Grant Brandell: Yea, definitely playing outside is this kind of heat can be brutal. But I play the same, sloppy and all over the place, in each show I play so it really doesn't matter too much to me.

When you play a show like Warped, you will play in front of a very diverse crowd. Some know you and are fans, some know you and are not fans and some have no idea who you are, so how much do you pay attention to what is happening in the crowd?
CD: I think you notice in spurts. Obviously, that is not the main thing on our minds, because you have to concentrate on what you are doing and having a good time, stuff like that. But there are times where something will catch my attention out of the corner of my eye, kids are doing something and I will be like, "Oh, that's cool." But it is totally cool when that happens because you can totally feed off of that. If the crowd is sort of standing there not doing anything that does make it a lot harder, because it is just an odd thing to happen because of the music we play.

GB: I agree, I don't see too much what the crowd is doing because I am doing what I do and I don't really see a whole lot.

CD: But even though we don't see a whole lot of what is happening, it is still one of the most important things, because it can really determine whether it is a good show or bad show at the end of the night.

Now that you have been through the tour process for a few years, have you noticed a different in how the band acts on the road? Whether certain things don't bother you as much or maybe even bother you more?
CD: I think the only thing that has changed that I have seen develop is since we have been able to play shows in places that are really nice, like really, really nice, we notice things like the monitors. When you play these outdoor shows you can't really hear the monitors, but I think that is just a stupid, petty thing. But to me, that is about the only thing I have noticed that has gotten any different. I think deep down, we are the same band we were five years ago. I think we still just get out and play and do it.

How has tours liked Warped affected the writing process? Does being introduced to so many bands and styles of music make you think different about how and what to write?
GB: I think maybe subconsciously. It is not like we hear something and are like, that part is really cool let's write something that sounds like that but a little different. But if I am on a tour where I am hearing heavy music every night, I think I will probably start to write more heavy music or even listening a lot more to heavy music versus if I wasn't around the show. But I think we just write what we like, and of course influences will come in to play. But it is definitely more of a subconscious thing. We have never said this song should sound like this band. We just write stuff, and what comes out is what comes out.

Are you ever shocked at all about how songs come out? Maybe you write a riff and have an idea on what the song will sound like, but when everyone starts adding their parts it just comes out totally different?
GB: I will tell you what we used to do. If we did write a part, someone may say, "That is really cool, but is sounds a lot like this song." It would be scrapped, gone away forever. I would be so bummed because I would have this really cool part and we would have to scratch it.

CD: I remember this one time we wrote this part that we didn't end up keeping, and it ended up on Thursday's album?

GB: I don't, but I remember we wrote this song while we were on your in Europe before the last Warped Tour, it is actually on the new CD coming out. It was over a year ago, it was the 3-4 song. But there was this breakdown, and it was just a riff. But we got on the Warped Tour and we heard the new Bled record, and it is not played the same, but it had the same rhythm, and we were thinking about not using it. But it was different enough that we kept it. But we never try and do that kind of stuff.

You mentioned checking out some other bands and hearing that riff from Bled. When you are on the Warped Tour, hoe much do you try to go out and catch the other acts? Or do you try to keep some sort of routine?
CD: There is no routine. The only routine is that you wake up in the morning, you play at some point during the day, you eat and you go to sleep at some point at night. Everything else is just different every day. I try as much as possible to go out and hear as many bands as I can. Especially this year, because there are a lot of bands that are playing that I am really into. So the fact that I get to go and watch them play every day is pretty awesome.

GB: Yea, I try to watch as many bands as I can. But I try and watch the majority of the bands at least once during the course of the tour. It is just cool to see different things. Like last year, I got to see bands like Gogol Bordello, music that I like but that I wouldn't listen to on a regular basis, so it's cool to be able to see stuff like that.

How much friendship do you try to create out here?
CD: That is a big thing for me. That is what I get most excited about the Warped Tour. There are a lot, a whole lot of people that are already friends that are out here this year, but then there are a whole lot of people that we don't even know that we will become friends with, and that is probably what I like most about this tour. The amount of dudes that are always on it.

The dude factor is always good.
CD: It is so high on this tour.

GB: That is what makes this tour so special.

