Straight Up Random

There are little to no bands that can be compared to Family Force 5 and the unique genre-blending music they create, and like their music, their shows are one of a kind. Whether you like their music or not, there’s no denying their high-energy live performance that’s guaranteed to get you  up off your feet. Currently on their It’s All Gold Tour in support of their newest album III, Straight Up Random had the chance to talk to Crouton (Jacob Olds) on the first stop of the tour in Orlando, FL. 

SUR: You’re kicking off your tour today in Orlando, FL! Are you excited to be playing some smaller venues again?

We are! I’m super excited about playing like a little bit smaller venues because it’s always cool when you’re a little bit more intimate with the crowd. In particular, this venue, The Social, was the first place that Chap Stique, our guitarist, played with us. So it’s kind of bringing back memories; I just walked in and was like “oh ok, this is craaazzzyy.”

SUR: What kind of things do you do to prep for a tour?

You know, we work out, no, just you’ve got to be on top of all your music and stuff like that so like a lot of practicing, especially on our new record and stuff. And I always go out and get a bunch of chocolate. It’s so bad. I prefer dark chocolate.

SUR: Ok. So I know on Warped Tour, you had the big gerbil ball – I’m just going to call it that. Can fans expect anything crazy like that during your set for this tour?

It’s definitely going to be crazy. We’re not going to have the Soul Glow ball just because of the size of the venues, and I don’t know if you can actually do that in the club.

SUR: I had a question about your openers, the 808ers. Who are they exactly?

The 808ers are a production team. They’re like producers and writers, and they helped us write our song called “Tank Top” on our new record. They’re crazy. Their lead singer, Tyrell Marcus Jordan III, is a pretty crazy dude, but they’re super shy. They’re cool guys though.

SUR: So obviously, this tour is in support of your new record [III]. How was the writing process for that in comparison to your last album?

The writing process on this record was a lot different. It was super fun. We got to go, and actually co-wrote some stuff with some other writers, and it was the first time that we’ve tried to do that. That was cool, we got to go to LA and write a little bit, and stuff like that. There’s a couple co-writes on the record, 2 or 3, and it was fun. But we also went to like redneck cabins and stuff and sat around our computers and made like beats and stuff and just wrote like that. It was a super fun experience.

SUR: I read that you had 45-50 songs written for this album. How did you go about narrowing it down to only 10 songs?

It was hard because there’s some, I mean, we still have some of those songs and I’m pretty sure we’re going to put some more of those out, but it’s hard because you get close to all the songs so it was a little bit of like us – it was kind of like a poll. Each member of the band had their pick. It was a hard thing because you get attached to those songs.

SUR: You’re new album has been described as a throwback to your first album – was this something you intentionally did or did it just kind of come out that way?

I think it came out naturally. I think people expect us to be a little bit more ghetto and a little bit more redneck. And I think that’s a space that we’re pretty comfortable in, and it comes out naturally. That being said though, I think it’s a pretty good mix of both of the records. Not like, the second record was more like four-on-the-floor with beats and stuff like that so it’s a throwback definitely to the beats and stuff to the first record, but it’s different in its own way too. I think it’s a mature record for us.

SUR: Ok. I know you’re labelled as a “christian band,” so how does that play a role when it comes to writing? Like have you ever cleaned up lyrics or scaled back a bit to kind of keep that status, or was that label more pushed upon your band because you’re open about your faith?

We’re very open about our faith, but our show isn’t different from market to market. So we don’t like sugarcoat our show or what we would actually put in our art, but you’re never going to hear from Family Force 5 any kind of like really really crass stuff on the record. It’s cool.

SUR: So going back about talking about your record, I read that you recorded it in a bunch of different places, and I quote from another interview “in random bathrooms” – What was the oddest place that you recorded in for this album?

Probably the random bathroom. I think that was in a club on another tour. I think they actually did guitars in the bathroom, which is hilarious. But I sang some vocals and stuff like in the back of the bus or like in hotel rooms. Some of the guys did guitar in an airport on a connecting flight from Europe coming back to the states ‘cause we were just sitting for hours. It was definitely a cool experience, and it’s kind of cool that you can do that like bring your software with you, and be able to record anywhere.

