Last day of tour! How has the tour been so far? Did it meet your expectations?
Tyler: It has exceeded our expectation, honestly.
Derek: We have done these headlines tour overseas and the UK, this time loads more people and kids; the room is getting bigger and bigger; we have more production – things like lights and more crew out with us. We are having great time with all the other bands. True success, I would say.
What’s next for State Champs? New music?
Derek: Definitely! We have some cool stuff coming out soon that we haven’t announced yet – not the whole new album, some stuff - just to hold everyone while we are writing new music.
We have been already writing and compiling songs – things like that! The whole full length album would come in 2018, I would say. We will more writing and pick the best ones for the album.
We are closing album cycles with this tour.
How is the sound different form old music, if it is at all?
Derek: That is the question we have been asking ourselves. So we don’t really know – we are just writing songs that we like right now
Tyler: We are just doing a bunch of writing and just trying to make sure we have a long list to choose from.
Derek: There is probably going to be a little mixture, because we started out as this over aggressive, faster, more rock. And what every band likes to say – we got so much more mature…
Tyler: we are not 18 anymore, we are not that mad anymore [both laugh]. You can not expect us talking shit when our problems are not those problems anymore.
Derek: And people are asking whether it will be more popy and more polished, because we did tours with bands like All Time Low, 5SOS. If we like that and if we wanna write songs like that, then sure! If we wanna write a fast song, that is fast like hell – then sure!
Tyler: The last thing to expect is that we will change our sound because we are friends with someone, or that we toured with someone. We got to those places being who we were.
Acoustic album was amazing! Are we going to hear some new acoustic songs soon?
Derek: Yeah! There is an acoustic stuff that we are going to release before that that is coming out. We write songs sometimes just with acoustic guitars, and then it just stays as an acoustic song, sometimes it doesn’t.
What is the colour of State Champs?
Tyler: I feel like it is a nice orangy, kind of red. The colour is cold ‘fiesta red’
Derek: That is just his favourite guitar colour!!! [both laugh].
Tyler: It is unigue
Derek: Right now I would say gold.
Tyler: Gold is just a little bit serious sometimes – gold is very heavy sometimes
What is your favourite band to tour with and who would you want to tour with next?
Derek: We get along with any band that we tour with. But in particular, All Time Low, 5 Seconds of Summer (some of our best friends as well) and that came from them asking us to tour with them. Then bands like Sleeping With Sirens
Derek: I would like to tour with a band like Paramore, or FOB.
We saw you guys play Warped Tour this summer! It was awesome!
Tyler: I was sooo hangover during that show!
Derek: we had a party the day before Vegas show. Did we party together? Let’s just leave it there… We will talk after the interview! [both laugh]
How is the crowd different from the States? Is UK more aggressive?
Derek: We love the States obviously, and that’s where we started and where we got everything going. It is still great out there, but the scene over hear built and built – it is so much better. It is a pretty tight competition right now
Tyler: I think the crowd is better here! For better or worse, some guys were hit by the flying beers. But, you won’t find flying beers in the States – it is an act of aggression there. I feel like here, they are just exited, so they are throwing things.
Derek: It is pretty close, all the crowds are great! Birmingham was pretty wild last night, and Manchester was my favourite – guess we have to find out about London tonight! The Ritz in Manchester was out biggest headline show, highest attendance EVER so far! Tonight (London show) will be even bigger – it is our biggest headline show to date!
If you had to allocate each member to a pet, who gets who? J
Derek: We did that recently, actually! We picked animals for everyone and it was pretty tuff.
Tyler: Someone called me a lion! Someone called Derek a sloth!!
Derek: Ryan called me a sloth! I don’t know whether it was a complement from him or not…but them I called him a peacock! [both laugh]
Derek: We picked a panther for Tony
Tyler: Evan was just a dog – he is such a loyal French bulldog. He is such a nice friend/companion.
Derek: We are unique in our own way, especially with our spirit anymals [both laugh]
Celebrity crush? Or recently Googled one?
Derek: If looked on my phone, the recent Google search would be Emily Ratajkowski! She is really really hot!
Tyler, it could be a guy, we won’t judge!
Tyler: Thank you letting me know, it is a safe place! [both laugh] I used to love Emma Watson, Anne Hathaway – so like super white girls. It could be a librarian – I am just in love with the ordinary!
Derek: Basic, and there is nothing wrong with that!
Wildest thing on tour?
Derek: we are not the guys to trash the hotel room… it is not as stereotypical as you think. I am sure 16 guys living on the tour bus – take it for what it is worth! There has not been anything too crazy yet. The worst thing that happened was that the bottle of wine fell down and smashed BY ACCIDNET. The crazy thing are more ACCIDENTAL than happening on purpose!
Tyler: We don’t wanna make more work for ourselves, we love to have fun, but we are not going to break stuff that we have to clean up
Derek: We also like to have a great time! We definitely party [as you guys apparently know, that we don’t know…] [both laugh]
Any crazy fans on tour?
Derek: I think it is cool when they wanna stay and hang out with us, take pictres, and we always gonna come out. There are a lot of people that are coming to the multiple shows and following the tour.
Derek: WE do these meet and greets before every show and we let the fans ask questions – anything they want! We ask them to keep it PG [both laugh].
Derek: The first question I got was ‘Can I sit on your lap or your face?” à This is absolutely NOT! [both laugh]
Tyler: This is just a very rude thing to say to somebody – it is very inappropriate and just wrong to humanise people in bands. If you said that to a girl – it would be a hellfire!
It is not anymore cute if you are a fan of a band and you say it, PLEASE BEHAVE YOURSELVES! [both laugh]
Snog marry avoid (Rihanna, Beyonce, Nicki Minaj)
Derek: Snog Rihanna
Tyler: I would marry beyonce. I have to kill Nicki, I guess.
Derek: Snog Nicki for a laugh, actually!
Tyler: I might even marry Rihanna, she is a bad queeeen!
Thanks guys! x