It’s always a pleasure to interview Ace Enders, but I can’t say that it was this time. The interview below will bring great sadness to many as you’ll read for the first time that Ace’s upcoming “break” will most likely be a permanent one. While it might not translate onto paper, melancholy was truly audible in Ace’s voice as he discussed his future in our tiny music scene. It’s plain and simple, if you want him to continue on, please support him, because he is not someone that we want to see bow out of our lives for good. 

This is your second of three holiday and end of the year shows, but last month you went on a pretty major tour with The Maine and NeverShoutNever!, which certainly had a lot of people scratching their heads. How did that tour come together for you?
I’m friends with Chris and all those guys, so it made sense to do the tour. I think they’re all great people and plus, it was a huge tour. How could you really turn down the tour, whether it’s good or not? It’s an opportunity that a billion people would jump for. On top of being friends with them all, I know it’s definitely a different style of music and a lot younger, which is a gamble like anything else. Where I’m at right now, I need to do something because people are getting older, my fans anyway, and are getting more responsibilities and are letting go of the whole music thing and it’s difficult to really keep going.
POZ: Were fans responsive?
Ace: You know, some nights there were, some nights they weren’t. For the most part it was great. Finally towards the end I figured out how to really connect with a much younger audience, but it was hard. We had a good time, it was a great tour. It was nice.
 
In September you released Dust’n Off The Ol’ Guitar, which was a mixture of a new song and a bunch of old songs redone. You did it in just two days, but was it a fun experience? There’s been an overwhelmingly large amount of positive feedback from the release.
That was a lot of fun because there was no pressure behind it at all.
 
Was “Growing Pains” just an extra track you had sitting around or will it be on another release as well?
I’m still not sure. I really love that song. I don’t feel like it gave it justice, but that’s the good thing about that album, there was no pressure with it.
POZ: Does a lot of the newer stuff sound like that?
Ace: It’s different. It’s definitely different. The newer stuff, I’m sort of making sounds now based around loops. So everything is played, the bass, the percussion, is played there, but the songs just keep building. It’s sort of like that style with a flow to it.
 
And just a few days ago you released three newly recorded Christmas songs. Was that enjoyable to do?
Yes it was. I had a great time recording them. Stressful of course.
 
Earlier in 2010, The World We Know was released. It was supposed to be a part of a larger project with another full-length and a film. When we spoke over the summer there were plans to put out an EP in November as well. Is the bigger project still in mind or has it been abandoned?
I’m sort of mixing it in with this. It’s everything that I’m doing now. I play a few of those songs. I didn’t like have my name in it. It was just a lot of two years, and I know two years isn’t that long given the spectrum of the big thing, but there were a lot of weird times.
POZ: There was supposed to be a film as well. Is that happening?
Ace: It’s in the works. It’s going to take a little while to put out. We don’t have the budget. Things haven’t really gone as we would have liked. It’s about finding out what is best.
 
You did just announce that you would be taking a break. Is that just from touring or putting out music as well?
I’m going to make at least one more record. I’m not sure when exactly it’s going to come out, or how it’s going to happen, but I’ll make at least one more record. I have songs written for probably like five records now, but I don’t want to say it gets discouraging, but it’s like, it gets difficult to keep putting it out there. Like The World We Know or When I Hit The Ground or the triple disc, those are things that I love that I put a lot of time into. As you can see, like doing this interview or setting it up, I’m very hands on with everything 24 hours a day. I’m not like upset, but it’s hard because I’m running out of money and time.
 
You obviously started in the generation before this when everything was much more monetary and you would receive more. Is it just struggling with the times?
The digital thing isn’t even so much, but it’s hard to get people out to shows. You can have a huge following on the internet, but then I’m like, “Where are these people at? Why don’t they come to shows.” You need people to come to shows. And people don’t buy records anymore, so either way I’m losing out on something. Like the night I put out Dust’n Off The Ol’ Guitar, I find out a website that night that had leaked it and 5,000 people had downloaded it. That’s a lot. It’s just really hard to keep going.
 
If that album is released next year, will you tour off of it?
I don’t know. I really don’t know, it all depends. In all honesty, and you’re the first person that I’ve told this, but it all depends how it goes. If people buy it and it gets a good response and things start happening, then we’ll tour off of it. If not, probably not. If it’s the same type of thing and it comes down to the fact that I can’t afford it, probably not. And with holidays, I’m away from my family and I haven’t been able to do the things that I have to do around home. I’ve lost all my friends in the past ten years of doing this. It’s getting to be to the point where it’s not worth it. I used to say it would be worth it as long as I helped people, because that’s all that matters to me, but…

If it gets to the point where it’s not worth it…
Not that it’s not worth it. I love playing for people, I love playing for music. Music is the only thing that I’m semi-good at. That is the hardest thing to imagine; waking up where that’s not going to be my day. Realizing that my day isn’t going to be recording a song, it hurts my heart so much, but what can I do? That’s reality.
POZ: You have a family now.
Ace: Not even just my family, but if I didn’t have a family I’d still have bills to pay. I’d still have things to do. I’d still have responsibilities.
 
Will you be looking to record bands in your spare time?
Yeah, I’m going to focus a lot on production. In between bands I’ll do some chipping away at records and see where we end up.

So, I guess this might be the last time we hear from you for a while..
Yeah. That sounds like a baby stomping his feet, but I’ve been doing this for ten years, I’ve been doing this constantly, I tour constantly, I think everybody sees that. I work and it’s just reality. It’s not me being like, “Wah, it’s not going my way.” It hasn’t been going my way since the triple disc came out and I haven’t stopped and that was 2006. I’ve definitely put everything on the line and have sacrificed since that came out. Even putting that out was a sacrifice. That took so long for me to do and plan that. What will happen will happen.