“We still feel the same as people, and as a band we feel exactly the same as we always have,” said Tanner Jones as he embarks on an new nationwide tour with his band You Blew It!.
“We still feel the same as people, and as a band we feel exactly the same as we always have,” said Tanner Jones as he embarks on an new nationwide tour with his band You Blew It!. “There are these hints every once in a while…like, ‘hey you’re doing pretty well’. And I guess we’re doing pretty well.”
Jones, the lead singer of the pop punk/emo/#emorevival band You Blew It!, (exclamation mark included), and his compadres are truly doing “pretty well,” having come from playing basements to their music video for the song “Your Side” premiering on Red Bull’s website.
The song itself had previously premiered on Entertainment Weekly’s website.
That’s a long way for a band who have written about playing at House Addy here in Richmond.
While the change in attention and venues is stark, the band doesn’t prefer one over the other.
“I wouldn’t call it better or worse because each one has their pros and cons for sure,” said Jones. “Like playing at House Addy you have the intimacy of seeing everyone of looking at them face to face but you don’t have the advantages of a having a PA that can push the air that’s needed or get the mix that sounds right to everyone. Bigger venues have exactly that but lack the intimacy.”
That freedom to explore dynamics and hear their band in different ways helped the band to evolve their sound.
Their new 7”, ‘Pioneer of Nothing,’ came out in January on Jade Tree Records.
“Most of everything we write is pretty reactionary to where we are as a band,” said Jones. “This last EP came at a time where we were starting to play bigger venues with nicer sound and cooler stages and really nice monitors so you can hear everything. Whereas ‘Keep Doing What You’re Doing’ and ‘Grow Up, Dude’ were very driving, the things we’re doing now are very much more focused on intricacies and songwriting as a whole versus being heard.”
Jade Tree Records is the Wilmington, DE, legendary emo, punk and hardcore record label started in 1990 by Tim Owen and Darren Walters.
For the 25th anniversary of the label self described “king of the pop punk free world” Zack Zarrillo took over the day-to-day operations of the label, working with Owen and Walters.
Jones said that You Blew It! had a relationship with Zarrillo before he managed their label.
“He was one of the first people and sites to start posting about ‘Grow Up, Dude’ widely,” said Jones “We were very taken aback, very flattered by that. We got in contact and we thanked him so much and that sort of garnered a friendship.”
The band had kept in close contact with Zarrillo after the initial coverage, collaborating at various points during their careers which were ascending parallel to each other. Jones called their current relationship with Zarrillo “the right next step in the progression of this band.”
Jade Tree has a long, storied history of important releases that You Blew It! hopes they can contribute to.
“I hope that we can add the next step for the label,” said Jones. “[People are] going to look at it as Jade Tree began and then it was The Promise Ring, Jets to Brazil and all of that. And if all goes well they’ll see a second coming, a restarting of Jade Tree. That’s where I’d like to picture You Blew It!”
Their current tour is their first one headlining with label support. They chose the bands Tiny Moving Parts and Roswell Kid to go out with. After this tour ends, however, the band will tour Europe with The Early November and A Great Big Pile of Leaves.
“That’s incredible, I wish that time travel existed so I could go brag to my 14-year-old self about it,” joked Jones.
Despite their trajectory being more stair-like and less rocket-like, You Blew It! has found a way to continue to have fun while growing as a band.
“If we didn’t let it be fun and we didn’t let ourselves have a good time with it then we wouldn’t still be doing it,” said Jones. “That’s the biggest thing: we’re still doing it, and the longer you do it the more people come see you.”
You Blew It! will be at Strange Matter with Tiny Moving Parts, Rozwell Kid and Sundials on the 24th.
