Kill The Music

View Original

Interview: Landon Tewers (The Plot In You)

We spoke with The Plot In You vocalist Landon Tewers about their new record, Dispose and the progression of the band's sound.

Tell us about your experience with Stay Sick Recordings. Obviously, you’ve switched to Fearless Records now but what prompted the change?

We had signed with Stay Sick for just one album, we had a pleasant experience through that cycle but once our deal was up we decided to explore other options and landed with Fearless.

Happiness In Self Destruction had 15 tracks and is almost 1 hour long whereas Dispose has 10 tracks (9 if you ignore the 1 minute interlude) and is 35 minutes long. Any particular reason for this given the 2+ years between releases?

We had 20+ songs written for DISPOSE but wanted to cut the fat and release the most powerful and cohesive set of tracks on the album. There wasn’t much comparison between the two releases.

What made you wanna bring in a producer (Drew Fulk) for this record as opposed to previous records where you produced them yourself?

We wanted another set of ears on the songs and were a fan of Drew’s work.

At what point in your career did you wanna change the band’s sound? You’re quoted as saying, "I have nothing to yell about anymore,”, but the theme of the album (detaching yourself from a toxic relationship) could easily fit into your previous work.

I’d like to think that every record we’ve done thus far has progressed and sounded substantially different from the last, not just from Happiness to DISPOSE. I didn’t go into the song writing process for this record with a certain sound or progression in mind, but when the songs were finished, the sound you’ll hear on the record is what came out.

With the new material progressing even further away from your first releases such as Wife Beater and First Born, do you ever see yourself playing songs from those releases live again? 

No.

When appealing to different sets of fan bases, new and old, young and old, what is the thought process when trying to write something that has an appeal to both, but also embodies what The Plot In You is?

I didn’t really go into the song writing process thinking about how to appeal to any certain demographic. I just wrote a collection of songs and we narrowed it down the ones we liked best for the album.

Do you think bands can still be heavy without screaming or breakdowns?

Yes.

Does the artwork tie into the theme of the album as well? The headband is reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty’s headband. 

Not entirely, we were presented with a collection of photos done by Jonathan Weiner and liked them, so we went with that for the art.

Did any of your side projects influence the new record? 

No, not really. I try to keep each project separate and keep the sounds of each in their own lane when writing songs.

What are the best things to give you guys when you are on tour? 

Bad stuff.

Preorder Dispose via http://theplotinyou.com