With pop punk breakouts All Time Low doing everything so right, how can they go wrong?

With the recent release of All Time Low's latest record, 'So Wrong, It's Right', Rock On Request felt it was time to touch base with the band once again and talk about the incredible success they've been having this year. We'd like to go on record at this point and say, I TOLD YOU SO! We knew ATL was about to take off when we first saw them and couldn't be happier for Alex, Jack, Rian and Zack.

In our past two interviews with Alex we talked about the band's history, their progression in this crazy business of making music, their fans and so on. This time around we wanted to give the fans a chance to ask some questions and see how the new record is doing. We had the pleasure of having Jack with us for part of the interview as well as Alex, and this will definitely go down as our favorite ATL interview yet. At least....until the next time.

CHRISTINA AVINA: Hey guys. Great set, as always. I wanted to talk to you about your new record. I'm thrilled that Matt Flyzik gave me a copy tonight because I haven't been able to find it anywhere I go.

ALEX GASKARTH: Oh, really?

CA: I have looked, called around and I keep hearing the same thing. Everyone tells me that they only got a few copies in and they sold out in minutes.

AG: Yeah, there's been some distribution issues. We got bumped into some bigger chains and with new bands sometimes they don't tend to stock a lot of CD's. I think they kind of got swamped because they only got like 5 CD's and they all got bought the first day. Then they don't get another shipment until the next week.

CA: I did get to listen to it with the rest of the press beforehand, so I was dying to get it the first day. Every track is just amazing. Let's talk about sales. I got an e-mail from someone at your publicist's office saying that you have been selling the crap out of this record. Is that true?

JACK BARAKAT: (smiling ear to ear)

AG: So far so good. This is the first week, and it was something like 14,200 which was beyond what we expected. We're pretty blown away.

CA: How about the charts?

AG: Amazing.

CA: Amazing huh?

AG: To be on the actual Billboard charts.

JB: That's never happened to us.

CA: Never? This is the first time?

AG: Number 62 out of 100.

CA: There was one chart though where you were #6. What chart was that?

JB: Alternative.

AG: New alternative or something like that.

JB: We made iTunes Alternative #4, which was awesome.

CA: Jack can't stop smiling. I don't know if you noticed that or not. (laughing with Jack).

AG: No, it's crazy and awesome.

CA: I already knew this was going to happen. Ever since the first time I saw you guys.

JB: Where did you see us the first time?

CA: The Brewery in Raleigh.

AG: (To Jack) They've been keeping up with us for a while now.

JB: Oh, was that with Hit The Lights or with Cute Is What We Aim For?

CA: We were at both shows actually. Honestly, the first time we saw you we hadn't heard of you before. We were there to cover another band. I always find my favorite bands that way though. We're lucky like that.

AG: Or they find you.

CA: Let's talk about the tightie whitie picture for a minute if we can.

AG: Sure.

JB: Let's.

CA: I loved your response, by the way, to that girl's suspension. If you ever decide that this whole singing thing isn't working out for you, be a comedian please. You constantly make us laugh.

AG: Okay.

CA: There is another band that I know very well also. I'll be interviewing them for the third time next week. They took a picture in their tightie whities too for the cover of AP recently.

AG: Ahhhhhhh...

JB: Chiodos?

CA: Yep. You knew who I was talking about. Do you think they saw you and thought, "Damn, those guys look good. We have to show these guys how to do it?"

AG: Actually, one of them talked to Rian about that. Oddly enough our picture was in the same issue of AP. That was their cover shoot but our ad was in it with that picture. I think what it was is that their photographer was a bit of an idea thief.

CA: That's what I was wondering.

AG: I guess the guy that did their shoot saw ours and was like, "Well, this is bigger. They'll probably get credit for doing it first." But, unfortunately, we released it first.

JB: I don't think it was intentional.

AG: Nah, they didn't know so there's no hard feelings there.

CA: Yeah, I love Chiodos. They're good guys.

AG: I'm glad to see that other people are getting naked. More people should.

CA: There you go.

AG: I'm taking a stance.

CA: Well, you guys aren't really shy about that kinda thing on stage, so we're used to that.

AG: We're very sexual.

