PropertyOfZack sat with down Kyle O’Neil not too long ago during Fireworks’s recent tour in support of Gospel with Hostage Calm and Mixtapes for a brief interview. Kyle and I discussed the reception and creative process to and behind Gospel, working with producer Brian McTernan in the studio, future touring, and more. Read up and enjoy!

For the record, could you state your name and role in Fireworks?
I’m Kyle, and I play bass in Fireworks.

The band is right in the middle of its first headlining tour in support of Gospel with Hostage Calm and Mixtapes. How has the first half of the tour been?
It’s been recent. It’s cool. It’s not really a tour, but more of a short run of east coast markets that we haven’t been to in a while. We’re trying to keep it a little busy before we get back supporting again later this fall.

Your schedule shifted a bit when you changed a date to The Wonder Years’s release show. Can you just talk about that night and what it means to still be so close and in the same world with that band after years of touring together?
It was great. It was a big day for them, and we were going to play Philly anyways, so it just made sense for us. This way kid didn’t have to go to two shows in one week and it’d also split the draw. The show was awesome though. There were 950 people and you can’t go wrong with that. Philly is probably our second best market behind Detroit.

How many new songs off of Gospel are in the set, and how are they going over live?
Probably five or six. There are some people who don’t even know the older songs, but are singing along for the new. It’s cool because it’s pretty soon that it’s out.

Gospel leaked a solid month before it’s official May 24^th release. What were your initial reactions to handling that? A month is much longer in terms of a leak then just a week or so.
We were kind of bummed. We knew it was going to happen. It’s one of those things where you can’t do anything. We just had to deal with it and pretended like it didn’t happen. We didn’t really talk about the record leaking. We tried to get it down from those sites. It’s a shitty thing when people advertise that it’s leaked. It’s whatever. It sucks, and someone fucked up.

The sort of immediate reaction from fans was pretty spread out on the spectrum from those who hadn’t really listened to it in full yet. How do you think it’s settling out now?
I’ve heard 99% positive feedback, so we’re really stoked on the reaction. I think the leak even helped with that because it got kids more excited. It’s been good so far.

I don’t think many people totally expected the large shift in sound from All I Have to Offer to Gospel. Where did that influence creative change come from?
We’ve grown as a band and musicians and this is the first time we actually sat down to write a record. The last record was a collection of songs that we wrote. This one was an album that we sat down and wrote in the same timeframe. We went to a producer this time, and Chad was great, but Brian is a very experienced producer in a different light than we’ve had before. He was able to bring out different tones and made everything sound great.
POZ: Was it just a totally different experience?
Kyle: Totally. We were very comfortable and had a lot of time to work on it; that’s a huge factor. I give Chad so much credit because we busted that album out in like 13 days including pre-production and it came out great. This one we woke up at 10am, showered, ate breakfast, recorded until 7, and then we had the night off. It was comfortable and not rushed.

Is it also cool that McTernan is working with Polar Bear Club, Set Your Goals, and Balance?
Yeah, every band that’s gone there lately is a friend of ours.

The lyrical content has also shifted to a degree. Was the process different for you this time?
It was a product of getting older and experiencing different things that we hadn’t before. The writing process was still the same though. Chris comes up with a lot of ideas but Brett, Dave, and myself all have lyrics on the record. It’s very much a group effort. The whole band approves of the lyrics. I feel that it’s very us.

The band has said that you don’t want to be pigeon-holed in any genre, but were there nerves in changing the sound to a large degree?
We didn’t know what people would think. It’s definitely different. It’s still pop music whether it’s pop-punk or pop-rock. We just don’t want to be pigeon-holed in a genre. I’m not saying we’re not a pop-punk band, but I think that genre is too dumbed down and not what it used to be. We didn’t know what people would think, but it was a record that we’re stoked on. It was the record we wanted to make so we didn’t really care. We knew it was good, our producer signed off on it, the label thinks it’s great, so it didn’t really matter. I think kids have really gotten into it though. We grew as a band as we got older and so have our fans. Hopefully the fans can grow with us instead of expecting the same thing.

When should we expect more touring?
We’re doing a tour this fall and that will be announced shortly.
POZ: Is there anything else this summer?
Kyle: Not really that’s planned right now. We’re going to hangout, which is weird because we just put a record out, but we’re not on Warped and there’s not a lot going on this summer. We’re going to hangout and get ready in the fall.

Do you want to get overseas at all again?
We went to England in March, but we want to get back to Australia in probably the beginning of next year. We’re supposed to go to Japan too, but that fell-through so we’re trying to work that out. I’d like to go to South America too.