this band is full of the most pleasant people, and it was a pleasure to talk to a young band that was legitimately happy about playing crappy venues that were on the brink of closing down and happy about being the opener for their peers, two of their respected genre’s biggest bands.

for those of you who don’t know, all the day holiday are a (for lack of a better classifying word) indie/pop/rock quartet out of cincinnati ohio. their sound is similar to the likes of jimmy eat world and copeland, and they seemed to mesh fairly well with lydia AND moving mountains, for whom they were openers for.

i got the chance to chat with daniel simmons (lead vocals/guitarist) and mark ventura (drums) prior to the set about being the little guy on tour, their new album and record label politics, among many other things. be sure to catch the rest of the tour when it hits your town.

hit the jump for the interview.

-grizzly

Roshan Bhatt, weworemasks: Let’s knock this out. For the record, state your name and position in the band.

Daniel Simmons, All The Day Holiday: I’m Daniel, I play guitar and sing.

Mark Ventura, All The Day Holiday: I’m Mark Ventura. I play drums and write all the music. Ok, I don’t write it.

WWM: You’ve toured with Lydia in the past, right?

DS: Yep, we sure have.

WWM: So you guys are good friends now, huh? Is this because of the work through Linc Star?

MV: Yeah. Well, they’re about to do their own thing now [through Universal Motown] but we got to know them the last time around. I was thinking about that actually. From the last time we were on the road with them until now – the last time, we were giddy just because we’re doing dates with Lydia. But now, it’s like a group of friends going to a bar together.

DS: It’s just a more legit tour, now. Every band tries to get good tours [like the current tour] with good bands, good draws and nice venues, you know? Making friends with them was awesome. Last night was sold out and tonight there’s a huge line, so it’s really exciting.

WWM: Last night was your first night, right?

DS: Yeah, for us. They had another show prior, but we just joined up last night.

WWM: I was just talking about the turnout. It’s a lot greater than I expected it to be. It sucks because this venue [Walters on Washington] is closing at the end of this month. This is our last show at this venue, and that’s terrible. Growing up this was one of our main venues. We saw so many shows here and across the street. Pearl Bar used to be called Mary Janes. This area’s developing though. The rents getting higher and there’s no room for venues like this.

DS: So many venues everywhere are closing. They’re struggling so badly. We’ve noticed that a lot lately.

MV: I think a lot of people are getting burnt out too. Not being disrespectful, but new bands aren’t the same. The market’s just so over saturated. Agree?

WWM: Oh, most definitely. So how was working with Linc Star for you guys? Did they get you on this tour?

MV: I think being with Linc Star helped us get on this tour, but the real hitter has been working with Matt Malpass. He’s been pitching our name everywhere, really. That’s how we got on the first Lydia tour. We were very new at the time. They heard about us through Matt. There’s definitely been a lot of common ground for us, though.

WWM: How did you guys hook up with Linc Star to begin with?

DS: Oh man, it’s crazy how it worked out. It was perfect timing. We had talked to a bunch of labels after we finished tracking the album. We tracked it with the friend and we were really screwed as far as money goes. We were really wondering how we would release this record, you know? Other labels came in the picture, but it just fell apart. Then, John, the guy who owns Linc Star, got in touch with us and came out to see us.

MV: Well, for the Bamboozle Festival, you can submit a band. Just like, “Oh – you can check out my friends shitty hardcore band!” or whatever. He saw our name in the list, and even though only one person recommended us, he listened. He liked us, so that’s how he discovered us. Just from a fan.

WWM: That’s a good fan.

DS: Oh, so good.

WWM: The album finally saw a physical release not too long ago. You released it digitally in April, though. How was the progression in that whole process?

MV: We did a ‘strictly-at-shows’ release and a ‘through-the-band’ release on April 18. We did that in Cincy. There were a lot of things that kept pushing it back but it got to the point where it needed a wide release.

DS: Another thing is that Linc Star is a subsidiary of Warner Brothers, so they wanted to get that set up distribution. That’s definitely what took so long. But Warner Brother’s distribution is Warner Brothers distribution, so yeah.

WWM: So how was it being an upcoming band in Cincinnati? That doesn’t seem like a huge breeding ground for great music. Or maybe not a typical choice, rather. That was bad wording.

DS: [Laughs]

MV: It’s not a breeding ground. There’s a lot of talent, though.

DS: At least some of our friends are, though.

MV: It’s not a typical city like LA or New York where there are just so many great bands from there. I don’t wanna say it’s easier to get to the top, but with less competition it is. It probably had a lot to do with us being noticed. I mean, we could get to Michigan easily and to the Northeast and come back home. It’s a good central location. So it’s cool to say you’re from Cincinnati and not get drowned out by the city’s other bands.

WWM: Well you’re the opening band on this tour. How do you approach crowds that are bigger than the crowds you saw on the Moving Mountains tour about a month ago? This time, very few people have heard of you.

MV: That’s really exciting, though. No one’s heard of us, but you have to go at it hard, play your best and steal their fans.

DS: It’s cool to just be one of three, though. There’s gonna be a lot of fans and I really think we’re bringing something good to the table.

WWM: It may even suck for Lydia cause Playradioplay is from Texas, so I’m sure he’s bringing people out.

MV: Yeah, and this is his homestate. I think last night’s show was the closest to his hometown and it was sold out.

DS: [Laughs] When I said we’re bringing something to the table – let me clarify. All I meant was 15 or 20 kids. If that’s what happens, then it’s still something.

MV: You’re definitely right though. We don’t have many fans in the cities.

WWM: I read that your van broke down a little while ago? [Points to van] This is the one, huh?

DS: Yeah.

MV: This is our only van we’ve ever had. We rolled with this for a while.

