Just Surrender has recently released a new album, Phoenix. We got the chance to sit down with their vocalist, Jason to talk about futures, jumping the pond, and other crazy antics. Read below the jump!

Your record was digitally released yesterday. How does that feel?

I’m pretty stoked that we finally have it out; I’ve been waiting for a couple months to have it come out. And because it leaked we got to put it out a little early which we’re all pretty excited about and it’s a good feeling to have another record out there and you can buy it online and if you come out to a show we have hard copies already so I’m pretty stoked.

The release date changed multiple times, how did you finally settle on one?

Yeah it was originally supposed to come out in May and then it got pushed back to August then when it leaked we decided to move it forward again. It was actually going to be July 13th. Kids wanted to listen to it early and they don’t want to wait for it to come out in stores, we have it up on our facebook to stream so you can go to facebook.com/justsurrenderrock and check it out there or now you can buy it digitally on iTunes.

How is Phoenix different from the older releases?

I think Phoenix is a mix of the first two records, I think it’s a good middle ground between those two. I think we definitely have matured a lot and you can tell just from the songwriting and definitely in the structure of the song, everything is just matured a lot. I feel like older fans will like it more than We’re In Like Sin but a lot of new fans will be able to get into it as well.

You just released a music video for “On My Own”. How did you come up with the concept and why did you pick that song as the first single?

The concept of the video was uh the director. We got a couple different ideas sent in from different directors and that was kinda just the one we all felt strongly about. We thought it was cool, felt post apocalyptic…I liked the vibe of it and I think it went well with the song and it had the feel of the song. The picking of the single was kind of just; I don’t know I think it’s just a good halfway between the heavier and poppier on our record. It’s still got the heavier aspect but it’s got catchy hooks and a good chorus I think so I think it’s more defining what the new sound is of what Just Surrender is doing now.

What are your plans for the summer? Any touring

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We’re going to the UK in September with Framing Hanley. I’m not sure exactly what the plans are; we’re still trying to work out August. We’ll probably be home most of July playing some Northeast dates hopefully but look for August we’re trying to figure out a full US tour.

Do you have any funny stories from tour?

My favorite story ever was one time we had a party on tour, we played at a college, and we were at a fraternity house I think. This girl was just walking by Dan and she was a little heftier and I don’t think Dan was making fun of her but he just started making comments like “Yo girl didn’t I see you in my dreams last night” and one of her friends thought that Dan was being a jerk so came up to him and actually punched him, like closed fist, in the face. We all were kinda shocked and like we all kinda laughed, everyone broke out laughing it was kinda funny. The next day they all went to the cafeteria for lunch and we’re hanging out and Dan sees the girl that punched him in the face the night before. So we got our friends to go up and he was like “Yeah if you pay me $10 I will throw mashed potatoes in that girls face.” So as far as like her whole class, our friend Chandler walked up to her with a handful of mashed potatoes and said “Were you at the party last night? Did you punch this kid Dan in the face?” and she was like “Yeah I punched him in the face” [he] through the mashed potatoes in her face and Dan comes up and says “Do you see me in your dreams now bitch” or something along those lines . It was one of my favorite moments on tour.

What do you hope to accomplish in 2010?

I kind of just want to tour to support the record and get back out to all the markets that we haven’t been to in a while like the West Coast and hopefully to Japan. So basically just tour a bunch and we’re going to start writing an EP that we’re hoping to be putting out in the spring of next year, hopefully!

What has been your greatest accomplishment so far musically?

I guess it would probably be going to Japan with Yellowcard. I liked them growing up and just going to Japan I felt like I accomplished something huge just being able to go there. When I was in high school they were my favorite band. It was really cool to get to hang out with those guys in another country and I felt like playing to a couple thousand people in Tokyo for that moment I kind of felt like “Wow, I’ve made it.”

Do you have anything else you’d like to add?

I guess just let everyone know…well I guess they already know, that the video is up online now, watch that at absolutepunk.net ,um you can stream our record on facebook , buy the record on iTunes now or if not come out to one of the shows we’re playing this month and we’ll have hard copies..if not July 13th you can buy it in stores!