U.K. pop-punk act, Eat Defeat, released their new album I Think We’ll Be Ok on August 3, 2018 through Bearded Punk Records. I Think We’ll Be Okay is the follow-up to their 2017 EP Time and Tide. I caught up with the band’s vocalist, Andrew Summer to discuss the record.

For starters, can you tell me about the new album?

The new album is called I Think We’ll Be OK, it came out on August 3rd and we released it through the ever awesome Bearded Punk Records. It’s 10 tracks of poppy punk rock and we think it’s pretty good.

It seems like the record touches upon mental health a lot.

I’d agree with that. I think it took me a long time to even be able to be comfortable talking about things I was struggling with, let alone writing them down. I’m now getting to a point where the more I do it, the more I find people want to hear about it, because I think there’s something really comforting knowing other people struggle or have struggled with similar issues and have come out the other end.

What led you to finally talk about your struggles?

I think the thing is, and it’s kind of topical at the moment, but it legit was because of other bands addressing it onstage. I did a couple of tours driving Ducking Punches who are very outspoken about mental health awareness and it was just like a light bulb where I felt ‘oh, Wow, OK, so many other people experience similar states of mind and I absolutely do not have to bottle this all up.’ I say it’s topical because I think I read some things from this year’s Warped Tour where a band was kind of called out for speaking about mental health awareness on stage and that it could cause as much harm than good. I understand that position, but for me personally I know it’s something that literally had a very positive effect on my life, and so I really do try and talk about it onstage or on social media. I think if even one person takes it on board and it helps them out then I’m passing it on.

I agree that it can be cathartic. That’s what this music and community is for in my opinion. I suppose “what are your influences?” is a boring question but I’m always hyped to hear what bands the bands I like are stoked / influenced by because sometimes I find artists I don’t know about yet. Additionally, knowing what bands are listening to makes me connect with them even more. Beyond obvious ones like New Found Glory, Alkaline Trio, The Swellers and mainstream pop music, what are some albums that you hold dear / shaped your band that people might not know of or would be surprised to hear made an impact on you?

We Are The Union are suuuch a huge one. Less Than Jake too but I feel like we reference them a lot more. Me and Rich were pretty much just in ska punk/ska core bands before Eat Defeat and obviously there’s a couple of songs on ‘Challenges’ that are still pretty ska. I just think both those bands do such an amazing job of not really letting the ska label define who they are and the music they put out and they’re both so anthemic. I have 2 WATU tattoos, haha. Same thing with a lot of the UK ska scene from back in the day, Howards Alias are one that had a huge impact on me and were just an amazing band. Ska defines who I am as a person and I will never turn my back on ska.

Bonus: I made Summer send me a photo of his We Are The Union tattoo.

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@EatDefeatUK @BeardedPunkRec