Meet Better Days: Pop Punk Rockers from the UK

Meet Better Days: Pop Punk Rockers from the UK

Better Days is a pop punk collective from the UK who have played with the likes of Mayday Parade and Milestones.  They unveiled an EP called What You Did To Me late last year and are have just released a brand single entitled Headway.  Fans of Taking Back Sunday and Blink-182 will surely want to uncover the dynamic songs Better Days has unleashed upon the world at large.  Highwire Daze Online recently spoke with lead vocalist/guitarist Graeme Costello to find out a whole lot more about Better Days, their exhilarating pop punk anthems, invites from the Queen, and a whole lot more…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Better Days, and how long the band has been together.
My name is Graeme and I sing and play guitar. We formed in February 2016 after almost a year of planning.

Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like there?
We’re from all around the North East of England but we’d class our local scene as Newcastle. It’s a really good scene with a lot of people always open to supporting local bands. There’s not a lot of pop punk locally but it still does well.

Is there is any overall story or concept behind the lyrics to your new single Headway?
It’s basically about just realizing your self worth, learning to distance yourself from toxic people who are not worth your time and instead surrounding yourself with people that will help you grow and have a positive effect.

Select any other Better Days song and what inspired the lyrics.
A lot of our songs are centred around the theme of mental health and they tell the story that it’s okay not to be okay and things will get better and easier to manage if you address it head on and work through them.

Is there any story behind the EP title What You Did To Me?
It’s a lyric from the closing song of the record called ‘12.07.15’. It seemed to fit perfectly as the title represents the narrative throughout the EP.

What could one expect from a live Better Days show?
We put a lot of energy into any live performance, every square inch of the stage will be covered regardless of the size and we genuinely do put our all into it. The best part about live music is having fun and that’s what we try our best to achieve. We do have the worst banter imaginable on stage though, so if you do somehow find yourself at one of our shows, you need to prepare yourself for an obscene amount of dad jokes.

What was it like opening for Mayday Parade and did you get to meet or hang out with them at all?
It was very surreal to say the least. They’re one of my favourite ever bands and to be able to see our name next to theirs on a poster was insane. They were all super nice and gave us so many tips and helpful insights into being a long lasting band.

How did your tour with Milestones go last year and what were some of the highlights?
We always enjoy any tour we’re lucky enough to be a part of and this was no different. They’re dead nice lads and it came at a really good time for us as it was just after our tour with The Bottom Line and we had our first ever headline tour shortly after that too. I wouldn’t class it as a highlight but the Birmingham show was during a huge snow storm and we were travelling back home after it. The drive is normally about 3 hours but it took us closer to 8 which was an absolute killer.

If Better Days could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
For me personally, it would always be Blink-182. They’re my favourite band and that’s basically my biggest (and only) goal in life haha.

Has Better Days ever played in the States or plan to do so in future days?
We have not. We’d definitely love to do it but obviously it isn’t cheap to do and we unfortunately just don’t have the budget at the moment. It’s definitely on the bucket list and something we’d love to achieve.

The Queen Of England invited Better Days to play a song at a Royal Command Performance. What song would you play for Her Majesty and guests and why?
That sounds like it’s definitely a case of mistaken invite so I’d make the most of it and go for a pop punk version of Juicy by Biggie or maybe something by Queen because I am a fan of irony.

What’s up next for Better Days?
We’ve finished writing our next record and are heading into the studio very soon with the hope of releasing it ASAP. It took us a while to get What You Did To Me out because we had a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on that meant we had to keep pushing the date back so we want to make it up to people with this one. You can expect plenty of touring from us this year too!

Any final words of wisdom?
If you fancy checking out our debut EP or heading down to a Better Days show, you can find all the info at wearebetterdays.com

Better Days is:
Graeme Costello – Vocals/Guitar
Joe Cooper – Guitar
Zachary Burnside – Bass
Michael Bivona – Drums

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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