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Interview with Acceptance
By: Meagan Rockne
 Acceptance hasn't suddenly
appeared. They aren't one of
those bands that got their groundwork done abroad and rode
the hype to stardom. In truth, you've probably seen the
Seattle five-some open for another band. After all, the band
has been actively touring since 1999 with their self-released
EP, Lost For Words, then later with the
Black Lines To Battlefields EP (Militia Group)
and now with Phantoms (Columbia).
I sat down with guitarist Kaylan Cloyd and bassist Ryan
Zwiefelhofer in their RV as they promoted
Phantoms on the Take Cover tour.
NowOnTour: How surreal was it to get signed by
Matt Pinfield?
Kaylan: It was really, it was just funny. It was really surreal
just because I grew up... I don't know, Ryan, he might be
before your time.
Ryan: No, no, I caught...
Kaylan: the tail end?
Ryan: Yeah, the tail end of it.
Kaylan: We grew up watching 120 Minutes,
Farmclub, and all that stuff. So, he always just
seemed like the coolest guy ever. He seemed like the guy
who he really is. Like, you can go anywhere and just ask
him about music and he would just sit down and talk with
you no matter who you are and stuff. So, it was really cool.
He's awesome.
[Editor's note: Pinfield personally called vocalist, Jason
Vena to sign the band to Columbia after hearing
Black Lines To Battlefields.]
Columbia gave you a quarter of a million dollars for
Phantoms, but you did it for less than half that
amount, what did you do with the rest of the money? Did you
have to give it back? Did you spend it on
strippers?
Ryan: [Laughs] Well what it is...is kind of, like they give you
a budget and if you don't spend it, you don't really see it.
So, it wasn't like you save half of it and then all bought new
cars.
That's not fun
Ryan: I know. Well, we just wanted to save money. Make a
good impression
Kaylan: It's essentially your own money too because you
have to recoup it and pay it back. The less you can spend
the better. We thought that was a good thing to save money
on because we could.
Ryan: We should come up with a better story for that.
"Dude, I bought like this mink coat, mink socks."
Exactly. You need to think big.
Ryan: We will. Next record we're doing, like, we're gonna
record it in a limo.
See, there you go. All in furs and
diamonds.
Ryan: Yeah, yeah, mink and diamonds. I'm gonna get
diamond encrusted sunglasses.
Where you nervous to make
Phantoms because it was going to get a lot
more publicity than Black Lines To Battlefields?
Kaylan: No, we were excited more than nervous.
Phantoms was the first collection of songs that
the group of guys that are in the band now all worked on
together too. So it was all, like, Black Lines To
Battlefields was a thing, only me and Jason...oh no,
Christian was in the band when we recorded it, but he wasn't
there when we wrote the songs. So basically me and Jason,
for the songs on Black Lines, we were the only
two people in the band that were really part of the writing of
those songs 'cause they were so old.
So, I mean, we were all just excited to get together and
create something together and put it out there. I mean the
publicity thing didn't really, I think everyone was more
excited about that because more people would get to hear
our music.
Why did you pick the song "Permanent" to go on
Phantoms?
Ryan: I think that song was kinda, the way I look at it, we
have this fan base that we were trying to build for three-
and-a-half years before leading up to the release of
Phantoms and we didn't want to necessarily
alienate those kids, give them something that they could
recognize and attach themselves to from this previous
album. we felt like we were going in this area where we
were gonna reach more kids that hadn't heard us three and
a half years prior. So, I think it was just kind of a bridge to
the older record. It's a cool song, I think we all just
decided...
Kaylan: Well the label.
Ryan: Yeah, the label...
Kaylan: The label wanted it on there as well.
So that's pretty much why it got put
on?
Kaylan: Well, all of the above.
Ryan: We all agreed on it and the label kinda wanted it and
we thought it was a good idea.
How do you feel about the constant comparisons to
Jimmy Eat World?
Kaylan: Well, at some point it kinda gets annoying but at the
same time, every band gets compared to another band. It's
how you describe, it's easier for someone to describe a band
or compare you to a band then it is "they have loud guitars
with thumping drums," it's just an easy avenue for
somebody to take.
We're all really big fans of that band so to some extent it's
flattering because we all really like that band. But sometimes
it can get annoying because we want our own identity. I
think we have our own identity. I don't think people are like
"that's Jimmy Eat World II. So if you like Jimmy Eat World
listen to them instead." I don't think it's anything like that. It
doesn't really bother me that much.
Ryan: I think it's one of the only bands that's in our sound
bracket that has sold a significant amount of records.
Using only three adjectives describe your live
show?
