Sing Louder Now

ALEXANDER WILLIAM GASKARTH | MySpace
Role in the Band: Vocals, Guitar
Age: 21
Birthday: December 14th, 1987

MATTHEW FLYZIK | MySpace
Role: Merch (2006-2007)/Tour Manager
Age: 23
Birthday: December 5th, 1985

[From All Time Low's Official Website]:

While sizable chunks of high school graduates received their diplomas at the end of the school year unsure on what sort of career path they'll embark, the members of Baltimore-area pop-punk quartet All Time Low have an exact idea of where they'll be headed straight into the van and in the studio for a full-time career in music.

These class of 2006 high school graduates have spent most of their high school careers developing their sound, refining their live sets and gaining valuable recording experience through their years in All Time Low. And they're exiting their senior years with the talent and knowledge in hand to take their craft seriously, primarily via the release of their Hopeless/Sub City debut, Put Up Or Shut Up. Kick-starting with the melody-drenched opener "Coffee Shop Soundtrack," Put Up Or Shut Up winds the listener through the various hallways of All Time Low's musical safe house, including the seamless, stuttered chorus accents of "Break Out! Break Out!," the swaying, waltz-esque rhythms of "Lullabies" and the stunning vocal harmonies of "The Girl's A Straight-Up Hustler."

Gaskarth and guitarist Jack Barakat launched All Time Low over three years ago after gaining some initial inspiration from bands like Blink-182 and Green Day. With the addition of drummer Rian Dawson and bassist Zack Merrick, All Time Low found itself further refining its early sound. "We always set out to play pop punk, as that's always what we've wanted to play and write our music around," says Gaskarth. "Though there hasn't been a huge change in the style of the music, we've progressed and matured as musicians over the years."

All Time Low's Baltimore locale was instrumental in helping the act gain some quick recognition and experience in the clubs. "Baltimore has some really great venues and all the venues give young, new bands a chance to do their thing and play to as many people as they can," says Gaskarth. Some of those acts have included Motion City Soundtrack, The Early November, The Academy Is.., Acceptance, Gym Class Heroes and Cartel.

Touring between their high school commitments, the members of All Time Low managed to cover both the East Coast and Southern states, gaining some valuable road lessons during spring breaks and summer vacations. In addition to the touring life, All Time Low also released a pair of independently produced discs via local label Emerald Moon, including a four-song EP in 2004 and a full-length, titled The Party Scene, in 2005.

One of the bands All Time Low happened to share a bill with was Amber Pacific. After becoming friends with the Hopeless act, Amber Pacific passed All Time Low's music to Hopeless Records. The label immediately took interest and the band quickly became the newest addition to the roster. (All Time Low aim to start recording their next full-length in late 2006.)

Put Up Or Shut Up features new recordings of some older material, refined and updated to meet the band's current standards. The self-produced EP was mixed by Zach Odom and Kenneth Mount at Tree Sound Studios in Atlanta (Outkast, Cartel).

And there are plenty of people around All Time Low at their live shows, which Gaskarth likens to a party of sorts, where Silly string, beach balls and crowd surfing aren't all that uncommon.

"We don't like to replicate the CD exactly," he says. "We make a thing out of being almost theatrical on stage. We try to turn the whole place into a party every time. We want to be everybody's friend. I think we try to keep everything really positive and have a good time. We've come to party!"

As for the opportunity for these fresh high school graduates to graduate into the real world through a formidable music career filled with promise, says Gaskarth, "It's just a dream that's slowly coming true."

Posted by Tim Karan on 23-Dec-08 @ 04:03 PM
(http://altpress.com/features/291.htm)

The story of how the members of ALL TIME LOW became pop-punk sensations before they could legally drink is well-known: The Maryland, quartet coalesced in high school, signed to Hopeless Records on Valentine's Day of their senior year and released their breakthrough full-length, So Wrong, It's Right, in September 2007. Still, All Time Low's formation wasn't quite as easy as that story makes it sound. Guitarist JACK BARAKAT describes what the group went through before finally settling on their current lineup. -- Annie Zaleski

Me and Alex [Gaskarth, vocals/guitar] met in eighth grade. He was the kid that all the girls liked and all the dudes hated, 'cause all the girls liked him. We weren't really friends in eighth grade. He had just transferred from a private school, so all the girls were like, "Yeah, what's up?" He would wear those baggy, Hot Topic parachute pants with the strings and chains. It was cool at the time. In ninth grade, he was in a rival band. I was like, "Hey man, come in our band. We'll write some songs together or jam out to Blink-182."

Alex actually hated Blink back then because he was, like, the Bob Marley and Incubus kind of kid. I was like, "Dude, you gotta listen to this band. They're fucking awesome." He was like, "Dude, they're fucking sellouts. They're on MTV." So I got him to listen to their live CD [The Mark, Tom, And Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back!)] and once he heard the jokes and the way they are live, he fell in love immediately. He was like, "Dude, we need to fucking do this. This is awesome. They're just being themselves. It's awesome. Kids love it." We just started our own band. We started covering Blink-182 songs--me, Alex and our old drummer.

In ninth grade, we met Rian [Dawson, drums]. He was in my French class. He wore a Face To Face shirt the first day of class. I remember turning around and being like, "Hey man, do you like Face To Face?" [Laughs.] He hated me, obviously. I had blue hair. He was like, "Who is this punk-ass kid?" I'd bother him every day. I knew he played drums and I knew he was the best drummer in our grade. He was like, "No, man, I got my own band."

At the end of ninth grade, we finally got him to jam with us. And it was awesome. He came to one of our band practices--me, our old drummer [and] Alex. We were playing "Roller Coaster" by Blink-182, and our old drummer couldn't do it. [Rian] played the cover with us and we were like, "Fuck! We need this guy. Damn it, we need him now." We kicked out our old drummer and got Rian.

A month later, we asked around [because we] needed a bassist. Zack [Merrick] came to our practice. He showed up with a skateboard. His mom was there. He walked in, we started jamming and we were like, "Fuck yeah, he plays with his fingers. He's in." At the end of practice, he did some skateboarding tricks-like a triple kick-flip. We were like, "Bring him in now! Lock him in early!" At the end of ninth grade, All Time Low were formed. We had T-shirts a month later. alt