BigYawn Interview with Nightmare of You


On a cold Tuesday evening, I had the pleasure of sharing a dingy couch in a small upstairs room with Brandon Reilly and Joseph McCaffrey of Nightmare of You. The guys hail from New York City, and bring a unique blend of witty pop hooks, harmony, and catchy guitar lines. None of these guys are strangers to the scene, or touring -- Brandon was previously the guitarist for the Movielife, while Sammy Siegler, formally of Rival Schools and Glassjaw, is behind the Nightmare of You drum kit. The band makes their dime off of touring, and do so relentlessly -- Joe stated that this was their fourth or fifth time to the Baltimore / DC area since solidifying their line up in January of 2004. I previously had the chance to see them open for Vendetta Red on the Seattle group’s most recent cd release tour, and was ecstatic to see them back in the area again. The guys took a portion of their time before going on stage before the Spill Canvas, to answer a few questions. Picture some old sofas, with an apple powerbook ticking away (quite literally) in Garageband, and the scene has been set for you.

BY – Well gee, I guess we could probably do without the metronome, I should probably turn that off for the recording.
Joe - Yeah, we don’t really need a click.

BY - I mean, if you guys want to get your stuff on time, it’s cool.
Joe - Yes. That. Is. Nice. Yes.

BY - Alright, so for people who haven’t heard to much about you guys, could you go ahead and introduce yourselves by name and what you do for Nightmare Of You. Brandon - I’m Brandon, and I sing and play guitar.
Joe - I’m Joe and I play guitar.

BY - When did you guys first get together?
Brandon - In January of... the band formed in January of 2003?
Joe - 2004.
Brandon - January of 2004, in New York City.

BY - A lot of people compare you guys to the Smiths, but is there anything you guys would really declare as similarities or influences?
Brandon - Not really, I think we kind of have too many influences, to really say there are one or two bands that make us tick, y’know?
Joe - All of us as individuals have different influences, so there’s a diverse mix of music that goes into how we come up with our music.

BY - How did the recording of the debut Nightmare of You disc compare to previous sessions or experiences you guys have had? Was there a method or strategy for the recording?
Brandon - It started out kind of rehearsing in the practice space -- we had like 25 songs. We cut it down to about 15, and went into the studio, and cut out another 3 or 4, down to what you have on the record -- but yeah, it’s a group effort, everyone has was involved.
Joe - It was nice that we had all the songs written when we went to the studio, so it wasn’t like we were scrambling to write stuff, we had pleanty to choose from. And the songs really than had the opportunity to then come to live, in the studio, over the course of several, several weeks. It was definitely a unique experience.
Brandon - It was probably my favorite time being in the studio.

BY - Touring, in your opinion, heaven, or hell?
Brandon - It’s kind of more hell than heaven I think -- except for, obviously playing of course.
Joe - You always have your good nights, your high points, where you’re like “Yeah, fuck yeah, tonight was awesome”, it’s totally worth it. And then you have you’re nights where it’s just like shit…
Brandon - And it’s not even that, it’s like, being in the van. I hate being in the van, I hate sitting in the van. I hate sitting around at venues waiting for shows to start. I hate that most of it is a lot of annoying -- kind of.. .
Joe - It’s a lot of waiting around.
Brandon - It’s a lot of waiting around to play for 30 minutes.
Joe - It’s necessary.
Brandon - It comes with it, we want to be a successful band, we have to tour.

BY - While out on your tours, do you guys have any comfort items or foods to help keep your sanity while you’re sitting around waiting?
Joe - Lot’s of beer.
Brandon - Beer.
Joe - Beer. I know it’s cliché but it helps me get through the day.
Brandon - I like Italian food, as far as comforting.
Joe - Japanese food.
Brandon - That’s not really comfort type stuff, I just like to eat a lot Italian and Japaneese food. We like to eat well on tour. A lot of bands kind of do fast food, or peanut butter and jelly. We put most of our per diam, important emphasis on food.

BY - Who drives?
Brandon - Whoever our crew is that we bring out.
Joe - It used to be me. I used to do an obscene amount of driving, and I kind of put my foot down and said this is not fun to drive 8 hours and then go have to play on stage. So we’ve aquired whoevers on our crew for that given show, or tour or region, and they’ll take care of the driving.

BY - As far as music, what are some recent things you guys have been listening to, staying in the cd player or on the ipod?
Joe - For me, Nada Surf and Wilco
Brandon - I dig the new Strokes record.
Joe - Yeah that’s a great one, that’s good.
Brandon - Yeah, it’s nothing too much, I think that’s pretty much it as far as new stuff.

BY - As far as you guys and your album, favourite song on the album?
Brandon - "Thumbalina" or "Heaven Runs On Oil."
Joe - Same here, "Heaven Runs On Oil".

BY - What about songs to play live, same deal, or other songs?
Brandon - To play live? "I Wanna Be Buried In Your Backyard."
Joe - Live, " Why I’m Always Right" ss probably my favorite to play live, it just comes to life.

BY - You guys are from New York City, do you have any favourite places to play there?
Brandon - In the city?
Joe - Bowery Ballroom.
Brandon - Bowery is great.
Brandon - I like Mercury Lounge. We’ve never played there but I like it, it’s a good little venue.

