It was announced just this past weekend that Taylor would be leaving Handguns and that Tyson from Second To Last would be filling in on vocals for the time being. PropertyOfZack caught up with Tyson earlier this week for an interview, but we are now releasing our brand new interview with Jake from Handguns. Jake and PropertyOfZack discussed Taylor’s departure, his reasons for keeping Handguns alive, whether or not Tyson will be a full member, future recordings, and more. Read up and enjoy, it’s a great interview!

Handguns just announced that Taylor would be leaving the band. When did Taylor first notify you guys of the decision?
Three or four days ago. It was in Louisville, Ohio. He told us that he couldn’t do it anymore. He said that the lifestyle is not for him anymore. We started touring with this lineup almost 2 years ago and in that time we put 100,000 miles on the van and that’s a lot of time spent away from home, a lot of time spent broke, a lot of time spent not really eating. So it wears on you, it’s not for everybody. That’s really all there is to it. There’s no underlying beef. We did find some weird documents. Taylor has enrolled himself into a guitar program at the Jonathan Davis school of metal solos, so we think he’s going to start a nu metal project.

Losing a lead singer more often than not puts an end to any band. We know that you’re not breaking up, but what is pushing you guys to fight through such a large change?
I started this band 3 years and 13 ex members ago. Now it will be 15 because Taylor is leaving and our drummer also is. Our drummer is a new guy and it’s not really working out. It isn’t the right fit. He just wasn’t feeling it. The reason I’m going to continue it is because I started the band. I started the band and I’ve been doing it for 3 years. I just feel like people will get it and understand. Some people think there is always a fallout when there is a new singer. There will always be people that think the old stuff is better and that’s fine. You just have to keep going, and I feel like people will be understanding.

Do you have complete confidence in making the change work and continue to help Handguns grow?
I don’t have complete confidence in anything I do. If I had to live my life only on things I had complete confidence in I would just sit in my room because I’m completely confident very few bad things would happen to me. So I’m not completely confident, but it’s the only option for me. You have to live your life on what you want not what you are completely confident in.

Fans shared their emotions and they seemed to have a wide range of comments on everything that transpired. Have you seen pretty supportive feedback from everybody so far?
Yeah. Nobody was like, “Good Taylor sucks I’m glad he’s gone.” There were only 2 or 3 negative comments but there was a ton of feedback and everyone seemed to be pretty supportive. Everyone is bummed and I’m bummed with them because, it sounds corny to say but, Handguns is my favorite band. If your favorite band lost their lead singer you would be bummed, but you know what you would do? You would not let them break up. You’d be like, “Dude they have to get somebody else. Get that guy. I’ll sing!” You know what I mean? So Tyson from Second To Last is going to fill in for everything we have booked and then after that we’ll see where everything lies. We might try people out. We don’t know right now. Right now we have to do what we have lined up. We plan on taking a break in October anyways and that’s when we had a planned break.
Taylor’s final date will be at the last show with I Call Fives and We Are The Union, and from there on out Tyson from Second To Last will be substituting for him. How did bringing on Tyson come about?
I’ve just known him for a long time. Tyson actually kind of means a lot to this band in a weird way. We got robbed on our first full US tour and one of the only shows that the so-called booking agent that robbed us booked was a show through Tyson and we met him the day after we found out we got robbed. We were like dude we got robbed and he tried to help us out and was there for us. It was cool. His band was the band we played with the day after that. That’s how we met our label.  We met our label through Tyson at Warped Tour, Jake from Pure Noise. He’s always been a dude that we’ve known and he’s always been into what we’re doing and how we were always on tour. We just brought him in and he just wants to do it.

Do you think that fans will react positively to him in the live setting?
I think he’ll be fine. I’ve seen Tyson play before he’s great live. He lords with the best of them.

You guys will be heading out on Warped Tour again this year to raise money to buy a new van. Will Tyson be out there with you? If so, would you like to play some shows on off-dates?
We are not playing shows on off-dates because it’s the hardest and most tiring thing to do. We did that last year. One time we left Warped Tour and drove 9 hours straight and made it barely to the show and it was just bad. Tyson is going to be with us but we won’t be playing any off-dates.

There has just been minor confusion regarding whether or not Tyson will actually be joining Handguns full time or just helping out live for now. Can you clarify that?
Just helping out for right now. There’s a possibility he could join. I mean he’s going to be touring with us for 4 months and I know he wants to. I feel he wants to join us full time, that’s what he told me. It’s just a matter of figuring out everything; you can’t make a decision before you know.

The band has a new EP that was just mixed and is prepping to be released. Will that EP sort of be dead in the water now since Taylor has left, or do you still have high hopes for it to continue helping Handguns grow?
No it’ll still be released. The release date is going to be announced later this week. The full details will be announced then. The stuff we just recorded is still coming out, it’s going to be released as is.
POZ: And will it be under Pure Noise?
Handguns: Yep.

It’s no secret that you guys have been looking to do a full-length as well. There have been minimal rumors that Taylor still actually wants to sing on the record. Can you explain the situation and how you guys are going to handle tracking future releases?
That’s not true. If we write a full-length it will be with a new singer.

These are the last tour dates the band has until after Warped Tour is finished up. Can you outline the basic rough plan for the next few months in the Handguns camp to explain how you’re going to handle the changes that are coming?
We’re picking Tyson up in Salt Lake City and we’re doing 3 dates with Forever Came Calling. Then we are doing Warped Tour and then four more tours that are all back-to-back, they can’t be announced yet. They are being booked and Tyson will be on them. So you’re going to see a lot of us but then we are going to take a break. When we put out Anywhere But Home we toured for 6 months and then took a 2 month break. When we stop touring it will have been 9 months since Don’t Bite Your Tongue came out, so we toured it harder and we want to be home a little longer. We need to make some money.

Anywhere But Home is sort of your motto, how do you feel about being at home for that long?
I hate being home but it’s part of it. You can’t be home all of the time. You can’t be always gone.

Anything else you’d like to add to the interview?
I know a lot of people get upset when a band changes their singer. I’ve said it too. But I just feel like we aren’t done. There’s more that we have and the music isn’t going to make a drastic change. Just buy our full-length when it comes out.

*This interview was conducted by Kyle Garchar