InkSpired Magazine Issue No. 40 | Page 52

the studio with 3/4 of New Year’s Day and see what we come up with but I’m still going to bring in songwriters and just experiment and if a great song comes out of it, that’s awesome and if not, we didn’t click. I’ve probably worked with three songwriters where it worked and twenty-five others where it didn’t work. Touring life is not for everybody. You have to give it 100% every moment of your life; otherwise you’re just playing local shows and that’s where you’re going to be. If you don’t sacrifice everything, you’re not going to tour the world. What I’ve found is that people want to be in a band until they are in the band, broke, tired, and dirty. Jim Louvau: It seems like in the future, New Year’s Day could just transition from being a band to just focusing on Ash Costello. Ash Costello: Hasn’t it already? I’ve always fought that and only recently have I accepted it. The band that I have right now fucking loves that idea. All they want to do is play music and be onstage and tour. If they could go on without ever doing a photoshoot or ever getting any attention they would be so happy. Jim Louvau: Would you ever consider ditching the New Year’s Day band name and just be Ash Costello, the solo artist? Ash Costello: No, never. That would be weird and I’d rather just give up music altogether before I’d do that. Maybe I’d start another band. Jim Louvau: Much of the way you describe how your band operates is like a solo artist right now. Ash Costello: That’s not by choice, that’s because people quit on me and I’m left alone to fend for myself and I’m constantly bringing in new people. It’s not because I want things a certain way and that’s how it has to be. It’s because people bail constantly and I’m constantly trying to find new people. You can’t just have someone join your band and then write a record. You have to get to know somebody and it’s taken almost a year of having Jeremy in the band to figure out that we have the same goals musically. He sat in the studio with us everyday and never spoke up but he said he wanted to observe and learn and I think that was very smart of him. You can’t just join a band and write, not at this level. I would never want to be a solo artist ever but was it my choice to carry the torch? No. Did I have to man up and pull myself up by the fucking boot straps? Yeah. I don’t like to get too far ahead of myself because with every line, I think this is it and it’s not going to change and sure enough, after every tour, someone’s like, “I don’t like this.” 50 InkSpiredMagazine.com InkSpiredMagazine.com 51