The Academy Is interview
The Academy Is
Practicing Santi-Ria
When The Academy Is started cranking out its sugary sweet pop punk recipe during the early 2000s, its goals didn’t include the grandeur of a record deal, touring world arenas, or collaborations with musical heroes. Though each scenario would eventually come to pass anyway, the suburbanites’ humble dream was simply to conquer the local VFW circuit.
“We started in basements and moved our way up to playing VFW halls, which was really our main hope,” offers bassist Adam T. Siska, checking in via cell phone between holiday travels. “By the summer of 2003, we were able to sell out one of them, which even at 300 people, was a huge deal. I think a lot of our success has to do with the city where we come from. There was a great scene in the suburbs for us to play — like the Knights Of Columbus hall in Arlington Heights. We also opened for a lot of bands back in the day that had a lot of fans, which gave us the chance to be heard. It’s impossible to be heard if people aren’t coming out and we had a great bunch of people to play with.”
Jump ahead to 2005 and the band caught the attention of Fueled By Ramen records the old-fashioned way — by promoting and performing like crazy, in turn building a fan base from the ground up. The ensuing debut, Almost Here, earned the band slots on tour with then burgeoning Fall Out Boy, Motion City Soundtrack, and All-American Rejects, followed by a stint on the 2006 Vans Warped Tour.
As 2007 settled in, the group dropped Santi (through Fueled By Ramen’s recently fused partnership with Atlantic) and resumed road time with Fall Out Boy (along with +44, Paul Wall, and Cobra Starship) on the arena-based Honda Civic Tour. By this time, FOB fever was at full force while The Academy Is followed in its footsteps, launching an extensive world tour that found the band playing Japan’s Summer Sonic, England’s Reading and Leeds’ Carling Weekend, and headlining America with The Rocket Summer, Armor For Sleep, and Sherwood. But even in the midst of this rocket ride to pop punk royalty, Siska insists on giving credit to several other bands who helped at some point.
“We were always Fueled By Ramen fans throughout high school and loved bands like The Stereo, Animal Chin, The Impossibles, and, of course, Less Than Jake,” he attests. “When our friends in Fall Out Boy got offered a deal, we couldn’t even believe that someone we knew so well made it, which also turned out to be the turning point for the label. From there, everything that happened was really crazy. We signed a year after them, then [FOB bassist] Pete [Wentz] formed the imprint Decaydance and bands like Panic! At The Disco, Gym Class Heroes, and Cobra Starship came on. When Fueled By Ramen signed a deal with Atlantic, it totally blew up and went from a small label in an apartment to having a huge office in New York. But the label worked really hard for that kind of success and all of the bands are close friends that get tighter every time we tour together.”
With the suburban scene exploding, several changes crept in for all parties involved, like fame’s flashbulbs (or, in the case of Wentz and romantic interest Ashlee Simpson, the occasional tabloid tarnish). The bands’ maturation has also come outside the media spotlight, as teens tipped into their 20s and, for lack of a better term, grew up.
“It’s definitely changed, and given everyone’s crazy schedules, we’re not quite the same closely knit family hanging out in the Chicago suburbs,” admits Siska. “The guys in Fall Out Boy were our first friends we watched move out of their parents’ houses into their own homes and grow up into a successful lifestyle. But no one changed though, and on the Honda Civic Tour, it [felt] like old times. We love building good friendships with bands from home because we’re all doing it together. It also feels really crazy going from playing in the suburbs to huge amphitheatres around the world.”
A big part of this was Santi, the blueprints of which were drawn from several production sessions with their longtime musical muse Butch Walker — a one-time member of Marvelous 3 and behind-the-boards wizard for Hot Hot Heat, All-American Rejects, and countless others.
“When we were recording Almost Here, we got a copy of Midtown’s Forget What You Know, which Butch had produced,” recalls Siska. “We were always Marvelous 3 fans and really loved that Midtown record, so that got us really interested in working with Butch someday. Then we signed on with Crush Management, which is the same company he’s with, and the pieces came together. That was our original idea on this record and we never had another game plan. He’s one of the most easygoing guys and we made the record in one of the most relaxed and comfortable settings imaginable.”
Laid back perhaps, but Walker didn’t allow the band to get too cozy, stripping the glossy production of the band’s debut. After two months spent in a warehouse near the University Of Illinois Chicago campus, The Academy Is blasted through the recording sessions in eight days, maintaining a somewhat raw, spontaneous, and live flavor. Even so, the album connected commercially, and spawned a flurry of response via a Fuse and MTV-aired video for the jarring “We’ve Got A Big Mess On Our Hands,” plus the heavy radio rotation of the acoustic-guitar-and-string-framed “Everything We Had.”
As 2008 settles in and the promotional cycle behind Santi winds down, Siska and company are gearing up for the next release. Paramount among the band’s New Year’s resolutions is “to make the best record possible,” but also pass on an incredibly timely message about the environment. Part of the plan wraps not only around making music its members can be proud of from a creative perspective, but also addresses personal causes.
“We’re obviously going to work our asses off and tour a ton behind the next record, but we’re also going to take some time to sit back, soak it all in, and enjoy it a little more” he adds. “We’re also really passionate about the environment and are doing whatever we can to cut back on our emissions. On this most recent tour, we tried to coordinate a biodiesel bus, but it didn’t work out. But next time out, we’re really looking into that as a serious option. The next record will touch on those themes, and in the meantime, we’re talking to fans outside our shows about the topic a lot. Besides encouraging fans to learn about it themselves, we’re hoping they educate those around them.”
The more people who know, the better. Because The Academy Is’ environment keeps getting bigger and bigger.
— Andy Argyrakis
The Academy Is… are simply amazing.
They’re amazing musicians as well as people.