CA: Don't get me started on that conversation. (Pointing to my assistant beside me I whisper to the guys) She's in the room. This is my daughter, just in case you didn't know that by now or couldn't tell. Not that we mind what you guys say. It's just kinda like watching a movie where there is a ton of nudity or a sex scene with your kid, although we do it's just awkward once in awhile.

JB: Every single time I'm at home watching a movie, I swear to God, every time there's a scene that can be considered sexual in some way my Mom or Dad walk in.

AG: Exactly.

CA: It doesn't bother us too much, it's more when my son/her brother is also in the room with us too. He's gonna be 18 and then suddenly it's like no one walks to look at each other after that.

AG: It's a little awkward.

CA: So, do you want me to give Chiodos a message that you guys are throwing down the gauntlet about whose picture should have been on the AP cover?

JB: (laughing hard)

AG: I'm just gonna come out and say, if you're going to do a picture in your underwear at least do tightie whities. Nah, I like those dudes a lot.

JB: We like nude guys.

AG: We got to hang out with them a lot on Warped Tour. They're really nice dudes. No beef with them.

CA: That's cool. Okay, I have to mention something before we move on. I arranged with your publicist to do a fan photo contest for All Time Low fans. We did this before with the 30 Seconds to Mars fans on the website.

AG: Awesome.

CA: I know the 30 Seconds to Mars fans extremely well and have for a long time, and they are insane and very dedicated. I love the Echelon. When I did this photo contest for them I thought, these people are going to kill me with entries. I did get a decent amount of entries so it was cool. So when I got ready to do this with your fans I went onto your message board because I like to interact with the fans of the bands that I interview....

(at the mention of their official message board, Jack and Alex look to each other and immediately begin to smile and laugh to each other)

AG: Of all the fans that we have, the message board "boardies" or veterans....

CA: Yep, I know that term.

AG: It gets more and more intense down the line.

CA: They are so dead serious about you guys. Which is great to have that kind of support.

AG: The fan clubs, the boardies and then some of the boardies became the veterans and they will kill you I think.

CA: I know. I saw that happen with 30 and the echelon because if you weren't there when the self-titled CD came out some of them would say, "You can't really consider yourself echelon unless you were there from the beginning." But, let me just tell you that when I announced this contest I couldn't check my e-mail fast enough.

JB: Oh my god.

CA: I had probably close to 400 entries and they're still coming, even though the deadline has passed.

AG: Oh man.

CA: I had to narrow it down to a top 10 out of close to 400 photos.

AG: Jeez. What was the contest, I mean, what were the pictures of?

CA: These were shots the fans took of you performing live.

AG: Oh, okay. So it was for the best live performance shot taken by a fan.

CA: So out of the top 10 finalists now, those people have to get other people to vote for their picture. There have been so many votes coming in that the hit counter on my site keeps resetting. It can't handle the number of votes coming in every hour.

JB: No way.

AG: That's awesome. That is so funny.

JB: I'm sorry. I have to go change my boxers. My butt is itching.

CA: (laughs) I love how you share it with us Jack.

AG: He'd probably drop trough right here if you let him.

CA: That's what we love about him.

AG: Be sure to leave that in the interview.

CA: Don't think I won't. We're not censored at all. Wait, is he doing it in here?

AG: He might.

CA: Okay. By the way, one of your fans wanted to know if you are now going to be a polka band because you didn't sell as many CD's as Kanye and 50 cent?

AG: I'm going with the 50 cent response and go with, "It was our label's fault, uh, and uh, the stores didn't, uh, supply enough CD's, and uh....you know I got a side project and then I'm gonna retire instead." Yeah, so we are going to become a polka band.

CA: Sweet. I can see you guys doing polka.

AG: That's the next CD.

CA: Ready for more fan questions?

AG: They're my favorite kind.

CA: So this is from Katelyn in West Virginia. Since the album is out now you will most likely be even bigger than before. Will you still do signings and hang out after every show?

AG: Always, always, always. As long as it's never to the point where one of us will die, I think we always will. Then we will just come out in armor. No, we'll never stop doing that.

JB: Stop doing what? (Jack returns with a fresh pair of boxers on....and pants, of course).

AG: Signings and hanging out with fans and stuff. No, we'll never get to a point where we feel we're too big, or too good, or whatever, to hang out with people. It get does get harder, just because the more people you're playing to it does get harder to get around to everybody. There is probably, sadly, going to come a time when it gets harder to do it but if we don't get to you that day, don't think it was anything personal or that we weren't out there. Chances are we were, we just didn't get the time to get to every single person.

