A Skylit Drive Interview

Tim Wenger | November 1, 2011 | 0 Comments

By Max Giffin and Chelsea Pitchard, Photography by Max Giffin

The band A Skylit Drive out of central California formed in 2006. Their latest album Identity on Fire, released mid February of this year has been a sensation. While on the Rock Yourself to Sleep tour, we got to interview Michael “Jag” Jagmin. He has been the bands lead vocals since 2008. He didn’t seem phased by the attention of fans and gave a smile to a girl walking by saying, “Oh my god, its Jag from A Skylit Drive!” Outside Summit Music Hall in Denver we got a moment to ask him some questions about touring, family life and upcoming music.

CMB: For those who have never heard of A Skylit Drive, please introduce yourself and explain your music.

Micheal “Jag” Jagmin: I’m Jag from A Skylit Drive, and guess our band is kind if like if Journey had a threesome with Rush and Slipknot

CMB: What inspires your music?

MJ: Just every day life. We just kind of take it day by day and soak things in. We just kind of take our inspiration from everything around us. We don’t really try to take it from other bands or anything because we’d rather just do our thing and whatever comes out of us comes out of us.

CMB: What do you think makes your band unique or stand out from other bands in this scene?

MJ: I don’t want to point out the obvious or anything but there’s a lot of generic rolling around and I’d like to think that we have yet to fall into that category. We’ve always stuck true to what we’ve done. Whatever’s got us to where we are is what we’re still doing and that’s about it.

CMB: “Wires and the Concept of Breathing” is your most popular song, is there a story behind it?

MJ: Actually no. That was the first song I wrote for the band. It was my audition writing and everything so the lyrics ended up like really mish-mashed and it was kind of just thrown together. Like some lines got switched to make things make more sense but it was all written pretty quickly because it was my audition song. It ended up doing well I guess.

CMB: Do you guys have any crazy tour stories?

MJ: Too many. I mean, every night is a different story with our band. Me personally, I’m not one of the crazy party-ers. I like to lay pretty low and keep to myself but some of the other guys are pretty wild. Like, I know last night they got somewhere around 40 to 50 people packed into a motel 6 room. I was on the other side of the wall so I definitely heard it all night.

CMB: Have you learned any weird things about your band mates from being on tour?

MJ: I don’t even know if it’s from being on tour but I’m definitely with one of the weirdest groups of people I’ve ever met, and they would say the same thing. You’ve got Cory who half the time doesn’t even speak English. He’ll just kind of make random noises at everyone and it’s funny, then Joey’s kind of like comical relief. He’s just a big animal. He doesn’t really have a care in the world so he’s just kind of like fun loving and just always has a good time. Then Brian’s kind of like a walking cartoon character. He’s just super goofy and I could literally see him drawn out in a cartoon looking exactly how he looks. Pretty much everybody’s got their own thing and everyone’s super different. Somehow it all works.

CMB: If you guys and Alesana were to battle, who would win?

MJ: That’s tough because they do have Dennis. He’s a beastly man. It depends on what kind of a battle.

CMB: Sword fight.

MJ: Sword fight? The fact that they have Dennis alone questions my judgement on it, but I think we’d put up a good fight.

CMB: Do you have a zombie apocalypse plan?

MJ: I do have a ninja sword set at home, so that’s what I was planning for that. It’s enough for everybody in the family. I’m not into the whole using guns; I’d rather chop their heads off. But one thing that I don’t get is in these zombie movies why they never put masks on or anything because if you get any blood in your eye or in your mouth you become a zombie. I’d like stay completely covered all the time, but I’d find a way to make it look badass or something so I look scary.

CMB: What’s the hardest part of being a professional band?

MJ: Just being away from home and being away from your loved ones. That’s definitely the hardest part. Just not being able to consistently be there for the people who are always there for you at home.

CMB: What do you think the most rewarding part is?

MJ: I just like playing for new kids every day. Even if we’ve played the city like 8 times- I’m sure we’ve played Denver somewhere around that amount of times- but there’s always new people and the same people keep coming back because they had fun last time. So that’s the most rewarding part is just getting to do what we love in front of new faces.

CMB: If you could have any exotic pet, what would you pick?

MJ: Exotic pet? Probably a sloth. They’re so cute. Have you ever watched the YouTube videos of them? And they’re so slow, it’s not like if it ever escaped it’s gonna get very far. Even if he got out the door and you were gone for a couple hours you’d probably still stop him. He’d just be slowly moving down the sidewalk.

CMB: You guys released your first EP in 2007, how has your music evolved since then?

MJ: Well everybody’s grown up. Everybody grows up more every album; everybody gets better at what they do. Not to say that’s the only reason, I just think that we’ve grown and learned how to write better music. I wasn’t a part of that first EP but I would like to think that everybody’s grown from that and we all just know how to write better music.

CMB: So how did you enter the band?

MJ: They didn’t even announce that they were looking for a singer. I just found out because one of my friends back then kinda always knew whenever those things happened. He just had his loophole. I wrote them and they wrote me back and I went and auditioned. It was pretty quick.

CMB: Do you have a personal favorite song?

MJ: That’s tough. I honestly don’t know. I mean there’s so many that have deep meanings to me that mean a lot so it’s hard to pinpoint just one.

CMB: Do you have one that you like to preform most?

MJ: I really like playing The Cali Buds. That’s a fun song for me.

CMB: If a genie were to appear right now and give you three wishes, what would you wish for?

MJ: One wish was to be able to have my wife and her kid out on tour so she wouldn’t have to stay at home and work. Another is that we have a bus instead of this RV. Another just to be able to make sure that we have enough money that my family never has to worry.

CMB: How old is your son or daughter?

MJ: Well it’s my wife’s daughter. She’s 7. We just got married a couple weeks ago. Actually it was a little over a month ago.

CMB: What’s one personal item that you couldn’t live without?

MJ: Probably just my phone. Or actually, I can because in Europe we never have our phones. We can’t use them over there. Probably my wallet.

CMB: What is the most interesting fan comment that you’ve ever gotten?

MJ: Probably people who genuinely think that I had my balls removed to sing high when there’s plenty of people who sing higher than me. I don’t know, I guess it’s a popular one to ask. Or actually it isn’t, I’ve only been asked a couple times. Most people who want to ask don’t have the nerve too.

CMB: So you don’t then, just for the record?

MJ: I do have both my testicles. I’ve had no Michael Jackson surgery to hit higher notes or anything, same boy that came out of my mom.

CMB: I’ll make sure to get that published so people stop asking. When can fans expect some new music?

MJ: We just recorded our cover of “Love The Way You Lie” for Pop Goes Punk 4 before our Europe tour. So that comes out November 21st or something. Otherwise we have no plans for studio time yet. That’s all that we really have coming out any time soon.

CMB: If you could be on any MTV show, what would it be?

MJ: That’s tough. Probably like The Real World Road Rules Challenge. That always looked fun. I don’t even know if those happen anymore, that show. I think they stopped Road Rules, but I think they still do the challenges against them. I think they just do real world vs real world groups. I don’t know.