Interview with Every Time I Die; Guitarist Andy Williams talks ‘From Parts Unknown’, Warped Tour and Partying

This year marks Every Time I Die’s sixth year on the Vans Warped Tour, the band’s 16th anniversary, and the release of their seventh studio album, From Parts Unknown. Every Time I Die burst into the hardcore scene and haven’t let up since they arrived. Each album, from Hot Damn to From Parts Unknown, brings with it something new and unexpected for their fans to rock out to.

“We never really had an agenda… I guess no one really knows what they’re going to get,” guitarist Andy Williams says of the new album. Explaining that they don’t make decisions to focus on rock or heavier breakdowns. Most of the writing happens between Jordan Buckley and Williams while Keith Buckley writes the poignant lyrics Every Time I Die has become known for. Williams and Buckley didn’t sit down together to bang out the guitar parts for From Parts Unknown, they tracked ideas on a computer, sending them back and forth from different rooms, “it was real weird, but it was cool.”

Check out the song “Decayin With The Boys”

“We wrote it in 18 days, we recorded it in 30. It was something else,” Williams said the pressure was on. They’d already toured Ex Lives for two years and Warped Tour asked them to put something out for the tour. Touring an album for 3 or more years was possible when Every Time I Die was starting out, but now bands can only tour an album for a couple years before young fans get bored and find something new on their own.

While Keith Buckley has had some unpleasant things to say about Warped Tour in the past, Williams enjoys the tour. For Williams, the pace of the tour keeps them on their toes as one of the older bands on the roster. Being an older band has its downside though, Williams says it’s difficult for him to connect with younger fans, not knowing or liking many of the bands alongside them on tour. “The kids are really important to us, but I can’t just go out and and just talk, I’m going to be 37.”

Despite being one of the older bands on tour, Every Time I Die still parties as usual. “That’s never going to go away,” Williams says of their partying behavior. Williams hasn’t drank in 21 years but enjoys the lifestyle, he also stops the rest of the guys from getting too out of hand. He’s also the designated hair holder, “I definitely hold their hair back, I’ve done that numerous times.”

A tour like Warped is long and hard without many days off, their heavy drinking doesn’t affect their shows but Williams admits that they do occasionally have off days. Williams says he’s had to have the rest of the guys play him in so he can remember how a song goes, bassist Steve Micciche forgot a run in “New Black,” it happens on the songs they’ve played on tours for over a decade, not the new ones. “You forget a note, or you get lost. It’s crazy, I don’t understand it.”

Every Time I Die’s newest album, From Parts Unknown is available in record stores, and via digital retailers like iTunes. If you get it from iTunes you will get an two extra songs. According to Williams, “that’ll be rad.”

Check out the song “From Parts Unknown”