All Time Low is proving that there's no such thing as bad publicity.

A pop-punk band in a music climate saturated with pop-punk bands, All Time Low achieved a bit of fame — or infamy, depending on your perspective — when a Maryland middle school student was suspended for three days for having a picture of band hanging outside her locker. This particular picture featured all four members of All Time Low clad in nothing more than their tighty whities.

“I'm annoyed and bothered by the fact that my principal called the picture porn,” said the girl, who goes by Rea, in a news release.

As for All Time Low, the band is using the buzz to promote its new album — So Wrong, It's Right — and its nationwide tour with Boys Like Girls, which includes a stop at The White Rabbit on Tuesday, Oct. 16. Before that show rolls into San Antonio, All Time Low guitarist Jack Barakat talked to 210SA about the fallout from the photos, how the band has capitalized on the controversy and what it was like posing in his underwear.
 

So what were your thoughts when you found out that someone had been suspended because of your picture?
I was surprised because I never even saw it as an issue. I never thought it could happen. They considered the picture soft porn, but I really don't even think it's close to that. It's just four guys in their underwear. It's not animal porn or something.

But at least it helped All Time Low get some publicity.
Oh yeah, definitely. All these people are hearing about All Time Low getting people suspended.

Does this controversy give the band a badass reputation?
I think it makes us look like that. All these people weren't writing about us before, and now, it's given people something to talk about.

Whose idea was it for the four of you to pose in your tighty whities?
Actually, it was a mix of our idea and the photographer's idea. We were reminiscing over an old Blink-182 DVD when they did the whole running around naked thing, and we were talking about how not that many bands do that anymore. That was our take on it, so we came in the room, the photographer brought underwear, food and all this stuff. There was a white background, so we got in the tighty whities and started taking pictures.

Was the photo shoot a means to an end of sorts, considering it's another way for the music to get out there?
Right. When it comes down to separating ourselves from other bands, we're not some local band that's playing the same old songs. And we're not doing the same old pics that everyone else takes.

Is there a stigma that accompanies being a pop-punk band?
Honestly, we hear it all the time, that you're just a pop-punk band and it's not really music. Anyone can play pop-punk music, but we do it well. We have catchy melodies, amazing lyrics and it's all about having fun. We're not trying to change people's views on religion or politics.

Do you think there will come a day when All Time Low gets serious?
All bands mature musically, but I don't see us maturing to the point where the music changes. Not any time soon, and maybe never. We're young, and we like doing what we're doing.

CLINT HALE | 210SA