Taking Back Sunday was back in Montreal on Monday night, this time with a new line-up, but the same energy-ridden performance. They are currently touring the United States and Canada with Welch quintet Funeral For A Friend and Atreyu, in support of their latest album entitled “Where You Want To Be”.
Although the band’s lineup underwent a serious transformation in 2003 after two members quit, they have come back stronger than ever. Matt Rubano is one of two musicians who came to fill in. Before joining the band, the bassist had done freelance work, including contribution to “the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” album.
“I mostly joined because I was getting disenchanted with the idea of doing freelance work all the time,” he explains. “I really wanted to be part of something and watch something grow.” According to Rubano, being asked to join Taking Back Sunday by long-time friend Mark O’Connell, the band’s drummer, was a dream scenario. The band was already well known and he could just “slide in and have some creative control,” as he says.
This being said, several weeks after he joined, the band was already playing shows. All of those who thought the band might not survive the split were in for a surprise. “This whole experience, from that moment that Mark O’Connell called me until right now, has been a whirlwind hurricane. I haven’t had a minute to breathe,” says Rubano, who took time to emphasize that it was a good thing.
The band’s sophomore record, “Where You Want To Be”, was produced by Lou Giordano, who has worked with acts like Sugar and the Goo Goo Dolls in the past. “We have a pretty unconventional writing style; all five of us contribute in writing songs,” states the bass player. He says that they are really excited with the end result. “I think that it’s an evolution,” says Rubano, referring to their newest record “It’s more diverse than the first record, leaving the future of what we could do musically open.”
The album came out on July 29 and debuted at number three on the Billboard Top 200 chart. To this day, it has sold more than 400,000 copies. Rubano says that although the band was aware that their listenership base was broadening, they never anticipated this level of success. “I had no idea it was going to do what it did, so it’s pretty amazing!” Even with the recent buzz surrounding Taking Back Sunday, Rubano assures people that they are not anywhere close to the status of bands like U2.
He says the band is at a great place right now “because we can do what we want to do and put out these kinds of records, and we still live fairly normal and comfortable lives,” says the musician. Taking Back Sunday are where they want to be.
Once the current tour ends, they will be heading home for a short break before hitting the road again this time in the UK and Europe. They also plan on starting to work on new material for their next album. Rubano says he has been enjoying every moment with Taking Back Sunday.
“Getting to play music everyday, it’s an amazing life,” says the bass player. “The worst day of this is better than the best day of any other job I’ve ever had.” When asked what he has learned from being in the band, Rubano responded, “Oh boy, I think that could actually be good subject matter to write a novel,” says the bassist, “every single dynamic and dimension to a partnership you can imagine, I’ve learned about every day.”
Matt Rubano says the members of Taking Back Sunday want to take it as far as they possibly can. He feels that the one thing common between all artists, is the idea of divine dissatisfaction, where one is never really happy. “You are never going to do something where you go ‘wow! this is the best thing that I am ever going to do, I am totally happy and I’m done’,” he explains. Rubano predicts that if he lives to be 100, he will still be sitting there, fiddling on his bass, still in search of that perfect tune or song.
