Earlier this year emo-punk stalwart Taking Back Sunday released
its sixth album and second since reuniting the original 2002 lineup. The album,
“Happiness Is,” is a mature collection with singer Adam Lazzara - a High
Point-native who now lives in NoDa with his wife and young sons - opening up lyrically
in a detailed, personal, yet universal way.
On Wednesday Taking Back Sunday
ends the current leg of its tour at The Fillmore, which means transplants
Lazzara and John Nolan (guitar) will get to spend Halloween and Thanksgiving at
home with their families before heading to Europe. Lazzara spoke to The
Observer Tuesday from Canada about the new album, being away, and his adopted
home.
Q. This album seems pretty frank and
personal. Do you consider it more so than usual and, if so, how did you delve
deeper?
A. There’s always that voice in your head
or that little editor inside me that says, “Oh maybe we shouldn’t be talking
about this?” With “Happiness Is” (the goal) was just write. Once everything is
down on tape then start to deal with that then. I think with all my favorite
bands, artists or writers, they’re always just very honest and I want to try to
maintain that too. With this record there was a conscious effort to not mask
things as much. I love playing with words, but I wanted to make sure I played
with words in a more simple way. I used to think to get a point or feeling across
you needed to have the subject matter cloaked, just vague. So with this one
we’ll try to be very direct. Hey, here’s how I feel or here’s what happened and
see how folks relate to it.
Q. There are themes of growing older
and gaining perspective. As a band are you all in the same place where you
could relate when you’re writing?
A. We all have very young families so I
think that attributes to the subject matter.
Q. This is the second album back with
the original group. Was it different making this one compared to the honeymoon
phase or getting to know each other again on the self-titled record?
A. John was living in Kansas and once we
started reconnecting he’d come to visit and we’d write and then they moved out
there. It
brought us closer both just as friends and with where we live in a physical
sense. With the self-titled record that’s kind of like what that was. We were
reconnecting and relearning how everyone worked. With “Happiness Is” everyone
knew how to work with one another, when to lean on someone and when not to. It
was more of a laid back process than to any of the records we’d done.
Q. The band was originally all based out
of New York. Does it feel like a hometown show when you play Charlotte?
A. It’s starting to now. It didn’t feel
that way for a long time. It’s a really
funny thing. I felt for a long time like, I’m from here. I don’t know why
nobody likes us here. It’s starting to grow over the years. When we play there
family and friends are there. It feels like a hometown show in that sense. It
feels like there’s a lot more urgency to make it more of a hometown show for
us.
Q. I remember you telling me at one
point a while back you thought the Fillmore was too big.
A. There’s that worry of what if nobody
comes to see us and I live here? It’s funny with the perception people have.
They think, you’re in this rock band and tour all over and you’re a huge guy
and you never worry about it. I think about it.
Q. Does living in a city that’s not a
“music city” offer anonymity?
A. With the friends we’ve made everyone is very creative. So
it’s not a big deal. These guys write songs and that guy paints and that guy
makes movies. It’s just a communal appreciation for one another. Being in
Charlotte too, unless we’re at a show, I can just be a guy.
Q. Tell me about the USO shows you did. I thought it was interesting
you’ve done the USO shows, because I would imagine a lot those soldiers
appreciate heavier rock music and something that’s more current when we hear
about older artists going over.
A. We did it through Navy
Entertainment. We’ve done all over Europe and Dijibouti and Kuwait - these places you see on the
news. (The song) “We Were Younger Then” - that’s what that was based around. We
were in Bahrain. When you play those shows there’s a lot of folks that don’t
necessarily know or haven’t heard of your band. It’s more of trying to give
them a feeling of home. I don’t know how they do it. They’ll be out from nine
months to a year and a half. I have so much respect for them. We’ll complain
about being gone from home on tour, but now that we’ve had that experience we
think twice before we complain. It takes a strong person to do that. We were in
Portland the other day and there was a guy with one of the opening bands and he
came up to me and said, “I was in Kuwait not too long ago and you guys came
there and played. I just wanted to thank you for that.” I immediately went
into, “Thank you. I don’t know how you did it.” It was a pretty cool thing.
Q. Do you feel like Charlotte is home now?
A. I do. Which is funny too. When I left
North Carolina to join the band I always said I’m never coming back here. Now
I’m back. It does feel like home. Just even the way people talk. It feels
right.
Q.
You
released a solo track last winter that’s got acoustic guitar and harmonica.
Being in a heavy rock band fans have expectations, is there a desire to make a
different kind of music?
A. That’s what I
like, loud rock n’ roll music. It works out, but there’s layers to everything.
There’s oftentimes where I’d much rather play very gently. That’s where that
other song came from. It’s actually cool how the whole thing worked out. We
made a quick video for it. Shamus Coneys lives in the neighborhood. He makes
great videos and films. We were talking in the backyard one day. I said, “Hey
would you want to make a video for me?” Our friend (visual artist) Will
Puckett, his family has this veterinary hospital right outside of town. We went
out on there on their land and filmed it at 6 in the morning. It was a big
communal Charlotte thing.
Q. Is your family still in NC?
A. My dad’s still in High Point. Mom’s
in Winston-Salem. (My wife) is one of seven. Her mom is there right around the
corner. Her sister and two of her brothers live here. They’ve all been
migrating.
Q. You’ve been gone a lot with this
tour. I saw you were overseas when your son started kindergarten. Is it
different touring now with a family back home?
A. I remember the days where I’d tell
our management and our agent, we don’t care if we’re home, keep us working. Now
it just gets harder and harder to leave. You know, I don’t want to do anything
to hurt my kids. Luckily the flipside of that is when I get home I can just be
with them the whole time. I look at it if I worked a normal job or a nine to
five I’d only see them for an hour or two in the morning and an hour or two at
night.
Q. It’s good her family is here for
when you’re gone. Raising two little ones alone could be really hard. I’d never
get the dishes done.
A. I couldn’t imagine life not having them
around or even having my folks not far. It definitely gets tough. I start to
feel like the worst guy for being gone, so that helps.
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