BY - My experience with the Mercury Lounge is driving by.
Joe - That’s really it.
Brandon - There’s actually not too many good venues in Manhattan, I don’t think.
Joe - It’s weird, it’s like you got your few… it depends because different venues have different crowds honestly. So you’ve got places like Piano’s or whatnot, that are like 21+ clubs, where it’s a very different club. Or if you’re gonna sell a lot of tickets, you have Irving Plaza or something like that.
Brandon - Irving’s nice too.
Joe - Irving is a lot of fun.
Brandon - We haven’t played Irving yet, this band, but me and Joe have both played it previously.

BY - What’s the most entertaining, or bizarre thing a fan has done to get your attention?
Brandon - Cookies, I mean people bring us food. I don’t know if that’s entertaining.
Joe - But it’s very nice and we appreciate it. I’ve got some valentines day cards recently.
Brandon - Something really bizarre happened, like borderline douche chills, but I can’t remember what.
Joe - Oh the girl? Taking... didnt happen to us, but that girl backstage that was like stripping backstage?
Brandon - Oh that was weird, that girl that was modelling… no wait...
Joe - Yeah it was something with Jesse maybe? I don’t remember, nevermind.
Brandon - Nevermind, I don’t remember that.
Joe - I’ll have to call a fact checker before I go any deeper into details. So no, nothing exciting that I can think of. Nothing off the top of my head. I hope that 14 year old girls don’t do anything too exciting to get my attention, I think I’d be a little creeped out.

BY - And when you’re hitting up these tours, what’s your favourite thing to drink down at the bar?
Brandon - Stellla
Joe - Uh, yeah. Beer. Preferably a pilsner. Beers. Stella -- stuff like that. I don’t like Budweiser at all, and I’m drinking it now because it was there in the dressing room..
BY - It was free?
Brandon - It makes you farty and bloaty.
Joe - Yeah, I don’t like it.

BY - If you guys could put together your own big festival type show, anywhere, any venue, where would you put it, and who would you want to play with?
Joe - A Radio show huh?
BY - Not necessarily a radio show, but a Bamboozle or Coachella type thing.
Brandon - I don’t really know anything about too many outdoor venues.
Joe - It’s tricky, I like the idea of playing outside, but then you have to compromise the sound, because like… I would love, if I was throwing a festival, I would love for it to be on a beach. But then it’s like the wind, just tearing the sound out of the speakers, lose a lot of sound, but that would be a fun party. But uhmn... hmm... who would play?
Brandon - I guess Wilco and Nada Surf would play, maybe right?
Joe - Yeah, oh yeah. The Shins would play.
Brandon - The Shins!
Joe - We’d have them there, we’d be hanging. Who else?
Brandon - Doves?
Joe - Doves, of course Doves would come. I don’t know man, just, I hope I never am in a position to have to plan one of these.
Brandon - Jones Beach. Jones Beach would be nice.
Joe - Jones beach, but not the theatre. The actual beach.
Brandon - Yeah, the beach.
Joe - Or shelter Island.
Brandon - Oh that would be great.
Joe - Close down the whole fucking island. Shelter Island Shelter Island is an island between the north and south forks, on the east end of Long Island. It’s where our drummers wedding was recently, and it’s where we shot our first video for "I Want to Be Buried in Your Backyard." And it’s a small, just kind of remote place, you have to take a ferry there. It’d be tricky to get people there, logistically, it probably wouldn’t work out..
Brandon - But it’s your fantasy you know.
Joe - Yeah, this is fantasy.

BY - Of Course.
Joe - So… everyone has to be nude, it’s a nude festival.
BY - I’ll make sure that’s noted.
Joe - Naturally.
BY - Well that’s almost all I’ve got, two more questions for you. First of all, do you guys have anything you’d like to clear up?
Brandon - Anything you’d like to get in the open?
Joe - Buy our fucking record, that’s what I’m gonna say.
Brandon - That’s good.
Joe - Just buy it.
Brandon - Just buy it!

BY - And last, but not least… if a tree falls down in the woods, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
Brandon - I’m pretty sure it does, right?
Joe - I’m pretty sure it does.
Brandon - The law of averages says that it definitely makes a sound.
Joe- Mhmm.
Brandon - Why would it not make a sound?
Joe - Well if it didn’t…Well, Let’s put it this way. If no one was there to see it, did it even fall?
Brandon - Of course it did. Joe -- Says who?
Brandon - Life. Whose to, you know, when things like… rocks. Rocks fall definitely, when we aren’t looking. Joe - But they make sounds too. Brandon - I think it definitely maks a sound when it falls.
Joe - It has to.
Brandon - Cause if we were there, it’d make a sound, so if we weren’t there, it’d still make a sound.
Joe - Of course, given the tree actually fell.
Brandon - Well he said IF a tree falls, so that’s assuming when it DOES fall, so it DID fall.
Joe - Goodnight Nurse?
Brandon - Goodnight Nurse.
Joe - Agree To Disagree?
Brandon - Sure.
Joe / Brandon - It definitely makes a sound