THOMPSON, ANTON D.

[ANTON DAVIS THOMPSON]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-image: url(http://i54.tinypic.com/2nqfdd2.jpg); border: solid 5px #d6d6d6; width: 250px; -webkit-border-radius: 50px 4px 50px 4px; -moz-border-radius: 50px 4px 50px 4px; line-height:85%; margin-top: 5px] ANTON DAVIS THOMPSON, "i'm doing better now, i'm doing good, i'm doing all the things i know, i know i should" TWENTY-THREE | DOWN OVER DOVER | GUITAR & BACKING VOCALS | CAMERON LEAHY "SO TELL ME, WHO ARE YOU AGAIN?" "okay, i'm gonna start this out by giving you a lesson on how to say my name. say it after me. anton. ahn-tahn. or however you want to spell it out but yeah, that's how you say it. but yes, hi! anton davis thompson at your services. that makes me sound either like a male escort or some other weird thing out there. anyway, i just taught you how to say my name, so you should say it right from now on! or if not i guess you can always resort to calling me ant, haha. but i like my name and not the shortened version. it really did suck to have all my teachers in school have to mispronounce it though. oh, okay, back on topic, sorry - i'm kind of on red bull right now and it's like three in the morning that we're doing this here mini-interview. i'm twenty-three years old even though it doesn't seem like i act that way at some times. don't believe? check my birth certificate or my driver's license. my birthday is what it is, on december 22nd, so yeah. i'm the guitarist and backing vocalist of this band, down over dover, and hopefully you've heard of us if we're having this conversation right now. alright, i think i've told you enough about me, haha - don't want to sound too narcissistic, cause i'm far from it, i promise." "RIGHT RIGHT, SORRY. SO TELL ME A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF." "i really really really love life, no joke. and i'm thankful every day for the chances i have and all that stuff. you won't see me being cocky, no sir. i like to be positive and happy all the time, or at least as much as possible, and i don't like to have drama in or around my life, so i tend to be the calming factor in situations like that. diffusing is my thing. a lot of people say i'm weird because i do say random things and do crazy stuff sometimes, but that's really just me being, well, me. i kind of do have ADD i guess, but it's a mild case that i'd rather embrace than resent. don't worry, i take things for it that mellow me out most of the time. i'm actually pretty awkward, come to think of it, and i guess all the things i say or do when people are around me are like, a natural reaction that my brain triggers because awkward is the last thing that i want to be around people. but it ends up being awkward anyway, haha. fail. really, though, i like to consider myself like a voice of reason with my friends, because a lot of them like to come and talk to me for the fact that i'm good at not being biased on a situation or a problem and whatever else. a lot of my friends tend to be girls but that doesn't mean a thing in my opinion. i've never done anything bad to a girl either, and i guess because i get stamped as the good guy friend that's why they like to talk to me. i think some people think i'm the fag hag, but i'm not gay. umm, let's see... i do like to talk, and i kind of really ramble a lot too, like right now. i mean, i'm real friendly with anyone i meet on tour and off tour - just come up to me and say hi or something. the one thing i fail at is like, approaching people first because i do have instances where i get inexplicably nervous, but once i get myself warmed up with talking i'm fine. it's arguable that i can be bipolar, and i don't blame anyone for saying that because i do act differently when i'm on stage or doing anything related to the band. there's regular awkward anton and then there's crazy anton. i admit that i get really frustrated easily when something's going on with the band or we're in the middle of practice and it's not going right, and i know i can get controlling sometimes but it's only because i want everyone to do well, for us to do well. luckily my friends and band mates can tolerate that and even bring me back and put me in my place when i get a certain way, so i'm lucky. oh, and there's also super nervous around girls anton. i can't talk to girls for shit, even though i kind of do talk? it's like, when i like someone, half the things i'm thinking about them manage to come out of my mouth sometimes. and it's really embarrassing. i guess i can be smooth at some times, cause i mean, i try to pay attention to signals, believe it or not. i must sound crazy after talking about all the different sides of me. seriously, though. i'm out of high school and i'm trying to be less uptight about the music and what we do, which is why i think that my humor and the way i handle myself with a touch of crazy is a good way to keep the ice broken. but yeah, i'd like to think that i'm a really nice person overall. i've never had someone flat out tell me that they hate me, but i have been told i'm a bit of a cocky, annoying little shit sometimes, haha. let your opinions of me form once you get to meet me." "INTERESTING! WHERE WAS IT THAT YOU SAID YOU COME FROM?" "there's nothing really special about me or my life. yeah, sure, i guess you can say that i'm just being modest but the truth is that i'm just your average guy. i gret up in a middle class area in the first state of the country, and like both my parents, cindy and rob, i pretty much grew up there right from the start, born and raised. i'm not an only child but i am the oldest, my siblings being both girls that are younger than me - trisha is 19 and kayla is 7, and for the most part we get along just fine. or i mean, kay and