Stick to Your Guns Interview - Warped Tour Pomona 2013

Stick to Your Guns, originally from Orange County, is a band with a very big following. Composed of five guys with big hearts, they stand apart in the hardcore scene with what's been dubbed a melodic twist to their music, and meaningful lyrics. With aggressive vocalist Jesse Barnett heading the band, he's known for getting right into the crowd. From the very beginning, before they were even signed, they were pulling huge crowds to their shows, and nothing has changed since then. Except maybe drawing even bigger crowds. I had the opportunity to talk with Jesse Barnett [lead vocalist] and Josh James [guitar, backing vocals] about where they came from and where they're going, among other things. The only thing you're missing if you read this is how many times Jesse laughs, because I just didn't have the courage to edit that in so many times. He laughs as much as I do, which is awesome.

***

Photo by Up Late Reviews

What was it like for you in forming the band?

Jesse: Band started in 2003 and I'm the only remaining original member who's been here all 10 years. I get a lot of questions, and a lot of people ask me what it takes to "make it." But that was never the goal of the band and so there were struggles, but I didn't look at them like that as they were happening. It was just what comes along with being in a band, or anything really. If there's something that you want to do, most of the time if it's easy, in my case, I feel like it's not really worth doing. You gotta go out on tour, run out of gas, have no money to eat, sleep on floors, shit like that. It's not really a lifestyle that would be ideal for most people, but we can feed ourselves
and put gas in our tank now, but most of the time,
we're still sleeping on floors. We have bunks now, but I love it.
I love doing it. If you love doing it, it won't really matter. You'll find a way to make it work.

Do you feel like the obstacles you've overcome have made you stronger as a person and as a band? How so?

Oh for sure, but I feel the same way about life. There was a lot of learning. That alone takes a while, and the only way you really learn is by making mistakes and kind of fucking things up a bit which we've done plenty of. We have Josh and he was in other bands, and our other guitar player Chris has been in other bands, so we bring these guys in, and they go, "Well, that's a good idea, but we did that before with our other bands and it didn't pan out so well." So they're able to bring that to the table...their experiences and stuff like that. Bringing these seasoned veterans in, bring them in and have them kinda show us the ropes on things we weren't really familiar with.

Where did your name come from? How did you come up with it originally?

We got a t-shirt at goodwill. I was there with my friend Matt. He actually came up with the name and we thought it would be funny. It kind of just stuck. It had nothing to do with the current issues going on with gun control and stuff like that.

Oh, but I'm sure they can come up with a way to blame that on you.

Yeah! Every time we're at a gas station or something and someone's like "Hey, what's the name of your band?" [southern accent included] and I'm like... "Uh, Stick to Your Guns." and they're like, "Hell yeah!" And we're just like, "Oh, no, it has nothing to do with that."

So, you have a lot of redneck fans, then? [not intended in a derogatory sense]

I mean, maybe. We have a little bit of everybody.

You know, the name sounds a bit conservative, which is not anyone in the band, but whatever. I don't give a shit.

Awesome. I'll quote you on that. 

So, what's your inspiration that keeps you going and keeps you writing new stuff?

Honestly, I just think just existing. Life.

I have two different lives. I have touring life and when I try to adapt to regular life. Whenever I'm off the road. So both of those things really influence me because whenever I'm on tour, that's when I'm having adventures, seeing the world, experiencing cultures in ways that you can only experience by travelling the way we travel. And whenever I'm home, that's when I try to have friendships and relationships and I understand the struggle of that.

A lot of people would like to be in the position that I'm in. Because sometimes I can take it for granted, like fuck, I don't want to do this right now! Like me personally, I don't like flying. It scares me a little bit. Not as much as it used to - I used to be terrified. Now I just get a little nervous. It's hard to complain to my girlfriend like, "Oh no, now I have to get on a plane and go to Amsterdam and travel all over Europe." and "Oh, how much did it cost you?" Nothing.

You can never complain to a girlfriend about touring.

