Alternative Press posted an interview with William this morning.
Fans of THE ACADEMY IS… woke up to some heartbreaking news last weekend: With a simple post on their Facebook page, the Chicago band announced their break-up after eight years, three full-length albums and plenty of high-profile tours (including a stint on the 2009 AP Tour). Although frontman WILLIAM BECKETT assured he’s working on a solo record, the sudden split left fans with more questions than answers. AP exclusively caught up Beckett yesterday, as he was strolling around crunching through the autumn leaves—and while he remained relatively mum on his future musical direction, he was candid about what lead to the end of the Academy Is… .
Interview by: ANNIE ZALESKI The breakup took a lot of people by surprise. How long was it in the works?
It definitely wasn’t an impulse decision. For me, it was a culmination of a lot of little factors that summed up to a very difficult but necessary decision for us. A lot of it had to do with the way I felt after our show in New York for the Fueled By Ramen 15th anniversary. It was meant to be our last show with our drummer, the Butcher [Andy Mrotek]. It felt great. Then we were penciled in for this Jack’s Mannequin tour, and thinking about moving forward without him on tour… I think I naïvely thought before that it would be okay, it would be the same. But those feelings changed after that show; I felt like it wouldn’t be the same anymore, and it wouldn’t be as comfortable as far as the other aspects of things. The three of us—me, Mike [Carden] and Adam [Siska]—have all been growing distant [with] less emphasis on friendship, and it’s pretty much all taken over into the stress of the record. Our friendships had definitely been taking a toll, and to be perfectly honest, it was never really peaches and cream. Mike and I are definitely an interesting pair, and our dynamic worked for a while, but not without great struggle and internal battles and demons. For me, I feel like it’s the right time to move on, to move forward, and to do something I can champion on my own and be in control of—and feel better about my decisions, my record and how it’s going to pan out. Whereas Mike and I started drifting, as far as our vision for the band and what we wanted it to be. When it comes down to what you want something to be and what it is, you have to be honest with yourself about what you’re looking at and how who you are is going to be affect the art of what you’re doing. And Mike and I, while we did write a lot of great songs together, I just couldn’t do it anymore. ( Read more... )
Article here: http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/william_beckett_interview_academy_is..._breakup?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=altpress
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