IE: What’s up Ricky, it has been just about 2 years now since “Darker Half” came out on Reaper Records. Can you give us a rundown on how you guys have spent that time and how have things changed or not changed for the band in that time frame?

Ricky: Yo, what’s up?  2012 was spent touring non-stop pretty much and 2013 we did a little bit of that but started focusing more on writing and recording the new LP, “Lost In Life”.  Since “Darker Half” came out we’ve got to tour a bunch of places we’ve never been to before and played some really sick shows.  Also we’ve had some line-up changes since then too. 

IE: I was kind of surprised when I saw the announcement that you guys were leaving Reaper Records in favor of Bridge Nine Records. You have told me that you guys are still friends with Reaper but can you give some insight on why the jump to Bridge Nine?

Ricky: When it comes down to it Bridge Nine is a full-time label, and Reaper is a label that Patrick does in his free time. Bridge Nine has more time and resources to help us promote and get the word out, distro, among other things.  Kitzel, Guav, Buske, Pigg, Marc, and the whole Reaper team has done a lot for us as a band and I’m forever grateful for that. When we approached them that we were going to do the next LP with Bridge Nine everything was cool and there was no hard feelings. 

IE: Who approached who in regards to moving over to Bridge Nine?

Ricky: I believe our singer had a friend of ours on their label approach them. They were definitely into it and we got everything figured out and made it official when we were recording.

IE: So the new album is going to be called “Lost In Life” and it comes out on January 14th. Can you tell us all about it and what fans of Backtrack can expect from it as compared to “Darker Half”?

Ricky: “Lost In Life” is a 12 song LP that was recorded in California in August/September 2013. We’ve stepped it up as much as possible between writing and recording. It definitely was a lot of work to do but the end result is something we’re happy with. I’d say the songs are a lot better put together than “Darker Half” and I don’t think the LP has any filler on it. It’s not reinventing the wheel but we did what we do best and stepped it up as much as possible.

IE: What is your personal favorite track off the new album and why?

Ricky: I’ve actually been trying to narrow that down in my head this week and have had a hard time doing so. The best song on the LP to me in general is this track John wrote called “Their Rules”. I can’t really narrow down my personal favorite track though, there’s a couple.

IE: You guys got Nick Jett who also drums for Terror to produce “Lost In Life”. Everybody that has been working with this guy has had nothing but good things to say about working with him and his recent work speaks for itself. How was your experience with Nick and are you 150% satisfied with the sound you got and everything else surrounding this new album?

Ricky: Working with Nick is awesome. He’s a hardcore dude that knows exactly what we want, what influences us, and how to bring out the best musician in all of us. To me he’s like the 6th member of Backtrack at this point for the amount of stuff he’s done for us and crap we’ve put him through. I’ve definitely learned a lot about songwriting from him from working on “Darker Half”, which has helped me in the writing process for “Lost In Life”. There was a lot more recording on this record to make everything sound a lot fuller, I think I recorded like 70 guitars tracks between guitar, bass, leads, overdubs, etc.  We’re stoked on the record and excited for people to hear the whole thing soon.

IE: On the last album you made a pretty cool DIY video for “Erase The Rat”. You guys basically played in someone’s backyard and it looked like a lot of fun. Can you take us through that day and tell us where it was, and some of the stuff that went down while filming it?

Ricky: That house the video was shot at was a placed called “The Compound” that I used to live at. We just wanted to record a fun video of us doing shit we’d normally do and having a good time. Our friend Nate who’s done videos for Trapped Under Ice, Fire & Ice, and more had moved to NY so we talked to him about doing it and he was down.  Everything was done pretty quickly, we just woke up and our friends helped set up the stage, we got Tough Luck and No One Rules to play. We played a set and I think we might have played “Erase The Rat” twice? It was just a cool backyard show/bbq that was at the house where we’d always chill.  RIP Compound.

IE: Will you be making any videos for tracks off of the new album and if so which one do you think you will use?

Ricky: We’re definitely going to make a video for one of the tracks. Maybe even two. I’ve been working on finding someone to do it since last week, just waiting on more details and a time frame.

IE: So when does the touring for the new album kick off and do you know where you are heading to yet?

Ricky: Our record release is January 10th on Long Island NY, January 11th in Southern California, and January 12th in Northern California. Our record officially comes out January 14th and then January 15th we head to New Zealand, Australia, and SE Asia for the 2nd time. I’m pretty excited to get back over there because last time it was crazy.  Also it’ll be summer time there and it’s already cold as fuck in NY so we get to miss out on a NY winter for a bit.

IE: Speaking of touring I have to give you guys a lot of credit in that you guys seem to be constantly on the road. How many weeks or months in 2013 would you guesstimate that you were on a stage playing with Backtrack?

Ricky: 2013 was pretty much more dedicated to writing the LP. We probably toured around 2-3 months this year as opposed to 2012 where it was like 6-7 months. 

IE: What were some of the longer tours that you did in 2013 and where did they go and who did you play with?

