Catching up with The Academy Is…
Andrea Barbe
Issue date: 10/28/08 Section: Arts & Leisure
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Bassist Adam Siska sat down with The Gateway to talk about his musical transformation, the Chicago music scene and where it all goes from here.
How did you and the rest of The Academy Is… meet and decide to form a band?
As long as I can remember … I think it's the American dream to get a guitar and be in a band and travel around the world.
I met William [Beckett], our singer, when I was in the eighth grade. He moved from another town nearby and starting playing drums in another band with my older brother. We immediately clicked and shared a mutual love for music. We had tried to start a band together for like three years and nothing really happened because we couldn't find anyone in our town that was as excited about the music or wanted to work as hard for it like we did.
There was another band from a few towns over that broke up and they knew we liked their guitar player. We approached Mike Carden outside a local show. We started to ask how he felt about it and if he'd check it out.
We started up the band with Mike Carden as our guitar player. The three of us started up. Throughout the next couple of years, we found our other guitar player and our drummer playing in other bands.
I remember the first time we saw both of them play. We knew we wanted them because they were the best. That's why we kind of got started and we're really happy we found all these guys. We're like this big, happy music family.
How long have you played the bass?
I think I started playing the bass earlier in that year I met William, our singer. So that's been eight years now, I think. Eight or nine years.
It's funny. I think every bass player kind of starts because there are too many guitar players in the town they live in and there are no bass players. Becoming a bass player is the easiest ticket into a band because there starts to be a shortage of them.
In the town that I was living in, I don't think I knew a single bass player. So I picked up my bass and started practicing. After awhile, I was the best bass player in my town while isn't saying too much.
The Academy Is… and Fall Out Boy have lots in common. You guys are both from the same area of Chicago and, from what I understand, Pete Wentz helped get you signed under the music label Fueled by Ramen. Can you tell me a little about how that happened?
When we met those guys, we were just kids in high school. They had just started their band and they were playing a lot at local shows. It's funny because they had like 30 people or less at their shows back then. They'd play at bowling alleys or people's basements.
They were always real cool people and they were always like older brothers to us. They're just really good people and really big fans of music.
It was a lot of fun for us to belong to a great community of music fans growing up in like circa 2001 and 2003 in Chicago. A lot of the bands that were playing then, like Fall Out Boy, Plain White T's, Panic at the Disco and others date back to the old Chicago scene from when we were all kids.
It's fun to still be playing together today and we still keep in touch, you know. As far as Pete goes, he's always helped us out a lot. He's always been such a helpful person - nice and generous as well.
So it's been nice having good friends, especially ones that have gone on to do such great things.
You've also played on the Warped Tour a handful of times. What's that like in comparison to a normal touring show?
The Warped Tour's pretty crazy. It's really hot and you have to stand in line for like an hour every day just to get food. You only play for like 30 minutes a day and you never know when you're playing. Sometimes it's late at night and other times it's first thing in the morning.
It's all summer long and it gets pretty crazy.
I mean, the Warped Tour's fun. It's like a traveling circus. There are always a lot of characters on the tour - a lot of crazy people.
It's a fun thing to do for a couple months. Get out with other bands and play music for people that really care about it.
In addition to touring and recording music in the studio, you guys have The Academy Is… TV, which just started up its third season in June. Who came up with that idea and how are fans reacting to the videos?
We've been doing that since pretty much we started the band. We started the band in 2003 and then we started doing TAITV in 2004.
It just started as a way for us to pass the time while bored on tour. We're kind of goofy guys so it gave us an excuse to goof off on camera at least one day a week.
TAITV is almost bigger than the music itself. As long as people are having fun with it and we're having fun with it, we'll keep it going. It's fun for us to do. We put one up every Sunday night on our Web site.
How does your new album differ from your last two?
I think this album is something very different from the last. We're still a very young band and we're still learning a lot about songwriting and other things that go into making a band. I think the new record is a natural progression.
That's part of the fun for us is to throw people through a little bit of a curve ball and change up the sound a bit. It's a fun way for us to keep our sound fresh.
What's your favorite song on the new album?
I think my favorite is called "After the Last Midtown Show," and it's kind of the slow jam later on the record. It's a song we wrote one afternoon while writing in Los Angeles.
It all came together really fast. I tend to find that the songs I like the best are the ones that come together in an hour or so.
What's currently playing in your iPod?
Right now, I got the new Jack's Mannequin record and I think it's really good. I like Bob Dylan, Another band I listen to a lot is The Jam.
What's the weirdest thing that's happened to you while on tour?
I fell off the stage once. We were playing at the Metro in Chicago and my whole family was there. They were rooting for me and proud of me and then I fell off stage.
I was really embarrassed and I think I hid backstage after the show. I didn't want to look at anyone. Actually, William made fun of me for it, and a couple years later, he fell off the stage. So he kind of got what he had coming on that one.
The Academy Is… has performed several times in Omaha. I remember seeing you perform with Gym Class Heroes and Fall Out Boy at the Ranch Bowl back in 2004. Recently, you were at Sokol Auditorium playing with The Rocket Summer and Armor for Sleep. What are you expecting from Omaha this time around?
Omaha's always been a great town for us. What's the one we always used to play at?
You mean the Ranch bowl?
Yeah. That's it. It's really small, right? It had the bowling alley, too. I remember that place well. That venue was awesome. That show was a lot of fun.
This guy that used to be Fall Out Boy's stunt man climbed out on top of the billboard out in front of the Ranch Bowl. We have great fans in Omaha and we're glad to come back.
What can fans expect next from The Academy Is…?
This tour winds down Nov. 21. We're going to take a little bit of time off for Thanksgiving. I know we're going to be flying around in December playing for radio shows in select cities.
In the new year, we're going to be out on tour again. If we're not touring, we're always in the studio working on making another record.
To our fans that come out to see us, feel free to bring us some candy. That's always exciting. We love candy.
The Academy Is… performs a 7 p.m. show tonight at Sokol Auditorium with fellow bands We the Kings, Carolina Liar and Hey Monday. Tickets are $17.50 and are available through ticketmaster.com or by calling 422-1212.
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