Hey Ted! Thanks for replying to me so quickly! Unfortunately I can't say I've been to one of your shows I was really gutted when I found out you were touring the UK last when I was on holiday. However there are rumours of a tour coming up soon and you can bet your ass I'm going to be hitting those!
Ok so first the usual, your Ted (Vocals) and the rest of the guys in the band are Jon & Scott (guitar) Sean on bass and Steve on drums which make up Rivalry Records own Another Breath, Tell us a little bit about the bands formation? Who came up with the name?
: Actually we now have a new dude playing bass for us. His name is Mayo. Also, Steve is on drums. We basically got together originally just from playing in bands in the same town for a while. Jon, Scott and I have known each other since grade school. We did bands in high school and after our bands crashed we just decided to do something new together. We grabbed our original bassist Sean because he was a good friend and good bassist and we had Bob on drums originally because he's basically the best drummer any of us had ever seen. As far as the name I think Jon came up with it. I can't remember exactly why it stuck but it was originally from something he read about taking another breath when things got really bad and facing life head on. It's been a driving theme in our band since then.
Where did you all grow up and how long have you known each other?
: We grew up in Fulton. Like I said Jon, Scott, and I have known each other since grade school so we used to skate/snowboard/cause trouble together. We met Steve in College. I've only known Mayo for about a year.
Did you all get into hardcore at the same sorts of times? What was it that drew you in?
: I can't speak for Mayo or Steve but as far as the original members go I think we all influenced each other. We got into hardcore through punk. When the band started we were taking after Rise Against and Strike Anywhere in a real way. As we got into heavier stuff we started listening to metalcore when it was big in the mid-late nineties and eventually found our definition of hardcore in late nineties bands like American Nightmare, The Hope Conspiracy and The Suicide File. I can't say what drew us in. I think for everyone it was something different. I liked those late nineties bands because the desperate lyrics got to me. And I was also at a point where music was the one thing that I connected with. Everything else was watered down. Hardcore was real.
I really adore the fact that through all your releases you've seemed so impassioned about the help people have given you and I like the fact that you sort of open your hearts a little bit and express the sort of emotion that makes you want to write something like: "Hopefully this means half as much to you as it does to us" (from the "Not Now, Not Ever" CD) Releasing an album like Mill City is a huge milestone for any band, have you had a good response from that? What drives you guys forwards?
: I don't know. I think Mill City is a pretty awesome chronicle of what our lives are about. We get into a van and we leave town and I liked the opportunity to get to tear that apart in the process of writing. Slowly kids have gotten into it and not surprisingly we've noticed that kids are in bands seem to connect with it. Obviously those kids are the ones that get it. They know what it's like to want to leave and they've had similar experiences to us. What drives us? I guess we just want to do something fun. We don't want to go to work or get married. We just want to tour and see places and write records.
Both CD's (Not Now, Not Ever & the album Mill City) were recorded by Kurt Ballou at God City Studios, the producer of choice it would seem these days and for good reason, was it a surprise when you learnt you would be working with him? How have you found that working
relationship? I saw the Terror DVD its freaking sweet that he has a house for bands to stay in!
: Kurt rules. We sent him a demo lie eight months before he agreed to work with us. We were young and our demo sucked. I'm surprised he took us on. But I think he was happy he did. That record came out better than any of us expected. I mean we worked our asses off and wrote good songs but he just brought out the energy we were going for. He's good
at what he does and he's really a fun and laid back to work with.
Did you see any witches during your time in Salem?
: The Salem witch thing sucks. People legitimately got hanged and burned to death over religious fanaticism and now it's a tourist attraction where there are pictures of cartoon witches all over the place. It really weirds me out every time we go there. It also pisses
me off that some really gruesome history is masked by alot of stupid commercial shit.
What's your local scene like? Are there many local bands? And has it had a good backbone for your selves to start up and tour?
: Syracuse rules. There are alot of kids that come out to shows and there are always bands sprouting up. We also are pretty connected to Rochester which has a weird scene sometimes but the kids there are some of the best I've ever met. And as far as bands go, alot of them actually get missed by the national radar but they are incredible. Bad
Business, How We Are, The Disaster, Marathon, Polar Bear Club, Achilles and a handful that I'm sure I'm forgetting are fucking incredible. Listen to anyone of these bands and try not to love them.
