I couldn’t pick more of a perfect summer tour than that to have a CD come out. It’s pretty cool.
Barbara: The Internet has played a major role in the music industry. What role do you feel it has played for Boys Night Out?
Jeff: When we were first starting we only had this 4 song demo that we put up on mp3.com. It was amazing it happened right away for us it was just kind of like someone heard it and they told someone else about it then they told someone else and then we talked to Ferret records and we had a record deal. For us it was amazing how fast it happened and without the internet we would be totally screwed. It all happens on the internet through myspace, pure volume and all the news sites and everything else. This music scene, this new brand of punk rock it’s a very crucial part. I think it would be very interesting to see what happened to music if the internet wasn’t there.
Barbara: I think you’re right. Describe your music in one word.
Jeff: I would say that it is stoner punk.
Barbara: Okay, describe your fellow band members, including yourself in one word.
Jeff: *laughs* Um…shitty dudes.
Barbara: *laughs* Who are your musical influences?
Jeff: For me I think Nirvana was a huge one, Guns ‘N Roses, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Led Zeppelin, Stone Temple Pilots, those are the big ones.
Barbara: Okay, if you weren’t in Boys Night Out, where do you think you would be?
Jeff: I don’t know, working a full time job that I would hate somewhere. I don’t really know but definitely doing something that wasn’t fun.
Barbara: *laughs* If you were a vegetable, what would you be?
Jeff: *laughs* I don’t know, a potato.
Barbara: *laughs* What is a “Boys Night Out” for you?
Jeff: Nothing crazy, just kind of going out with friends and getting super, super blackout drunk and then going back to my apartment and sleeping in my own bed and that’s it.
Barbara: If you could collaborate with anyone dead or alive, who would it be?
Jeff: Pink Floyd.
Barbara: That’s my time, that’s awesome. Why Pink Floyd?
Jeff: I’m just a huge fan, it would be amazing.
Barbara: One last thing, message to your fans.
Jeff: Stop listening to punk rock and stay in school.
Barbara: *laughs* Thank you so much for your time.
Thanks to Jeff for the great interview and taking the time to talk to us. We will be listening out for Boys Night Out! Best of luck to them!!
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