Interview with Chris Taylor (Abandon All Ships)

January 23, 2012

Interview with Chris Taylor (Abandon All Ships)

Who Are You?
Chris Taylor, drums for Abandon All Ships and Kingdoms.

Why do you play music?
It’s pretty simple really- I just love doing it. It’s cathartic, it makes me feel alive. Sitting at the drums is one place I feel completely confident and in my element. And there’s something indescribable about being at the center of a song with everything happening around you. I live to play, it’s where I feel most like myself.

What has been on your mind lately?
Oh, plenty as usual. I’m trying to spend less time online these days, that’s an ongoing struggle to be honest, haha. Digging into my reading list, and I’ve restarted teaching drum lessons. And I’m one of the few people that still takes resolutions (new years’ or otherwise) seriously, so I’ve gotten back into a fitness and healthy-eating routine, which is holding strong. Other than waiting for winter to be over with, I’m doing pretty well.

What’s happening with your band lately?
AAS has been hard at work in the studio working on the second full-length. So far we’re on schedule, and it should be coming out late spring/early summer. Kingdoms is resurrected on a part-time basis, and we’re playing the odd show every few months, and working on getting some demos finished to put together another EP.

Any bands you can recommend to us?
I will always rep my hometown boys in Lifestory Monologue, they sound nothing like any of the bands I’ve been in and they’re fantastic. Their new record ‘Drag Your White Fur - Make It Grey’ just came out and you can stream/download it at http://lifestorymonologue.bandcamp.com/. Check out the tracks The Sound That Love Makes, Lessons, and Teratoma first.
Also, my bud Aaron Marshall has recently turned his solo project Intervals into a full band and put their first EP up for free/PWYC, that’s at http://intervalsmusic.bandcamp.com/. The song Sonar always gets stuck in my head, give it a spin.

Best concert you have ever been to?
That’s an incredibly hard question, don’t think I could pick just one. Thrice at The Docks in Toronto (now Sound Academy) is definitely up there but it was years ago, I need to catch them again on their final tour this spring. I saw Misery Signals at the Mod Club in early ‘09 and remember being blown away, even after having toured with them previously. As for shows I’ve played, Kingdoms opening for Bring Me The Horizon and ETID fall ‘09 was an amazing experience, probably only topped by getting to play 3 weeks on Warped last summer, which was huge for me and a ton of fun.

What are you most excited for in 2012?
Getting back on the road in the US starting in March, getting new AAS and KD material released and playing it live, and touring Canada again for the first time in 2 years… I haven’t played a single show in British Columbia ever so that would be awesome if we get out that far.