by Kenneth Morton

We caught up with A Skylit Drive on the first day of Warped Tour 2009 in Pomona, CA. Their new album Adelphia has just been released on Fearless Records, and it’s easily their most compelling effort to date. Prior to their set at Warped, we spoke with guitarist Nick Miller about the upcoming tour, the new CD, new and ex-band members, being a band from Lodi, and other topics of interests…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in A Skylit Drive, and how long the band has been together.
I’m Nick, and I play guitar in A Skylit Drive – and the band has been together for a few years now.

What is the music scene like in Lodi, CA and how easy or difficult was it to find band members in your hometown?
The cool thing about us being in a band in Lodi – most of us have been friends since we were 5 years old. And we all love music. We’re at the Warped Tour now – we’ve been going to the Warped Tour together since we were 12. It’s actually easy for us. We’re all best friends, so all we do is hang out anyway, so it’s easy to practice and to get together.

What made you decide to not call your new album Glaciers and is there a concept behind the current title Adelphia?
Yeah, there’s definitely a concept behind it. There’s a project going on that has to do with Glaciers and others things. We want to be original always. So Adelphia is actually a real city in Antarctica. Back when, they did telekinesis testing where some really weird stuff went on. So we kind of made this fictional story about two people trying to get out of the city – and we related it to our own lives like in Lodi. Jag our singer is from a really small town, so it’s about getting out of town, and doing whatever the hell you want to do with your life.

How do you feel right now on this, the first day of the Warped Tour? Are you guys on the entire tour?
Yeah, we’re on the tour entire thing, and I’m so excited! It’s so awesome! It is a lot of work though, man. We woke up at 9 this morning, hauled all of our gear probably a mile to our stage. I’m exhausted already and sunburned, but it’s gonna be awesome.

Think you’ll make it till the end of August?
Oh hell yeah, man!

So to you, what is the best and worst part about touring and being out on the road?
The best part about touring is that I’m touring with my best friends, and we’re usually in a van together just having fun. We all love to party and have fun – and that’s all we do pretty much. And I get to meet the most awesome people and our fans are great. It’s just a good time. And the worst part I guess is living in the van – but everything’s great.

What do you do when people start getting on each other’s nerves and you’re in a van together?
Well, there’s not much we can do actually. Sometimes it just happens and we’ll get into it – but like I said we’re brothers – and brothers fight.

Tell me about the music video for This Isn’t The End and your work for the organization To Write Love On Her Arms?
That song – the whole thing is about anti-suicide. We feel really strongly about living and having a great time with your life. It’s a very serious situation and it’s something that we wanted to address. And To Write Love On Her Arms – they’re an awesome organization and they really helped us to make an awesome music video. We just wanted to be a part of it.

Jag (Skylit vocalist) used to be in Odd Project. How did he become involved with A Skylit Drive?
It was seriously like meant to be. Odd Project just broke up and our singer just left – and we needed a singer too. We recorded all the music for Wires… and the Concept of Breathing. We needed a singer like then, because our deadline was coming up. And then Jag sent us an email. I was a fan of him before, so when I found out, I was like, “Oh man, this rules!” And that’s how it all happened. We got in touch, he came, and we knew he was the one.

What do you think of Watch Out There’s Ghosts, and do you still keep in touch with Jordan (Blake – former Skylit lead vocalist)?
Oh yeah. Jordan is one of my best friends. We hang whenever both of us are home. It doesn’t happen very often at the same time. And I love his band. And Josh, who is another good friend of mine, is in the band. And one of my other good friends Jerry, who played drums originally in A Skylit Drive, is playing in Watch Out There’s Ghosts now. They’re great, and I love all the guys.

Would the two bands ever want to tour together?
I would love to – be hanging out with all my friends.

So how frustrating has it been to have members come and go? And is this lineup pretty stable?
This lineup is stable definitely. I feel if someone left now, it would be kind of weird. I don’t think anyone would. We’re all so happy where we are – being able to tour together. We have six guys who are all equally passionate about this band.

What do you think about Michael Jackson passing away?
Oh man, we’re bummed. We all listen to Michael Jackson. He’s a legend and we’re going to remember him forever.

You guys have a few acoustic videos posted on MySpace. Have you ever thought about doing an acoustic tour or doing more acoustic shows?
I would love to. I’m always down to do anything. I love acoustic stuff. Actually we didn’t even have time to practice, because we were all gone doing different things – so we practiced right before the show. I kind of messed with it – and Joey and I got together before and had some ideas – but it turned out pretty cool. So I guess now we would be really down to do acoustic stuff.

Do you have any messages for your fans out here in the Los Angeles area?
I mean, we love you and thank you so much for your support! Come hang out with us!

A Skylit Drive links

A SKYLIT DRIVE on Myspace: The Official Myspace Page for A Skylit Drive!
The Highwire Daze Home Page: Return to the Main Page!

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