A Static Lullaby Headline The Observatory in Santa Ana
A Static Lullaby Headline The Observatory in Santa Ana
A Static Lullaby has returned, headlining a sold-out show at The Observatory in Santa Ana. Presenting songs from their iconic albums such as …And Don’t Forget to Breathe and Faso Latido, A Static Lullaby delivered the comeback performance of a lifetime! Right before their memorable set, four out of five members were interviewed by Highwire Daze to discuss the reemergence of the band, the classic recordings, and what A Static Lullaby plans to do in the future. Read on…
We’re here with A Static Lullaby. Introduce yourself. Tell me what you do in the band.
Kyler Gillam: Kyler Gillam, I play bass.
Joe Brown: Joe Brown, I am the alternative singer.
Kris Comeaux: Kris Comeaux, I play drums.
John Martinez: John Martinez, guitar.
What are you guys looking forward to the most about your show here at the Observatory tonight?
John: Dude, just to play music again. I mean, it’s been such a long time since we played regularly, and so this was a big part of our lives back in the day. And so now we get to do it a little more grown up and we get to hang out with people we haven’t seen in forever. So not only do we get to play music, but we also get to hang out together, see people that are our friends and have a blast. Meet people and have good conversation and yeah. And shred. So it’s a good time. I’m excited.
Joe: I really feel like it’s full circle type of thing. And it’s been a minute since we’ve played. I think our last show was in 2015, prior to California is for Lovers, that Hawthorne Heights asked us to come out and play. But I think being able to play with bands like Juliana Theory and A Thorn for Every Heart and Taken, they all hold a place in my development as a musician and a lover of music. So when I was 16 and 17 years old, I’d see Taken play with Adamantium and Throwdown and all those bands and I would go nuts. And I remember when I was 19 years old, I saw Juliana Theory play at The Glass House and I thought they were the biggest freaking rock stars on the face of the planet. And I think there’s six graduating members of Ayala High School 2000 class between us and A Thorn for Every Heart. So, it’s really just a really special thing, and we couldn’t be more grateful just to be able to get up and not have a cane on stage. So I think that’s cool.
So, at this point, is there any chance of new music coming up for you guys?
Kris: So, yes, songs are in the works. I have a pre-production studio in my place. We’ve been demoing out songs ever since we found out we were doing California Is for Lovers. We all started putting our heads together on making new music. The plan was to get something out before the show, but you know how that goes. Wives and jobs and everything else we do, but we do have probably almost an EP’s worth of music. So, after this show we’ll be focusing on that as well. The game plan is to get some stuff out soon.
This is the 20-year anniversary of Faso Latido. When you look back on that album and the fact that it’s been 20 years, what do you think of it now in retrospect? That was your major label album.
Joe: Yeah, it’s funny, I have a love-hate relationship with that album. There’s some songs on there that we did in pre-production, I feel like, god man, I wish that that would have made the album the way that it sounded and this, that and the other. I think we were just in a different place at that time but 20 years is something to behold, right? I mean it’s insane. We’re actually playing a couple songs off Faso Latido this show which is actually really, really cool to be able to do. I don’t know man. Faso Latido is one of those things that I want to forget but can never.
Kris: I’ll add to that. So, Faso Latido came out way before I was ever in A Static Lullaby. I used to play in a band called Lorene Drive and we actually got asked to play Taste of Chaos. And you guys were one of the headliners and we were like this little acoustic band that played in between all the big bands, and I just remember seeing those songs on MTV and Fuse and I had no idea that they hated that record.
Joe: Yeah, I really think they just mixed me out of the fucking record, Ken. Just kidding.
Kris: You did have a really good recording experience, right? Indigo Ranch.
Joe: Oh my god. We recorded at Tom Petty’s old studio. At The Drive-in recorded there, Slipknot recorded there. We did it. And yeah, I mean, we stayed up in Malibu in the hills for a month and a half and it was incredible. But, yeah, let’s move on.
Okay. Let’s move on. Looking back on …And Don’t Forget to Breathe, what do you think of that now, in retrospect?
Joe: I believe that that album was influential in a couple different ways. When we decided to form the band and how we want to go and what direction we were going, it was all really relatively new. The band that closest emulated us and it was nothing like it, was probably Poison the Well, because they scream, and they sang, and they were heavy but melodic at the same time. For us it was you got a bunch of kids that used to listen to Operation Ivy and Lagwagon, and then me getting into hardcore bands like, I really love Gorilla Biscuits and Battery and stuff like that. But I think it was a culmination of things, and it really was one of those things that we were at the cusp of something really new and great.
