Sara: For the record state your name and what you do in The Academy Is...
Adam: I’m Adam Siska and I play bass in The Academy Is...

Sara: What would you change about the current music scene?
Adam: Umm you know it’s really hard to say because I feel that music progresses every day. And there is a lot of great music out there and there is a lot of poor music out there but I feel that’s the way it’s always been and the way it should be. I feel like right now it’s kinda like it’s this repetition of this cycle that kinda happened in the early 90s with the grunge movement getting really big. And I feel like that’s happening again, with a really different type of indie music. I guess that’s what music is all about. You know, I really can’t criticize much. I guess if I was to criticize something it would be the fact that a lot of labels are signing a lot of bands with weird intentions such as money, stuff like that. I feel like it’s kinda not something I believe in. But I mean I really have nothing critical to say about the music right now. I feel like music it in the ending is always kinda a positive thing.

Sara: I agree. So as The Academy Is... grows in popularity how do you make the fans that have been there since your beginning not feel forgotten?
Adam: I really hope that just the songs alone would keep those fans feel like they’re apart of it all. It’s really hard to go out and sign autographs for every single kid. We try to we do signings we hang outside our bus after shows we try to met kids. With our lives shows we try to interact with the kids as much as possible. I really think that it should come down to the music and the songs and I hope that the kids still feel like that’s apart of their lives and if it’s not then I really apologize from the bottom of my heart. We are just doing everything we do.

Sara: Every band has a handful of die-hard fans that will do everything to see you guys how does it feel to not personally know some of these people?
Adam: It’s really exciting when you see familiar faces in the crowd and you don’t personally know that person but you see them in the crowd every time. You eventually met that person at a signing or something like that and they keep coming back and it’s a very exciting thing. On the other end of it all it’s really exciting to see new faces out in the crowd. That’s the great thing about Warped Tour right now you get the chance to meet people who maybe wouldn’t have bought tickets to see us or hadn’t gone to a show or a band that we’re on tour with but came out to Warped Tour and has heard about the band it gives them a chance to come check it out and it’s something they believe in or really feel for.

Sara: You started a project with MTV where fans submit photos and you were going to write a song about that how did you come up with this idea and what made you decide to do it?
Adam: Yeah! You know we have been that band who is really interactive with their fans we try to be on our website although it has been slacking lately I apologize for that. Our website has always been really interactive with videos, pictures, journal updates things like that. We are working on a new one right now that’s why everything has been really slow on the website I’m sorry to everyone who is hanging out. We’ve always tried to do that and we keep really involved with our fans and have our fans be part of our music and our band as well as keeping ourselves really involved. So I think MTV was originally the people that pitched to us as a band who is really interactive with our fans and have fans submit photos of summertime and really happy thing and things of like youth and the things they do cause trouble and send bring photos to us and have us look at them. It’s hard sometimes as a band to remember what life was like before we touring year round so looking at those photos is to help us reminisce on our on childhood when we were friends before we started doing all this. Mike, helped with the chord progression, William wrote some lyrics that really touched closed to home for us as far as what it was like growing up with each other and doing lots of fun things. It was influenced by the kids but ultimately came from us. It’s a song that I’m really glad we wrote for ourselves.

Sara: What was it like to work on the Sounds of Superman Soundtrack?
Adam: It was really cool. I haven’t seen the movie yet but I know it’s had mixed reviews by people and stuff. Superman got to be a really cool thing, my first action figure I ever had was a Superman toy We got the call and it was ‘Superman wants you to do a cover of this REM song for the superman soundtrack’. I love REM, I love the song, I like superman and I was really excited about it.
Sara: It was like perfect?
Adam: Yeah it was all really cool and I like the way the song turned out. It’s a little different it was the first cover song we’d done so you lose a little bit of our self in it. It’s still a very fun song and it’s still a great song by REM they are a great band and I really want to see the movie of it. On a day off I hope I get the chance to.

Sara: When did you realize that you wanted to play music for the rest of your life?
Adam: That’s a really good question because I’ve always been a really big fan of music. I grew up in the Virgin Islands on reggae and stuff like that and I listened to rock music when I came to the US and there was something really really exciting about that. It was very true, true emotion and feeling. I feel like the moment I really decided for the rest of my life, it was always my dream, but really when I started playing with these particular guys I always wanted to play music but there was a point where I was like music is my life and this is the best feeling in the world. Then we started touring and seeing the country and I feel like it’s the best thing a group of guys could ever do with each other. We really want to leave our mark on mainstream music and if not then it’s the best thing we could have ever done spend time with and do anything as exciting as playing Warped Tour in San Francisco right now. We really appreciate the time we that we have.