Ricky: We did a tour in February ‘13 with H20, Terror, Code Orange Kids, and Bane was on some shows of that too. Two of the songs on “Lost In Life” were actually written in hotel rooms on that tour. We did Europe with Comeback Kid, and the UK with Trapped Under Ice. A couple of west coast dates with Soul Search and Criminal Instinct before we started recording. Lastly, we did a US tour with Stray From The Path, Gideon, Rescuer, and No Bragging Rights.

IE: What are some of the countries that you guys have not played yet that you are dying to get to?

Ricky: It’s a state within a country, but my answer to that is definitely Hawaii.  A couple of our friends’ bands have been there recently and have said it’s awesome, which I can imagine. We still haven’t hit South America yet so that’s really a #1 priority for places we haven’t been. I always wanted an excuse to go to Iceland so if we played there that would be cool too.

IE: When you guys go away for like a month or so and are playing every night or almost every night do you sometimes wake up and not even know what city or country you are in?

Ricky: Yeah, absolutely. If we’re doing a long overnight drive in Europe and I pass out I’d say there’s a pretty good chance I would have no clue where we were when I woke up.

IE: I would guess that on longer tours there are days where there is a lot of down time before the show actually happens. When you get these kinds of situations how do you like to pass the time away before the show happens?

Ricky: There’s a lot of down time on tour. If I have friends in the area I’ll hang out with them, if not I’ll probably go somewhere to eat and drink. Between driving and getting to the show for load in and all that there’s not really too much time to venture out and explore but it really depends on the day. Other people in the band like to play sports and gamble to kill time.

IE: What about the other guys in Backtrack? Can you give us the lowdown as to who might be the joker in the bunch, the guy who might always be late and who is the “leader” sort of speak to try and keep everything and everyone together?

Ricky: Everyone in Backtrack is late usually so that can’t be narrowed down to one person. Our drummer John is the joker I’d say…whenever someone new meets him they usually designate him as the craziest person they’ve ever met.  Vitalo handles some of the band business shit along with me.  He’s the gambler.  I’m the partier. John likes working out.

IE: From a strictly tourist aspect what has been your favorite city or country to visit while on tour?

Ricky: Australia was one of my favorite places to check out. It was an amazing time, great weather, beaches were beautiful, shows were awesome. Besides the exchange rate sucking, it was amazing. Same thing for New Zealand too. Southern California is my favorite place to play in the US without a doubt. Shoutout to SOS Booking.

IE: What would you say is the best “food city” or country that you have come across and why?

Ricky: I’d like to say that the USA holds it down for food. There’s awesome spots scattered all around the US that we try hitting up if we’re in the area. Besides that I remember Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia having awesome Indian food that I ate for like 3 days straight, I recently had the best street tacos I’ve ever had in Tijuana Mexico, Poutineville in Montreal is sick, and Nandos in the UK and Australia is pretty good. I love Greggs in the UK too.

IE: Is there enough money to be made while on these tours to get by in your personal lives and if not what does everyone do for work when you are not on tour?

Ricky: For us I’d say to get by on the bare minimum in our personal lives, yes there is. Although, I wouldn’t recommend to anyone to ever start a band to make money. If that’s your reasoning to start a band you’ve got it all wrong. You definitely need a job to help financially, we all have things we do on the side. Vitalo books bands through State Of Mind Touring, John works for a florist, and I work for my dad’s logistics business when he needs help. 

IE: You also have put out 2 issues of your own “hard copy” zine called Moment Of Truth. Can you tell us who you have had in it in the past and if you will be doing a 3rd issue and when?

Ricky: Moment of Truth was started in January of this year. People who’ve been a part of it so far are: Terror, Take Offense, King Nine, Xibalba, Incendiary, Turnstile, Power Trip, Suburban Scum, and Down To Nothing.  Also segments with Freddy Madball, Mike Judge, and Andy from Kill Your Idols. I have Moment Of Truth Vol.3 planned out already but I’m working on a cool idea that I haven’t seen done in the hardcore scene before. I don’t want to get into details and jinx it, but it’s going to be awesome if I can pull everything together. It’s more of a waiting game right now because a few other people are involved.  

IE: For you personally what is the draw to putting out your own zine? What about doing it gets you psyched? Is it doing the interviews, going out and selling them at shows or something else?

Ricky: Doing the zine is a shitload of work and really time consuming. Regardless of that I love doing it and the feeling of having the finished product in your hands is sick. I don’t do it with anyone else so I have a lot of creative freedom and I get to pick the brains of some of my favorite hardcore bands. My favorite part of the zine is this section called “The Story Behind The Lyrics” where I’ve interviewed Freddy Madball, Mike Judge, and Andy from Kill Your Idols. I think it’s cool to find out extended stories of what certain songs are about. Like, what was going on in the hardcore scene, the vocalists personal life, and random facts at that point in time. It’s interesting to find out something that you believed/assumed the song was about isn’t really the case. 

IE: That’s about it Ricky, thank you for your time and I wish you the best of luck with Backtrack in 2014. Anything else you wanted to add?

Ricky: Backtrack “Lost In Life” comes out January 14th on Bridge Nine Records…Pick it up!!!  I have another band I play in called Manipulate that just released our demo cassette on Flatspot Records. Moment of Truth Vol. 3 should be out hopefully in early 2014. Lookout for the new No One Rules 7” on Solid Bond Records.  DPN Forever.

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