Chris' favorite is that he has to complain to his girlfriend about going to Italy. "We're in Rome today. We're in Italy. Dammit." and she's like, "You're a dick!"  or "We have to go to Japan! It's the worst. This is the worst life." So sometimes I have to remind myself that I could throw a rock and hit somebody who would want to switch places with me. Like when they're driving on the road on their way to work and I'm on the same freeway going to the airport getting ready to fly somewhere fucking awesome. And I don't think there's anyone I could throw a rock at that I would hit that I would want to switch places with.

Where are you guys going from here? Any specific goals?

I think we have goals, but I think the way our success has been progressively, we try to just do what it that we do and things will come. We like to strive for things, but Warped Tour - I don't think that was the goal. It was just one of those things that happened and we were like, "Fuck. Yes." you know what I mean? When I start worrying about that kind of shit, the pressure, I fuck it up. I start things they aren't. We set goals for ourselves in small increments so they are more attainable to us and we put all of our energy and our focus on that. Like when we decided that hey, we really want to be on Warped Tour, that's what we started focusing on. And then we got the offer to be on the tour. So for us, I think we aren't one of those bands that's like okay, we're going to be the best and have 50k people here next week and sell a billion records. We're not thinking about that. We're thinking about how to maintain and slowly progress. That's the way we like to do it. Just be you and do what you do.

And I think a lot of the time good things come with that type of attitude as opposed to desperation.

Absolutely. Because you see bands sometimes and they to be sort of pathetic. You know what I mean? Willing to sell themselves to get "that thing." You know, fuck it if you don't get that. They rate their success on a certain tour, or how much money they make on merch.

When I was younger, I called bands sellouts but I didn't really understand what that is. I think I have a grasp on it now. If a band gets paid a lot of money, but they got there through hard work and stuff like that, it's different. But if a band is willing to just be like, "Oh sure, yeah, we'll put a swastika on our bus if the fuckin' Nazis are going to pay us a million dollars." There's just certain people who will sell their soul and say anything, do anything, just as long as they can get to the next step. And I feel like that's where it is.

I feel like when it comes to selling out, it's that, but it's whenever they don't admit it. The bands that we'll tour with, they'll be like, "Yeah, we'll change our style. We don't care." And I'm like, alright, I respect that, because that's what they're going to do. They're looking at it from a money aspect and there's nothing wrong with that. But bands and people who are like little liars and little creeps about it, like, "No way man, we're still DIY and all behind the scenes!" and they're freaking out and doing all of this shit to make themselves, but denying it, and that's where it's a problem.

If you could collaborate with any musician/band, dead or alive, who would it be?

This is a hard question, because we just recently collaborated with The Story So Far, and that was awesome, because I love that band. They set it off live, they're wild and crazy. So that was cool. But that's my answer for now, cause I could probably go on and say a whole big thing about that, but I just won't. [laughs]

And I feel like you guys fit really well together.

Photo by Up Late Reviews

Yeah! Being that the styles are very different, but they still complement each other.

Have you heard Kanye West's new album?

Jesse: No, but I want to.

Josh: I heard somebody talking about it the other day, but no, I'm not really familiar with him.

Jesse: I like a lot of his stuff. Like all of the reasons people "hate" him, I don't care about. Oh, he's cocky, I don't care about that. So what. He's a major pop star, of course he's cocky. It's almost like the cockiness and the attitude is why I like him. Fuck yeah, dude. Fuck everybody. He's just doing his thing. But I haven't heard it yet.

Yeah, he broke the internet with the leak. That didn't happen by accident, you know?

Seeing where he is... seeing how famous he is, I don't feel like he can't be an idiot, at least not a full moron. You can be scummy. Any person who is like a billionaire or even a millionaire, you've had to fuck over at least one person. You had to just completely ruin somebody. Even if you're poor, you've usually fucked over a person. So if you're rich, for sure you've fucked over someone.

Please support me by liking my page on Facebook for regular updates!