SUR: How do you think the location of recording contributed to the overall sound?

I don’t know because it was recorded in so many different places. Initially the record being able to record it in different places added a little, but the majority of it was recorded in Atlanta.

SUR: What’s your favorite song off the new album?

My favorite song is “Tank Top.” I get to sing it. It was a cool um, I like that song because I think it’s a little bit on the, you know, ghetto side, and like that type of music, but I also love “Can You Feel It” and “Paycheck.” “Can You Feel It” is pretty rockin’.

SUR: “Paycheck” is the one about the economy right?

We totally wrote that out of like just the state of the economy, and just friends and family and what people are going through like I’ve had friends lose their house and their jobs and stuff. It was really written out of personal experience. A lot of the record was written out of that, but that song in particular; I think it’s our most political song to date. I really like [“Paycheck”] and how it came out and the message it has.

SUR: I’ve read that you’ll be recording a deluxe version of III called III.V. Are you going to be writing and recording new songs for that or will you be using songs that were scrapped for the original release?

I think both. I think we have some songs in the very end of writing for this initial record that we started, and just didn’t finish because we needed to go ahead and record. So I think we’re going to finish some of those songs, but there’s some awesome songs that have just been kind of sitting there too, so I think there’s going to be a III.V version of the record coming out.

SUR: How will those songs that are going to be on the deluxe album relate to the ones on the original release?

I think some of them are going to be a little bit more like “Can You Feel It,” “Paycheck,” but it’ll intertwine. Family Force 5 – we always puts a little eclectic spice in our music so I think our fans will get it.

SUR: I’m sure you get this a lot, but what’s the story behind your nicknames?

When we first started in Atlanta playing clubs; you grow up in Atlanta listening to hip hop and R&B and everybody has a gangster name – Outkast is from there, Andre 300, Ludacris, Big Boi, whatever – so we were just like makin’ fun of it, and we said from stage “you wanna hear a gangster name or do you wanna hear our real name?!”, and people were like “gangster name!” and we didn’t have it, so we kind of came up with it on the spot, and then it stuck. Now people know me as Crouton! So you have to love that.

SUR: Awesome! Last question – can you give me one straight up random fact about each member of the band?

Nadaddy doesn’t wake up until probably 12 or 1 in the afternoon.

Chap Stique takes incredibly long to get ready in the morning.

Soul Glow sometimes takes a show. He gets kind of smelly…yeah…When his wife comes out, he’ll take a shower so that’s ok. But his bunk is kind of smelly.

Fatty – this is kind of serious thing, he had renal failure a couple of years ago, but I think it’s hilarious because he kind of has an X-Men gene because he’s the biggest one, and he looks the most muscular and stuff. They said that he has some gene in his body that like his muscles break down everyday, and this is why he had renal failure; he overworked the body [due to] working out and stuff. So all these toxins shut down his kidneys, but his body breaks down his muscles everyday regardless of if he works out, so like he doesn’t even have to work out and he looks good. So it’s hilarious because some of the other guys on tour will be like lifting weights and stuff, and he’s not allowed to lift weights, so he has like these 1Ib weights that he’ll lift on his yoga step to make him feel like he’s still doing something. But I always think that it’s kind of funny. And I’m so glad that he didn’t like die because he almost did [due to renal failure], but it’s hilarious to see that big dude lifting 1 pound weights.

What’s a random fact about me….I’m kind of a neat freak. When we came back from this last tour, usually somebody cleans all the bus sheets and everything, but because I make my bed in the bus, which is, I don’t know why I do it, but I make it everyday…[I noticed] they didn’t clean my sheets from the last tour, so I was like “wait! why is this?!So anyway, I’m a neat freak.

SUR: Too funny. Alright, is there anything else you’d like to add?

Buy our record, buy III, and buy III.V when it comes out but in the meantime, buy III.

**Promo picture of Family Force 5 by Angela Morris