And when we started going, bands started coming out and I remember getting Thursday’s album and I went on tour with Finch and I got Brand New’s demo and we were touring with people like Thursday and they weren’t as Thursday as Thursday is today – and it all came out at a time that was really neat. It was that Warped Tour culture. Like you could take a ska band, you could take a punk band, you could take a metal band, and you could take a hardcore band, and you could all have them play this show, and kids were paying $35 to come see bands play all day freaking long. And we just wanted to represent that in an album, and I think we did a freaking great job about doing it.
And we were just more happy to be these 19-year-olds with a bunch of angst. So, …And Don’t Forget to Breathe, it will always hold a special place in my heart. We grow up, and I think that’s a quintessential album for people that got into post-hardcore and screamo and emo at that time. And tonight is a celebration of that even though we’re not playing the whole thing back to back. I think it’s paying homage to having that album and saying that this was our mark on this time of life. I think it’s great.
Let me ask about the two other bands that you’ve done. I’ve recently found my Elevate: I Am CD. Looking back on that album, what do you think of it now? It was like a one-time thing.
Kris: So that was my introduction to the Static family, essentially. That’s how me and Joe became really good friends. I was already in a band, Lorene Drive, with John prior to that. But yeah, that was a really cool process because I got to feel what it was like to be in A Static Lullaby before I ever was in A Static Lullaby. I understood the dynamic. But we made that record with the same producer who had done most of the Static records, and it was a really good experience for all of us.
John: It sounds like an extension of a Static album, honestly. I feel like it’s one of those things where it sounds like, oh, man, if Dan was singing on some of these songs it would literally sound like just a really, really, really melodic, heavy Static record too.
Kris: It sounds like if Static made a record, and Dan didn’t get to be on it.
What happened to Dead Inside?
Joe: You know what, Dead Inside I did with Dave Miller from Senses Fail, or he was in Senses Fail at the time, and a couple other guys. And for me it was okay. I am a heavy singer, and I could do really cool shit with my boys, and I’m pissed off, and I want to make a metal album. So, I went out and did that and it’s pissed and it’s heavy and it’s great, but I think that was more of just something that was never really going to come fully to fruition.
I think, after playing one or two shows, I did this show with Osiris and Bad Omens, and then I could already tell that there was gonna be problems with dudes and lives were happening and all of that. So at least I got those five songs on Spotify and it’s on Apple Music. And the same thing with Elevate: I Am, and just be happy to know that I had those songs released. It was really cool. When you’re a musician and you’ve done something, and no matter what height you’ve reached, it’s always just something a part of your soul. I have children, and they fulfill me. I have a wife, she fulfills me. But I operate as that, and I operate as this.
And this part of me is Joe from A Static Lullaby. This part of me is Joe, I need to play music because that’s how I express myself when I can’t talk in the moments over here. And I think that that balance in life, I finally learned how to live. Not a bottle filling me up, not an extra this or an extra that. I’ve learned that I can get as much from these five guys and as much from my microphone as I can get separately from these other parts of life that used to invade or somehow cross and turn gray. So I have all this. And this is beautiful. This is my family. This is my life. This is my job. And then over here, I got this colorful Van Gogh going on, and that’s where I paint color into my life. And I think it’s beautiful.
John: What about Kyler, dude? I mean, what do you got to say, dude? You want to just say something?
Kyler gets the last question. Do you have any messages for A Static Lullaby fans who are reading this in the magazine right now?
Kyler: I’m the newbie, yeah. I mean, I started off in high school doing small punk bands and stuff. And then my actual background playing live is jazz piano all over Riverside, Pomona, different bars and stuff. We had little setups. But a lot of jazz pianists listen to A Static Lullaby by the way.
Oh, cool, interesting. I didn’t know that either. We’ll fact check that. (Laughter)
Kyler: So, this is complete. I’ve known Dan for a long time. He’s a good friend of mine. He said, “Hey, you want to play bass?” And I’m like, “Are you kidding me? That’d be amazing!’ I’ve never played for a band this big. It was like I was learning how to play music for the first time, being able to emulate the sounds of the records and really try to grasp the essence of what these guys have recorded in their youth. And it’s just been a really cool experience for me. These guys are awesome.
Joe: Tell them to go buy Rattlesnake!
Kyler: You should go buy Rattlesnake! Buy some merch. Come to our shows. Get ready for the new music, and get ready for the new era of A Static Lullaby.
(Interview by Ken Morton – Photos by Denise Johnson)