JB: Sometimes people get really hostile.

AG: Yeah, we should clarify. We see angry messages on the Myspace sometimes saying like, "I went to your show. Why didn't you come out? You guys are getting cocky. Blah, blah, blah."

CA: I'm waiting for the conversations to come up more and more. You'll start hearing things like, "You guys don't remember where you came from," and all that bull shit.

AG: We sometimes get it. It's a bummer because if you read a couple of posts below that one there are seven posts where girls are posting pictures from that same show. So obviously we were out there.

CA: Right, and you can't possibly do everything.

AG: It's a bummer, but it's just kind of inevitable.

CA: Are you ready for this crowd tonight? (referring to the packed house that went insane for ATL right before this interview)

AG: It's actually been like this every night. There have been a lot of people and so far they've all been really, really cool. It's tiring but it's awesome.

CA: You just need to party a little less and hug a little more, right?

AG: Actually, the partying and hugging ratio has been about even recently. I'm starting to get really tired though, so the partying thing probably needs to cease. The hanging out will never cease.

CA: Well, you're riding on a bit of a high right now with the record coming out and doing so well, so I'm sure it's hard not to party a little bit.

AG: Yeah. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we came on this tour and we were already good friends with Boys Like Girls and The Audition. So, it's like reuniting with people that you haven't seen for a long time. The first thing you want to do is celebrate. Everybody is just doing so well and the tour is amazing.

CA: Especially when you are coming down from Warped Tour where it's party central.

AG: Exactly. Thank you, Jesus, no more summer heat. (at this point, part of ATL's crew walks through the bus and says your welcome to Alex) That's Jesus everybody.

CA: Jesus has entered the building.

JB: Then it turns out that We The Kings are totally chill dudes too.

CA: They could be your little brothers. They're style is so similar, their sound is very similar. I don't know how old they are, but they remind me of your little brothers.

AG: Yeah. Actually, a few other people have said that. It's weird that you say that. I would like to consider them that. I mean, not that we have any....I wish I could say that we found these kids.

CA: Let's just pretend you did.

AG: Okay. I'm Jay Z and they are Rhianna.

JB: (laughing at Alex)

CA: Yep, you just took them under your wing and made them what they are today. Okay, this one is from Susan Kang. How did you guys feel when you found out that 'So Wrong, It's Right' was leaking on the internet?

AG: Obviously it was a bummer, only because we managed to keep it from leaking for a pretty long time. I think we were only about two weeks out from release. It was more like, we knew it was gonna happen because unless you pay for watermarking these days, it's gonna leak. People have slippery fingers.

JB: Even if you pay for watermarking, it would probably still leak.

AG: We expected it.

CA: Sometimes, some people will say that the artist themselves let it leak.

JB: 50 cent apparently leaked his.

AG: To be totally honest, the stats that we got for our first day's sales, we apparently sold 8,000 the first day. On Bit Torrent, one of the main websites where you can download CD's, the hit counter on that was 25,000 downloads of the CD on the first day. That doesn't count the people that downloaded it before. I mean, 25,000 on the first day....

JB: If you were a band like ten years ago....

AG: It's like, who cares. As long as the people are getting it and coming to the shows, you know?

JB: As far as CD sales now, all that CD sales really matter is for basically getting the bigger tours. It helps, but if you're drawing kids to shows people will notice.

CA: Your boardies were very serious about the leaking issue. Did you read some of those posts?

JB: Oh my god! Listen to this. I posted on there as JackATL and I had never posted on there before, so no one took me seriously. I was like, "Yeah, I just downloaded the new CD. It's awesome!" People were like so mad at me. I had to reply and say, "This is Jack." Then they were like, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry."

CA: That was you? That is so funny.

JB: They got so fucking pissed off.

CA: I know. I was reading some of those posts.

AG: It's a weird balance. On the one hand it's awesome that people are so devoted to try to keep it from leaking and to have that much support for us. But, at the same time, as long as people get the record I don't care.

CA: It's great when fans are as dedicated as your fans. It could be worse. You could have the kind of fans that are scary serious.

AG: Let's hope it never gets to that point.

CA: Then you will need some big bodyguard.

AG: Our fans are young. I'm not too worried.

CA: Young people can carry knives. I've seen it happen.

