Earlier this year, AltRockLive had the opportunity to speak with Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low before their Summer 2011 their tour with The Starting Line, Mayday Parade, and We Are The In Crowd. In this interview, Alex talks about the Summer tour, All Time Low's album "Dirty Work", lots of other interesting and funny situations Alex has had, some of his personal favorites, and much more. We hope you enjoy reading this interview as much as we enjoyed conducting it.

AltRockLive: How has preparing for the tour going?
Alex: Preparation is pretty lax to be honest with you. We just got back from Europe a week and half ago. We were there for a month and some change. That was a pretty intense tour and a while to be away from home. Right now everybody's just chilling at home home, taking it easy, regaining energy and getting back up to speed for the next tour I guess. We have a couple rehearsal days coming up so It'll be pretty fun.
AltRockLive: Are you excited for it?
Alex: Absolutely man! It's gonna be rad. It's kind of an interesting tour because it's not a whole focus on the states right now but what we are doing is hitting up some of our best markets and favorite markets to play and on top of that we're heading up to Canada for a extended period of time. We've never really spend a long period of time there before. So, we're excited to get up there and get it done for the canadians.
AltRockLive: What kind of stuff should we expect from this tour?
Alex: Well, I think a big focus is going to be on the new album. It's really our first tour back in the United States with the new album out. I think there's gonna be a pretty central focus on getting those new songs across and showing everybody what we can do with them live. You know I think it'll just be a lot of energy, the things that people have come to expect from All Time Low. In some of the cases we're stepping it up on the production and trying to make it a unique and refreshed experience for everybody.
AltRockLive: What other bands will we be seeing on this tour?
Alex: We have our buddies in this band called Mayday Parade coming out. It's been a little while since we've toured with them, so you know, it's gonna be nice to get back on the road with those guys and catch up. We know it works really well, so I think the audience will be pretty stoked about that. We have some friends in a band called We Are The In Crowd who are signed to our old label Hopeless Records. They're really really great kids: super focused, super talented, so I think that will be a really really good opener. Also, a few select dates, the starting line will be playing so that's pretty awesome.
AltRockLive: Once you start the tour in july, it looks like you'll be touring straight through to February. How do you feel about that?
Alex: Ahh dude, I'm stoked to be honest. It's pretty non-stop. With the new album out we kind of want to focus on getting out there and playing everything for the fans. It's gonna be a busy year but at the same time it's gonna be a really awesome year. I'm very excited to head back overseas. We're going back to Australia and Japan and Southeast Asia.
AltRockLive: What are some of the cities you're most looking forward to where you have the biggest fan-base?
Alex: Man, that's a good question. Umm.. I think the Boston show will be pretty rad. Australia is always really cool. Japan is insane, I love playing in Japan. I think Japan is probably what I'm most looking forward to this year.
AltRockLive: Obviously on tour, lots and lots of bras are thrown on stage. Do you collect them all and hoard a mass collection somewhere or do you get rid of them?
Alex: Haha! We usually just get rid of all of them. There was one tour we were actually getting more bras then we've ever really had. It was a kind of unbelievable amount and we ended up just keeping them and collecting them all in our truck trailer. By the end of the tour we ended up with thousands of bras, it was crazy.
AltRockLive: Any idea what the largest amount of bras thrown on stage has been?
Alex: I think it ended up being like 1700 bras or something.
AltRockLive: Did you guys donate them to a good cause or just throw them away?
Alex: We should've donated them. What we should've done honestly is build a car that runs on bras because we could've really changed the world with that.
AltRockLive: That's definitely a good idea. The petroleum companies would probably be a bit mad if they found out but you'd get away it for sure.
Alex: I think it's the future man. You better not steal my idea.
AltRockLive: Speaking of bras, have you ever had to tell a girl to put her shirt back on for any reason?
Alex: Haha! To be completely honest, that probably has happened. Girls get their body parts out from time to time when the girls in question are noticeably underage and that makes everybody so uncomfortable. So we're like look, you need a signed permission slip just to be here so put your shirt back on girl.
AltRockLive: Dirty work has been out for over a month now. How is the fan reaction so far?
Alex: It's been awesome man, very cool. It's weird because we've been living with the songs and the record for so much longer that it's been out. You know the other day I realized that it's only been out for a little over a month now. I think that the fan reaction has been phenomenal. We're all super excited to see that people are into the new music and still following along and kind of growing with us. It's kind of nerve-wracking when you put out a new album. To see a crowd with a great reaction in it and a good response to the new material is very relieving.
AltRockLive: This is your fourth album, how is it different from the rest?
Alex: To be honest, up until this record you could easily say that our records were pop-punk to some degree. I think this time around we may have stepped outside that genre a bit. I think we pushed ourselves and we didn't want to keep writing the same record over and over. I think a difference this time around is that there's a little more dynamic on the album you know. There's definitely still the roots of pop-punk where we came from in there. I don't think we'd ever do away with that sound but at the same time I think we were a little bit more ambitious this time and tried some new things. I think a big part of it is that we grew up on pop-punk and that's really shown through in all our last efforts but that this point we're six years into our career and our influences have changed a bit you know and our musical taste has broadened. A big part of it is that people are hearing a breeze through of what we listen to know you know kind of stacked up against what we came from.
