Buzz Magazine – (First Published: January 2010) -Bianca Bozzi

They said it could never work, mixing the energetic sounds of pop punk with the raw emotion of growling hardcore vocals. But the formula for A Day To Remember seems to be working pretty well.

Their fanbase has grown massively in the space of just a few years and have become live concert favourites. So committed are their fans than one girl even got A Day To Remember logo (which is of a man carrying a bat behind his back) tattooed on her lower arm, from her wrist to her elbow. If that doesn’t scream commitment, what does?

‘It’s cool that someone likes the band that much, but I also feel bad for them at the same time,’ says Jeremy McKinnon, lead singer for A Day To Remember. ‘It doesn’t make sense. But I appreciate it when fans come up to me and say stuff like our lyrics help them out, ‘cos they help me out, too.’

But the criticism towards their sound has somewhat changed pace. ’It’s funny ‘cos things have now turned around,’ McKinnon explains. ‘Now it’s about us following some new trend, that we’re just copying other bands now. We started it because we wanted to hear it, and trust me, that was not cool back then to do.’

McKinnon admits to listening to a little bit of everything and that A Day To Remember are a band not afraid to try anything. ‘We do things to have a good time,’ he says. ‘We do what we want whenever we want.’

A Day To Remember came together in 2003 when disillusioned with playing in others bands that were going nowhere, McKinnon befriended those who would later become members of A Day To Remember through said other bands ‘trying not to suck along the way,’ as he says. Although drummer Bobby Scruggs and guitarist have since left, A Day To Remember have gone on to release three albums since 2005, the latest being Homesick.

For Homesick, McKinnon explains the creative process was all played out on the road. ‘We wrote everything on the road [since] we had been touring non-stop for two years,’ he explains. ‘We got an offer directly from Chad [Gilbert] from and talked to him about producing the record, which was a big reason for wanting to record this album.’ The inspirations behind Homesick stem from ‘just what was going on on the road...[and] being bummed about touring for 2 years [straight],’ says McKinnon, who makes a point of writing with a focus on ‘what we’re actually about.’

One quirky detail fans may be familiar with is A Day To Remember’s penchant for strange titles. Take for example ‘Why Walk On Water When We’ve Got Boats,’ McKinnon’s personal favourite. It was inspired after reading the title on, of all things, a sign outside a Scientologist church. But rather than being about religion, the song ‘is about standing up for what you believe in,’ says McKinnon, even though ‘the sign was sort of mocking the Catholic church. We’ve actually been on tour with a bunch of other Christian bands in the past and they were not like that at all. Some of them were actually some of the worst people we’ve ever met.’ Another song title meanwhile, ‘I’m Made of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made of?,’ was inspired from a quote from the original version of Night At The Museum.

A Day To Remember have also been famed for their acclaimed rock covers of ’s ‘’ and ’s ‘ (Cable Car),’ the latter used for the compilation ‘Pop Goes Punk’ this year. ‘Since U Been Gone was just a joke because we hadn’t released anything for a year and a half,’ McKinnon recounts. ‘So we wanted to do something ridiculous that no one would think to do. We wanted to also see how people felt about our newer stuff.’ But as for future covers, McKinnon isn’t so sure. While the band enjoyed covering Kelly Clarkson and The Fray, ‘we don’t want to be known as just a cover band.’

A Day To Remember will be touching down in Australia in 2010 to perform at the annual Soundwave Festival. ‘I’m really excited to see The Get Up Kids, who have just reformed,’ says McKinnon. But who knows what fans can expect from A Day To Remember’s set. ’We’re kinda unpredictable, we just do what we feel like. Like at the this year, some people were throwing shoes at us, so we made the audience throw their shoes at us. It depends.’

But whatever happens and whether shoes are thrown or not, A Day To Remember will no doubt play a wild and memorable set at Soundwave 2010.