Universal Records

From left: Kent Garrison, Jonathan Cook, Marc Stewart, Caleb Turman, Austin Bello and Kyle Burns

The six players – former members of local groups the Flipside and Ben Bleeds – released Underdog Alma Mater on Universal Records on April 29, and it recently hit No. 45 on the Billboard albums chart.

The music on Alma Mater follows in the power-pop footsteps of Fall Out Boy and Good Charlotte, which might explain the band's fast appeal to younger listeners.

We caught up with 23-year-old lead singer Jonathan Cook yesterday by phone as the band traveled to San Antonio for a show. The guys come home for a sold-out CD-release concert at House of Blues on Saturday. Here's more.

Hunter Hauk

Q: How many places have you been in the last two months?

A: Uh, let's see, 75?

Q: And you've got a whole summer of Warped Tour ahead of you, just to remind you.

A: Right. Appreciate that.

Q: No problem. So tell me about the band name. What's it all about?

A: When we were first starting as a restructuring of the Flipside, we knew the name would play a role in the success of the band, and we wanted to get kids to click on the name without knowing much about our genre. With the Internet, the band name is almost as important as the music. Forever the Sickest Kids is different, and just kinda stuck.

Q: You've all been in bands before. What about this one is different, and why did it connect with fans and industry so much quicker?

A: It was the music, mainly. We brought in the synths and the programming, and we just made a list when we were starting out, of things we wanted to add. We felt like we needed backup vocals, harmonies. We brought in piano and synth, which gave it a more Top 40 or pop sound. And we wrote lyrics about everyday experiences, which made more kids able to relate to our songs.

Q: Did having those other bands in your past help?

A: The four and a half years spent in those bands was a total learning process, what we did right and what we did wrong.

Q: MTV plays new bands in the background of most of its reality shows, but The Hills is different in that it's so highly rated and has become sort of a musical springboard. Have you felt the bump from getting played there?

A: Maybe there's been a little boost in recognition because of it, but as of a week and a half ago, we haven't even had time to look at our MySpace.

Q: You met and befriended Paris Hilton around the time she made an appearance in Dallas. Do you keep in contact with her?

A: Yeah, she's been in South Africa with her boyfriend on tour with Good Charlotte, but she's been a good friend. We keep in contact online.

Q: As far as Warped Tour goes, you've been before. What are the best and worst things about the whole experience?

A: I think everybody in a band has a love/hate relationship, because it's the most fun people to work with, but it's super hot and long hours and tons of kids and the same thing every day. But at the end of it, you look back and realize it was the best decision you could have made, just seeing that many fans every day.

Q: Do you ever fear that the buzz you're getting now will fade away? If so, how do you avoid that?

A: It's not even something that's crossed my mind. We pray every day before we go onstage, so we know that this will last as long as it's supposed to. We'll change with the times and will always look for new ways to reinvent ourselves.

Visit our Nightlife blog to hear a song from Underdog Alma Mater, and find out which Forever the Sickest Kids tracks Jonathan Cook likes best. nightlifeblog. quickdfw.com