I recently was able to talk with Amber Pacific guitarist Will Nutter and base player Greg Strong about their new album “Truth In Sincerity.” Check it out!
How has your band changed since the last record?
Strong: “We’ve all just grown as musicians with our own instrument, vocally, we’re just tighter as a group and we’re more concentrated on what we’re going after, music.”
Nutter: “We’ve all just gotten a lot better at what we’re doing, and understanding different aspects of what it takes to be in a band. From a business standpoint we understand more, and musically we’re just getting better and better at our instruments. We’re learning how to work off of each other better, and I think that all shows on the new record.”
How has your sound developed?
Strong: “I think we’ve definitely stayed true to what our sound is, I think this record’s a little more on the pop-punk side, while our last album had little hints of hardcore, but I definitely think it’s still Amber Pacific, 100%, we haven’t made drastic changes in our sound.”
Nutter: “I was really tired of hearing bands that used to sound one way and would completely change their sound, and they felt like they had to mature. I just wanted to write a record that I would enjoy listening to, and something that was really poppy because there isn’t really anything like that out right now.”
What is the content of “Truth In Sincerity?”
Strong: “Lyrically it’s just mostly about our fans and problems that they’ve gone through. This record’s almost strictly about our fans and trying to help them through a hard time.”
Nutter: “This record is strictly for the fans that have been there from the beginning till now. I wrote it not really knowing what’s going to happen to our band in the future, because we’re done with hopeless records. So I kind of wrote it almost as if it were the last record I was going to write, and it was for the fans because their support has really helped us out on the road. I wrote it with them in mind, and a lot of their stories that they’ve told me along the way about how our music has helped save their lives and helped them in certain situations.”
What is your relationship like with your fans?
Strong: “We’re very close [with our fans]. We make sure we’re at our merch table after every show and we’re always hanging out with them. We write people back on our myspace as much as possible, we do things for our fans and We realize that without them we’re really nothing, so, why act like a rock star and hide.”
What was recording like?
Strong: “We had more time to write, more time to record, and we were able to get everything down the way we wanted to. I don’t think there’s anything we would like to have changed at all.”
Nutter: “Everything was just a lot more laid back because we’re used to [recording,] we’ve done it a few times now. So we kind of knew what to expect.”
Why did you choose to work with the same producer?
Strong: “We chose [Martin Feveyear] again because he’s the man and he could make the record sound the way we want it to sound. And he’s a great person to work with, he has a great personality, he’s fun, he’s a hard worker.”
How did you end up working with Mike Herrerra from MXPX?
Strong: “We’d gotten to know [Herrerra] through various shows and warped tour and Dango’s pretty close with him and we really wanted him to be on a song so we asked him and he said ‘yeah no problem’ and he came in and sang it and it was awesome.”
Nutter: “When I wrote that song I just had Mike in mind and I thought his voice would sound super sweet with the melody I was writing for it,”
What are your favorite songs on the album?
Strong: “‘You’re only young once’ because I think it’s a fun song to play and it just reminds me of being in high school and having a good time. Also, ‘Runaway’ because for me it’s just one of those classic pop-punk songs, and it’s got Mike Herrerra on it, and he’s freakin awesome on it.”
Nutter: “I would say the power ballad ‘Take Me From This Place.’ It sounds really really cool because it has the strings in it and it’s just really really powerful, passionate.”
What kind of reception have you gotten from playing the songs live?
Strong: “Kids seem to like it, sometimes it’s harder for them to not be able to sing along but from what we can tell the kids are liking it.”
Nutter: “[The songs] been getting a really good reaction. Fans seem to like what we’re doing, and some of them are actually singing the songs, and now that our album is leaked we’re seeing more people singing it so, I think people are really enjoying what they’re hearing. We’ve haven’t really heard anything bad about it yet.”
What has been your best experience in Amber Pacific?
Strong: “Making all the friends I have across the country, friends in other bands, and being able to see the country countless times, over and over. I’ve been to 49 states not, I think.”
What are your plans for the future?
Nutter: “We have no idea [what’s ahead.] This year is going to be very interesting, (laughs). It’s all up in the air we have no idea what’s going to happen, if anything’s going to happen at all.”
