Best Of Times: A Conversation with Full Throttle

"Best Of Times": A Conversation With Full Throttle

Written by Imani Dominique (@imani.dominique)

Photographed by Christopher Joseph (@wolfwarriorchris @Cameradatediaries)

In this interview, we sit down with punk-rock band Full Throttle. Hailing from London, Ontario, band members Max McGill and Kaelin Chase talk about their musical roots, the influence of their hometown, the story behind their song Caffeine Hangover, and what it means to "live life full throttle."

IMANI

Thank you for speaking with me today! Please tell us a bit about yourselves and your introduction to making music.

MAX MCGILL

Thanks for having us. Well, my dad was in bands back in the '80s and '90s and was always into the music scene, so I grew up around a lot of music. It was always just a big passion of mine. I always wanted to be in my own band because I idolized all the bands I listened to growing up. It just stemmed from there. I met some cool friends who played some cool music too. Here we are.

KAELIN CHASE

I'm similar in that way. It was always in my family. My dad, in the '80s and '90s, played in some rock bands. My brother played drums, and there was always a drum kit around, so I kind of just fell into that. I always knew I wanted to play, but drums really... I guess drums got me. You know what I mean? Yeah. So that's how I got into it.

IMANI

Awesome. Where are you guys from?

MAX MCGILL

We are from the great city of London, Ontario.

IMANI

Do you find that London has influenced your sound at all? Where do you pull your inspiration?

MAX MCGILL

I think so, for sure. There have been a lot of punk bands in London throughout the years, and we have a really strong music scene here, especially in our area of music. So we've definitely gotten a lot of inspiration from the bands that came before us and the bands that we play with now. Like our friends Avenoir, they’re beauties. I think London has definitely influenced us as a band.

IMANI

How did your band form? What is your origin story?

MAX MCGILL

Our bass player, Evan, and I — he's not here right now, he's in Morocco, so he couldn't make it — but he and I have been friends since we were four years old. We were always listening to music, and we would jam at school at lunch in the music room in Grade 6 and play Blink-182 songs and stuff. We decided we wanted to start a band. Just around that same time, Kaelin started playing the drums. I had met him previously, but we didn’t really know each other. Our dads knew each other, though, so my dad was like, “Hey, my friend's son is starting to play drums. You should jam with him.” And then we jammed, and the rest was history.

IMANI

I listened to and really loved your song Caffeine Hangover. Is there anything you can share about the process behind that song?

MAX MCGILL

It's actually a funny story how that song got written, because the Full Throttle energy drink, I don't know if you've ever seen it, we’d never tried it. And because our band was called Full Throttle, we thought, hey, we should try this energy drink. And it wasn't very good. We thought, “Oh, we'll try a few different flavors.” I ended up drinking a lot of them in one night, and it didn't end well. I ended up feeling very, very sick. But the next day, I wrote a great tune called Caffeine Hangover about the whole process, the whole situation.

IMANI

Was your name inspired by the beverage, or did it just happen to be a crazy coincidence?

MAX MCGILL

Our name just comes from... I ride motocross. It's one of my other hobbies. So Full Throttle just comes from that. There's an Alice in Chains song called Full Throttle. One of the lines in it, he says, "I'm living life full throttle." It really spoke to me.

IMANI

How did you feel about playing NXNE?

KAELIN CHASE

Yeah, it was awesome. We've played it a few times now, and every year we go back and get to see a new venue. It's really great. I also find when we go to Toronto, since it's such a popping city, we always meet new people because the turnover at the venues is always really good just because it is so busy. We always have a great time. I would say it was 10/10.

MAX MCGILL

Yeah, it was really cool this year too. The other bands, there was one from Saskatoon, one from Chicago, so it was great getting to meet all of them. They're great people, great bands.

IMANI

That's incredible. One of our photographers, Chris, did a really cool shoot with you guys at your show. Is there anything you can share about that?

MAX MCGILL

He was like, “Are there any spots you want to take pictures?” and we thought the bathroom looked really cool and punk rock, so we immediately went to the bathroom.

IMANI

If a listener could only hear one song from your catalog, what would you recommend and why?

MAX MCGILL

Best of Times. I'd say Best of Times because I think it's our... of all the songs we've released, it's our most mature sound, I guess you would say. It's a step in a new direction from our older songs. And I really love the song. I think it rocks. I would say that sums up our whole vibe and what we're going for.

IMANI

That's awesome. Aside from yourselves, who's your favourite artist from Toronto? Or I guess London could work too.

MAX MCGILL

You know who I've been listening to a lot lately? I just found out about them. I had heard the name before, but never really listened to them. We got to play with them last week in London — Single Mothers. They're from London, and I'm ashamed I hadn't been listening to them my whole life because they're really cool. I've been really liking all their songs, and the show they put on was fantastic. So right now, I'd say Single Mothers.

KAELIN CHASE

I would say probably Avenoir. They're a really sick metal band, and our pal Ben plays guitar in the band. He shreds. He's insane. Very different style from what we play, and that's why we love it.

MAX MCGILL

We played our first shows together about five years ago or so. We've been friends for a long time.

IMANI

It’s really cool, that these are people you know and are local. What is a message or a theme that you'd want people to take away from your work?

MAX MCGILL

Love what you do. We love playing in a band, and that's the whole reason we're still doing it. I love it so much. We're having fun. So do what you love. Grab life by the horns.

KAELIN CHASE

Live life full throttle.

MAX MCGILL

Yeah. Live life full throttle. There you go.

IMANI

Are there any projects that you're working on that you can share a little inside scoop about?

MAX MCGILL

We're actually here in the studio right now. We're in the process of recording an album. So keep a lookout for that. We also have a new single, Third First Date, coming out July 21, and then we're going to be hitting the East Coast on tour to promote that.

IMANI

That's exciting. A lot of really good things coming up.

MAX MCGILL

We're really busy right now, but it's great. We're very excited.

IMANI

Those are all the questions I had for you. I don’t know if there’s anything you'd want to share that wasn’t covered or that you'd want to add?

MAX MCGILL

I think I'd just say keep your eyes out for Full Throttle. We may be coming to a city near you. Third First Date comes out July 21.

KAELIN CHASE

And the Hide Your Mom Tour is coming to the East Coast of Canada.

IMANI

All right. Well, thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of your day. Bye, guys.

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