Recently signed to Fearless Records, Philly rockers Grayscale are ascending to new heights with their raw passion and dedication to create music from the heart. Having just finished the Okay U.S.A tour with As It Is and as their 18 date European leg comes to a close, we caught up with Collin Walsh and Andrew Kyne before their show in Birmingham to discuss the success of their debut album, ‘Adornment’, tour life, and more.
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Hi, welcome. It’s an exciting time for Grayscale as you’re on the road with As It Is – how’s that going?
Collin: It’s going great – they’re a band that’s very close to us and we’re really good friends with them so being able to do our first Europe / UK run with them is amazing. It makes everything so much easier.
Is the vibe always better touring with friends?
Collin: Yeah always. We’ve been pretty fortunate with all our tours – they’ve all been with really cool people and I don’t really have anything bad to say about any of the bands we’ve ever toured with. Just touring all these new countries with your best friends is the best.
So this is your first time touring in Europe, how are you liking it so far?
Collin: Yeah, first time touring in Europe and the UK. It’s also the first time for most us personally too which is cool. I love it, I’ve been here before but most of the others guys haven’t. It’s cool because on this tour we’re actually on a bus so we pull in at noon at every city and then we have four hours until soundcheck and then we have until 4am for bus calls so we’ve done a lot of exploring, especially like Prague, Belgium. Most of the German shows we were a little rushed, we saw a little bit though.
Andrew: Yeah, I’m having an amazing time. I’m experiencing everything there is to offer…. like Starbucks which we don’t have in the states (laughs) yeah we’re really branching out right now during this interview.
Is there a difference between UK and US shows?
Collin: That’s a good question. Maybe it’s just me but I always feel like the smaller crowds in Europe appear to be more enthusiastic than the smaller crowds in the US.
Andrew: Yeah I agree – I guess it’s because bands don’t make it over here as often so whoever does come to the show is going to be a superfan in a way.
Collin: It’s hard to compare like apples to apples because we did this tour with As It Is in the US and those crowds were really active and really good but those shows were much smaller in capacity. Over here we’re playing London with 1400 people and Manchester had 900 so it’s hard to compare on a percentage basis. I would say to Andy’s point that it seems like in the European shows, not as many bands perform in places such as Warsaw, Poland so when you play and there’s only so many people watching they’re all so engaged whereas in the US they just stand and look at you.
So backtrack a minute. How did this all start – you guys started in high school and now you’re signed with Fearless?
Collin: Yeah we’re just from Philadelphia and we’re best friends. We were just really good friends who played music within the community around us. Dallas, Nick and I have known each other since we were little kids. I’ve known Andy for like 8 years now – which is wild. We’ve always just liked music and decided to start playing together.
What’s the music scene like in Philly?
Collin: That’s an interesting question.
Andrew: There was a huge pop punk scene – because it’s Philly and New Jersey combined so there’s the Man Overboard and The Wonder Years and so many other bands but there’s also a big grunge scene there.
Collin: Yeah there was a lot of the Title Fight crew and then The Wonder Years pop punk ish crew and that was like 2010. As it has gone on I think it has gotten a lot more modern baseball ish, kinda indie. There’s just so many people in Philly so there will always be a scene of some sort. It’s a very historical and musically driven place.
Speaking of Philly, you must be over the moon about the Eagles winning the Superbowl?
Collin: Haha yeah.
Andrew: Huge Eagles fans.
Collin: It’s hard because there’s so much more to the Eagles winning the SuperBowl than people realise. People just think oh the Eagles fans are crazy and it’s cool that we won but for us it’s a deep emotional investment. Philadelphia, not only as a sports team but as a city, is known as a very underdog place. It meant so much to us as a city, especially with the quarterback Carson Wentz being injured – it was just crazy.
Last summer you released your studio album ‘Adornment’. How have you found the response to the record?
Collin: Yeah it’s been incredible, honestly. We didn’t know what to expect and by that I just mean we wrote songs we really liked and and we put them out like whatever happens happens. People really fell in love with them and really connected with them on a lot of levels and that’s all we can ask for. Our fans and I say it all time, and it may sound arrogant but I really truly know for a fact, are some of the best, most loyal people. It’s just ridiculous. It means more to us than they’ll ever probably know.
Obviously the album’s very personal and touches on a range of issues, including mental health. How important do you think it is, especially in today’s society, to openly talk about these issues?
Collin: Yeah, I think that’s something we take super seriously and is very important to address. I wouldn’t say that we’re a band that talks about it as openly as others and we totally respect the bands that do– it’s necessary to talk about it. You could say that Beautiful Things definitely has elements of mental health related things in it, especially some of the lyrics. I try to make them sit in a song in a more poetic way. That’s just to me a good way of expressing everything but if people can relate to it then that’s obviously what I want so it’s a very important issue.
You just released the music video for Forever Yours. It’s quite sad. How was the filming process?
Collin: The director Jordan, who does our merch and does a lot of our design stuff and videos, did a really good job. He did the Love Yourself video as well. A lot of the stuff that I’ll write about lyrically will have elements of things from dreams that I’ve had or things from memories that are romanticised. So the idea for the video was whilst playing the song to have everything around me come to life from a story and the way he executed it was amazing so props to him, it was incredible. Super happy with it.
How do you choose which songs to release as a single?
Collin: That’s something that we as a band and the label work on together. We’ll have our opinions and our label Fearless will have theirs. We have a really good relationship with Fearless so we’ll listen to them and go back and fourth with ideas. For Forever Yours, I remember having a conversation very early on with the label about this being a single and I thought this should be number 2 on the roll out. They were like ‘no, we’ll do Atlantic and then Beautiful Things and If I Ever See You Again – we want to wait until you can do a super sad one and tour it later in the cycle’. At first that seemed a bit odd but now I’m seeing it – they know what they’re doing haha.
What’s been the biggest ‘pinch me’ moment so far?
Collin: I think a lot of this tour for me.
Andrew: Some of the shows we’ve played and seeing kids that live thousands and thousands of miles away from us come out and see us play is a big pinch me moment. Manchester was an unreal show.
Collin: Yeah Manchester was definitely one for me. It was a 900 cap room and we play first so you never know what to expect and it just absolutely went off. Scotland was cool as well the other night. I think between that on a show level and then on a personal level, just going to these shows and having people know us & literally shower us with chocolate – boxes of chocolate. Kinder is so good.
What’s next? There’s only a few more shows of the As It Is tour – which ends at KOKO, excited?
Collin: Yeah its going to be banana sandwich.
Andrew: Everyone’s hyping that up so we’re excited.
Collin: Then yeah we’re playing Slam Dunk. I love the way everybody here says it with an accent, it’s awesome. We also just announced we’re playing the final Warped Tour over in the US which is pretty exciting for us as we’ve been going since we were kids. Thats a big pinch me moment for me too.
Any upcoming headlines tours in the UK this year?
Collin: No, not that we know about .We would love to but I don’t know. We’ll get there, I just don’t know when.
Anything final things you want to say?
Collin: Just thank you to our fans for everything. Literally. We would be nothing without any of you.
‘Adornment’ is out now via Fearless Records and you can catch Grayscale at Slamdunk this summer:
North: 26th May (Leeds City Centre)
South: 27th May (Hatfield Park)
Midlands: 28th May (Birmingham NEC)