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Ever since emerging from their native Albany, New York, State Champs<\/strong><\/a> have risen up the pop-punk ladders to the point where every new release is greeted with more anticipation. In the weeks leading up to the release of their third album, ‘Living Proof<\/a>,<\/em>‘ the quintet visited the UK briefly as part of the Slam Dunk Festival. Having made their UK festival debut there four years ago, their return and notable billing is a clear sign of how far State Champs<\/strong> have come.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s cool because I see a lot of familiar faces every time we come back, and those familiar are bringing their best friends, who bring their friends,\u201d<\/em> explains vocalist Derek DiScanio. \u201cIt has become a vastly growing community that we’re very interactive about and always want thank them for that and engage as much possible. That’s a big part of our band.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Undoubtedly, with each returning visit, State Champs<\/strong> have found themselves playing to bigger crowds whether it be as headliners or as support for arena-playing bands such as All Time Low. While the thought of playing to larger crowds may seem daunting, DiScanio gives the impression that the band are more than willing to face up to the challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that we’ve grown and been able to do numerous headline tours in the clubs, and the clubs have been getting bigger. The shows have more production. We’ve learned a lot of ourselves; the do’s and don’ts of being in a band and how to put on a show. We try not to think a lot about the pressure but more so ‘what are we going to do that is going to blow out that last tour’?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Considerably State Champs<\/strong>‘ ascension has been rapid and has seen them be given plenty of opportunities. For ‘Living Proof’,<\/em> they worked with acclaimed songwriter and producer John Feldmann yet retained elements their past, bringing in former collaborators Mike Green and Kyle Black on production and mixing duties respectively.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s a big dynamic between those two but they are two brilliant, brilliant producers and songwriters in general,\u201d<\/em> states Derek. \u201cSo the fact we got to mix it up and have half here and half there, but still send it back to Kyle and have him mix it, make it cohesive no matter where each song was recorded.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n While on paper the amount of personnel contributing to ‘Living Proof’<\/em> may come off as \u201ctoo many cooks in the kitchen,\u201d the album itself maintains the stylistic tropes that have shaped State Champs<\/strong>‘ career so far; bright, neatly-produced pop-punk numbers with a hint of lyrical sincerity. For some, their growth has inevitably seen the five-piece on the receiving end of criticism; becoming more ‘pop’ and losing their identity. Nevertheless, DiScanio, along with lead guitarist Tyler Szalkowski, rhythm guitarist Tony Diaz, bassist Ryan Scott Graham and drummer Evan Ambrosio, still have full control of who and what State Champs<\/strong> should be. Besides collaborating with the likes of Feldmann, Green and more notably, blink-182’s Mark Hoppus and All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth, they decided to retreat to New York to return to their origins.<\/p>\n \u201cThis time around we did want to take a break from these writing sessions that we had been doing with other people,\u201d<\/em> Derek tells us. \u201cGetting other people in the room is fun and it makes us think outside of the box and try new things, but then we wanted to go back to the roots of State Champs which is just the five of us in a room. So we went back to New York and wrote a handful of songs by ourselves. We then took them to Mike Green or John, mainly Mike, and shaped them into ‘Living Proof’ songs. That was special for us. There’s something for everyone on this record.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n“We’ve learned a lot of ourselves; the do’s and don’ts of being in a band and how to put on a show.”<\/em><\/h2>\n
“There’s something for everyone on this record”<\/em><\/h2>\n