Honest, In Your Face Pop-Punk. It’s About Time.

Walnut Creek, California natives, This Time Next Year, treat your ears to catchy hooks and well-placed melodies, bringing listeners back to the days of rebellious, honest, pop-punk music. Planting their roots deep within the ’90s pop-punk music scene by naming their band after the album released in 2000 by pop-punk legend The Movielife, This Time Next Year aims to bring a motto of being yourself, living a positive life, and taking bullshit from no one. This Time Next Year’s sophomore album, Drop Out of Life, dropped this week and Performer Magazine was lucky enough to talk with the band’s guitarist, Brad Wiseman.

So, your new album drops today, congratulations on that! What can fans expect from Drop Out of Life?

Honestly it’s just a really up-beat, energetic, pop-punk record. I try to put myself outside and listen to it and it just reminds me of what I grew up on. New Found Glory, Green Day, Blink 182 – it has that type of simplicity and catchiness and I think it’s something people are really going to enjoy.

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As I was listening to it I heard a lot of MxPx in it. Did you guys listen to them a lot growing up?

I was helping my mom around the house cleaning out our shit the other day and I found this old red high-top, this old pair of Chucks, and the shoe is signed by Mike Herrera from when I saw MxPx. I was just like, “Wow, that’s really embarrassing.”

So, you actually took your shoe off for him to sign?

Oh yeah! I specifically remember being like “Hey man,” thinking I’m going to shit my pants right now, I’m talking to Mike Herrera, “can you sign my shoe?” I was a little star-struck kid at the time. It’s funny thinking about it but it’s like oh man, now that I’m so much older, it’s so weird!

How does the new album compare to your last one, Road Maps and Heart Attacks?

We are who we are. I don’t really notice a lot of things drastically changing. We’re a band; we don’t want to write the same record over again, but we write the songs that we want to write. There’s no mold to it. It’s another This Time Next Year record, not to write it off. If you liked the last one, you’re probably going to like this one, and if you like this one, you’re probably going to like the last one.

Can you explain your songwriting and recording process?

We did the record with Chad Gilbert [producer] and Paul Miner [engineer]. It was awesome; it was such a last minute thing we put together. We had originally planned on going back with Brian McTernan but some scheduling stuff on his end got moved around. We thought, “Hey should we find someone else? Or push back this record?” But at the time we just really wanted to get it done so I hit up Chad and I was just like, “Hey Man, what’s up, I’m Brad. Here are some songs.” And he’s like, “You know what man? I really don’t have time in my schedule right now, I’m doing a lot of New Found stuff,” because New Found was recording around that same time frame too. He’s heard demos and he hit me up again instantly like, “Let’s do this. I have this open.” This open, being like, a month notice and we were like, “Oh. We have maybe half or three-fourths, if we’re lucky, of a record written.” So we all just sat down, tracked it.  Denis, our other guitar player, is always writing stuff. Even our singer would mess around on acoustic guitar to get melodies. We all definitely have our input and that’s how pretty much every record is for us as far as writing goes, too.

Tell us a little about the equipment you use. What’s your rig?

Live, Denis and I both play Mesa Dual Rectifiers and Rectifier Straight Cabs. We’ve always used an Ampeg SVT. As far as the record goes, I don’t remember specifically what was used because this was almost a year ago now, but as far as guitars go it was mostly a bunch of Les Paul Custom Studios. There were some Telecasters used for lighter, notey parts. But live, our back line was just Mesa. All our gear got stolen recently too, but they’ve been really supportive in trying to help us figure out a way to keep things going and make sure we can get out on this tour okay.

So then it’s safe to say that your studio set up differs from your live rig?

Yeah there was definitely a one-channel Mesa Rectifier that was used. I feel like there was an old HiWatt and a Bogner in the mix there, but I definitely used some Mesa stuff on the record, that’s for sure. Same with our last one [record].

What’s one band you have to have on your iPod to get through the week?

Brand New’s Deja Entendu. Right now that would be my thing. Big picture, any AFI record. I always filter in new records from my iPhone aside from my iPod. I like my New Found records, and my Brand New, Beatles, some random hip-hop stuff. There’s a little bit of everything for each mood.

You’re scheduled to tour with New Found Glory, Set Your Goals, The Wonder Years, and Man Overboard on the Pop Punk’s Not Dead Tour. Have you toured with any of these bands before?

