Interviews: Bullet Train to Vegas

We recently had a chance to check with Bullet Train To Vegas's Dan Sena to find out what the band is up to.

A great deal has happened over the past few months, including the band's departure from Nitro Records who released their full length, We Put Scissors Where Our Mouths Are. Sena told me a little about that, as well as their future plans including recording, touring and more.

You can click Read More for the interview.

What have you guys been up to lately?

Well we’ve been spending a better part of the year touring the country. We
did the west coast in March with Read Yellow and Haram. That was lots of
fun. I really enjoy the northwest, especially Seattle. We have a bunch of
friends up there, so we always make it a point to see and do as much as we
can while in town. We did the east coast in April and met up with the
Lovekill, Nakatomi Plaza and Heist at Hand for select dates. And then we
went out for the month of July on a US tour(minus the northwest).

The first
half of the tour was with The Blackout Pact and the second half with The
Cardinal Sin and Fire When Ready(who at the time were in the process of
breaking up). We have noticed this year that on these tours there have been
a number of kids coming specifically to see us. In the past we would be
lucky enough to have someone come up to us after a show and tell us how
much they liked us.

There were several times we heard from kids who drove
from 2 hours away to come see the show. It’s a slow process but its
definitely validates that we’re on the right track and we just have to keep
doing what were doing. Needless to say we’ve been keeping busy at our own
pace.

What is the label situation like right now?

Right now we are currently free agents. Things really didn’t go as planned
with Nitro and there was a mutual agreement to leave and go elsewhere. The
split was amicable. We have been in touch with a few labels that are
interested. But I think right now we’re more concerned about finishing our
second album and focusing on our next step as a band.

You guys were kind of the odd band out on Nitro; even though the
roster is very strong if you ask me, your brand of DC post-punk is
quite different than the more traditional California brand that Nitro
does.

That was one reason which prompted our decision to start looking
elsewhere. When we signed with Nitro, they really wanted to become a label
that puts out music they like (similar to what Epitaph and EVR have been
doing). It was their ambition to expand and grow as a label that made it
attractive. Not to mention the staff were all great people. As the year
progressed a number of people left(basically the ones that were really
pulling for us) and we were kind of left as this band they didn’t know what
to do with.

They have since decided they wanted to go back to what they do
best and that is being a pop punk label. We appreciate everything they did
for us. I think without them we wouldn’t be where we are now. Functioning
as a band is certainly easier now than it was 2 years ago.

As for as a follow up to Scissors; how is that coming along?

The writing for the new record is coming along great. I think having new
songs and completing a new album as our next objective has certainly
reinvigorated us as a band. We’re all very excited about the new work and
have actually been playing a lot of it live. I think this time around I’m
really spending more time on how the songs are structured and how they feel
as opposed to how complicated and jagged something sounds. I’m really
trying to construct an album with stand out songs that work together rather
than having a record that just has a bunch of songs. Cohesion is a primary
focus on this next one.

I’ve been going back and listening to a lot of Jesus Lizard and Afghan
Whigs lately. Both bands were very different, but what’s apparent when you
listen to them is that intense feeling that comes across in the music.
What’s so successful about The Jesus Lizard is all the band members working
together to create that intensity. It’s almost as if David Yow is ready to
crawl out of the speakers and strangle you with his mic chord.
Oh and back to the record, we should be recording it with Alex Newport at
the end of the year or in January of 07.