You spoke a minute ago about how there is no routine on this tour. Is that a good thing or bad thing?
CD: I think it's a good thing. If I got up every morning, had interviews at the same time, played at the same time everyday and everything happened at the same time every day? At the end of the two months I would hate it. It gets hard anyway, but the fact that it is different in different ways every day, is something that makes it a lot easier for me.

GB: It is kind of chaotic, but it keeps it exciting and fresh.

CD: Totally, because some days you will have to play at noon and you just woke up at 11:30am, and some days you will be able to hang out all day because you don't play until 7 pm. It's always different so it's cool.

You mentioned writing something in Europe, do you even think about writing when you are on a tour like this?
GB: If there is any writing going on, it is usually Tim (McTague) our guitar player, whom will usually just riff around and we will record in on Garage Band. Last year on the Thrice tour we has this studio set up kind of deal. Sometimes we will have this studio set-up that we put in the back of the bus in the lounge. But we really need to get together to write. So usually if we try to write on tour, it will be when we are headlining because we will get like an hour-long sound check and we can jam out a little bit there. But is just whenever we can. It is not like we try to have an agenda or anything like that.

CD: Especially write now, because we are just getting ready to release a record (Define The Great Line) so the stuff we are writing now probably won't be coming out for like a year-and-a-half. So we are not on any kind of time restraint, so if something comes about, we are like the band will have to check it out, but it's not like we have to write some songs.

I have heard both aspects from writers: one is that they have to sit down and pound it out and others will say it comes to them and in minutes they have a song. Is there a process for how Underoath writes?
CD: It is different all the time. There are times where we will be at practice and we will have this idea for a part and we will sit there for an hour or two just trying to figure out something to go before it or after it. We will just wrack our brains and nothing will happen or maybe something will happen. But there are times where we can write the whole song in almost one practice, and actually a song like that is on Define The Great Line. So it changes.

GB: I think we have three different types. The first is you write a song in practice, you wake up the next day and its good. The second is you write a song in practice, you can't figure out a part and you just freakin' take a break from it. The third is you write a song in practice, you wake up the next day and it sucks. For us, those are the three things that usually happen.

Has there ever been a time where you scratch a song, and thinking back later you think of something you could have did?
GB: We will still use parts of songs we don't like.

CD: Yea, we don't write very quickly. We actually write very, very slowly. The way our writing process goes is we will have a song, and instead of scratching the song because we don't like it, we will scratch the parts that are not good and take the parts that we like and put them in other songs. So it is a lot like a collaboration of parts, if you will. It is not like this song is not good so we won't play that. It is more like for the fact that we don't write very fast means every part that is good; we need to hold onto for another song. We use it all, because we have been writing the record that is about to come out for like two years. We have 11 songs and that was all we had. We put every song on the record that we had written.

The cool thing you talked about is your record coming out soon. For many bands on Warped, they are either at the end of the record cycle or putting off recording to get on Warped, but yours releases a few weeks in the tour. Just like you would do if you were headlining your shows.
CD: It's very exciting, because the record comes out on Tuesday (June 20) and we started Warped yesterday, so we are getting to play shows without the record out and then the rest of the summer we will get to see like a progression of us learning the new songs but also seeing how the crowd likes them. It's really exciting.

Was the set list a tough thing to come up with?
GB: Yea, we actually put together a set list for yesterday, that after playing it, we thought was horrible. So we rewrote the whole set and are playing a new one today. It's kind of weird because we have several new songs that are on-line, so we don't know how much of the new songs we should play, or do people still not know them yet so we should stick to the older songs. Trial and error. But I think today is the one, for at least the first couple weeks of Warped.

I was out watching a couple of the bands; you say you do the same. How much do you still see yourself as one of those kids going crazy versus how much have you comes to terms with yourself being a musician kids look up to?
CD: I actually just talked about this yesterday to someone else. I remember being 15 or 16 and going to shows and seeing some of my favorite bands and how different it is now seeing those same bands. Because most of my favorite bands now that I am into are also now friends of mine. So it turned into just being a fan of a band to being friends with dudes who make really awesome music. So I am obviously not going to be in front freaking out because I am finally getting to see my favorite band. But I will be on the side of the stage thinking, "Wholly crap, these dudes are really good."