DS: It actually broke down in Pecos.

WWM: Texas? Were you guys going to El Paso?

DS: Yeah, actually we were. We were heading to Bamboozle Left. We had to cancel the El Paso show, though. We’re trying to sell it though. You can put that in the interview. [Laughs] We change the oil frequently, a lot of the parts are new, etc. etc. Get at us!

WWM: What influences your music and the entire writing process?

MV: For me, I’ll name off bands here in a minute. But what really inspires me drumming is a lot of jazz and funk. When I first learned how to play drums, that’s what I listened to. I really like when it’s nothing too technical and it’s just straight-forward. I love beats that are really basic and just make you bob your head.

WWM: Yeah, I’ve seen your kit. It’s pretty…

MV: Oh, man. It’s pretty minimalistic. I just lock in on those drums and I really like soulful drummers. I just like soul music and experiemental stuff from the 70s. Maybe the guy didn’t know how to play drums well, but maybe he just got really high and went at it. Anything or anyone that is a part of the norm but put their own spin on it. Bands like Mew – people who take pop and make it quirky and eccentric.

WWM: Dreamy, even.

MV: Yeah, absolutely. Bands that I will always look up to will be groups like The Appleseed Cast, The Notwist, Colour Revolt, Anathallo. I really like Deep Elm bands. Even what Moving Mountains is doing now. Really big on The Walkmen now, too.

DS: Love The Walkmen. For me, other than bands, what really inspires me is just the Earth and life. Why we’re here. Questions about life and spirituality. That stuff is what drives all of us. The best bands out there are the kinds that have a presence about themselves. There’s a dark presence to some bands and a really light hearted spirit too. That’s what we want to create, is music with good spirits. We want people to listen to us and feel peaceful, joyful and just have a good time. I just want them to take something home with them. Whether it’s history, life, how screwed up we are, whatever it is.

MV: We like to write music that’s deeper than just making a creative or edgy pop songs. We focus on musicianship, but we also like to make people question things. We haven’t written this song yet, but maybe a song about hunger and what drives our body to want to eat? Stuff like that. Everything from love to creation. I’m on my own spiritual journey now, and we all have our commonplaces so that’s a big thing, too.

DS: Maybe we’re beating around the bush. None of us are really ever pushy about anything but I believe strongly in the Lord. How he’s changed our lives, stuff like that. We all have our differences, so that’s why I wouldn’t ever want to push anything on anybody. But we’re really inspired by what Jesus did here.

MV: To ramble off of that, the main struggle is that we don’t want to be a Christian band.

WWM: Yeah, I wanna ask you something. When you write a song about faith, for example. How do you go in and avoid being pigeon-holed as a Christian band? You don’t wanna get lumped with a band like David Crowder Band, right?

MV: Yes, you have to make a wedge. A difference. I mean we like Copeland, but it might hurt us to tour with them, you know? We do make an effort to not be lumped with a band like David Crowder’s.

WWM: Yeah, because if you tour with a band like David Crowder Band, you would alienate so much of your fanbase. A lot of his fans strictly listen to that type of music so you don’t wanna get that type of reputation.

MV: Of course. I feel every one of us wonders what they believe in and our music just reflects what we learn. It’s not like “Raise your hands and accept Christ!” or anything ridiculous like that. We all ask questions on what to believe in, so it’s more about that. You go through life and experience things. Breakups.

DS: I think the biggest difference in a Christian band or a band like Crowder’s and the band that we want to be is they tend to be open with what they say. They make it into a stereotypical worship song or something like that. We just want to make music that really anyone would enjoy. We just want to share stories that would cause people to ask questions. Speaking of which, do you have anymore. We kinda took it off-track a bit. [Laughs]

WWM: No, not many. Mainly just what’s next for the band?

MV: We really need to write music.

DS: Oh, yes. There are a lot of ideas now, but we need to write. We’re at the beginning stages of the new stuff. Our record just came out but those songs have been 1 or 2 years old. We’re just waiting for something to happen with this record.

MV: That reminds me. I’m starting a side project with our manager. We haven’t come up with a name yet and we’re gonna make a documentary. Whatever is popular at the time, we’re going to mimic and just try to get as successful as we possibly can and as quickly as possible. Then we’ll be on the front page of the New York Times and at the height of our career and we’ll stage a break up in front of an arena. It’ll be really awkward.

DS: You just ruined the whole thing.

MV: No but for real. We’re gonna crank out every song possible and see what gets big.

WWM: Um, you need to scream over hip-hop beats immediately.

MV: Yes! Screaming over hip-hop, for sure. That’s one of the ideas, loosely. We’re gonna sample in a rap song or something. We’ll be playing some type of catchy song and then it’ll just be like “Ay Bay Bay, Ay Bay Bay” and splice that in. The whole gimmick of the band will be like a 3OH3! song where some fan is like [Lisp/Falsetto/Dances] “I like this song!” We need as many girls as…man, we really gotta stop talking.

DS: Yeah, it’s almost show time so I need to warm up my voice.

WWM: Cool, you want to add anything to the readers of weworemasks?

DS: Thanks so much for listening, even if you hate us. Thanks to you guys for interviewing us, we’re really appreciative of people who stand by music and support it. Come and meet us, we’d love to meet you.

MV: Go warm up your voice, man.

DS: Will do. Love you dudes, enjoy the show.

MV: We really mean it though. Come talk to us. Write to us on myspace or something, we’ll respond.

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check out two live videos from their previous show with moving mountains:

all the day holiday performing “cheers” in houston, tx

all the day holiday performing “the things we’ve grown to love” in houston, tx
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all the day holiday on myspace.</a>

support this band and enjoy.

love,
grizzly