We’ve toured with The Wonder Years, we’ve toured with Set Your Goals multiple times. We’ve played shows with Man Overboard, and we’ve played shows with New Found. It’s awesome because everyone already knows each other. We’ve already met; we all know each other’s names. There’s no awkward first week of, “Hey, what’s up, my name’s Brad, nice to meet you!” And then the next day “Oh, what was that guy’s name again?” Honestly, walking into it is the best feeling because you’re looking forward to seeing your friends that you haven’t seen in a while. Set Your Goals, I went to high school with the drummer. We did a lot of growing up, as far as music goes, together. It’s weird being in high school together and now it’s like, oh we just went to Europe with them; we’re doing the New Found tour with them. I can remember sitting on the senior steps and him being like, “Yo man, check out this new band I’m trying to do. I think we’re going to call it Set Your Goals or something!” It’s weird how things turn out.

While you’re here in Boston, you’ll be playing House of Blues, which is a pretty large-scale venue. Do you prefer playing larger venues, or more intimate ones, such as VFWs or Teen Centers?

I’m down for anything as long as there are kids and they care and it’s fun. I will say walking into this tour, this is a whole different style of touring for us. We’ve done tours that are 400-600 capacity rooms, but this tour has a lot of House of Blues days; a lot of 1000 cap and up. We’ve done stuff like that but not on a consistent six-week type of thing, like this tour. Honestly right now throw me in front of 2,000 kids; I’m stoked. It’s something I’ve never done and it’s been a dream of mine since I was a little kid. House of Blues Boston, that’s going to be the biggest show we will have ever played in our history. That show alone, we all sit at home and we’re like “Dude do you remember seeing pictures from New Found shows in Boston? God, it always looks insane!” Right now give me a huge stage and a bunch of kids and I’ll be a happy camper.

Which location are you looking most forward to playing while on tour?

There’s actually one really small venue: The Lost Horizon in Syracuse, NY. I have some family up there and Equal Vision [TTNY’s record company] is relatively close to that area so it’s going to be a good time that night. That’ll be a more intimate show.

You’ll be on tour with New Found Glory in two weeks and you said you’ve played shows with them before, but are you guys feeling a little bit nervous with such a legend or is it more natural for you?

The only types of nerves that I have are about leaving. We’ve been home for so long that I’m used to waking up, turning on my computer and doing work and now I’m just really nervous to be like, “What was that like again? Waking up and playing a show every day?’ The New Found guys are so nice. We’ve played with them once [before] and they’re like “Oh are you guys thirsty? Do you want a drink? Let’s hang out!” Chad, with the whole recording thing, he’s just been the man. He checks on us; he called me last night like, “Yo man, your record comes out tomorrow! I can’t wait to tour with you! This is going to be so much fun! We’re going to play video games!” They’re just cool guys and it’s really refreshing to see. We look up to them and their music has been a huge influence on us. A lot of the times you run into these situations where you’re going to meet those people and they end up being assholes and you’re just like, “Wow you just changed the last five years of my relationship with your music.” It’s refreshing because the New Found dudes are just like, “Wow you’re in an awesome band and you’re actually really, really cool at the same time! This works out perfectly! Thanks for not being an idiot!”

What’s your opinion on bands that are gaining popularity in the current pop-punk scene? Who are a few of your favorites?

Transit, they’re putting out a record next week. One of the guys in the band is a really good friend of mine and I’ve seen them from the start to where they are now, and it’s awesome seeing your friends’ bands grow. They’re big in that whole world that we’re in, but they could still be so much bigger. The Story So Far, they’re like our little brothers. They lived down the street from us. They just put out their first record, they’re starting to do their first tours and everything’s going really good for them. Trapped Under Ic, their new record is so good. It’s literally the heaviest thing I’ve heard in a really long time. Chad actually did that record and it’s like, catchy hardcore. It’s so weird that it’s so catchy. They could definitely be a crossover thing like Hatebreed. It’s like, “Oh cool we have the hardcore kids in the back and then the Hot Topic kids up on the sides.”

In 2006 you guys recorded a five-song demo that you self-released. Do you have any advice for bands that want to start out in the same way you did?

Honestly, if you’re starting something, follow through with it. See it to its full potential and if it doesn’t work, that’s it. Go and put out CDs on your own, burn CD-Rs, give them to people, go to shows and make friends with other bands. If you want something to happen and you want it that bad, it will happen. Even if you hit a five-year streak of shit, there’s going to be a little diamond in that pile of shit at some point. You have your cool opportunities and it comes with anything. Even in life in general, there’s got to be some good at some point. A lot of bands don’t realize that. They think, “Oh we had all this terrible stuff happen to us! We only got paid $100 from this show.” And I’m like, “That’s cool man, I’ve been doing that for, like, four years now.” My thing is, if you’re going to do something, stick to it. Tour, play shows, record music, write songs. That’s pretty much the simplest way to put it. There’s no other way to get your music out there besides the Internet, playing shows, and meeting people. I feel like those are the things that should be pretty easy for most people.

Photo Credit: Chris Phelps