GB: I have never been the freak-out kind of kid. I was never into the hardcore dancing or moshing, surfing or skanking, whatever it is you want to do. But I am definitely a fan of bands and will go out of my way to see a band and just watch. I will just watch a band and appreciate what they do. So because I do it now myself, I can really appreciate their music or performance.

Because you were not that sort of mega fan so to speak, when kids come up asking for autographs or a moment of your time, how much can you relate to that?
GB: I was talking to someone last night, because I was never a kid that collected autographs or wanted autographs personally. So when kids come up, I won't say no, but I really do not get why. But I was watching something before leaving for Warped on Jay-Z and he was talking about autographs and he put a spin on it I never thought of before. He said that collecting an autograph is not about getting piece of paper with someone's name in it, but it's to remember the time that they met you or the time they got to hang out. That is cool to me. I did do some things with a band before, which were not autographs. But a band I really liked, I sent them a camera and asked them to take photos of them on tour and they sent it back. It was really awesome. Just these random pictures. It freakin' ruled. I hate when you get swarmed with people and all you can do is just sign your name. It's cool to be able to do it, but at the same time, there is no personal anything. I try to actually talk to someone every time I sign something. But the camera idea is cool, so any kids who want to give us little disposable cameras, and give us your address, we will take pictures and mail it back to you. That stuff is cool.

After going what you have gone through, headlining and playing big shows, are you complacent with who you are as a band or are you still surprised to see kids lined up six blocks to get in to an Underoath show?
CD: I think I am still on that end. I never walk out on stage and am just like, cool, here we go. Every time I walk out on stage, I am still like, "Wow." I will walk outside after one of our shows and there is like a line around the block. I am thinking, "Why?" Or when you get off stage and kids are running after you for an autograph, it's just like, "Why?" I don't think I am that kind of person where I can get to that point of like, "Yea, cool. Yea. That's cool, it's no big deal." I am just not built that way.

Last question. I was talking with Summer Obsession, who the former drummer of Good Charlotte is in. He was talking about all the things kids will say to him, maybe based on Hold On, but as role models for teens, they may want to tell you things they won't tell their parents or even friends. I think that is an odd position for any musician, where you want to help but at the same time, I don't think most bands look at themselves in that role. Has anything like that happened to Underoath, especially being a Christian band?
GB: I think for us, that is the point of our band. We are a Christian band. So if we were not Christians, we wouldn't be a band. That is why we are here and our whole point. So when kids want to talk to us about that stuff, that is the main point of our band. It is not a weird thing for us. That is why we are here. So we are all about having those opportunities to talk to kids and taking advantage of it. It is not like, "Man, we are saying this stuff on stage and now someone wants to know or talk about it." That's awesome when that happens. But it is cool to talk about anything, whether it is just music or movies or whatever. But when someone want to talk about things going on in their life, which is the reason we are a band and why we are here. So for me, it's a no brainer. It is why we are here.

CD: For me, I agree that is why we are doing what we are doing. But for me, a lot of the people I talk to, the more I get into the conversation, the more I realize what I am getting into. I find myself praying. Like, wholly crap; I just need something to say to this kid to help him out. A lot of times I have had people call me before, I give my phone number out to like everyone, but they will call wanting to kill themselves, but they heard we are a Christian band and have songs about that. So they will say, "So, tell me about it." I remember once I was just sitting in a hotel room, and I thought, "Wholly crap." For some reason they feel like they can call us and talk to us and that is the position we put ourselves in. I think that is where God wants us. Every time something like that comes up, it works out. But I am nothing special, I don't know anything about anything. But I just pray God gives me the words to say and it always works out awesome. I had a guy call me who has a really bad problem with drinking, and he said he knew I was a Christian and wanted me to pray for him. This was like a year ago and I talk to him once a month now just to see how he is doing. Things like that, that is why we are a band and where God has us and I think that is awesome. But at the same time, I just think, "Man, I am just Chris from Williston, Florida. I am not anything special." But God has been able to use me and all the rest of these guys to affect people in a way that we never thought that we would. So it's kind of crazy, but it's totally awesome. It is really cool.