Seahaven just released one of the most critically acclaimed pop punk albums of the year with Winter Forever, and played the last show of their tour with Touché Amoré on 12/14 in Las Vegas. Before the show I met up with Seahaven guitarist/vocalist Kyle Soto and guitarist Michael Craver to talk about being on a hardcore tour, visiting the Pawn Stars shop and their favorite Vegas band.
How has this tour with Touché Amoré been going?
Michael: It’s been a really good time, but after so long, you’re so close to home and you can’t wait. We’re literally about 12 hours away from being home right now. I’m ready to get back to my own bed.
Kyle: I know as soon as I get in bed though, I’m just going to be thinking about the last 45 days and how it’s been cool as hell.
How has the crowd response been being on this tour with mostly hardcore bands?
Kyle: We just rocked out so hard, everyone loved it. Every single night.
Michael: It’s been good. We went into it knowing we were going to be a little bit different from the other bands, so we just went in with the mentality that we were just going to rock out every night.
Kyle: It’s a little different, usually when we play with our friends who are more pop punk-esque, kids tend to be more hyphy. They get buck to it. I feel like it’s a different crowd, but the kids definitely appreciate it. They’re very receptive but in a different way. A lot of nodding heads, not so many cool stage dives to get in the picture for the back of the shirt. But they really appreciate the music, which is cooler than anything. It’s weird because it’s a hardcore bill so you think they’d be more…I don’t know. It’s different but in a good way.
You’ve had a few shows scheduled in Vegas before, but they fell through. Are you excited to finally be playing here?
Kyle: I’m very glad but I’m kind of nervous because I feel like everyone might hate us at this point, because we’ve just been like “fuck you!” But it’s totally not intentional. We didn’t plan on that stuff happening and the shows falling through. I don’t know how people will receive us here.
Michael: I’d like to play a practical joke where we set everything up and then just walk out and say “not this time either!”
Kyle: We really wanted to play here but it just hasn’t happened until now.
Do you have any free time while you’re here? Anything you’re hoping to get to see in Vegas?
Kyle: We’ve seen Vegas before, but just haven’t played here. When we’re here, it’s usually like “let’s get a hotel room and have a good night!” but after being on tour this long, tonight, we’re just going home. We’re so close. It’s not that far from LA, so it’s not like I’ve never seen Vegas.
Michael: Before the band, I hadn’t been to Vegas since I was a kid, like 9 or 10 going with my family. I remember it being such a foreign world that I didn’t get back then. Coming back like 10 years later with the band, I feel like I appreciate it more. But I’d appreciate it more if I came up on my own time. The whole idea of Vegas is to let your hair down but to some extent when we’re here with the band we still have to work.
Kyle: In short, we will not be on the strip tonight, but we might come back next weekend and really tear shit up.
Michael: We went to the Pawn Stars place today. It made me laugh. The show is cool but I expected to walk in and see cameras and all the stars, but I walked in and was like “who are all these old people?”
Kyle: Dude, I knew exactly what it was. It’s such a money maker. Good for them, but it’s so depressing. The TV show is completely separate.
Michael: I was very upset because on one episode of Pawn Stars I saw them buy the nicest 50s Gretsch guitar and it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen in my life so I thought they’d have really cool guitars there. But they only had 2 guitars and they were both pieces of shit.
Kyle: Imagine how many people buy shit there just because they love the show. “I bought this old sword because it’s from the Pawn Stars shop!” It’s all this super novelty shit. But I respect those guys, they’re money makers. They can put anything under the glass, and people think “oh that must be important” and they’ll buy it.
Your new record Winter Forever just came out and has already received a lot of positive buzz and has ended up on a lot of year-end lists. How does that feel?
Michael: I honestly haven’t tried to look at those because I don’t want to be disappointed. At this point, it’s still so fresh. We just put it out a month ago. It may be doing well in some senses but I don’t know how well it’s doing. I just try not to look at it. But the stuff I’ve seen so far is cool. I really appreciate it.
Kyle: To be perfectly honest, if they put it on a year-end list or they go on the internet or to their friends and totally bash it, it really doesn’t matter to me because it’s so new that the opinion isn’t valid yet. You can’t really know a record so quickly. I don’t really take it that much into consideration because they’ve barely had any time to really listen to it. So it doesn’t matter yet.
What have you guys been listening to lately?
Kyle: The really weird thing is that we spend so many hours in a van, but there is such a small little sliver of time when I listen to my iPod. I’m always bored, but I don’t think to pick up my iPod.
Michael: I’ve been listening to a lot of 90s alternative lately, like the Cranberries, Smashing Pumpkins. It’s cool thinking about being a kid in the 90s and then going back and listening to the building blocks of music that I grew up on. Like, I didn’t appreciate Nirvana at all when I was a kid, just because I heard it so often, but now I totally fucking get it. It’s cool. Nirvana is a great band. I’ve been listening to this band called Land of Talk a lot. They’re on Saddle Creek Records. I’m listening to a lot of Cursive too.
Kyle: There’s a band called Tigers on Trains. They put out this record called Grandfather and since it came out, that’s pretty much all I ever listen to.
Anything else you want to add?
Michael: Viva los Vegas
Kyle: Shout out to Panic! at the Disco. Take us on tour! Vices & Virtues represent!
Michael: I don’t know how to dance, but every time I listen to that band I dance.
Kyle: Just listen to Panic! at the Disco and you’ll dance. For your head, for your mind, for your health. Seriously, they’re one of my favorite bands. Vices & Virtues is all I’ve been listening to. Just Tigers on Trains and Panic! at the Disco.
Kyle: Also, shout out to The Killers and to the Brandon Flowers solo record. “Only the Young” is the fucking highlight. Great record.
Interview by Emily Matview
Transcribed by Ashleigh Thompson
Photo by Emily Matview (edited by Tyler Newton)
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