Theory of a Deadman

ALWAYS ACOUSTIC® INTERVIEW

“We thought it would be better instead of canceling the shows to just perform some songs acoustically.” Tyler Connolly

Theory of a Deadman’s most successful album to date is Scars & Souvenirs. The album was Certified Gold in the U.S. by the RIAA on April 9, 2009 and Certified Platinum in Canada by the CRIA in May of 2009.

Tyler Connolly, Mr. Comedian and lead singer of Theory of a Deadman and Aaron Keker from Always Acoustic discussed his comedic performances in the videos Hacienda and A Day in the Office with Tyler Connolly, performing at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics Medal Ceremonies, singing a duet with Kara DioGuardia, his modern greaser style appearance and touring acoustically.

Tyler even debunked the statement that one night at a party he handed Chad Kroeger a demo tape.

TYLER CONNOLLY: Hello!

AARON KEKER: Tyler!

TYLER CONNOLLY: Yes!

AARON KEKER: Aaron from Always Acoustic. How are you?

TYLER CONNOLLY: I’m doing good Mr. Acoustic! How you doing?

AARON KEKER: (Laughs) Great! Unfortunately, in January, I missed Theory of a Deadman headlining at the House of Blues in Chicago. Will you guys be headlining this year in Chicago again?

TYLER CONNOLLY: No, we won’t! We are at the end of our tour cycle. Currently we got something like six or eight show left this year. Then we go back in and then write and record a new one.

AARON KEKER: Okay! You remarked back [o]n January 26th, 2010, “I was in a movie theater a couple of days ago and one of the previews was this huge Olympic commercial. It was saying, ‘Welcome to Vancouver.’ It was pretty cool. This is huge for Vancouver.” Do you believe that Theory of a Deadman’s appearance at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics Medal Ceremonies have increased the bands’ exposure even greater?

TYLER CONNOLLY: Definitely! Of course! I mean a dream come true for our own department. (Laughs)

AARON KEKER: (Laughs)

TYLER CONNOLLY: Olympics are like one of the biggest events in the world. It’s pretty exciting to be part of something like that. I think the best part of it was doing a performance that we played in front of about 20 or 30,000 people. A majority of the people aren’t necessarily from Vancouver. There from all over the world because people fly in. It’s such a huge event that only happens every four years. So yeah, I mean there’s a lot of people that probably never heard of Theory of a Deadman from all over the world that got to watch us play. So it was great!

AARON KEKER: What movie did you end up watching that evening?

TYLER CONNOLLY: Dude I don’t remember. (Laughs)

AARON KEKER: (Laughs) I thought I would give it a stab dude! Well according to IMDB, you were a Bar M.C. in the movie Going the Distance. Do you enjoy acting?

TYLER CONNOLLY: Yeah! I can’t find that movie either. I always ask people to send it to me. I’m sure you can buy it somewhere or rent.

AARON KEKER: In earlier music videos, you supported a stache with a more rugged Marlboro man appearance and changed to a more modern greaser style with a rico goatee.  Do you prefer the Marlboro man appearance or the modern greaser style?

TYLER CONNOLLY: The modern for sure. I’m digging my look now. It’s kind of a transformation, you know. A lot of bands change their [style] over the years. After the first record I was not digging the biker, kind of Southern look. It was cool, I guess at the time for me and so I was digging it. But then after the first record was over I was like all right I got to lose this. Chicks don’t dig it! (Laughs)

AARON KEKER: No! (Laughs) I purchased the video “All or Nothing” on iTunes and you guys left us hanging. Will there be a sequel?

TYLER CONNOLLY: I don’t know. Possibly! We always like to kind of leave stuff like that kind of open. So maybe the next record there will be a Part II. That be pretty cool!

AARON KEKER: Yeah or maybe the video “Wait for Me.” That be kind of awesome, right?

TYLER CONNOLLY: Nah! We’re not shooting any more videos. I wish.

AARON KEKER: No!

TYLER CONNOLLY: There was talks about shooting a “Wait for Me” video but then we said forget it. We made so many zillions of videos. (Laugh) We just said “Forget it! Let’s go start working on a new record.” We’ve been out for so long. I think our fans want to hear some fresh stuff.

AARON KEKER: Right. On iTunes Canada, the video “Since You’ve Been Gone” is available, but not iTunes U.S. Will that video ever be released on iTunes U.S.?

TYLER CONNOLLY: I don’t know. You know, it’s weird because that was a single only in Canada. It wasn’t released anywhere else. I love that song and the video. We even released a Special Edition of Scars & Souvenirs that came with a DVD with all our videos, but it didn’t have “Since You’ve Been Gone” on it, which we kind of were disappointed. Because we’re like it’s all of our videos but it’s not really.

AARON KEKER: Right.

TYLER CONNOLLY: It was missing “Since You’ve Been Gone.” So, I don’t know, possibly. We have two different labels. We have a label in Canada and a label for the rest of the world. Maybe some sort of you know licensing problem or something, I don’t know.

