Narrow Interviews... We The Kings

Q&A with... We The Kings

By Edysmar Diaz-Cruz

We The Kings has come a long way since their Vans Warped Tour days, which was the annual celebration of rock bands that defined the teenage years of so many. Now with a fanbase that’s all grown up, We The Kings has entered a new chapter of adulthood: From balancing family life to staying lyrically true to fans, the grind doesn’t stop as the band continues to work on their music. While We The Kings is currently on tour with Simple Plan and State Champs, lead singer Travis Clark talks to Narrow Magazine about the band’s evolution and creative process.

Narrow Magazine is big on following the success of Florida bands. Very few have achieved the longevity that We The Kings has had. How does it feel looking back?

It’s really crazy.

We grew up in Bradenton; Every time we go back home and play, all of our friends and family show up and they just kind of sit there -- they know us from when we were kids trying to sneak into a bar to play music where we weren’t allowed because we were well under 21. They know all the little things: all the talent shows, all the battle of the bands that we’ve been in. It’s really cool to see how proud our family and friends are of us. They reiterate how well we've done and how lucky we've been for the past 13 years of being a band. We feel really grateful to be here representing Florida the right way.

Apart from touring and writing for We The Kings, you’ve also written for other musicians such as Avril Lavigne. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

It’s just as crazy as it sounds. You have this little kid from Brandenton who wrote a whole bunch of songs in his bedroom. Now to be given the opportunity to write for musicians, artists and bands that I grew up listening to is really wild, very fortunate. With Avril, it was cool -- we met at her house at a football Sunday party. She had this huge 9-foot grand piano in her living room and I sat down and played. She came in and asked what I was playing. She’d heard of We The Kings before. I told her I was a songwriter. And it was like a very serendipitous thing – Manager walked in and was like, hey, you guys should write together.

What’s it like writing for other musicians?

When you're writing for somebody else, and you're not going to be the artist on the song, you can kind of be like a little more free. You can write about different subject contents that maybe you wouldn't have written about for like your own artistry. So you can just pretend to be a different person, write a lyric that you know you won't get judged for.

How does We The Kings conceptualize an album?

I think one of the things that we really take into consideration is getting to see these fans at shows and see which songs they sing their lungs out to and see which lyrics they get tattooed on their bodies. Different things like that help inspire us to stick to a certain path of motivational songs -- Like, let's continue writing this uplifting music and lyrical content that people can appreciate and possibly get tattooed on them.

Tell me a little about the band members and what dynamic you guys have with each other.

Everybody definitely has grown into a persona. Danny is the class clown. Charles is very focused, but on things that we are not focused on. He’ll go out and explore the city; we don’t know where he goes, but then he comes back. Hunter is our diehard sports fanatic, so he's like Sporty Spice. Anytime that we’re talking on the bus, he would be yelling at the TV screen. And Coley is our dad. He’s easily the most responsible. We look up to him.

And you would be?

I feel like I’m the Daredevil, maybe. I’m kind of a lunatic.

What’s something that you would want a returning fan, let’s say attending your show at the High Dive, to know about We The Kings, today?

This is gonna sound cocky and egotistical but I think it is true: We've gotten really good at our live shows but we haven’t gotten good at mimicking the sound of a live show on record. There's always something more special about a live We The Kings concert than listening to any of our songs on the internet or from an album. So for a fan who either has or has not seen us, or it's been a while, I think that this is the type of show to go to because there's still so much vibrancy and youth. Also, it's at the end of the tour, so we’ll be in such sync with each other.