Pop-rock act Before You Exit are wrapping up their North American tour in support of their latest release, All the Lights. While in New York City, PopCrush had the chance to talk to Connor McDonough about the new EP as well as what the rest of 2016 has in store for the group. He also expressed his enthusiasm for some famous acts he would love to tour with. Check out PopCrush’s full interview with Connor McDonough of Before You Exit below.

Talk about the new release All The Lights.

All of the new music is something we’ve been waiting to put out for a while, it’s a combination of a bunch of songs we’ve been writing for a long time now. We picked our favorite ones, we had written anywhere from 75 to 100 different songs and it came down to our six favorite and each one has its own significance and different meaning. We’re just so excited it’s out.

What does the title All the Lights mean to you personally?

A lot of different things but I feel like the main meaning of the whole EP in general — the message we wanted to get out there — was in darker times there is light, there’s another side to it. For us that’s the case. For anyone listening to it, I just feel like it’s an important message sometimes, people get stuck and don’t know where to go from there.

How was the overall recording and creative processes for you?

We got to write and produce everything ourselves. We have a home studio at our house and we also worked with one of our buddies in L.A. We got all of it done, but it took a while, because it was homemade in a sense because we were doing it ourselves. There was a lot of perfecting it and making sure everything was right and the way we wanted it to be.

Did you find it more relaxing being able to work from home in your own studio?

Yeah, there’s definitely a difference between working in a big studio versus a house studio. It used to be that all you would do is record in big studios but now because you can do everything from your bedroom – there’s something about being so close, it’s not like we don’t like big studios but it’s definitely a preference to work in a smaller one.

What does the rest of the year have in store for you and the rest of Before You Exit?

Just putting out the music, we’re going to be touring and work on getting around to other places and working on more music. We’re already starting to write for the next one! You can never have enough music.

Do you write on the road or do you leave the writing for when you guys get home?

A little bit, we try to. For example, this day starts at noon and then we go all the way to midnight, so there’s not as much time to write as we’d like to.

What is one musician or band you would love to tour with?

I would love to tour with Maroon 5 or The 1975, any kind of rock-pop acts would be really cool. Of course there are other acts like John Mayer who we’re not anything like but that would be cool, too.

What is one non-electronic item you must have on tour with you?

That is tough, maybe my pillow for a good night’s rest. Tour bus pillows, you don’t know who’s been on the last pillow. [Laughs]

Order Before You Exit's All the Lights on iTunes here.

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