JB: (cracking up)

CA: Okay, Susan also wanted to know just how much you love the boardies?

AG: Too much.

JB: Brb. Sorry. (Jack has to answer a call and leaves for a bit).

AG: We love them a lot. Sometimes we feel like....it's hard for us to show them. I think they don't realize how much we appreciate them, and it sucks because I would love to be able to do something to show our appreciation. I'm sure one day we will, but it's all a matter of timing. We love those kids to death. They've been with us from the beginning, basically keeping up our online buzz I think. When marketing stops for awhile or when we don't have time to get online and do stuff we need to do, I think the general discussion between them just keeps pulling people in. People are like, "Who are these people who are so devoted to this, and why are they so devoted?" Then other people get hooked. The next thing you know, they're all sucked in.

CA: That's a good way to look at it.

AG: We're taking over the world.

CA: This one was one of my favorites. How many cats can you take on at once? She went on to explain that it could be house cats, jungle cats, or pussy cats.

AG: Okay. House cats, 30. Jungle cats, 4. Pussy cats....I would never harm a pussy cat. Especially not Josie.

CA: If you could dance party with anyone in the world, who would be?

AG: (without any hesitation whatsoever) Keira Knightly.

CA: There you go. It didn't even take you a full second to answer.

AG: Can I say this, just to clarify? Just in case she reads this (I love that Alex thinks Keira Knightly is surfing the internet and reading Rock On Request). Pretty much, for any question that I've ever been asked like, "Who would you marry?", for any question like that it's always Keira Knightly. One day she's going to see an interview where I say something like that.

CA: One day....

AG: We're going to get married. We're gonna be in love and we're gonna have babies!

CA: I'll be sure to let her know. Let's see, did the band or someone else convince Zack to go on Exposed?

AG: No, actually....Zack, come tell the story of how you were on Exposed.

ZACK MERRICK: I gotta change.

AG: Alright. Basically....(shouts to Zack) What beach were you on? Hungtinton?

ZM: I was at the house.

AG: Okay. He was at the house....

ZM: (answering from further back on the bus) I was at a party.

AG: Apparently I have the story all wrong. Zack, why don't you just come tell it?

ZM: I'm changing.

AG: Okay, back to business. One way or another he ended up talking to people that produced the show. Him and Nick both filled out applications to go on. I think it was kind of done as a joke. Then they both received calls to come do it. They both ended up filming an episode.

CA: I haven't seen it yet, but I hear it's pretty funny.

AG: He won.

CA: Another fan question here. Do you write songs based on experiences you've had, or just think of something that someone might be going through?

AG: Most of the songs are based on experience. A couple are kind of fictional, like 'Come One, Come All' on the new record is fictional. That song was done for fun lyrically. It came about one day when I was stuck in traffic and listening to the radio, and this guy had the most obnoxious persona ever. He kept playing songs that I didn't want to hear. I was just like, how awesome would it be if I could roll up to that studio and just put a gun to that guy's head? Needless to say I was having a bad day.

CA: Obviously.

AG: Yeah, I vented when I wrote that song.

CA: That's good then. You got it out that way instead of actually driving down there....

AG: And murdering somebody.

CA: This next one is from Kelly McAlpine. Where do you guys get your hair done?

AG: Um, Jack and Zack both go to a girl named Marina at Bubbles in Towson at Towson Towne Mall, in our hometown. She used to do my hair as well. The last professional who cut my hair was a girl at Spa in the Valley, in Hunt Valley, which is also around where we live. That's when I had all the blond and craziness. Since then, I've just kind of let random people cut it.

CA: Just whoever?

AG: Yeah. I'm just like, "Hey, can you cut my hair?"

CA: Matt Flyzik one day, someone else another?

AG: If I get the feeling that someone is a stylist in training, or someone I know that might be getting into that business I'll be like, "Wanna cut my hair?"

CA: And that's what takes you to this lovely style that you have now.

AG: I guess so. Actually, it's the first time in a long time that I've been happy with the way my hair is. It's grown out.

CA: It's a little darker too.

AG: All the blond is gone.

CA: It looks great. Next question. Does anyone that you know from before, before you were big time rock stars like you are now....

AG: Sheesh.

CA: Do any of your old hometown people, people who maybe weren't that cool to you before, suddenly come up to you now and say, "Yeah, it's my boy Alex!", like you're great friends?

