Two weeks ago I got the opportunity to sit down with Andy Horst of This Providence on their New Jersey stop of their tour with Cartel and The Summer Set. After the jump, find out about the concept for their new music video, Andy’s dream tour and the prank Jersey Moriarty of Hey Monday pulled on him this past year.

Please introduce yourself and your role in the band.

My name is Andy and I play drums for This Providence.

What do you think sets you apart from other bands out there today?

I guess I want to kind of answer it as what separates us from our scene. I don’t know, I feel like we’re way more of an “indie band” than most of the bands in our scene. Like, I think we definitely have a large respect for music and classical music and I think that definitely comes across. When people meet us they’re like “oh you guys are actually musicians?”

And when you say bands in general, do you mean the bands that you tour with or strictly Fueled by Ramen?

I’d say more like, bands that we tour with and just in general with what’s big right now. A lot of the bands we go on tour with, we might sound similar but I like to think we have a different level of depth… but hopefully not in an arrogant way.

What’s your favorite song to perform live?

Probably ‘Waste Myself’, I think that’s definitely been the band favorite to perform.

What would you say you’re most thankful for?

Most thankful for? My family.

What’s something most people wouldn’t expect about you?

I’m actually a total bookworm.

Really? What are you reading right now?

I’m just finishing Robinson Crusoe. I’ve been reading a lot of classic literature lately. There’s an author named AJ Jacobs who’s an editor for Squire Magazine and also an NPR contributor. He writes these hilarious books. The one I’m reading right now is called The Know It All, and basically he read through an entire encyclopedia from A to Z. It’s just hilarious.

A few England fans are wondering if you have any future touring plans in the UK.

I hope so.  We have nothing set for the UK or Europe but hopefully… We’re crossing our fingers for early next year. It all depends on the right opportunity.

So you posted a picture on your blog the other day about your “artwork”. Is that something you’re serious about or is it just something you call artwork?

No it was totally joking. I really just sat down last night in the green room and drew a cow on the drum head. Sometimes we’ll draw stupid things on drum heads and try to sell them at the merch stand and it worked and I was like ‘yes’!

So is that something you’re considering doing more of are you just going to put it away?

I think I’ll be putting it away. (laughs)

If you could pick any four bands to tour with, dead or alive, broken up or together, which would you choose?

Oh that’s a good one. It’d be Death Cab, easily, Jimmy Eat World, two absolutes, The Beatles is like the obvious answer and I’d say Queen too. It’d be a very mixed tour but it’d be awesome.

What’s an artist or album that you can’t stop listening to right now?

Uh, Thrice, Beggars, it’s their new album and it’s incredible. I listened to it for like three hours on repeat today. It’s just too good both musically and lyrically. It’s awesome, I think it’s my favorite actually which is kind of hard for me to say because I’ve been listening to them since I was like twelve or something. It’s been a long time.

What are some of the simplest things in life that you enjoy?

Food. I love eating, I don’t know. I try to be observant of the world around me. Simple things like leafs and stuff which most people don’t really pay attention to. I love rain which is why I love Seattle. And here it’s pouring rain today. It’s like home!

What’s one of the most embarrassing things ever happened to you? Tour, home, high school, anything.

People have asked me that before and nothing’s really happened to me that’s been that embarrassing.

Well, what about any tour pranks you’ve been victim of?

On the Hey Monday tour that we just did this past June/July, Jersey, their bass player took an entire thing Gold Bond body powder and dumped it on all my drums. We have like a little intro before we play and then we run right on stage and just play right away. So I didn’t have time to look or anything. So I’m up there and I run on stage right away and plug my headphones in and hit my drums and all of a sudden this white smoke goes EVERYWHERE. I was just coughing while playing and it was pretty funny.

Is there anything you can share about the ‘Keeping On Without You’ video? Is there a story behind it?

Yeah we just shot it about two weeks ago. The concept, well, lyrically the song is about losing someone or having someone that you love die. So it’s kind of a heavier song but basically we shot it out in The Salt and the Sea which is east of Palm Springs I believe. It’s out in the middle of the desert and it’s like this really little salty lake, sea thing. There’s dead fish everywhere because they can’t survive anymore and it’s kind of crazy and there’s all these old abandoned buildings. The whole idea is that we’re kind of playing in a memory wasteland. I think the video is going to be ridiculously visually stimulating because there’s a lot going on. The concept is pretty simple though. There are a few characters that come in and out of the video but it should be sweet. We got our second draft back yesterday and we’re already just stoked. I think it’s going to be our best video yet.

When do you think it’s going to come out?

I have no clue. I think hopefully this tour, so probably sometime soon.

Interview By Clarisse Hansard