I really connected with the song "Passing The Torch" for many reasons but the main subject matter to do with moving on with your life rather that under the guidance and hand of your father really hit me like a ton of bricks when I first heard it and I still feel the hairs on the
back of my neck go up when I hear lines like "My life will never be a bandage for your broken dreams. I'm not the lifeboat to your sinking ship"
I think anyone can relate to a song like that & I remember Tim Shaw from Ensign in some of their songs going through those same motions. On a personal viewpoint how have you found the opportunity to vocalize such opinions and if its not too personal how did your parents react to a song like that? Are they understanding and supportive of what you are doing?
: My parents hate my band and pretty much every decision I make in my life. I wrote passing knowing full well that my dad would never and will never listen to my band or read my lyrics. Its no big thing though because my parents have royally fucked up their lives. Every time they tell me that what I'm doing is wrong it's my barometer that lets me know that what I'm doing is actually right.
Touring. One small word. There are so many ways I could ask this sort of question but lets go for simplicity here and also keep with the positivity! What are your favourite things you like doing whilst on tour? (I unfortunately have yet to experience it so imagine your trying to inspire someone reading this to form a band and get out on the road lol maybe I'll get my ass sorted with a band soon too!)
: I like pool parties. In the summer we go swimming a shitload. We also go to a bunch of rope swings. We just like to go do fun stuff with local kids. We shoot fireworks at each other. We shoot airsoft guns at each other. We go to malls and hit on girls. We go to cool record stores. Basically anything. We just like hanging out. Sometimes it's hard to do what you want to do when there are 5 other dudes but every once in a while we'll do something that's so fun that I just can't stop smiling for days.
Firstly what do you do with yourselves when not on the road, have all of you been through college or got plans to? Or do you have jobs? How have you adapted yourselves from a bunch of kids growing up to finding yourselves travelling all over the continent in a van?
: We're a bunch of kids pretending to be adults when we aren't on tour. I'm getting my master's degree in counselling. Everyone else has gone to college and is doing some stupid job that will pay them enough to live and still let them go on tour when they want to. Well.. except Mayo. He watches Scrubs all day because he doesn't have a job. He also
dropped out of college. Rumour on the street is that he's actually too smart for college.
Do you see yourself still going to shows in ten years? Hard core seems to change year in year out, trends seem to come and go do you ever see the passion for hardcore that drives you forward leaving you?
: I don't know. I don't get the same thing out of hardcore that I used to. Hardcore is for angst filled kids and as I start to get closer to understanding myself and getting in touch why I'm so pissed all the time I find myself needing that outlet less and less. I don't see the passion leaving me but I see it definitely changing forms. I feel like at some point I will take that selfish angry energy and try to turn it outward to help other people. It's part of the reason I'm working on becoming a counsellor. I've worked through alot of my issues and I'd like to help other people work through theirs.
Am always interested in the answer to this question, how do you keep your voice in good condition?
: Voodoo
Favourite song is? Album? Band? Also any bands you could recommend to us that we may not have heard of yet here in the UK?
: I can't really answer that. It changes from week to week. I've been listening to JET all week even though their records suck. Modern Life is War had had alot of staying power in my mind and I thought Witness was incredible. Although By the Sea on My Love. My Way. Is still my
favourite MLIW song.
What do "vae victis" and "tempus fugit, memento movi" mean I take it they are Latin? (From the inside back cover of the CD trays on both CD's)
: Tempus Fugit, Memento Mori means Time Flies, Remember Death. Thematically it sums up what Not Now. Not Ever. Was about. It was just about being young and living your life to it's fullest. Vae Victis means woe to the vanquished. It was written on the door of one of the
gas chambers at Auschwitz. It's about how if you give up then you are defeated. Again, it sums up what Mill City is about.
After all your experiences with the band thus far which memories particularly come to mind that still make you sit back and think wow, did that really happen?