AltRockLive: Which song or songs are your favorite off this album and why?
Alex: Man it's a tough question for me to answer because there are a bunch them that I love. I think one of the songs that really stands out to be as being one of the defining tracks on the record is a song called "Guts". I think it's just a very cool song and it's unlike other song we've done before and I think there's a good chance of going forward and that might be the direction we go in and the road we try to explore a little further.
AltRockLive: What or who were your biggest influences when writing this album?
Alex: Man, that's a great question. Uhh, I think a lot of the big influences that came through on this record were a lot of sort of products of the 90s. It kind of like came full circle where we grew up listening to 90s music then got into the pop punk of the of the early 2000s and that's what sort of stuck with us for a long time. But, with this album we really kind of bounced back to that 90s vibe. There was a lot of influence from bands like Third Eye Blind, Foo Fighters, slightly earlier Green Day, but also bands like Eve 6. A big one would be like Marvelous 3 and Butch Walker's earlier albums and stuff like that.
AltRockLive: What exactly is the "Dirty Work" that you do?
Alex: Haha, The dirtiest work that we do is the commitment to this thing. It takes a lot out of you. It's not all glitz and glam like it sometimes comes across. We are certainly living our dream but at the same time it's definitely taxing at time. There's a lot of BS that you have to kind of push your way through in order to find the good in it all. You know I think that's the dirtiest part of it. It's a struggling industry and right now it's a failing industry. People are desperate and people will do fucked up things to get ahead so you kind of have to be careful of that.
AltRockLive: Seeing as the album is title "Dirty Work", should we expect to see any collaborations with Mike Rowe from "Dirty Jobs" or possibly an appearance on the show?
Alex: Haha, that would be amazing! We actually had a thought to try and cast him and do a promotional video for the record but it was a little out of our reach at this point. But yeah, that would be totally rad. Also, there's that movie with, shit, who is it? Norm Macdonald I think, That movie Dirty Work, I think it'd be awesome if we got him to do something.
AltRockLive: You guys are Blink 182 fans right?
Alex: Absolutely.
AltRockLive: Have you heard their new single "Up All Night"?
Alex: I have, I have, I was stoked about it.
AltRockLive: What do you think of it?
Alex: I think it's really cool you know. From an honest opinion, I think it's definitely kind of heading in that kind of direction where the self-titled album went. You can definitely tell that it's self-produced and you can definitely tell that the three guys in the band are coming back from a long break and in that break, they've all kind of gone off in different directions and sound sort of new styled that fits them. It sort of reflects in that song for sure. It's kind of a big like, coming together of where they've all been. It's cool though, it's a good reflection of the fact that they're back together and still capable of doing something creative and something awesome.
AltRockLive: What is your favorite movie of all time and why?
Alex: Ahh, man my favorite movie of all time is super nerdy but it's this movie "The Fifth Element" by a director Luc Besson, he's this french dude. He does these super stylized movies and the intent was kind of to make fun of those action comedy movies but he did it in such a slick way. It's rad.
AltRockLive: What bands or artists have you been listening to lately?
Alex: Umm, it's kind of all over. I'm really stoked on Ellie Goulding right now. Big into the new Wonder Year album. Also, I've been really stoked on, Oh God what was it that I was just listening to that is totally rad? I only listened to it once but I really liked what I heard. It's a new record that just came out. Fuck! I don't know, I'm blanking on it. Also the Foo Fighter's new record is great.
AltRockLive: Mac or PC? Why?
Alex: That's actually a funny question. I'm a mac person in general, but I'm a super nerd at this point in my life I've so admitted it. So, I recently bought a PC purely for the intent and purposes of video games. Um, so I'm kind of flip-flopping right now between my mac for daily use because it doesn't break all the time and then the PC for my hardcore nerd out moments when I have to game.
AltRockLive: Have you received a google+ invite yet?
Alex: I haven't. I'm late to the party on this one. I don't really even know what it is and I'm kind of scared to get involved. I feel like, I don't know, it's intimidating. I haven't gotten an invite. If you've got an invite, I want you to invite me.
AltRockLive: Have you ever been in the middle of sex and had your own music come on?
Alex: Haha! That's a great question! I actually, I have to say I'm always super careful about shit like that because it would just ruin the moment. Umm, I stick to playlists and I make sure my music is not in those playlists when that kind of situation is going down.
AltRockLive: Last time you played in Boston, one of you said "We're coming back soon because we just simply can't impregnate all of you in one night". Are these still your intentions?
Alex: Absolutely. We're coming back to finish the job.
AltRockLive: Any Last words for the fans?
Alex: Ahh yeah, I guess to anyone checking this out, thanks for being interested in what we do and we're stoked to come play for you guys.