In 2005, when a range of alternative genres from pop-punk to hardcore all got branded “emo” and started growing mainstream legs, The Academy Is… found themselves at the center of the emerging scene. This subculture – more brightly colored than the gothy, My Chemical Romance-style “emo,” revolved around a core five bands – the traditional pop-punk Fall Out Boy, rap-infused Gym Class Heroes, theatrical Panic! At The Disco, electro-pop Cobra Starship, and The Academy Is…, whose sound was more indie-rock.
Those five groups, despite their difference in musical style, became an inseparable unit, guest-starring in each other’s music videos and albums, and constantly touring together in different combinations. When Pete Wentz founded his own imprint in order to sign Panic! At The Disco – the babies of the group – the other bands came along too.
Beckett on MTV’s TRL with Pete Wentz; and filming the video for the Snakes On A Plane theme song with Travis McCoy, Gabe Saporta, Maja Ivarsson and Samuel L. Jackson.
The entire crew, sharing a label and management, formed the Decaydance family – they picked up newbies along the way, but those original five were the leaders, the stars of a community highly dependent on social media and blogging, with the main resources being MySpace and LiveJournal. The fandom – known sometimes as “bandom,” was so dedicated that it even went as far as fanfiction, shipping pairings like “Peterick” (Pete Wentz/Patrick Stump) or “Treckett,” Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes and Beckett. With Fall Out Boy leading the charge, TAI became posterboys of a genre that was soon known simply as “the scene.”
Meanwhile, in private, Beckett was delighting in the growth of his own personal family. In late 2007, Beckett – then 22 – welcomed a daughter, Genevieve Dylan. Evie, as she is known, is now a boisterous six-year-old and a regular star of her father’s social media and livestreams, but for several years she was kept a secret, with Beckett going as far as deny her existence in an interview when rumors abounded.
Hypable: TAI were part of the whole Decaydance scene – that group was like alternative rock royalty for a few years. You mentioned having no hard feelings with the labels, but when you got dropped from Atlantic, or when the band broke up, was it easy to maintain all the relationships that you wanted to maintain, with those people?
WB: Not really, but I think it’s not as a result of that. All of us have our own lives, and everyone has been going through huge changes. Fall Out Boy wasn’t a band for a while – they were apart and doing their own thing – so at that point I saw Patrick [Stump] more than I saw Pete [Wentz], but traditionally I would see Pete a lot more than I would see Patrick. But you know, that’s an example. Cobra is like a whole different level, of where they’re at and what they want, and they don’t tour a lot anymore. But Gabe [Saporta, Cobra Starship’s frontman, formerly of New Jersey hardcore band Midtown] has busted his ass for like, twelve or fifteen years. He’s done it. He’s earned everything that he’s accomplished, everyone in that band has, and I’m so happy for them. But if I ran into Gabe tonight, it would be like nothing ever changed. It would be like we never skipped a day apart from each other.
It’s the same with Gym Class Heroes and Travis – I was in New York and I ran into Travis like completely randomly – it was outside of a bicycle shop and he was getting a bike – I ran into him and it was just like – both of us jaws on the sidewalk and huge hugs. He insisted upon us taking pictures and putting them online – he tweeted “Treckett Lives” and all this stuff. And that’s what I’m talking about. Like we’ve built a bond and a respect that is so strong and so deep that no distance and no void can really change what it is when it comes right down to it. Cause we’re like, you know, we’re brothers.
Treckett – 2006 and 2013.
Hypable: Yes. But it’s a big change from living on the road with that same group of people, all those bands and your own band, for five years in a row. So working as a complete solo artist, how isolating is that? In the sense of just not being with a team of people in day-to-day life, except for whoever you’re producing with, or even on out tour? Do you feel like you’re lacking camaraderie, now that you’re working with new people all the time?
WB: No. I mean I like it, I’m a personable person. I’m a friendly fella! I’ve made so many new friends since doing it on my own that I wouldn’t have made otherwise, I don’t think? It wouldn’t have been as strong, because I essentially become a part of the crew. On this tour, it’s been only two shows so far, but it already feels like family. I haven’t been on tour with The Maine in a long time, and Anberlin it’s been a while too. In certain ways, obviously, I miss the familiarity of going back to the dressing room and Butcher’s doing a wood burning and Sisky’s listening to music. But at the same time, I’m going to go back to the dressing room and I’ve got new friends that are listening to music. Not doing a wood burning, but you know what I mean? It’s like having an exciting new group of friends every tour, and it’s enriching. And you know what? I don’t mind being alone. I like being alone. I go to movies alone sometimes. I go to coffee shops alone and just write. I got to bars alone sometimes and write.
Hypable: Is Genuine and Counterfeit is the most personal writing that you’ve ever done?
WB: It’s always been really personal. Even Fast Times At Barrington High, [TAI’s third album, released in 2008] which is about the past – that was really personal as well, but this one is for sure the most that I’ve ever delved into my own relationships. That’s pretty clear when you listen to the record, when you listen to the lyrics. I’m not talking about everything being peachy. I’m addressing real life relationship issues and struggles.
Hypable: You’ve been in the same relationship for years – is that something that is easy or hard to make peace with, in the sense of people like your family and your girlfriend seeing your writing saying “oh, you wrote about that?” Right from the start, do you have to be like, “Look, I’m not Taylor Swift, but I’m gonna write songs about things?”
WB: She gets it. She’s been in it for a long time. Since the beginning, she’s been there. She knows that I’m going to write some songs that are inspired by us that aren’t very nice sometimes. So she just deals with it. Like, most of it’s written to be universal. It’s written to be something that people can relate to, not over-the-top detail orientated.
Hypable: This record also vaguely mentions your daughter. You being a dad – that’s something that, for several years, you actively chose not only to keep private but to outright deny.
WB: This is one of those things that is sort of a touchy subject because my band – not everyone in my band, but certain people in my band – were not supportive at all of me having a child. So that made me very sad and very unwilling to open up to people, because the people that I trusted most, that I needed most… It was a scary time, you know? A huge step. And to be met with downright – things I would never say to my friend – that turned me off to all of it. And I regret, deeply, ever denying anything about her. It was only the one time, but obviously you say something once and you can’t erase it. But that was one of those things, you know… It would be nice if people could understand where I was coming from, with how uncomfortable and how hurt and let down I was by people that I trusted, let alone people that I don’t know at all.
William and Genevieve Beckett. Photo credit: Courtney Beckett
Hypable: That’s where I was going with that – just what had led you to make that choice, and whether you would still do the same thing.
WB: No, I wouldn’t. I mean I believe in holding certain things private, but I’ve always been extremely proud to be a dad. It’s like the best thing in my life. And then it can get to a point where it’s like “screw this, screw you, I’m talking about this.” I mean I could have written a record about that. But we wrote a record about high school instead.
Hypable: Were there any songs you wrote at the time that were about the situation you were going through?
WB: I wrote a bunch of stuff that never saw the light of day, so yeah. But nothing that anyone has heard, really. I really focused and honed in on concepts of Fast Times to be inspired by my high school experiences, which really shaped me into who I am.
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