Ryan: (thinking) Energetic.
Kaylan: Ryan, you do this one.
Is it because you don't know what the word
'adjective' means?
Kaylan: No! I know what it means. A describing word.
Okay, because there are some people who don't
and you have to explain it to them.
Kaylan: No, just questions like that I wrack my brain 'cause
I'm like "three words, what are the best three words."
Ryan: Adjectives. Yeah, energetic, thoughtful and, I'm gonna
put a hyphen in this one, good-sounding. I think our live
shows are good sounding.
Do you have any pre-show rituals?
Ryan: I probably should.
Kaylan: A pre-show ritual for me would probably be...
Ryan: Stressing out for three hours.
Kaylan: I'm not gonna call it stress...
Ryan: It is stress.
Kaylan: It's a state of mind where I'm focused. I always feel
like I have something that needed to get tied up somewhere,
like, not physically tied up but some loose end that I'm
always doing that up until we play. That's my ritual-est...I
guess Ryan says it's stress; apparently, right
now I'm really stressed.
Ryan: Kaylan's stressed out. Can you hear it in his tone?
No, not at all.
Kaylan: Thank you. Thank you.
Ryan: Whatever.
Is it weird to think that there are girls out there
planning their futures with you as their boyfriend or
husband?
Ryan: That's terribly strange. It's frightening.
Kaylan: I'm not going there...
Ryan: If that was the case, that there were people that
wanted Kaylan and myself...
Kaylan: Well I know there's one, Alicia. (Laughs) It's kinda
legit, though.
Ryan: Yeah. That is legit actually. If that were the case, it
would be strange. It doesn't make sense, I guess. I don't
know.
Kaylan: If there is, we don't know about. We tend not to
dra...we don't have too much...we don't draw, like, I don't
know if this is...we don't draw attention like that, I guess.
Ryan: We don't give out that vibe.
Kaylan: It's flattering I guess. To some extent. [Laughs]
What has been the one moment that you have
been most proud of musically?
Kaylan: For us? The day our record came out, basically,
because it was always like a thing where we're like, "Dude,
is it ever gonna come out? Like what's gonna happen with
it?" Putting out Phantoms was a big deal,
especially for this group of people, like I said earlier because
it's all of us.
When you have disagreements within the band,
how are they solved?
Ryan: We have BMs - Band Meetings.
Kaylan: Make sure nobody thinks it's just a BM.
Ryan: Yeah, it's a band meeting.
BM isn't bad. There could be something
else?
Ryan: Yeah, BM: band meeting.
Kaylan: What? Never mind.
I don't know of anything else...
Kaylan: BM. Bowel Movement. You've never heard that when
you were a kid. You never heard that.
No.
Ryan: I've never heard that either.
Kaylan: Dude, I had a friend that used to always tell me she
had to go BM. And I was like, "what is that?" when I was like
six, you know what I mean.
How long did it take you to realize that's what it
meant?
Kaylan: Well, I asked my mom or something and she told
me what it was, "A BM, she has to go to the bathroom" you
know.
Ryan: [Laughs]
Kaylan: [frustrated] Never mind.
You're the only one. I didn't think
that.
Ryan: We have band meetings.
Kaylan: They usually last about five hours.
Ryan: Yeah, they last about five hours and we have, I would
say, six a week, anywhere from four to six a week. We talk
a lot. We talk about everything. Usually we can get problems
out before they even start.
Anything else that you would like the public to
know about Acceptance?
Kaylan: Thanks for your support.
Ryan: [Laughs]
Well thank you so much.
Kaylan: Oh no, thank you. That was brief. Brief but
thorough.
Ryan: That was probably on our part. Was it bad was it
good?
No, you were good. You were fine. It makes it
easier for me when there's less chitchat because I have to
go back and write all this down and it's usually annoying
after a while.
Kaylan: Do you usually take it word for word form the thing?
Yeah.
Kaylan: Oh, you do.
Yeah.
Kaylan: Well you should make it at least sound like I gave
my answers smoothly instead of "well, you know, all..."
I'll fix it. I take out the 'like's and the 'ummms' and
if it's uneducated sometimes I'll fix it up a little bit. Or really,
if you come off as a jerk, I won't fix it at all. I'll just let you
be retarded.
Kaylan: You're not just gonna make us look cool, like on
Almost Famous, "Just make us look cool, man.
Just make us look cool."
Okay, I'll do that.
Kaylan: I'm joking. I'm almost joking.
Ryan: [Whispers] She's still recording.
I know.
Ryan: Shut that thing off.
Kaylan: Shut that thing off. It's done.
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