From First To Last has been placing their mark on the ever-growing post-hardcore scene. Francis Petruziello had the opportunity to speak with their vocalist and bassist, Matt Good a few hours after their set at The 2008 Vans Warped Tour on their new self-titled release, how the changes in the line-up have made things different for the dynamic of the group and how fans have been reacting.

Francis Petruziello: I understand you guys changed your sound a bit since last year.

Matt Good: I think we grew up a little bit.

F.P: Is it because you’re now the vocalist?

M.G: Well, yeah we all kind of decided this is the cards we’ve been dealt and did what we can in order to maintaining being a band, so we’ve put out the record that we wanted to sound like and try to gear it like we wanted it to be this way or to be that way and this is our thing and we had the opportunity to do what we wanted to and took advantage of it.

F.P: So is it difficult doing both vocals and guitar?

M.G: No, I’ve been doing backup most of the time, so it’s not like jumping into these shoes and like having no idea on how to do it or like what’s going on, ya know it’s a natural thing but it also took work and more of a progression thing, we had time to work into it and we kind of got it down to an art I guess by the time we got to The Warped Tour and we’re comfortable doing it, hopefully kids will like it.

F.P: I understand you guys came out with an album.

M.G: Yeah, a couple of months ago I think, we came out with a self-titled record.

F.P: What was that like?

M.G: It was fun, we got to use some of our idols as far as who workd on it; we had Ted Bryant-Williams engineer it and Brendan O’Brian mix it, they did records we love; Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against The Machine and getting to work with those dudes who made records who we grew up on and are still our favorite records of all time was really awesome to even get the opportunity to work with them, ya know I’m very happy with the way in how it turned out.

F.P: How were the fans enjoying the new stuff?

M.G: I think they like it, we didn’t really knowing or didn’t have any clue it was going to go over and the kids liked Sonny (Moore) so much and I didn’t know how this was going to turn out, so let’s just do it and see if it works, ya know so far it has been great, a lot of kids have been coming up and saying they like it better now and we can actually tour and not drop off many tours because of vocal issues or anything like that, it’s been really nice.

F.P: It must have been really tough when your former vocalist was having problems.

M.G: Yeah, it was very, very, very, very frustrating, but it’s just one of those things that happens and I think we started young and it’s one of those things when you start young, ya know touring and playing shows every night when you’re young and you’re trying to sing and you’re growing up and it’s wearing out your voice, it kind of gets to; oh no what do I do and if you’re in a band you have to tour, simple as that unless you’re Michael Jackson or something or Mariah Carey where hey I can put my record out and it’s gonna sell a billion copies no matter what and I can sit on my butt on the toilet and still sell a billion copies. But when you’re a working band, you have to tour and when Sonny said he was leaving, it was kind of like an uh-oh, but it was kind of cool because we got to be able to tour and we got to be able to being a machine again and play shows and stuff, so it’s more like a blessing in disguise honestly.

F.P: Are you guys still tight with him?

M.G: Yeah absolutely, it wasn’t like a bad blood thing with him, he’s doing his thing and it wasn’t like I hate your guts, I’m Leaving, he’s doing his own thing and touring with From First To Last was wearing out his voice because the kid can sing, ya know and it sucks to have a talent, but where the way you’re using it hurts you and instead of sticking with From First To Last and may potentially ruin his voice forever and giving him a problem that you can’t fix like vocal cords and he wanted to do his thing and do something he wanted to tour on and sing and it’s his own thing and we were like okay, we can just do it and he’s at a better place and we’re happy, so there’s no bad blood or anything.

F.P: So what other plans do you guys have after 2008?

M.G: We’re gonna tour, tour, tour, tour; we’re gonna finish up The Warped tour an we’re gonna do another U.S. tour after that and then we go over to The U.K and tour over there for awhile and then come back and tour a little bit more, I think we’re pretty much gonna be on the road ‘til around Thanksgiving and then take a break, ya know a little month long vacation because we’ve been out for a little while and I think we’re all ready to take a little nap.