PropertyOfZack was able to catch up with Travis Clark from We The Kings just a week or two ago for a great interview. Travis and I discussed the band’s crazy cycle of touring, their new album, future touring plans, and a new side-project with a female singing partner. Read up and check out all the information below!

For the record, could you state your name and role in We The Kings?
This is Travis Clark, and I sing and play guitar in We The Kings.

The band has had a really busy six or so months with a headlining tour in support of the new album, international touring, US touring with Demi Lovato, and a recent South American tour. Can you just discuss the hectic cycle?
The past six months have been absolutely insane. Every since we released our new record, Sunshine State Of Mind, which was in July, we’ve kind of been non-stop. We did the tour with Demi too right after we got back from Australia for another US tour, and then we did a lot of radio shows in December to support our new single. In January, we went to South America with Taking Back Sunday and literally flew home, had two days off, and then started our US tour with Mayday Parade. We can’t finish the last two dates of this tour to fly to Europe where we’re touring for a month with Simple Plan. Following that we fly back to Brazil to film something and then we’re going back to Europe for the second half of the tour for another month with Simple Plan. Then we go into the UK for a week and a half by ourselves before we come home for a few days and go to Australia for two weeks. After that, we come back and start Warped Tour for two months. Who knows what’s after that. 
POZ: That’s a lot [Laughs].
Travis: It’s crazy. I was trying to tell my mom and dad when I’d be home, and I couldn’t give them a straight answer. I have no idea. 

All of the touring has been pretty consistent to your normal types of packages, not counting the Taking Back Sunday tour. How was it playing to a crowd like that?
It was really good. It was the first time that both of our bands had ever been to South America. Neither of us had any idea what to expect, but the kids there were crazy. We would land at airports in all the different cities, and in every country and every city, there would be kids at the airport, hotel, venue, or anything else. They would wait outside to get pictures and autographs, and I felt like a member of *NSYNC or something. It was the craziest thing that I had ever witnessed. They knew how rare it was for kids to come down there, so they wanted to get a glimpse of the band at every single moment of every single day, which was flattering and amazing, but neither of us knew what to do. It was good to go down there with a band that I grew up listening to and a band that was in our shoes in terms of not knowing what to expect. That was a fun thing to do and experience with them for the first time. 

Would you be open to touring with bands outside of your sound’s comfort zone in the future now?
Absolutely. We’ve done a few tours like that. We did a two month college tour with J. Cole, who is kind of king of hip hop right now. That was one of my favorite tours. They were two completely different crowds with hip hop and pop rock fans. All of J. Cole’s fans would be like, “Oh look at these crazy white boys, but it’s fun to listen to.” All of our fans were all fans of the hip hop world, so we’d watch him and all of our fans would be really into it as well. It was a really, really cool tour. We’ve talked about doing a tour with someone like A Day To Remember who are also from Florida and are our friends or with someone like The Devil Wears Prada. Those are obviously totally different styles of music, but we want to see how it works. It gives it a festival atmosphere because you’re not there to see the four bands playing the exact same music - that almost gets old. I think it’s very cool being able to play a show like that. 

How have the new songs from Sunshine State Of Mind been going over live?
They’ve been going great. We’ve been trying to play different songs from the new record. During the rare time we had at home, we went into a practice space and we learned every song on the record. We’re really big on social media, so we went on Facebook and Twitter to ask fans what they want to hear live. So whatever they say, we’ll play. We have different set lists for different cities, but it’s fun. You spend so much time, money, blood, sweat, and tears putting it into a CD and you see people in the crowd singing your lyrics, and it makes it all worth it. They’re really into it and you honestly see your work paying off. 

All three of your albums have been in a different vein. Are you happy with how the album has gone over in general?
It would be weird to say we weren’t proud of a record, so absolutely. Being the songwriter, I’ve never wanted to release the same record twice. When I think about it, I want to put out music that I’m feeling at the time. I’ve been growing these past five years as myself personally and also as a band. Everyone is growing, so I want the music to represent that. The first record was a guitar lick that translated into a rock song. The second one we experimented with new instruments and a lot more piano. Our new record was built on acoustic tracks so it gave it a more intimate sound. Our fourth record might be a mixture of all three of those records. I do know that I won’t write the same record twice. I think fans like that they know they’ll get something fresh every single time.

You’re now out on tour with Mayday Parade, and a good portion of them are selling out. How have the first shows been?
The first ten shows are sold out. We’re hoping that the rest of the shows sell out as well as we get closer to the date. It’s really been awesome to come back from touring crazy places to come back into the States. This is our home territory and I couldn’t be more excited to be here and to play to all of these people. It’s just fun to be able to tell are friends and family that we’re getting ready to play a sold out show.

We The Kings are always busy, but this is the busiest you guys have ever been. Are you concerned about getting burned out?
Definitely. That’s always an element of surprise where you’re going and going and then it hits you like a train. We wake up every morning and we’re in a different city. You can play this life for a very long time, but it gets a little wild when you’re sitting there and you no idea what day it is, what city you’re in, or what tour you’re on. That’s when it hits you and you start to think how long you’ve been going non-stop for. Outside of everything, when you do smack yourself and realize what’s happening around you, you realize that you’re living your dream. We want it and we couldn’t ask for anything better than what we’re living. It does get stressful and strenuous a lot of the time though, but this is a band and this is what we do.

Before you hit South America, we saw updates about you being in the studio. Was it for you or We The Kings?
That was me messing around. I started a side-project in the studio with my friend that’s a girl from Miami. We’re doing like a duo type thing. It’s hard to explain because it’s so new. It’s very hard to describe it. The way that the lyrics and the melodies are going is that it’s going to go back and forth between her point of view and mine. When I was a kid I used to listen to like trance music and all that dance stuff that was at roller parks, and then I’d go home and listen to blink-182 and Green Day. I had that side of my life that I loved, and now it’s huge with dubstep and electronica. Naturally I’ve been good at writing stuff like that because of how I grew up as a kid, so I decided to try it. I started writing all this dance music and I brought this girl in to have a partner in it. I have no idea when or where the world will witness it, but it’s definitely been fun. That’s what I was doing in New York City before the Taking Back Sunday tour.

Is it cool to work with someone outside of We The Kings?
Definitely. It’s only possible because of how successful We The Kings have gotten. I have the ability to fly with my friend to New York City for a week to write a bunch of stuff. I can run everything myself now too in a studio, so we went like that. I have seven or eight songs.

We The Kings is your main priority, but that’s just something you’ll keep working on?
It’s one of those things I do for fun. It’s like a hobby, but just not in the same realm as my career in We The Kings. I started taking up drawing and art too, which is also a hobby of mine now. I’m writing all this crazy music that We The Kings could never use, but I want someone to use it, so I thought I might as well do it.