Taylor Asbridge meets Kerrang!
Kerrang!: Well, thanks for coming here Taylor!
Taylor Asbridge: My pleasure, it's always nice to do an interview.
Kerrang!: Great, so let's begin. Let's start off with our first question, what made you decide that you were going to play guitar for a living?
Taylor Asbridge: Well, a few things I guess. One would be my inability to do anything else, I'm pretty stupid, if you made me do a different job I'd be crap at it, no matter what it would be. Second I guess was that let's face it, everyone at some point has a dream of being a rockstar, right? I stuck to my ambitions and achieved what I wanted. Also, I learnt guitar from an early age, I honestly never done anything but play football, rugby and my guitar, one of those three things would have suited my career path, but I chose music over sport.
Kerrang!: Let's talk about your guitar at the moment, what guitar do you use?
Taylor Asbridge: Well, I usually alternate between my Ibanez S5470F Prestige and of course my Gibson Les Paul, I can stand up for most guitarists and say that a Gibson Les Paul is one of the best guitars a guitarist can play, it is my favourite guitar to play and I wouldn't swap it for the world.
Kerrang!: Let's move onto your band, who formed Dead Roses?
Taylor Asbridge: It wasn't actually an individually done idea. Me, Damien Lewis and Charis Lewis all decided to create this band, we all pitched in ideas that eventually became Dead Roses, I can honestly admit that when we started off, we were pretty shit, but we learnt from our mistakes and developed the band into what it is today. Some may say that we are still shit, but that is just their opinions.
Kerrang!: Well, as we can all tell, you are the only remaining founding member of Dead Roses, want to shed some light on why the other two left?
Taylor Asbridge: Well, Charis' reason was pretty obvious, we didn't know she was leaving, but she obviously didn't enjoy life. She died playing russian roullette. Which I guess was the reason she left. And with Damien, we knew he was greaving the loss of his sister, and even though he stayed for about a year after Charis died, we knew he was discontent, which we couldn't blame him for. We offered him some time off, and he took it, and he didn't want to come back.
Kerrang!: Are you still in contact with Damien?
Taylor Asbridge: Of course, I grew up living next door to him, he's one of my closest friends. I've known him since I was about 3, and not many friends can say they've known eachother and stuck by eachother for 22 years. So yes, we're still in contact and we are still good friends.
Kerrang!: Are you happy with having Eddie Johnson as your current drummer?
Taylor Asbridge: Definately, he is a amazing drummer. He can pretty much do what Damien could do, which in itself is hard to do. They are both incredible drummers and I am happy that they have been involved in this band.
Kerrang!: What about your brother, Jay. Did you ever think he would be the lead singer of Dead Roses?
Taylor Asbridge: Not at all, I didn't even know he sang until he asked to join the band. And I don't regret inviting him into the band, he's a great person and he's a great brother. We've gone through all of the same things together and we've surpassed them all.
Kerrang!: Now, Callum joined Dead Roses at a earlier stage than the others, what made you want him in the band?
Taylor Asbridge: The fact that he was the only bassist we could find... Nah, haha. We heard him while he was doing a gig for a band in school, and we thought that he'd be good enough for Dead Roses, which he was. He's been a great asset to the band, and he's also a great friend.
Kerrang!: Good to see that you're content with the band. Now, let's talk about your love life for a while, last year you were reportedly dating Hannah Beth, who is now engaged to Brandon Caulfield, are you jealous?
Taylor Asbridge: No, of course not. We both moved on and we're both still good friends and we keep in touch, but we've both found love in other places and we're both happy now. And I'm expecting a wedding invitation from her and Brandon, haha.
Kerrang!: And you're now dating Stacey Walton, right?
Taylor Asbridge: That is correct.
Kerrang!: How are things between the two of you?
Taylor Asbridge: Things are brilliant, we now live together, I now play in her backing band when she's on tour and I love her to bits. Things couldn't possibly go wrong.
Kerrang!: Will you be featuring on her upcoming album then?
Taylor Asbridge: I have no idea yet, sorry.
Kerrang!: So, moving on, what was the motive for the band's upcoming hiatus?
Taylor Asbridge: We're all tired and we need a break, we put a lot of effort into what we do and it makes us go mad. Haha, we'll see what happens from here.
Kerrang!: So, are you ruling out a comeback from Dead Roses.
Taylor Asbridge: No chance, we'll always leave the door open to returning, we will never, EVER decide that we're going to quit for good. Sorry, haters.
Kerrang!: Your single, There's No I In Team, But There's A M And An E reached number 1 recently, were you surprised?
Taylor Asbridge: God yeah, we never expected it, it had been lingering in the charts for a few weeks prior to the number 1, but we didn't see it happening to us at all, with any song. I guess we were wrong, fortunately.
Kerrang!: Do you see yourselves as celebrities?
Taylor Asbridge: Nope, people always ask me what it is like to be famous, but I just see it as 5 guys, doing a hobby. All we do is play instruments and sing, we could do that anyway, without fame and fortunes, we were just fortunate enough to become popular.
Kerrang!: How is the solo project going along so far?
Taylor Asbridge: So far, so good. It's turned out more popular than I thought it would. I've got some amazing bands and artists lined up for the album. Hopefully not just my fans, but the fans of the other bands and artists will love this album aswell. The album should appeal to most people, as I will have all sorts of genres in this album, from rap to heavy metal. It's got a wide variety.
Kerrang!: Okay, one more question, what are the hardcore Dead Roses fans going to get out of Confessions of a Dying Man?
Taylor Asbridge: They're going to get 20 songs from Dead Roses, nothing more, nothing less. Haha. Hopefully they'll enjoy this album as much as they have with our past albums. We're planning on going out with a bang, and so far this album has a number 1 single in it. So we've already had a head start.
Kerrang!: Well, thanks for the interview, good luck with the upcoming album.
Taylor Asbridge: Thank you.
