Kerrang! – July 12, 2019

KERRANG! 7

WORDS:

JENNYFER J. WALKEr

W

hen All Time Low took a
break after 2017’s Last Young
Renegade, feet did not go up.
While frontman Alex Gaskarth
was busy working with blink-182’s Mark
Hoppus on side-project Simple Creatures,
guitarist Jack Barakat got cracking on his
own dark pop outfit, WhoHurtYou.
Teaming up with songwriter/producer
Kevin Fisher, whom the six-stringer met when
Kevin was working on Last Young Renegade
(he co-wrote Life Of The Party and Dark Side
Of Your Room), the pair have since signed to
Parlophone (UK) and Fueled By Ramen (ROW),
and dropped their first-ever single, Wish We
Never Met. It’s as catchy as it is relatable, and
comes accompanied by an Eternal Sunshine
Of The Spotless Mind-style video that sees the
pair get their exes erased from their memory.
If you couldn’t guess from the title and
video, these are two men who’ve had their
hearts kicked in – something they bonded
over, with WHY becoming a much-needed
outlet. We caught up with the duo in Palm
Springs to cheers their new project, and find
out a find out a whole lot more about it...

What were your first thoughts of each
other when you met?
Kevin Fisher (vocals): “Honestly, Jack and
I bonded right off the bat. I had been through
a really bad break-up and was pretty much
on the other end of it, and I saw Jack going
through it, so we definitely became fast friends.
I don’t wanna say I was a support for him, but
I was just trying to be a good friend (laughs).”
Jack Barakat (guitar): “Yeah, he was a
good friend, and our friendship accelerated
because of the situations we had been
through. I think it was a timing thing – we
were both at the same point in our lives.”

What made you decide to form the band?
Jack: “We actually started writing songs
together just to write them, not as a project.
It got to the point where we were like, ‘These
songs are really good, what shall we do with
’em?’ We were sitting down to dinner one

night and I was like, ‘Should we release these?

Like, as a side-project?’ And Kevin was like,

‘I’ve been waiting for you to say it – I didn’t

wanna be the first!’ Then the first song we

wrote together after we decided to do the

project was Wish We Never Met, so that’s why

we wanted it to be the first song that came

out. It came out so fast and natural, because

it’s so real and genuine.”

How did you split the lyric writing?

Kevin: “Everything’s very much 50/50. We

both went through different things, but they’re

similar enough that each song can have

different pieces of our own experiences.”

Jack: “Yeah some songs tend to lean more

towards Kevin’s situation, and some lean

towards mine, but in the end a break-up’s

a break-up.”

And how did you approach writing lyrics

for the first time, Jack?

Jack: “I got some advice

from Alex, he taught me

a couple things, and

Kevin was a big part of

it. Plus, a lot of my friends

in LA are songwriters, so

I’d just get advice from

them and learn.”

You said you’ve always

felt like you had to

portray yourself

positively online, so

how does it feel to

have come out and said,

‘Actually, my life is not perfect...’?

Jack: “Man, that was a crazy day. It’s

something I feel more and more people

who have a lot of eyes on them need to

put out there, because it creates unrealistic

expectations of happiness and how you’re

supposed to be. For years people have

always been like, ‘I love how you’re always

happy!’ and it gets to the point where it’s

like, ‘Er, that’s just, like, not real (laughs).’

It puts that expectation on your life, and

you’re always gonna be unhappy if you’re

constantly looking at how happy other

people are. So it was important to do, and

it felt really cool to put a different side of

myself out there, and try and help people

realise this isn’t real life.”

Is it nice to not be known as the goofball

from All Time Low anymore?

Jack: “(Laughs) Yeah!”

Kevin: “He’s still a goofball.”

Jack: “There’s a lotta goofs [when we’re

hanging out]. Kevin has a very similar humour

to me, and even the ATL guys as well, so we

all got along right off the bat.”

What will the dynamic be like when you

play live? Since ATL is very much you and

Alex being a comedy duo...

Jack: “Your guess is probably as good as

ours (laughs). I’m excited to do it. Kevin is a

great singer, so I know

everything’s gonna sound

great. The jokes will be

there, but they’ll just be

a little more dark and

fucked up.”

Kevin: “I’m excited to

get into that end of it!”

Jack: “This has been a

cool new experience for

Kevin because he’s been

a songwriter for years,

writing for 5 Seconds

Of Summer and One

Republic, all these big

bands. But he’s been

the other side of it to me, where you get

to go out and sing the songs and change

people’s lives, and he’s had almost a back-

seat view of that, so it’s been cool for him

to be on the front line.”

Kevin: “Am I nervous about being out front

for the first time? Not at all. I’m sure once

we have a show booked and we’re about to

go onstage I’ll look at Jack and be like, ‘Um,

I’m scared!’ But no, I feel really good about

it. I’m used to just giving songs to other

“THERAPY MADE

ME UNDERSTAND

WHY I FEEL

CERTAIN WAYS...”

JACK BARAKAT

THE BIG STORY

For 16 years, JACK BARAKAT has been

cracking jokes onstage and making fans

smile with ALL TIME LOW. Now, though,

he’s ready to show the world a whole new

side of him with WHOHURTYOU...

EVERYBODY

HURTS