ATC celebrate release of TWSU on Guest House

Following the release of That Won’t Save Us Will and Dan joined Chrissy on her show Guest House where they hung out and celebrated the launch of the new song and music video. During the show they played some Among Us with community members followed by a music video watch party where they answered fans questions and discussed the new era of music.

If you missed the show you can watch it on demand at: https://www.venn.tv/videos/179263/?show=133217

Q&A

Here is a summary of the question and answers from the show.
Thank you to Mark (HDP11) for summerising these.

Q: How many takes did it take, and how did you get everybody moved during the scenes?

A: The video was taken in three one takes shots. And it took a maximum of ten per shot.

In the bathroom scene Dan had to run from the first room into there behind Chrissy. There is a small window between the two rooms where during the shoot they would peek at each other.

The moment in the third take where the camera zooms into Chrissy is not a cut. There was a split second where the drums had to be moved out of the scene so they could all be standing there around the door. It took like 5 people running into there to take the drums out. Will even threw his drumsticks so he could get to his spot. And their manager became Dan’s guitar tech to get that out of the scene.

Q: Is the fire in the door scence real or edited?

A: No it is vfx they did add lighting to make it look like it was on fire in a way.

Q: What was your favourite moment filming the music video?

A: The last shot, and filming the second video they did not start filming that until midnight ‘it was so much fun’ said Chrissy.

Q: Do you still get nervous putting a new song out?

A: Yes, absolutely. Especially this one. Since the previous album was way more pop they did not know if people were going to love this new song. They worked on it so long that there was a lot of time to second guess stuff.

Q: What was your process?

A: Because of the pandemic there was a lot of back and forth so it took a lot longer for everything. It was super cool and diy they got to work in their own homes with their own gear.

They also wrote it with a small crew in contrast with past lives. It was just them and Matt Squire. It was nice to get back to that raw kind of state where it was just the four of them.

Q: How has the quarantine affected your writing process?

A: They were all apart. Even if different states at some point. In some ways it has made it easier. 

Because you have unlimited time to walk away from something and come back later you do not have the pressure of waiting for eachother you can kinda go down the rabbit hole and spend as much time. They found a lot of pro’s to this process which was kind of surprising because in the beginning they had no idea how this was going to work. In the end it was kind of freeing.

Q: Is the next video directed by the same director?

A: Yes, they have found an amazing creative director Jade Ehlers who is doing the creative direction for everything in this era. He worked on this video, the photo shoots, the album art and all that kind of stuff.

Q: Are there any easter eggs we should look out for?

A: There is one in the bathroom where someone is standing behind one of the bathroom stall doors. It is kind of for them, it may be weird if you spot it: ‘You would be like hah why did they choose to do that?’

Q: Any detail you are willing to give about your upcoming music?

A: It is coming and better. 

The next song they also did with Matt and it is just about done. Which they say is even a step up from “that won’t save us”. They are really excited for it. 

Q: Will the new era of ATC see a more rocky style over all?

A: Yes, they still will have a couple of songs which will have some of that pop feeling to them. But they saw that they kept taking their pop songs like “Wasteland” and playing them live as if they were a rock song. It was kind of the question why don’t we write like that to begin with instead of changing them for the live show. 

They feel like they grew up as a rock band. They have always had that pop vibe to it. But they love going hard on stage and being drenched after a show. They feel like they got a little distracted and over complicated things, but now they are figuring it out again.

They have noticed that a lot of people, even family and friends, have told them that they should go into a pop direction. All of those people now say after “that won’t save us” came out where like yeah this is exactly what you should be doing this is where you guys belong. 

Q: Will there be a new tour after the pandemic?

A: Totaly, they are dying to be on the road again. Dan has even started building virtual stages because he missed it that much.