AARON KEKER: Yeah, maybe. I mean, you’re right that is a great song and a good video. Theory of a Deadman has either recorded songs acoustically or wrote them specifically on acoustic guitar. Would you guys consider touring acoustically?

TYLER CONNOLLY: Yeah! I think that would be cool! We’ve done some acoustic stuff before live and you know done some radio shows acoustic. At one point our drummer was sick and he couldn’t make it out to a few shows. We thought it would be better instead of canceling the shows to just perform some songs acoustically and give some fans a little bit of something. It’s fun man. I like doing that kind of stuff. A lot of our stuff translates well acoustically. It’s great because you know some bands they just can’t do that. We’re lucky we can.

AARON KEKER: Right. You co-wrote with Kara DioGuardi, “Not Meant to Be.”

TYLER CONNOLLY: Yeah!

AARON KEKER: In fact, she was your love interest in the video. Was there any point in filming the video that you considered singing a duet with Kara?

TYLER CONNOLLY: Yeah! I mean I’d always be open to that. She’s an amazing singer. A lot of people don’t know that. It would be great if she could sing on one of our songs. I think at one point I was trying to get someone a lot like her to sing on “Not Meant to Be.” It just wasn’t one of those things that turned out. But yeah, you never know.

AARON KEKER: Have you ever done a duet live for that song?

TYLER CONNOLLY: No! Never! I don’t think I’ve ever done a duet with someone live.

AARON KEKER: I believe it was an awesome idea to have Q&A titled Tell Tyler on Theory of a Deadman’s web site. What’s the wackiest question that has ever been asked by a fan?

TYLER CONNOLLY: I don’t know. I can’t tell you. I wish I knew. There’s some crazy stuff though. Like I remember getting questions that just seemed like they were just so made up. Girls saying that they lit their boyfriend’s pick-up truck on fire and stuff like that. Just crazy stuff but you know there’s a fine line where I’m like, “Well I don’t know. This sounds so crazy. It sounds fake.” There’s definitely some wacko questions out there.

AARON KEKER: I watched a portion of your Hacienda video about posting lunch specials on the chalk board and serving it on your $500,000 professional stove. Funny stuff!

TYLER CONNOLLY: Yeah!

AARON KEKER: If I came to your home to eat one of your lunch specials, what would your signature special be?

TYLER CONNOLLY: Lunch special! Aw dude!

AARON KEKER: Yeah!

TYLER CONNOLLY: Let’s see for lunch, I don’t know. I’m a sandwich guy. I’d make you a huge sandwich. Pickles on the side. Maybe an apricot. (Laughs)

AARON KEKER: (Laughs)

TYLER CONNOLLY: I don’t know. That’s what I usually eat for lunch is a sandwich and an apple or banana or something.

AARON KEKER: I watched your latest video, A Day in the Office with Tyler Connolly, which was posted on March 11th. Another awesome video! I noticed a pattern of everything costing $500,000.  In your next video, do you believe that the price of tangible items will be inflated to $750,000 or $1,000,000?

TYLER CONNOLLY: Yeah! You know over time $500,000 isn’t going to seem a lot, right? So —

AARON KEKER: No!

TYLER CONNOLLY: I’m going to have to inflate some stuff.

AARON KEKER: Right!

TYLER CONNOLLY: Maybe the next one, I’ll do it. It’ll be a 1,000,000. That sounds really expensive.

AARON KEKER: You came close to that but I think part of it was Kara’s fee $500,000 —

TYLER CONNOLLY: Right!

AARON KEKER: and then the other was for making the video.

TYLER CONNOLLY: Right!

AARON KEKER: In the video, you remarked, “Of course Starbucks endorses Theory of a Deadman and I get all the free Starbucks I want.” What’s your favorite Starbucks drink?

TYLER CONNOLLY: Chai Latte I love and Caramel Macchiato is pretty sweet. But I don’t drink a lot of coffee so I usually stay with the Chai.

AARON KEKER: Final Question. I read online that one night at a party you handed Chad a demo tape and after hearing the tape, he wanted to produce Theory of a Deadman. Was that really how it happened or is there more of an interesting story to it?

TYLER CONNOLLY: That’s not what happened. It’s a telephone game now [how] you [get] found or noticed. I kind of knew Chad through his friends and I would see him once in a while. Actually I just gave a demo to his girlfriend and she passed it along to him. So it’s not really as an interesting of a story.

AARON KEKER: (Laughs)

TYLER CONNOLLY: (Laughs) He just called me and said, “Hey this stuff is great and I want to help you guys get a record deal and produce some more demos.” We ended up getting a record deal so it worked out.

AARON KEKER: Yeah it did!

TYLER CONNOLLY: I guess that stuff you know really happens!

AARON KEKER: All right dude! Thanks for your time and I hope you guys have a great concert tonight in Denver!

TYLER CONNOLLY: Thanks dude! Appreciate it!

AARON KEKER: Yeah! No problem man! All right dude, bye!

TYLER CONNOLLY: Talk to you later! Bye!

AARON KEKER: All right! Bye!