News

All Time Low's Alex Gaskarth on collaborating with blackbear and The Band CAMINO

Exclusive: Alex Gaskarth discusses working with blackbear and The Band CAMINO on All Time Low's new album, Wake Up, Sunshine.

All Time Low's Alex Gaskarth on collaborating with blackbear and The Band CAMINO

So far, All Time Low fans have already been treated to three brilliant songs from the band's highly-anticipated new album Wake Up, Sunshine: lead single Some Kind Of Disaster, the Britney Spears-referencing Sleeping In, and most recently the epic Getaway Green.

But there are still 12 more nuggets of absolute gold to come on the 15-track record, which is due out on April 3 via Fueled By Ramen (pre-order it here). So, ahead of its release, we caught up with frontman Alex Gaskarth to chat about each and every song on Wake Up, Sunshine to dive as deep as possible into the record.

And, notably, Wake Up, Sunshine has two surprise collaborations: one with Florida hip-hop star blackbear on the song Monsters, and another with Memphis indie-poppers The Band CAMINO on Favorite Place.

Discussing Monsters and how working with blackbear came about, Alex reveals: “This was done in Palm Springs, in the later part of the process. We knew once we’d written it that we had something special; there was an energy that felt like it was going to be one of the standout songs on the record. Andrew [Goldstein, songwriter] had been working with blackbear on his new music, and as we were listening back to everything, he spoke up and said, ‘It would be really cool if we sent this to blackbear!’ We had never thought of that before, but he was really into it, and he sent back this thing to Andrew saying, ‘This is kind of the headspace I’m in at the moment anyway, so I already feel like I could write something for this.’

“It really elevated the song, and took it to this new, refreshing place that we had never properly explored before. We’ve never really collaborated with someone in rap or hip-hop, and this brought a lot more energy to the song. It was a fun one to do!”

Read this next: Alex Gaskarth reflects on the legacy of All Time Low's Nothing Personal

Favorite Place, meanwhile, was started all the way back in January last year, with Alex noticing his initial ideas for the song were reminding him of The Band CAMINO – “not intentionally, but just the more I listened to it, I kept thinking of them,” he says. “I was like, ‘What do you think of doing this with us, because it kind of reminds me of you guys?’ I felt like they belonged on it, and it wasn’t just a feature for the sake of a feature. Lyrically, I imagined the story of two star-crossed lovers, and it’s really that adage of, ‘We’re both in different places, but we’re staring at the same stars.’ I felt like we hadn’t written that [style of] song for the record yet, and everybody loves a love song!”

Pick up this week's issue of Kerrang! right now for a full rundown on every single song on Wake Up, Sunshine. In the UK, most major supermarkets stock the magazine if you happen to be out and about getting supplies, or alternatively, you can order this week’s issue straight to your door via Kerrang.Newsstand.co.uk.

Catch All Time Low in the U.S. at this year's Sad Summer Festival with The Story So Far, Movements, Grayscale, Yours Truly and Destroy Boys:

July

17 Sacramento, CA @ Papa Murphy’s Park at Cal Expo
18 Anaheim, CA @ City National Grove Outdoors
19 Chandler, AZ @ Rawhide Event Center
21 Dallas, TX @ Gas Monkey Live!
22 Houston, TX @ The Lawn @ White Oak Music Hall
24 Orlando, FL @ The Orlando Amphitheater at the Central Florida Fairgrounds
25 Atlanta, GA @ Steve Polk Plaza at the Masquerade
28 Columbus, OH @ EXPRESS LIVE!
29 Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
31 New York, NY @ The Rooftop at Pier 17

August

1 Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
2 Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony Summer Stage
5 Toronto, ON @ RBC Echo Beach
7 Baltimore, MD @ MECU Pavilion
8 Philadelphia, PA @ Skyline Stage @ the Mann
12 Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
14 Pontiac, MI @ Crofoot Festival Grounds
15 Milwaukee, WI @ Eagles Ballroom at The Rave

And see the band at this year's Reading & Leeds in the UK:

Check out more:

Now read these

The best of Kerrang! delivered straight to your inbox three times a week. What are you waiting for?