Interview: Matt Messore of Nightlights talks about new album, touring, and hating cockroaches

Interview: Matt Messore of Nightlights talks about new album, touring, and hating cockroaches

According to Matt Messore of Nightlights, Florida isn’t just all about Disneyworld…it’s about living in caves and eating pizza! Nightlights just finished a full US tour and are now about to drop their new full length ‘So It Goes’ on Eulogy Recordings in April. They are also hitting up the road again in April/May.

Check out this exclusive interview featuring Matt Messore who talks about their new album, their past tour, and being a pizza crust punk.

DS: With a name like Nightlights, we can only assume one of you is afraid of the dark… Who wants to admit their Nyctophobia?

Our band name is a secret but I will admit I fucking hate roaches. That’s all I will reveal.

DS: You’ve been touring a lot recently, any good stories? How was driving through all those blizzards?

So many awesome and NOT so awesome things happen to us, but we always manage to make it home. In Dubois, Pennsylvania we got stuck on our friend’s ice-covered driveway while he was at work. Our van could not make it up this steep driveway and our van literally slid into his car which was stuck in the snow. Luckily, there was no damage to the automobiles but we had to break the ice and make a path to get our van up to the street (which took all afternoon to get out of). Driving through the blizzard sucked! We were stuck in Texas for 4-5 days and a few shows got cancelled.

DS: As Floridians, you must’ve been cold. How was dealing with the frigid north?

It only sucked when it was super windy. Joe is from NY and we’re all used to cold weather so it wasn’t so bad for us. It would have been nice to have a pair of boots though.

DS: When we met up at The Fest, you were driving around in a somewhat faulty van. Did it hold up through its cross country trek?

We spent roughly around $1,000 for van maintenance. But with a lot of wishful thinking we hope it holds up for the next few tours to come.

DS: Any favorite things you guys do as a band?

We like to go sightseeing and eat pizza.

DS: Once on the tour, I saw you had to sleep at a church shelter due to all the hotels being fully booked. Why did you have to stop? Anything exciting happen?

That happened when we were stuck in Texas and our shows were cancelled. We were trying to drive to Dallas but we could only drive like 5-10 M.P.H. on the highway because the road was all ice, so the roads were fucked and we couldn’t go far. We had nowhere to go. All the hotels around us were all booked up, so we luckily stayed in this church shelter near us. It was awesome! They were playing the movie ‘Ghost’ and I cried my eyes out.

DS: House shows vs. Venues, which wins? Why?

House shows! We feel more comfortable playing in houses and basements. We always get a better vibe playing in smaller places. It’s always the best time as well. The bigger the stage is, the more awkward it’s going to be for us.

DS: Are you still hating your hometown?

I loath my hometown but strangely appreciate it in my own weird way. My hometown is a big inspiration for our songs. But it will always be home to me. I recently just moved north of Florida where I keep to myself. It is nice to just stay in the cave that I now call home. This is where I now choose to waste all my time in.

DS: How’s being on Eulogy records been so far?

Well, so far not much has happened since our new album isn’t out until sometime in April. But we seem to think it’ll be pretty good.

DS: In terms of the new record, you mentioned that there will be a more “open chord” sound, going as far as to call it “emo,.” Do you wonder if you’ll be pushing a few fans away?

I’m not sure. I imagine we’ll gain some fans and probably lose some as well. It always happens to everyone.

DS: How long did the writing for the record take?

A good amount of the songs on this new album were actually written about a year ago. We just haven’t had the time to record them and came to the conclusion to use them for this full length. We came up with a few of the songs a few weeks before we went to record. There is an instrumental interlude that we made on the spot in the studio. It came out really nice.

DS: You went up to New York to record. What was the reasoning for that?

We actually recorded in New Jersey. We recorded there because our friend Brett Romnes (drummer of I Am The Avalanche) wanted to come down to Florida and record our full length but we decided to record up there because it was more logical. We toured up the east coast and our shows were all close together. Our schedules to record started around 10pm and sometimes wouldn’t end until 8am! Brett really did a lot of work for us and it was a great time hanging out.

Any local bands you played with worth giving a shout out?

For Florida bands you should check out my friend’s band Mute Issue from south Florida. There are also bunch of awesome bands we got to play with on tour. Here are a few off the top of my head: Censors, Earhart, Hold Tight!, Homelife, Bike Tuff, His Day Has Come, Horror Squad, Ruptures, Halfway To Hell Club, Light Hearted, and Resevoir.

DS: Does “So It Goes” have a release date yet?

I’m not sure if there is an official date yet but the Eulogy release should be out sometime in early-mid April and the vinyl release should be in mid-May.

DS: What are you most looking forward to in the upcoming months? A summer tour in mind perhaps?

We are looking forward to finally releasing our full length, we’re playing Stay Sweet Fest in Richmond VA, & we’re touring in Canada for 2 weeks in April-May. You can check out our tour dates on our myspace and you can check out any other updates on our facebook.

Nightlights has posted two new tracks from their upcoming Eulogy Records debut ‘So It Goes’ on their Facebook and Myspace.

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