Sara: So what’s the most important thing a band can offer the fans besides good music?
Adam: Besides good music what’s the most important thing. I think the most important thing to us we need our presentation to be us. For our t-shirts or our video is something we believe in. The most important part of music is to be true to yourself as artists. And I feel like that is the most important thing a band can do.
Sara: So just like be real.
Adam: Yeah, be true there is a lot of, not to call any band off but there is a lot of phoniness in music and if that’s what defines you to each his own. But I think for us the right path for us is to write song that we are fans of and truly believe in. That’s what are doing that I hope and I hope that that’s in the public eye as well.

Sara: So you meet a magic genie on the street and you are granted 3 wishes what are they and why? And it’s the genie from Aladdin.
Adam: Wow played by Robin Williams. I just watched that movie recently. [says hello to Jake from Aiden and says that he is a really good guy] Yeah I just watched Aladdin, when I got home that’s a good question I thought about that. You know, this is one of them the opportunity to play music and be friends and do some awesome things I think that definitely would have been one of my wishes and since I get to do that, I think my first wish would be to be able to do this for as long as possible and meet great people and keep doing this for a long time. I feel like that is something that would really make me happy. My second wish would be the well being of all my friends and family make sure they are all taken care of in life and the health of my friends I’ve had a couple friends that I had a really rough past year. That’s the most important thing in my life they are happy and healthy and feel great. I guess my third wish would have to be… my final wish would have to be just to… hmm... there are a lot of wishes I am thinking of I just have to find that one wish... I guess with my final wish what I would do I’d wish for like three more wishes.
Sara: That’s against the rules.
Adam: Yeah, totally I understand that. I wouldn’t want to disrespect the genie by any means. Umm... I guess I just want… a lot of cereal would be really cool.
Sara: What kind?
Adam: Like any kind like unlimited power to make it appear at anytime.
Sara: That’s cool
Adam: I guess that’d be cool… but that’s kinda not the one I don’t know there are a few things I want. I really want to see a lot of places in the world. I really just want to see the world before I die and I guess that’s happening as I speak so I guess that wouldn’t be one of my wishes. I don’t know the third wish is always the hard one. Hmm… I wish that my beard would look good.
Sara: Alright!
Adam: I’m trying to grow a beard right now and I’m kinda half way there right now.

Sara: If you could be anyone for a day who would you be and why?
Adam: If I could be anyone for a day… dead or alive?
Sara: Sure
Adam: You know I’d probably… this is a crazy answer I think anyways. I really would like to be Al Capone just to experience that whole thing. I’m very interested in that whole life style. Not that I condone it but I mean I’d like to see that and experience that. It’s very interesting and it seems very hard to like imagine. I guess.
Sara: Yeah, it’s just for a day so.
Adam: Yeah, it’s just a day but if it was a long term thing there would definitely be other people I’d pick. That’s one of the people that I think I wouldn’t mind seeing thing through his eyes and what’s going on and his though process.

Sara: Okay, do you have any good tour stories or fan stories?
Adam: Millions of tour stories. I’ve been doing this for I guess not that long a lot of bands have been doing it for a lot longer. I’ve been doing this for about 2 ½ years. We really made the best of every night. Great tour stories… you know I think going to Japan with our band. 311 I feel like a great band and we toured with them. Maybe you know those guys? They’ve been doing it for a long time. We’ve played with a lot of bands but they definitely been doing it for the longest. Getting to know those guys was really cool. I feel like a lot of cool stories came from them. Being in Japan and meeting a band you grew up kinda liking.

Sara: Okay, I’m done with my questions but do you have anything you would like to say to the Internet world?
Adam: To the internet world. I feel like the internet is a good thing for the most part not to look down upon it but it’s taken a lot away from people communicating with each other but at the same time it’s done a lot for music and things like that. So I would though get off Myspace go hang out with your friends and start a band and start playing music. Expand your surrounding with the outside world and with each other. That can’t be done on Myspace or whatever. Not that I don’t understand that. I think the internet is something really interesting and cool but get off the internet. If you are reading this right now go outside and do something really cool it’s summertime right now. There is a lot of really cool people out there.