: Honestly, there are too many to go into detail about. But as a short list: breaking my arm skateboarding off of a roof in Cali and finishing the tour, Blowing up a hotel in Daytona Beach, Climbing halfway into the Grand Canyon, Running from the police on countless
occasions and at one point being chased by an actual police helicopter, going to Europe and snowboarding in the alps in the middle of August, Setting off about two hundred dollars worth of fireworks in Vermont and having the police come, shooting fireworks at the bands
that we're on tour with while driving through the night, playing to hundreds of people on certain shows, flying to Rival Showcase for one day and then going home... I don't know. There are so many more.
Any final thoughts or pieces of advice you could give someone interested in becoming more involved with the hardcore scene? Thank you for the interview, I look forward to seeing you guys sometime soon when you return to Europe! Hope this year is a
prosperous one for all of you!
: I'd just say that if you really want to do something it's pretty easy to find a way to do it. If you want anything bad enough be it touring or getting a job or getting laid or just about anything, so long as you put positive mental energy into it you can make it happen.
Ok so first the usual, your Ted (Vocals) and the rest of the guys in the band are Jon & Scott (guitar) Sean on bass and Steve on drums which make up Rivalry Records own Another Breath, Tell us a little bit about the bands formation? Who came up with the name?
: Actually we now have a new dude playing bass for us. His name is Mayo. Also, Steve is on drums. We basically got together originally just from playing in bands in the same town for a while. Jon, Scott and I have known each other since grade school. We did bands in high school and after our bands crashed we just decided to do something new together. We grabbed our original bassist Sean because he was a good friend and good bassist and we had Bob on drums originally because he's basically the best drummer any of us had ever seen. As far as the name I think Jon came up with it. I can't remember exactly why it stuck but it was originally from something he read about taking another breath when things got really bad and facing life head on. It's been a driving theme in our band since then.
Where did you all grow up and how long have you known each other?
: We grew up in Fulton. Like I said Jon, Scott, and I have known each other since grade school so we used to skate/snowboard/cause trouble together. We met Steve in College. I've only known Mayo for about a year.
Did you all get into hardcore at the same sorts of times? What was it that drew you in?
: I can't speak for Mayo or Steve but as far as the original members go I think we all influenced each other. We got into hardcore through punk. When the band started we were taking after Rise Against and Strike Anywhere in a real way. As we got into heavier stuff we started listening to metalcore when it was big in the mid-late nineties and eventually found our definition of hardcore in late nineties bands like American Nightmare, The Hope Conspiracy and The Suicide File. I can't say what drew us in. I think for everyone it was something different. I liked those late nineties bands because the desperate lyrics got to me. And I was also at a point where music was the one thing that I connected with. Everything else was watered down. Hardcore was real.
I really adore the fact that through all your releases you've seemed so impassioned about the help people have given you and I like the fact that you sort of open your hearts a little bit and express the sort of emotion that makes you want to write something like: "Hopefully this means half as much to you as it does to us" (from the "Not Now, Not Ever" CD) Releasing an album like Mill City is a huge milestone for any band, have you had a good response from that? What drives you guys forwards?
: I don't know. I think Mill City is a pretty awesome chronicle of what our lives are about. We get into a van and we leave town and I liked the opportunity to get to tear that apart in the process of writing. Slowly kids have gotten into it and not surprisingly we've noticed that kids are in bands seem to connect with it. Obviously those kids are the ones that get it. They know what it's like to want to leave and they've had similar experiences to us. What drives us? I guess we just want to do something fun. We don't want to go to work or get married. We just want to tour and see places and write records.
Both CD's (Not Now, Not Ever & the album Mill City) were recorded by Kurt Ballou at God City Studios, the producer of choice it would seem these days and for good reason, was it a surprise when you learnt you would be working with him? How have you found that working
relationship? I saw the Terror DVD its freaking sweet that he has a house for bands to stay in!
: Kurt rules. We sent him a demo lie eight months before he agreed to work with us. We were young and our demo sucked. I'm surprised he took us on. But I think he was happy he did. That record came out better than any of us expected. I mean we worked our asses off and wrote good songs but he just brought out the energy we were going for. He's good
at what he does and he's really a fun and laid back to work with.
Did you see any witches during your time in Salem?
