CheekyChicago

Boston power pop/rock quartet Boys Like Girls stopped through Chicago on The Bamboozle Roadshow and chatted with The Dead Hub. Boys Like Girls is Martin Johnson (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Paul DiGiovanni (lead guitar), Bryan Donahue (bass) and John Keefe (drums).

Dead Hub: When you have fans that relate to lyrics that get them through hard times, do you keep that in mind when writing?

Martin Johnson: I’ve had probably 20-25 people off this record come up and say that I’ve saved their or their friends’ lives from writing the song “Go” off this current record. It’s about really digging yourself out of depression, moving on and finding a way. Last night I got a letter that was three pages long from a girl with a brain tumor. It’s terminal. She says that the thing that keeps her going is listening to the lyrics on the record. I don’t think there’s a better compliment than that.

Dead Hub: You’ve worked and toured with big names like Good Charlotte and Taylor Swift. Who has been the best to work with? Who have you learned the most from?

John Keefe: Our dudes in Good Charlotte are like our big brothers on tour. They’re nice, down-to-earth guys. They showed us the ropes. They know how to respect people.

Bryan Donahue: They’re genuine. They have been around forever. Everyone else on this tour looks up to them. We grew up listening to them.

Martin Johnson: On a morale standpoint and on a road-dog type standpoint, definitely Good Charlotte. On a musical standpoint it was pretty amazing working and writing with Taylor. John got a chance to play drums on Fearless. She straight up brings the heat. It was great working with her on a collaboration standpoint where she came in and sang one of our songs, but musically it was cool with the behind-the-scenes stuff. With the couple of songs we wrote together and watching John in the studio with her and how she kind of interacted with that.

Dead Hub: Do you consider whether the melodies would be good on the radio or not?

MJ: No. I never liked anything that wasn’t melodic. When I’m writing a song, I don’t think about the radio stuff. It’s afterwards when you have all the songs together you’re like, “Which song would be the most translatable to our fans in this current state of music? Which song best represents the whole record?” I know it’s a singles-based market where people don’t even buy records or even download the whole record for free. I would prefer a fan to go and download the whole record for free rather than buying a single for $0.99 to be honest with you, so they get the whole record in their iPod because we’re proud of it. Support us by coming to the show, buy a t-shirt or a concert ticket. We’ll stay alive somehow. It’s depressing that we live in a singles-based market, but you choose the radio singles after everything’s all said and done.