- Jan 30, 2018

Meet UPSIDE DOWN - Red Letter Days INTERVIEW

Upside Down, the emo pop-punk band that knows how to excellently blend the elements of emotion, music and intensity. Their debut LP Scars Are Forever, the band dumps their heart and souls out on the table behind melodic pop-punk beats.

I am in love with an echo...

Upside Down is the emotional and pop-punk embodiment of the spirit of 2000's blink-182 and Fall Out Boy combined with the vocal melodies and instrumentation of As It Is and Neck Deep.

The band got their start back in 2014 in Mandrid Spain, after a band split up that Quique Martinez (guitar/vox), and David Sanz (drums) were in. The band decided to start a band that focused primarily on the creation of original music. After some auditions for bassist guitar, Alex Castellano joined the band and after a handful of guitarists, Angel Fernandez joined the band in September 2017, completing the line-up today.

They started recording their first EP "If Things Keep Moving On" at Alex's house, that EP was well received by the Spanish pop-punk scene, allowing them to share the stage with bands like Daylight and Puk2.

In 2015 they started work on their 2nd EP "Not As Good As You Expected", which was produced and recorded by Raúl Artana in Rocaway Studios outside of Castellón, Spain. The album had some critical acclaim in Spanish magazines and forums like TodoPunk and The Backstage.

After the release of Not As Good As You Expected the band ventured out on a tour of Spain hitting big cities like Mandrid, Barcelona, and Valencia. Highlighting 2016, the band hit the road with British pop-punk band ROAM in a handful of their Spanish tour shows.

n 2017 Upside Down buckled down and focused on their first full length LP "Scars Are Forever." The band launched a crowd funding campaign to finance the recording, mixing, mastering and band merch for the LP. The outpour of support was amazing helping them out to record the album at Sound Studios in Barcelona, Spain and master it at Yes Studios in Nashville TN.

With killer tunes like "Good Riddance" (not the Green Day one) the band drives home the pop-punk soul while drawing it back with melodic emotional tunes like "Sixteen." I had a chance to ask the guys some questions about their tour with ROAM and the video for their latest single which was filmed in LA, "Red Letter Days".

The Pop Punk Dad: You guys have a very clean cut pop-punk style yet with an edge. It's like Yellowcard (minus the violins) meets All Time Low. Who influences you to get such a tight sound? What bands are you digging right now?

UPSIDEDOWN: Well the main bands that have always influenced us are the main ones as Blink182, Green Day or Good Charlotte. However we also wanted to sound more like the new pop punk wave listening to bands like Neck Deep, State Champs, The story so far, Handguns... For the new album we tried to sound a bit more like the early Fall Out Boy, Real Friends or The Starting Line, but we tried to mix it with the new Bring me the Horizon and well, ‘Scars Are Forever’ was born!

TPPD: Speaking of bands, you guys did some shows with ROAM, how was that? UPSIDEDOWN: Yes, we toured Spain with them the previous time they came and this time they wanted us again to open for them in Madrid so, we couldn’t be more thankful for this opportunity. With them everything was great. They are really nice people and we had a great time playing those shows.
TPPD: You guys have a Maroon 5 cover on your YouTube channel. Are there any songs that you cover live? UPSIDEDOWN: Yes, in the next tour we are starting this Saturday we will be playing In bloom by Neck Deep, Drown by Bring Me The Horizon and an acoustic version of Heavy by Linkin Park. (Remembering Chester Bennington. A great influence for us all.)
TPPD: You guys have a quickly growing fan base, do you have any favorite fan experiences? UPSIDEDOWN: Actually, there is one experience we had two years ago quite fun. Some 16 year old girls told us to sign their breasts and we were like “no! We won’t sign a child’s boobs!” And they came to our next show with handmade signs that said “we won’t sign a child’s boobs!” And some boobs painted. I think we still have that sign somewhere kept.
TPPD: Still on the topic, are there any highlights of the band's career so far? UPSIDEDOWN: Touring with ROAM was pretty huge for us, even though it was only two dates, for us it meant the world to be with them.
TPPD: Being in a band is outside of the 9-5 grind. Have your parents and families been supportive of your music? UPSIDEDOWN: Luckily, yes. They have always supported us, as long as we don’t quit college obviously. “First, study! Music can come in a second place” that’s what they always say. We are happy to have such supportive families.
TPPD: Any of you guys dads? UPSIDEDOWN: Haha No. And we hope it stays that way for a while.
TPPD: You guys recently had "Scars Are Forever" your first full length album come out in December. What has the response been to the album? How does this album differ from your last EPs?

UPSIDEDOWN: It’s difficult to say, indeed. People who have listened to it, say they like it. Some of them like it better but we never heard of a bad opinion about it yet. But as we see it, we don’t expect anyone to say “Hey, your album sucks!”. People don’t tend to say bad opinions, If they like it they will say it, if they don’t, they won’t. So, as far as we know, everybody’s who listens to it, liked it.

TPPD: Jake Carruthers (Neck Deep, Knuckle Puck, Real Friends) was responsible for the artwork on "Scars Are Forever." What was the inspiration behind it? Did you leave it up to Jake or were your own ideas incorporated. UPSIDEDOWN: That’s right! Jake was responsible for the artwork. Well the main idea we had was to represent the name of the album in the artwork. We decided to represent ourselves as a house with ‘Scars’ which are the broken windows and the appearance of an abandoned house that show the pain we’ve suffered in the past. Inside of a dark wood surrounded by wolves and crows, which represent our past demons. But stil, there is hope, the girl that comes with light to help us and make us see that not everything is lost. The meaning of the artwork is also represented in the lyrics of our song ‘Gloom’.
TPPD: Your recent music video for Red Letter Days was filmed in Los Angeles. Did you guys have any involvement or did you leave it up to the creative minds of DaCapo Productions and director Bruno Marin? UPSIDEDOWN: Well, the idea of the video we previously had was a bit different but practically the same. However, Bruno told us “We are going to do it this way”, we trusted him and we couldn’t be happier.
TPPD: Speaking of LA, do you guys have any plans in touring the states? UPSIDEDOWN: It’s a bit complicated for us to do that at this point. We don’t have enough support yet and we don’t have the money needed to do it. But of course it is something we have always dreamt about. Hopefully, we’ll be able to tour the states soon!
TPPD: Back at home, do you guys have any favorite hometown spots? Do you have any venue that you consider your "hometown show"? UPSIDEDOWN: In fact we have one, there is one venue in Madrid that, whenever we want to play, it’s the first one we ask before any other else.It’s always fun to play in Madrid. We live here and all our friends and families can go to the show. It’s a crowd that never disappoints.
TPPD: Lastly, what are your goals for 2018? What are you all looking forward to as a band? UPSIDEDOWN: Our main goal this year is to tour as much as possible: Spain, the U.K., Europe and if possible, the USA, Canada... who knows. We want to take our music as far as we can spread it as much as possible.