AARON NEIGHER - THE SADDEST LANDSCAPE

Name: Aaron Neigher

Band: The Saddest Landscape

Duty in the Band: Drums

This interview with The Saddest Landscape is the first interview I’ve done where I have neither seen nor played a show with the band I am interviewing. I’ve been recently turned onto TSL, but I still wanted to know a couple things about the band that I couldn’t find the answers to in other interviews so I went ahead and interviewed Aaron of TSL. For anyone that hasn’t heard of TSL, I guess I’d describe them as a hybrid emo/screamo band with the subtle hints of having their influences rooted in Dischord-ish emo/old school chaotic hardcore. Just take a listen for yourselves. Having never met Aaron, I can’t ramble on about any sweet experiences I’ve had with him….but he was extremely prompt in answering my questions and it’s always neat when you can talk/relate with someone who has similar interests. Here’s the interview with Aaron, drummer of TSL.  

Goofy

Favorite sport?

Basketball is the only sport I can tolerate

Would you rather tour with Guns N’ Roses or Alice in Chains?

Guns!

Favorite color?

Blue

Your thoughts on the educational system?

Tough one, I’ve been removed from it completely for a few years so I’m not really sure the state of things. I will say that teachers deserve more respect and much higher pay.

Gasoline prices are __________

Way too fuckin high.

Who would you rather kick it with….Mel Gibson or Danny Glover? And yes it’s during the Lethal Weapon days.

If it was during the Lethal Weapon days, definitely Mel Gibson. But, knowing now that he’s a racist piece of shit, I’m going with Glover. Mel Gibson seems like a terrible human being.

Guilty pleasures?

Bad 80’s and early 90’s action movies. Anything with Van Damme, Segal, Bronson, some Schwarzenegger, Lundren. Love it. Same plot, same dialogue, same ending over and over but it doesn’t matter. I’ll always be a sucker for a really violent, shitty action movie. Oh and Blink 182. That’s another guilty pleasure.

Would you rather blast Wu-Tang or Depeche Mode in your car for the rest of your life?

Wu-Tang.

What does your refrigerator need more of?

Chocolate soy milk

How do you like your eggs cooked?

Over easy

Any other language you would like to learn that you currently do not speak?

Spanish! I live in Harlem so it would definitely come in handy in my neighborhood, plus I’ve always thought being bi-lingual would be such a cool life skill to have. My girlfriend is actually learning Spanish right now, and while I’d love to try and learn myself, it’s just so much work. Almost like learning a new instrument. Requires constant studying and real life practice. So I’ll probably just let her do all the talking for me!

Personal

How did you get into playing the drums and were they your first instrument?

My dad had a 70’s Rogers kit in our house. He was a huge music fan and there were instruments lying around everywhere. But he was really into classical music so it was mostly brass instruments like the trumpet. I liked loud heavy music so the only thing that I gravitated towards naturally was the drums because that was the only option to make real noise.

How old were you when you joined your first band?

13 I think? Honestly nothing to write home about there. Just messed around with friends throughout high school and had a lot of fun. They started the band Trophy Scars when I started doing Saddest Landscape stuff.

What are some of the best/most memorable shows you’ve seen as a fan?

Oh man so many but one that will always stick with me because it was what got me hooked on heavy independent music- After Under the Running Board came out, I saw Dillinger Escape Plan on a tiny side stage in NJ on a Warped Tour date. No bouncer, no security. They were obviously not as huge and legendary as they are now, so they had more of an ability to just not give a flying fuck and be destructive back then. They had this kid who quit his gig as a fire breather in a traveling circus to join the band and tour with them full time. He’d literally jump into the crowd and just blow fire as far as he could, at whoever he could. People were just freaking out and running anywhere they could to hide. At the same time, Ben the guitarist was literally swinging his guitar like a baseball bat at kids in the front row. If he had actually connected with someone, he probably would’ve killed them.  He also kept lunging off the stage and landing straight up on his knee caps on the ground- the concrete ground. Just complete disregard for his body. The thing was, none of it was malicious, it was just the ultimate aggressive release through music.  It was positive violence if that makes any sense. Pure pandemonium, but every single kid who left that set had a shit eating grin on their face a mile wide. Granted, I’ve seen my fair share of other shows that were arguably pretty bad from a violence stand point like Bad Luck 13 Riot Extravaganza at the last Hell Fest, but stuff like that, that’s not art. Just violence for violence sake, which I think is lame and ignorant. There’s no positive energy there. No positive release.  Hardcore isn’t about hurting people. But that Dillinger show- that was chaos done right- coming from a pure, honest place that wasn’t intended to hurt anyone. It forever changed how I thought about music and what I wanted from it. I stopped listening to the radio and started digging deeper and deeper for music that was real.

