After the release of its second album, Champion (Victory Records, Jan. 22), Chicago-based, pop-punk band The Audition is enjoying its rising fame as it headlines the Spring Break ’08 tour, presented by smartpunk.com.
The tour includes bands Hit the Lights, Early Avenue and The Morning Light and played St. Louis’ downtown venue 2 Cents Plain on Wednesday, April 16.
“We’ve been to St. Louis probably five or six times,” said lead guitarist Seth Johnson. “We love it here, it’s always a good time and it’s just a stone’s throw away from Chicago.”
In the midst of the whirlwind tour, the band members are “stoked” about their new album, Johnson said.
“We worked really hard on the album, and we’re all really happy with the way it came out,” he said. “We’re getting super excited that people actually like it.”
The album broke into The Billboard Top 200 Chart soon after its release.
The Audition formed in 2003, the year drummer Ryan O’Conner and bassist Joe Lussa graduated from high school together. They started the band right away, adding Johnson in 2003, vocalist Danny Stevens in 2004 and guitarist Timmy Klepek in 2005.
Their first album, Controversy Loves Company, released in 2005, when the median age of its members was 19. Now, three years later, Champion reflects the group’s maturity.
“It’s one thing to release a second CD,” said Johnson. “It’s completely another thing to release a second CD that is nothing like the first one. People compare that to ‘career suicide;’ people do that and you just never hear of them again, so we think it is so awesome that people think it’s a cool CD.”
So, just who is The Audition auditioning for?
“Anybody who will give us the time of day,” Johnson said. “When you’re in a band, you’re always trying to get new people to listen to your songs. We are auditioning for the world, all the time.”
Johnson said his band’s music is well-received because “anybody can really appreciate what we’re doing. I feel lucky that we have a wide, diverse fan base.
“But, with our state of mind, I think we connect to college kids the best,” he said. “That’s our age . That’s what we would all be doing if we weren’t in a band.”
Having recently finished a sold-out UK tour, The Audition plans to play at Warped Tour this summer. Though the schedule is hectic, the members make the most of their time on the open road.
“Being on tour is one of the craziest things you could ever do with your life,” Johnson said. “It is one of the most exciting things ever, but touring can also be the most brain-numbingly boring thing too. A lot of the time you just do nothing, or you just drive and drive . Still, we all love it, and I don’t think any of us could ever do anything else.”
As the band continues to promote its new album, Johnson feels confident that they are on the music scene to stay.
“We’re not like a pop-punk band that will be here this year and then next year, you won’t hear anything about it,” he said. “We’re a band that’s been steadily on the rise since we made our first CD. I think that’s the difference: We really try to write songs that no one’s ever heard of before, definitely not like a lot of the stuff that’s out there today.”
