Interview with Roses Are Red guitarist Tom Zenns

This exclusive PGA interview with Trustkill’s Roses are Red marks the first time ever that the band’s newest member, Tom Zenns (guitars), has been interviewed. They have just released their second album What Became of Me, and recently opened live for Bullet for my Valentine on the Trustkill Takeover Tour. Roses are Red also have a couple of U.S. gigs lined up for December 2006. In the following interview Tom discusses gigging, recording, and the expectations of the band’s s newest album.

My first question is about the tour. It just started up a few days ago, what are your expectations of it, how has it been so far?
Tom: Well, it’s the Trustkill Takeover Tour, so we’re out with a couple other Trustkill bands which is pretty sweet. Their style of music is a little different from ours; more heavy. Basically our expectations would be to come out to these shows, play the best we can. And maybe some kids that come to the shows that think that we’re not their style, maybe they’ll leave the show thinking, “I’ll give it a second chance.” Maybe turn some heads and show people what’s up.

Sounds good. What’s your attitude towards gigging, what’s your attitude on stage, how do you approach the live show?
Tom: Well for me personally, I really feed off the crowd. So if the crowd is into it I’ll be super into it. Tonight for example the crowd was amazing, and I was loving it. But you know even when the crowd’s not all that good and there’s just a couple people there to see us, no matter what if there’s a kid there who’s stoked on Roses are Red, then I’m gonna give them the show they want to see, and make sure they go home saying “I came to see them and I’m stoked on their performance.” And even if the kids didn’t come to see us, like I said in the first question, just trying to show em what the deal is. Hopefully someone will be enjoying our set at the end of the night.

Awesome! Is that a different mentality then when you started out? Has this changed, has your touring mentality changed over time or not?
Tom: Well the first bands I was touring with weren’t drawing crowds like this by any means. But I’ve pretty much had the same mentality where even if there was four kids there or tonight, a sell-out crowd, I’m still gonna try to give them the best show that I personally can do. And just have them try to be impressed at the end of the night.

The latest album What Became of Me or What’s Become of Me….
Tom: [laughs] What Became of Me.

What Became of Me, all right, just making sure….
Tom: It’s not out yet; it’s all good!

[laughs] Too much beer here. Alright, what’s the album about, what inspired it, what are the themes behind it?
Tom: Basically it was kind of for the band, kind of a maturing process and us all coming together and writing an album together all at once and everyone having their own input on it. And we put a lot of time and effort and thought into the songs and lyrics and everything. We spent a lot of time on it and we’re very happy with it, we’re very excited with it, and we just hope that it’s received very well by everyone else. And that everyone likes it. Basically we wanted to make a statement and try to get away from all the pigeonhole categories we’ve been put in, and really sort of break out and be our own original thing. Really turn heads and impress people.

I guess it’s sort of the same question, but what are your expectations of the album, what do you want the album to do for the band?
Tom: I just hope that a lot of the people who considered us “this” kind of music, or you know “screamo” or “emo” or whatever, will just look at the album and hear the progress and maturity in it and in the song writing. And just be stoked on it and hear the growth and really connect with it on that level. I just hope people appreciate it, because we put a lot into it.

Is there anything you would have done differently? Is this a true representation of the band, or would you change something if you could go back now and re-record it?
Tom: I definitely think it’s a true representation of the band, we put a lot of time and effort into it, and we went into the studio with a definite plan on how we wanted to do things. And in the end we’re very excited about it and we have no regrets, nothing we would go back and change. What’s coming out is a true representation of us as a band.

Were there any differences in the writing or recording of this album from the last?
Tom: Well I’m actually a new member in the band, but I understand for the last album that came out, it wasn’t really a group project. A couple people in the band really just took hold of it and wrote a lot of the album. But I got in the band and their main concern was we want everyone to really put their two cents in. And we would just come to practice in Vinnie’s basement, and just write the songs all together. And so at the end of the day when we had a song everyone has happy with all the parts that they had wrote and how everything was going down. So we’re definitely excited about it, we’re very pleased with it. And for expectations… what was the question? Sorry!

Um yeah sorry, I’m confused now too! [laughs] Expectations… then how is it different, I guess it’s a bit weird since you’re a new member, but how are the expectations different from this album and the last album?
Tom: I’d say that the expectations would be for us, like I said, not to be pigeonholed as a trendy band, or a band that doesn’t get taken seriously. So we really want to come out with this album and have people be, “ok, they got their stuff together, and they’re not just a band who’s gonna come and go overnight and are just trying to cash in on what’s cool at the time.”

Sort of try to make your own genre so to speak?
Tom: Yeah, definitely!

Alright, future plans then, what’s next?
Tom: Future plans… just frikin’ get this record out and tour our butts off, get our album out and make sure everyone hears it. Just get out there and frikin’ show everyone what’s up, make em leave with a smile every night because of our live performance, and meet everyone we can pretty much.

Cool, we’re done!
Tom: That was my first interview by the way!

It was cool.
Tom: Thanks.  [ END ]