Same question as before…but how about when you were actually playing the show?

Hmmm, it was probably only a year or so after we first started the band back in the early 2000’s. We got an opportunity to do a European tour and we were just so excited and appreciative to have the privilege. We played a fest in Germany about half way through the tour, and that show was just amazing. Kids were just so stoked, and knew every word. Hearing all these kids scream back the words during the song Stars was a pretty goose bumps inducing moment. It really fucks with your head (in a good way) to hear kids who don’t even speak the same language as you, on the other side of the world, be so impacted and connected with music that you made in some shitty practice space in Massachusetts thinking no one would probably ever hear it or care. We were just so dumbfounded and felt so incredibly lucky. And still do.

Who are some drummers that have influenced you as a drummer throughout your career?

As a kid, probably Abe Cuningham of the Deftones and Dave Grohl. High school it was Ken Schalk of Candiria and Chris Pennie from Dillinger. When we first started TSL, Jeff from Orchid. These days, my two favorite drummers are probably Dave from Pianos Become the Teeth and the drummer from Daitro. They’re both beasts from a technical/chops perspective, but yet so creative at the same time. Every time I hear them I get inspired.

Are their any records that have had a huge impact on your life that you can list off the top of your mind?

So many but off the top I’d say Aesop Rock- Labor Days, Explosions in the Sky- Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place, Bad Religion- Recipe for Hate, Murder by Death- Who Will Survive, I could go on and on and on.

It excites me when I find people who love vinyl as much as I do. I think that TSL may have taken being obsessed with vinyl to another level. Are all the other members of the band vinyl junkies?  

Every single one of us.  I was actually the last one to get bit by the vinyl bug. Eric, Mike and Andy have been collecting records obsessively for years.

Are their any particular vinyl records that you are dying to have in your possession?

Currently the friends press (purple cross) of American Nightmare- Background Music.

Are you particularly obsessed with anything else?

Honestly? Not really. The only hobby/passion I’ve ever consistently cared about is independent music. That, friends and family. Those are the most important things in my life.

Tapes are making quite a comeback in the punk/hardcore etc community. Do you have a tape collection by any chance?

I do not anymore. When I was younger I did, but personally, I haven’t gotten bit by the tape resurgence bug. I would rather just buy vinyl.

You were telling me that you guys had to fly to SXSW due to limited days of vacation time. I know that this can probably be very stressful at times.  As the years have passed….how are you still able to manage doing everything with the band as life has unraveled?

I think we just make it work out of love. We just really enjoy doing this again, hanging out, getting to make new friends and seeing old ones. Plus, we are in a very fortunate position where people from back in the day haven’t given up on us and are still passionate about TSL- yet, there is a whole new generation of people that are discovering us for the first time.  

 Has their ever been a time in your life when you thought of quitting on music?

Absolutely. When I was younger and had more illusive dreams about being able to support myself off of music, I definitely got frustrated at times when projects didn’t go anywhere. But that was just me being young and dumb. These days, I’m just incredibly appreciative that I can still have this fun release in my life and that there are people out there that care about the band and music.

The Saddest Landscape

For the generation of listeners that barely got into TSL after the hiatus, can you give a brief history of the band?

