Near the end of their 2011 co-headlining tour, Bayside and Saves The Day hit Vinyl Music Hall in Pensacola, Florida. Before the show, Bayside frontman Anthony Raneri took time out from the tour to talk about his influences and life on the road.

***Anthony Raneri of Bayside Interview 10/30/11***

It just came out this past week and you have the closing track on the “Come As You Are: 20th Anniversary Tribute To Nirvana’s Nevermind” album. Your cover of “About A Girl” has an awesome piano-swing vibe to it. How did you become a part of the tribute?

AR: Cool. Thank you. The guy who was putting it together had asked our label if Bayside would be interested. And I think at the time, we didn’t have time for everybody to go into the studio. I think somebody was on vacation. We also were thinking the band had been doing a lot of compilation stuff and so we wanted to keep our attention on the new album and try to finish. Most of the recordings were like six or seven months ago, I think. A new record had come out and Bayside had been in the studio for a long time working on the record. They said “Would Anthony be able to do it?” and I said “Yeah, I think I can find time for that.” I went into the studio for like two hours and just by myself and played the whole thing in a couple of hours. And I got an email afterwards from the guy who was putting it together; he was really, really excited about it and he wanted me to close. And he wrote a nice email.

It was just an awesome song. Your take on the song is pretty amazing.

AR: Thank you.

On your website you have this bad ass picture of a box of Voodoo Doughnuts. What kind of food gets you through on the road?

AR: I mean, I try to eat good every day. I love food. It’s very important to me. Whenever we go out, we’re at a different city every day, a different country every day sometimes. I wind up eating a lot of pasta on tour. We eat a lot of sandwiches, definitely a lot of junk food. We’re a punk band. We eat a lot of sugar.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

AR: Just to follow my dream. That’s what my parents always told me to do. Not to conform, not to do what I think I’m supposed to do, don’t play it safe.

Crunchy or Creamy Peanut Butter?

AR: I like crunchy.

-Michael L. Smith

For the rest of the interview including Raneri’s straightforward advice for aspiring artists, the influence of Nirvana’s Nevermind, and a list of Raneri’s Top 5 albums of all-time check out the rest of my interview in Pensacola News Journal.

Anthony Raneri interview including his Top 5 Albums of all-time.

Link to additional photo gallery of the concert by PNJ photographer Jody Link