HANDGUNS
“We’re Still Functioning”
Interview with guitarist Jake Langley
Photos and interview by Alex Del Campo
First state your name and role in the band:
My name is Jacob Langley, and I play guitar.
Give us a brief history of the band, how did you guys meet and start out?
The band was started in 2008. It was me and this dude, we were working at a venue and we were bored and started a pop-punk band, pretty much, the long and short of it. We started a band just for fun, to have something to do. Between now and then a bunch of people have quit and joined for different reasons. Usually they quit because they didn’t want to tour or couldn’t commit enough or whatever, and now we’re where we are right now.
Who would you say are some of your influences?
Bono, Jock-Rock, Jock Jams Volume: 4, PIERCE THE VEIL, THE DROPKICK MURPHYS, and FAKE PROBLEMS.
The band has recently signed with Pure Noise Records, what is it like being with them?
It’s kind of like a perverted relationship with your weird uncle, the kind that constantly calls you at night and sends you awkward photographs. Nah, it’s cool! Jake’s one of our good friends, he helps us out a lot. It’s a great record label, the best.
You guys have recently lost your drummer and lead singer. Most bands would drop out of a tour and wait until they found permanent replacements, but you guys just kept going. What drives you to go out there every day despite these setbacks?
Crystal methamphetamine and Five Hour Energy Drinks.
The band toured 255 days out of 365 last year. Were there any obstacles that the band encountered while out on the road?
Yeah something like that, that’s how many days we were gone, we didn’t have a show every day, but yeah that’s how many days we were gone. We missed one day because of van problems. We missed a Dallas date- that was it. We didn’t miss any dates of tour, we were lucky and fortunate enough that we didn’t have to cancel any of the dates.
Who has been filling in?
Our drummer quit the same day as our lead singer, and then we got another drummer and that dude quit and now we have a third drummer. Tyson from SECOND TO LAST is filling in on vocals, and Kris Ruiz, also in SECOND TO LAST, is filling in on drums.
The “Handguns Family” is growing larger and larger as the band progresses. Do you have a message for those just getting into the band?
Things are fucking crazy right now. We don’t really have the members yet, it’s getting all figured out. We’re gonna have something out as soon as possible so you guys can hear the new singer. And we’re sorry, it’s a lot of crazy shit, we’re not breaking up, we’re still functioning- even harder with Rambunctious Randy. You gotta interview our new crew guy; this guy saved our band. This tour was really hard for us to go on. We were all emotionally drained and really out of it, and this dude just wipes our asses some nights. He’s the reason that HANDGUNS is still a band right now.
Who writes most of the songs? Does everyone contribute?
Nate wrote our new split. He wrote every note and every guitar line and every drum beat- I’m not kidding you. Me and Vince were too busy. Vince got me into Pokémon: Black and White so every time we would go to practice me and Vince would just end up playing Pokémon, so Nate goes, “You guys suck, I’m going to have to write all these songs.” He wrote the drums, he showed Adam every single drum beat and wrote every single bit of that split, except for the lyrics, a lot of that was me.
What Pokémon did you go with? Fire, Water or Grass?
Dude… Grass, every day of the week.
The band has toured immensely over the past few years. You guys have supported acts like FOREVER CAME CALLING and THE WONDER YEARS among others. What would you say is your most memorable tour or show?
The most memorable show for me was the first day of the MAN OVERBOARD/THE WONDER YEARS co-headliner that we did right after our record came out in Philadelphia at the First Unitarian Church. That show was crazy. I almost threw up before the show. It was sold out, there were so many people there I was so nervous, we rung out the first chord and I saw like three kids stage dive and I was like “awwww, yes!” and it just went off. That’s what’s good. It was wild.
Does the band have any plans on getting back on the road again after this tour?
After this tour we’re out for Canada for like three weeks with EVERYONE EVERYWHERE and THE SUIT and then after that we’re gonna be out for like three or four months. We’re gonna be writing and recording our new full-length with a new line-up and we’re gonna release a fuckin song so that everyone could hear it. Everybody, you’ll see, it’s good. The new songs are awesome.
Any crazy tour/show stories you would like to share?
So this tour feels like one of those credit card commercials where they list all the things like ‘blah blah blah so much money, blah blah blah so much money, blah blah blah priceless,’ or whatever. We lost a singer, two drummers, we blew two tires, and once we picked him up (points at Kris) from the airport in Baltimore, a few minutes up the highway our van dropped the transmission on the freeway. So we bought this new van with every penny we had, and now we’re on this fuckin tour and it’s just like, I don’t know… we just don’t know how to give up, we just keep doing it. It’s weird.
Anything else you would like to share?
We got a split coming out with FOREVER CAME CALLING in October. Taylor sang on those tracks and we’re still going to play all of those songs live. When we have a new line up we are definitely playing old songs live. We’re still the same band, we’re still gonna play old songs.
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Love this band!