Will definitely do my best. So back in…I think 2001, a mutual friend through high school had met Andy at a fest. They had another mutual friend in common and wanted to start a band so the original friend asked me to play drums. So, we basically started a band with me only knowing 1 other person in the band haha. So it was definitely interesting. We got together as much as we could- at the time, I lived in upstate New York, Andy in Massachusetts, and the other 2 members went to school at Columbia University in NYC. So, on the weekends, we’d all meet in Boston to rent a practice space. We made a demo, and drove across the country to Omaha, Nebraska to record it because Andy was a huge Saddle Creek Records fan and there was an opportunity to record it with Mike Mogis (the Faint, Bright Eyes, Cursive, etc). Did we really need to do that? No haha. But it was just something fun and crazy to do and there was nothing holding us back at the time from doing it. So we drove across the country and recorded with Mike. From that point, I believe we did 2 US tours, put out a 7" and a bunch of splits, comp tracks, a full length, and 2 ep’s? (Don’t quote me on that, yes my memory gets hazy, even when it comes to my own band), and did 1 - 3 week long European tour. That took us to like 2005 or 2006 I think? At that point, life just got in the way and we kind of just…stopped. Flash forward a bunch of years to like 2008 or 2009, and we thought it would be cool to do a bonus 7" of a few new things to accompany our early discography vinyl release. And in a very short nutshell, that’s my attempt at summing up like 7 or so years before anyone who knows us now, knows us now haha. 

What bands would you say had an influence on the creation of TSL?

Hmm, well everyone else in the band at the time was heavily influenced by Ebullition and the 90’s emo/screamo that had been going on at the time. Probably Orchid, Portraits of Past, Dischord style emo…I guess that was everyone else’s reference points at the time we started. I honestly just listened to hardcore and metal during the early days of the band, so I just constantly wanted to bring a heavier edge to things from a drumming perspective.  Only in recent years have I gotten more into some of the classics of the genre that people have always associated us with.

How did you guys come about calling yourselves, The Saddest Landscape?

Andy (singer/guitarist) came up with it- it’s a reference to The Little Prince.

How many different lineups has their been during the band’s existence?

3 different bass players, 3 different guitarists. I’ve always played drums/ Andy’s always sang/played guitar

Where exactly do you guys hail from? I’ve read Boston, New York, New Jersey…which is it?

It’s all of the above. We’ve never lived in the same state throughout the history of the band, which has always made things a little difficult because most normal bands can get together whenever they want to practice or write. We’ve always lived a few hundred miles away from each other so we never operated like a traditional band. These days, though, Andy and Mike are in the same city (Boston), I live in Manhattan, and Eric lives in New Jersey.

 Has living in those cities had any particular influence on the band?

Not really to be honest.  I don’t think we all ever experienced the same city’s scene at the same time since we’ve never lived in one together.

Are there any bands that you admire from any of those areas?

I personally like what was going on in Boston in the early 2000’s. Hope Conspiracy, American Nightmare.…that was a pretty cool time. The Carolinas in the early 2000’s also seemed to be a crazy breeding ground of great bands.

For fans out there that have exhausted all their resources trying to find information on the band, would you advise them to go to any particular site to read up/learn about you guys?

Hmm good question, it’s not updated that often, but saddestlandscape.com has details about all the releases we’ve put out.

Inevitable question. What was the 05-07 hiatus all about?

The hiatus in a nutshell came down to life getting in the way. Girlfriends, schools, jobs, a shift in priorities with members because there was so many other non-musical things going on.

What ignited the desire for the band to get back together?

A few things. First and foremost, a love for playing music. We got asked to play a show on a Europe tour that Andy and I did for the other band we were doing at the time. We just had a blast doing it and it got us thinking that we should figure out a way to start doing TSL stuff again. On top of that, we were just really inspired by bands around us playing a similar style. They were new, but they were doing something incredibly passionate and fresh. They weren’t just rehashing a tired sound, but building on it and spinning it with a modern twist. That got us really amped and also sparked the desire to make a new record.

With 7 years between full length’s, how did you guys approach You Will Not Survive?

We were just inspired perfectionists about it. We took half a year to write, which is never something we’d ever done before in the history of the band. We usually wrote really quickly, on the fly, and that was that (which was mostly due to the distance factors). This time, we were just newly inspired by the other new bands around us playing a similar sound or style, and we also just wanted to make sure that we wouldn’t disappoint any long time fans that had still stuck with us and were curious as to what we were up to musically. We just felt like it would be a letdown to people if we didn’t put out the best thing we possibly could. Whether people think we did or not, who knows. But we were and are still incredibly proud and happy with it. We actually made a promise that if we recorded it and didn’t like it, we wouldn’t put it out and would do it all over again. Thankfully, we didn’t feel the need to do that so we released it.