i do, trish is just the sibling so close in age to me that we naturally bicker for the sake of it, but we're cool all the same, cause even though i'm the only boy in the pack i still get along with girls a lot better. and while money was never a problem and i could've gotten anything i wanted if i asked, i wasn't a spoiled brat. pretty much all i wanted from my parents was to support me and my passion for music, and i think that just developed when i was like five years old and carried me through high school. it's cheesy as hell to say, but that's really what kept me going. i wasn't the smartest kid but i wasn't dumb either, i just would rather apply myself to all the stuff i did while playing guitar rather than doing homework, haha. i guess in high school i was kind of a nerd, i did actually read a lot and the only class i always really excelled in was english and any writing class, plus i did band and all that... yeah, major nerd. i always wanted to have a serious band, i wanted to break out of everything that society wanted me to be. and so like, i don't know, a few came and went during the time that i was in school, and when i was a junior i decided to just say fuck it and do my own thing. i mean, my friends who i did jam with were never really serious about it, or not as serious as i was. maybe i was crazy, haha, but i really REALLY wanted this to happen. i met griffin in junior year - i mean i already knew him from being in the same graduating class (only cause by my birthday i missed that weird school age cutoff thing with the grades), but i hadn't really talked to him til our bands at the time played the same shows and went up against each other at all the battle of the bands shit that our high school hosted. so i mean, we clicked after hanging out a couple times and once our bands had gone their seperate ways within the members - cause let's face it, high school stuff doesn't last very long especially with kids who don't really get what the point of it is other than to gain cool points - and when we found out we were pretty much on the same goal chart and wanted the same things out of our time, that was basically the real start of the band, when it got real and serious. we got some friends along to keep us going, in the band and out of it, and after a few stints with the weekend theory (since they were local and we played with them a couple times regionally too), we became pretty tight with travis and ethan and pretty much that's how we're here right now. but i mean, we have the chops to match up with anything, cause we aren't here just cause the boss likes us as people. we have the music, too, and the work ethic as a group. because honestly without all of us being on the same level that you needed to be at in order help us all get towards that touring dream, i don't know where we'd be right now, haha." "WOW. SO WHAT IS A DAY IN THE LIFE OF YOU LIKE?" "i wake up, ingest caffeine, and bounce off the walls all day. haha, no. actually it's partially true, i run off red bull and that kind of shit when im on tour. it helps with my fidgety nature, believe it or not - i guess when i'm actually doing things it's not so bad, cause actually i do a lot in a day. like write music, practice, and surf the internet. or i'm always tweeting. yeah, sue me, don't follow me if that's what you hate, haha. umm. yeah i just do the basic stuff in a day that you need to survive. at home i'm kind of a bum and i stay in and just invite people over, but i do try to do something with myself i guess, cause i hate being bored. and when we're on tour, i just go into a certain mode and everything. from our set times to like, supporting the rest of the bands on the same bill, to hanging at merch and meeting all the kids that come out to see us play - yeah, that's my life, mixed in with a few twists before i crash and repeat it all over again. you'll find that that's when i'm at my best and my happiest. see it to believe it?" "NICE. LAST QUESTION... WHY ARE YOU WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW AND WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?" "well, i once tried college but i hated it, and i dropped it after my first semester because my real passion is music, man, and i consider writing and touring a full-time job, you know. i can't even see myself doing anything else other than music, which is probably why the whole classroom thing didn't really work out for me the first time around. maybe in five years it'll be different, but for now i want to see the world and do some crazy shit and live out loud and all that stuff. i want everyone to remember me as that gifted guy who writes rad lyrics and great music to go with it, gives good performances that everyone likes, and can be super crazy at times. and as for like, future futures - i don't really want to settle with anyone or have a committed relationship while i'm still in tour mode, just cause that's always really complicated from all the other stories i've heard and seen in friends from other bands we've met along the way. not to say that i'll be the same way, or that i couldn't handle it, but it's like a distraction from why i'd really be here, you know? and i have to worry about my future and myself before everything else, before i get too old. but i guess you could also say that i'm looking? except not really, i'm waiting for the right girl to be with, so whenever she comes along, i guess i'll take all the old people's word for it and say that i'll probably know it, when it happens." "ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO ADD?" "i like penguins. like that kid who likes turtles. except i like penguins." hey there, the name's steph. i live in the eastern time zone and this is my wah eighth cause tati is an enabler character.