- May 3, 2018

Meet MAKEOUT - Living “The Good Life” INTERVIEW

Sam Boxold : Vocal / Guitar Tyler Young : Guitar Alex Lofton : Bass Scott Eckel : Drums

If you're just hearing of northeastern quartet MAKEOUT but at first glance they may look and sound somewhat familiar, don't fret, you're not losing it. MAKEOUT are a pop-punk band that started with lead singer/guitarist Sam Boxold and guitarist Tyler Young the 2 remaining members of the band TROPHY WIVES. A new name allowed for the guys to allow a fresh start and develop heavier, darker music.

After Trophy Wives disband, the duo hooked up with buddy Alex Lofton, and ended up playing the Massachusetts date at Warped Tour and winning the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands judged by none other than producer John Feldmann ( blink-182, Good Charlotte, The Used.)

RIDE IT OUT

Taking a liking to the guys, Feldy signed them a studio deal, and made a home at John's home studio for a month where they recorded THE GOOD LIFE, their first full length record. In this time they were also joined by Aussie drummer Scott Eckel to complete their pop-punk quartet.

If that wasn't already a "happily ever after" the band was also signed to Rise Records, later that year. Following that, the guys not only toured with blink-182 but Travis Barker threw down the skins on one of their tracks. 5S0s's Ashton Irwin and Calum Hood co-wrote songs with them and they are now getting pumped for the last cross country Vans Warped Tour.

I recently had a chance to chat with bassist Alex about having basically every 16 year old pop-punk kid's dream come true within MAKEOUT's last year.

- TPPD: Thanks for taking time out with me today. First of all congrats on all that has been going on with MAKEOUT. You guys have had every 15 year old pop punk boy’s dream come true in the last 12 months.

- ALEX: haha thank you, We are with them also, our 15 year old dreams came true.

- TPPD: THE GOOD LIFE has been out for a little over half a year now, how has the overall response been?

- ALEX: The response has been great! It's been amazing to see the feed back and the growth of the record in such a short time, it just feels good to know its being heard

- TPPD: You guys came up with the name MAKEOUT with the label Rise Records, what other names were tossed around?

- ALEX: haha so many, we actually didn't come up with the name with Rise. We were actually talking with Travis Barker. We were all just talking and he was talking about an old restaurant he used to go to and thus the name MAKEOUT was born hahaha

- TPPD: Speaking of RISE RECORDS, you guys recently got picked up by them. How has that relationship been?

- ALEX: It's been great, it's awesome to be on a label with so many amazing other acts. It's also super cool because there isn’t many bands on the label who sound like us, so we feel we stick out within the label but in a good way

- TPPD: So you previously were this pretty well known band as well. Have you noticed any “Trophy Wives fam” at MAKEOUT shows?

- ALEX: Yes we had a lot of fans come with us on our new journey. We don’t like to view it as us changing our names or anything. We are a whole new band with a whole new sound.

-TPPD: I’ve had this question bottled up now for you guys. I’ll start by saying “Fuck you guys.” (I’m kidding). I have a blink-182 bunny tattoo on my arm and started playing bass when I was 15 and got into pop-punk because of Mark Hoppus. (so you can see where all of this is headed.)

- ALEX: MARK IS THE MAN! I (Alex Lofton) play bass in MAKEOUT and seeing that every night was amazing. Mark's stage presence and over all demeanor is a staple in punk music forever. It was a dream come true to be able to play with them i am forever grateful

- TPPD: How was spending time on the road with blink-182? Any antics worth mentioning?

(Riding in Vans with Boys and The Urethea Chronicles were like everyone’s bible in my clique.)

- ALEX: haha honestly nothing too crazy. the tour was such a surreal thing for us i don’t think we even processed what we just did until we got home haha

- TPPD: Did anyone “fan girl” the first time they met the blink guys? (FYI I totally would.)

- ALEX: Travis Barker is Scott's idol, hell i mean Scott is basically mini Travis haha. So he had a little bit of a fan girl moment, i feel like we all did but honestly the guys are so down to Earth and so cool

- TPPD: You guys recorded THE GOOD LIFE with everyone’s favorite “Punk Rock Life Coach” producer John Feldmann.

How did that come about and what can one expect when heading into his self dubbed “Rock & Roll Boot Camp”?

- ALEX: John Feldmann is the man but rock and roll boot camp is not for the faint of heart haha. John will make you work, he’s like a mad scientist but that's why he’s so good at what he does. He pulled the most out of us and we are so stoked to go back to him for our next record

- TPPD: Looking back, what was your small hurdle like a year ago where you were like “fuck I don’t know if I can do this” or “this is going to be a lot of work” and now it’s like “Warped, blink tour, Rise Records, Feldmann.” And now you look back and go “wow what was I thinking, I really over reacted.” And what advice can you give to Bands in situations like that.

- ALEX: I think the whole recording process was that, we had been working on so many songs and sitting on so much music I feel like we all were just to ready for it to finally all happen. I would just say work hard and things will work on and patience is key if you want something done right!

- TPPD: Moving on to more awesome fucking MAKEOUT news. You guys wrote some tracks with 5SOS Calum and Ashton, So, how did that come about? Were they just visiting John one day as fate had it?

- ALEX: Ya, one of our singles Ride It Out, was just amazing working with those dudes. They are so talented and nice guys. John was just picking them up from the airport, they had no idea they were going to the studio but he just walked into the studio with them and we got to work haha

- TPPD: Travis Barker did drums on “You Can’t Blame Me”. Did that happen in the similar fashion? And is this how the blink tour happened or was it vise versa?

- ALEX: Well Travis has been super involved on a lot of MAKEOUT. As you know, Travis and John are great friends. So we would stop by and what not. He just really enjoyed the music and wanted to be apart of what we are trying to do. Travis actually co-wrote as well.

-TPPD: There’s a few songs that spoke to me on THE GOOD LIFE. One most notably being “Where’s my Charger”. I laughed, I cried, I wanted to hug my speaker. Was that a spur of the moment tune or is there an inside joke behind it?

- ALEX: haha that song was one of the last ones that came about. We wanted to bring back that old Blink vibe, of short, funny, fast, songs and who hasn’t lost their charger!? haha

- TPPD: So does one person write all of the lyrics or Or were these all collective ideas from really shitty past relationships/situations? BTW fuck Kevin whoever that guy is.

- ALEX: It's kind of a group thing but most of them come from Sam our frontman, he’s a musical genius

- TPPD: In a totally left turn now direction...You guys are Warped Tour veterans. With TROPHY WIVES. How does it feel coming out to do this last cross country run with MAKEOUT?

- ALEX: its going to be great, we are just so honored to have been picked to be apart of such a monumental tour.

- TPPD: On that topic. What concert/moment made you realized music was “it” for you?

- ALEX: I think it always has been not sure if it was a concert or a moment, its been a part of me and my life for so long i couldn’t imagine myself or life any other way

- TPPD: After Warped. What’s next for MAKEOUT?

- ALEX: A lot more touring, new music, and so much i can’t talk about. but know you will be seeing MAKEOUT a lot more haha

- TPPD: Thanks a ton for taking some time out with me. Is there anything else you’d like to say?

- ALEX: Thank You so much for letting me do this. The only other thing I have to say is stoked to see all of you out this summer on warped tour, we’re gonna have a blast!