As TSL has grown as band, besides production/improved recordings of your material …what would you say has changed the most as far as the band goes/is operated?

Just due to other life responsibilities/obligations like significant others, school, serious jobs, we just aren’t able to get in a van and run away like we used to when we first started. But, on the flip side, it makes the things we do now feel more fun and special. The limitations puts it all into perspective, and the cool things we get to do are not taken for granted. We unfortunately have to be more careful about the choices we make, since we can’t just go and travel whenever we want. We do have to stop and think a little more about what makes the most sense logistically. But hey it’s all good. We’re having a ton of fun and we wrote a new album that we’re incredibly proud of and people seem to be stoked on. Plus, we’ve made a ton of new awesome friends since rekindling this again. Can’t really ask for much more.

You guys also have the All is Apologized for. All is Forgiven. LP, which is a great way for fans to get into your material since it’s a discography of your past work. Is it a complete discography or was any material left out?

Complete discography of everything we ever did before reforming.

If I could describe this band’s music in one word it would probably be…damn it’s hard because I have so many. I sense nostalgia, heartache, a sense of struggle/conflict….but I guess if I had one ultimate way of describing the music…it would be a culmination of many emotions and labeling it as sentimental. To me every song has just so much emotion and it’s hard to not be buried by it when you’re blasting your records. How would you describe the band? That’s if I didn’t steal your answer haha.

Haha not to cop out, but you stole the answer haha. The only thing I’d add is that these days, while it does seem dark on the surface, there’s an underlying theme of positivity and hope beneath it all. That things will and can get better.

It’s amazing to see a band like TSL put forth so much effort into putting out a record (design, artistic direction, etc), when we’re living in a world where kids can so easily post their music up online and brag about what # release is out. What aspects of the digital realm do you like/dislike?

Thanks! As for digital, I personally love it. I’m constantly hunting for new music and it’s the easiest way to discover new bands. I, like most people, simply don’t have the cash flow to go out and buy a record I’ve heard good things about without ever actually hearing it. I need to be selective with what I buy. Almost like Netflix- you have the ability to test drive something and if you really like it, you can then go out and buy the DVD or Blu-Ray knowing you’re putting your hard earned cash towards something you’ll watch/use/appreciate. I think these days, the physical format (mostly vinyl) is really for that- to experience something that you already really like in a more personal, special way. I do absolutely see both sides, though. Most people unfortunately don’t realize that it costs a ton of money to press records. So I’m not hating on digital, I love it. I’d just say that if you really do like music, support the band or support the label and pick something up- a shirt, record, whatever.  When people just illegally download and don’t support the label or artist, I’ve seen the first hand effects time and time again of that label or band not being able to make ends meet and eventually just stopping releasing things all together.

While we’re already in April, what plans does TSL have for the rest of 2011?

I don’t want to say just yet because nothing is final, but we’re scheming. I can promise that. We’ll be busy this year.

Have you guys ever played in El Paso, Texas before? If not, please tell me that you will soon.

Ah man I have the worst memory. I think we did a long time ago, but could be wrong. We just played Austin so I don’t know exactly when we’ll make it to El Paso, but… we’ll definitely get there eventually.

That’s pretty much it. Any final words, comments, shout outs….let it all out.

Check out Sleep Bellum Sonno! Check out We Were Skeletons. Check out a new band from Boston called Choke Up. And thank you very much for your interest and for asking these questions!

end.

You can support The Saddest Landscape by purchasing their material from sites/labels such as topshelf.org or panicrecords.net. I actually have the new We Were Skeletons/ The Saddest Landscape 7” on order so once it comes in I’m sure I’ll be blasting it. For anyone interested on checking what the band is up to, I’d probably check their Tumblr site. Anyways, I have nothing else to say. It was rad to do an interview with Aaron and I’m excited to see what releases TSL has in store for the future.

Chris