Interview conducted by Chris Lockett

Another Lost Year is a band that has been getting A LOT of hype and has toured with bands such as 10 Years, Pop Evil, and Nonpoint. Bloody-Disgusting was able to check in with lead singer Clinton Cunanan and chat with him about his debut album Better Days (review), as well who some of his inspirations are, and what goes into the band’s live show. Check out this exclusive interview below!

Bloody-Disgusting: Hey Clinton, how are you?
Clinton Cunanan: Pretty good! You?

BD: Not too bad. So tell me a little bit about how the band got started.
CC: It started as a solo project for me, and then I ended up picking out some other players. You know, people who would help push the solo project, and who slowly started to come more into it as it became more of a band.

BD: So it must be pretty exciting for you to be putting out your first album, has the anticipation been off the chain?
CC: Well we’ve had this thing done for a while now. It’s been finished since May, so we’ve been sitting on it for a while. The reviews are coming in, and we’re definitely really excited. We’re getting really good reception. Our single, “War On The Inside”, charted at #111 and it’s on a radio push right now. We hit #1 on Clear Channel’s IHeartRadio. So yeah, we’re definitely excited for everyone to hear the rest of the album.

BD: So tell me a little bit about the album, and the inspirations behind some of the songs.
CC: Basically the album is a bunch of snapshots of moments in time for us. I’m the primary writer, and a lot of it’s personal experiences that I went through. Brutal honesty is what you’re going to get out of it; We didn’t sugarcoat anything. I tried to be as upfront with the lyrics as possible. We poured our heart and soul into it. If you like it, great! If you don’t, give us another song and let us try and change your mind.

BD: With “War On The Inside”, the lyrics are very ambiguous and can be applied to many different situations. But the music video is about addiction. Is that something that the band has struggled with, or was that just a storyline for the music video?
CC: Mostly “War On The Inside” was about a point where I had to make a decision. Right or wrong, I had to stick with it and go for it. But as far as addiction, none of us in the band have any addictions. The director had an idea about what he wanted to do for the video, and it seemed to work out really well; I liked the idea.

BD: So Justin Rimer (12 Stones) produced the album and-
CC: Correct. We wanted to go with somebody who could capture our live sound, and somebody who wasn’t trying to change us, but enhance us and enhance what we were already doing. And with Justin we found that.

BD: What are some bands that have played a part in inspiring your bands’ sound?
CC: All of the 90’s stuff, you know, Gin Blossoms, Bush, Live. We listened to all of that when we were in high school. So you know, I get people who pick up on that from time to time. Most notably now, Staind, and Breaking Benjamin have influenced me with modern music. So there are a plethora of things.

BD: You’ve opened for some amazing bands as well, has there ever been a moment where you’ve been completely star struck?
CC: Yeah [laughs], we were with 10 Years. And usually, we’ll get to watch them play from different vantage points, you know, one of the perks of the job is that you get to watch some amazing concerts for free. So we were watching them, and they started playing “Fix Me”, and I was like a little girl watching Justin Bieber or something [laughs]. Yeah, so 10 Years did it for me.

BD: Your live show has been described as “placing second to none”, and as “an experience that will take you through every emotion possible”. Tell me a little bit about your live show, and what goes into making it so awesome.
CC: We’ve watched a lot of bands over the years, just going to concerts and stuff like that, and a lot of stuff seems choreographed with a lot of bands and some of them are kind of just going through the motions. But for us, every night is a different show. We don’t rehearse anything, and we leave it all on the stage every night. We never walk off saying “I could have done more”. And I think people see that. You know, we’re sweating more than anybody else up there, and we’re giving everybody all that we have. So it’s pretty intense.

BD: Speaking of intense, have there been any moments where anything has gotten out of hand? Any crazy fan stories or anything like that?
CC: We were in Memphis, and we were playing the New Daisy Theatre, and we were getting in the van. And there’s this guy sitting in our van, and we were like “who the heck is this guy?” So I’m just sitting there, and the dude’s talking to everybody, and none of us have any clue who he is, and he thinks that we’re a totally different band. We kept trying to tell him that we’re not that band, and that we’ve got to take off. And we’re like alright, well he’ll get off in North Carolina when we stop [laughs]. So yeah, the guy who refused to get out of the van, but other than that, nothing too crazy.

BD: Awesome, well Clinton, thanks for chatting, and good luck with the album!
CC: Thank you man! Talk to you later.