AG: Yeah, it happens. Not so much people that I wasn't cool with before. It's never someone that I didn't like, it's just people that never game me the time of day and now their suddenly like, "Oh, what's up? Now that you're in town we should hang out." I do have a lot of love for the people that I actually do hang out with back home and I usually stick with them.

CA: Do you get home much lately?

AG: Not lately. We've been out on the road pretty consistently since about June, a little bit more actually. In that whole time we've spent maybe a week at home, at most, in a row. A day here and there sometimes, but after we finished the record it's just been tour, tour, tour. We're actually taking December off.

CA: Good for you. You get to spend Christmas with your families.

AG: Here's the downer. My parents have to go to England to visit family and everything. They said I can come along, but I said I want to see friends and stuff. I opted to stay home, but I am going to the Bahamas.

CA: Very cool. Okay, time for the last fan question. Now that you're....what do you want to be called? Are you a rock star now?

AG: No.

CA: Well, now that you guys are big and popular.....

AG: I'm more than a rock star. I'm Alex Gaskarth, ROCK GOD!!!

CA: (laughing with Alex) Are you going to start wearing guyliner? That's what this fan wants to know.

AG: (laughing) Probably not. I put on eyeliner once for a Halloween party; I was doing an 80's hair metal thing. I had cut off sleeves and jeans. At the time it was kind of sad because my hair was long, so I didn't actually have to get a wig. I just teased it all out so that I looked like one of the New York Dolls. I put on eyeliner for that and it didn't really work for me.

CA: Yeah, you can't really pull off the whole Wil from Aiden look.

AG: I looked like a girl.

CA: You could probably pull off the tranny look if you really wanted to.

AG: That's funny, because Buzznet wants us to do a feature with Jeffree Star. Jeffree is a good friend of ours, and one of the ideas was that Jeffree give us a makeover.

CA: That would be funny.

AG: So, maybe you'll see us all Jeffree'd out.

CA: I don't know. He might get jealous when you guys look better than him.

AG: Nah, Jeffree's a babe.

CA: Jeffree is pretty hot. To close us out here, do you have anything you want to say to your fans?

AG: Really, just thank you as always. As I said many times throughout this interview, you guys are probably some of the best fans that a band could ever have. Just keep doing what you're doing because we're impressed.

(At this point in time, Alex does something that reminds us why they are truly nice guys)

CA: Can I ask you a personal favor?

AG: Sure.

CA: My daughter Aly has a friend who came to see you with us at The Brewery. She had never seen you before. That was her first concert ever, and she fell in love with ATL. She ended up unfortunately moving a little ways away from us....

AG: Awww, no way.

CA: We live 3 hours from here, and she actually moved out here and was going to meet up with us tonight to see you again, and see us. Unfortunately, she got in trouble at home and her mom refused to let her come and she was just heartbroken. It was like a double whammy, because she was looking forward to seeing my daughter and looking forward to seeing ATL again.

JB: (Jack puts in his thoughts on the matter as he is leaving the bus) Not to see all of us, just me right?

CA: Of course Jack. She really loves you.

JB: I have my own shirt (obviously referring to the new ATL t-shirt with Jack's smiling face on it).

AG: (laughs at Jack)

CA: She was really looking forward to this so much.

AG: What's her name?

CA: Her name is Jordan.

AG: Jordan....I'm so sorry you didn't make it out tonight. I'm officially, on the record and off, bummed as hell that you're not here. Let's hang out next time. I'm sorry. We'll play charades or something.

CA: Thanks so much.

ALY AVINA: (to Alex) How would you feel about saying that to her on the phone? That would make her day.

AG: Of course. Call her up!

What followed was a classic Alex Gaskarth, ROCK GOD move as Alex proceeded to have my daughter Aly call up her friend and give the phone to him. After telling Jordan just how bummed he was that she couldn't be there, and joking with her about everything she missed out on, he continued to just talk to her about random things for several minutes and completely cheered her up. It's not too often that a musician will come off of playing a tiring set, answer a bunch of questions and then proceed to cheer someone up that he met briefly one time several months earlier. I guess that is what being a true ROCK GOD is all about. Thanks Alex. You give the word "classy" a whole new meaning. I'll be sure to contact Keira Knightly's people and have them contact your people.