: The Salem witch thing sucks. People legitimately got hanged and burned to death over religious fanaticism and now it's a tourist attraction where there are pictures of cartoon witches all over the place. It really weirds me out every time we go there. It also pisses
me off that some really gruesome history is masked by alot of stupid commercial shit.
What's your local scene like? Are there many local bands? And has it had a good backbone for your selves to start up and tour?
: Syracuse rules. There are alot of kids that come out to shows and there are always bands sprouting up. We also are pretty connected to Rochester which has a weird scene sometimes but the kids there are some of the best I've ever met. And as far as bands go, alot of them actually get missed by the national radar but they are incredible. Bad
Business, How We Are, The Disaster, Marathon, Polar Bear Club, Achilles and a handful that I'm sure I'm forgetting are fucking incredible. Listen to anyone of these bands and try not to love them.
I really connected with the song "Passing The Torch" for many reasons but the main subject matter to do with moving on with your life rather that under the guidance and hand of your father really hit me like a ton of bricks when I first heard it and I still feel the hairs on the
back of my neck go up when I hear lines like "My life will never be a bandage for your broken dreams. I'm not the lifeboat to your sinking ship"
I think anyone can relate to a song like that & I remember Tim Shaw from Ensign in some of their songs going through those same motions. On a personal viewpoint how have you found the opportunity to vocalize such opinions and if its not too personal how did your parents react to a song like that? Are they understanding and supportive of what you are doing?
: My parents hate my band and pretty much every decision I make in my life. I wrote passing knowing full well that my dad would never and will never listen to my band or read my lyrics. Its no big thing though because my parents have royally fucked up their lives. Every time they tell me that what I'm doing is wrong it's my barometer that lets me know that what I'm doing is actually right.
Touring. One small word. There are so many ways I could ask this sort of question but lets go for simplicity here and also keep with the positivity! What are your favourite things you like doing whilst on tour? (I unfortunately have yet to experience it so imagine your trying to inspire someone reading this to form a band and get out on the road lol maybe I'll get my ass sorted with a band soon too!)
: I like pool parties. In the summer we go swimming a shitload. We also go to a bunch of rope swings. We just like to go do fun stuff with local kids. We shoot fireworks at each other. We shoot airsoft guns at each other. We go to malls and hit on girls. We go to cool record stores. Basically anything. We just like hanging out. Sometimes it's hard to do what you want to do when there are 5 other dudes but every once in a while we'll do something that's so fun that I just can't stop smiling for days.
Firstly what do you do with yourselves when not on the road, have all of you been through college or got plans to? Or do you have jobs? How have you adapted yourselves from a bunch of kids growing up to finding yourselves travelling all over the continent in a van?
: We're a bunch of kids pretending to be adults when we aren't on tour. I'm getting my master's degree in counselling. Everyone else has gone to college and is doing some stupid job that will pay them enough to live and still let them go on tour when they want to. Well.. except Mayo. He watches Scrubs all day because he doesn't have a job. He also
dropped out of college. Rumour on the street is that he's actually too smart for college.
Do you see yourself still going to shows in ten years? Hard core seems to change year in year out, trends seem to come and go do you ever see the passion for hardcore that drives you forward leaving you?
: I don't know. I don't get the same thing out of hardcore that I used to. Hardcore is for angst filled kids and as I start to get closer to understanding myself and getting in touch why I'm so pissed all the time I find myself needing that outlet less and less. I don't see the passion leaving me but I see it definitely changing forms. I feel like at some point I will take that selfish angry energy and try to turn it outward to help other people. It's part of the reason I'm working on becoming a counsellor. I've worked through alot of my issues and I'd like to help other people work through theirs.
Am always interested in the answer to this question, how do you keep your voice in good condition?
: Voodoo
Favourite song is? Album? Band? Also any bands you could recommend to us that we may not have heard of yet here in the UK?
: I can't really answer that. It changes from week to week. I've been listening to JET all week even though their records suck. Modern Life is War had had alot of staying power in my mind and I thought Witness was incredible. Although By the Sea on My Love. My Way. Is still my
favourite MLIW song.
What do "vae victis" and "tempus fugit, memento movi" mean I take it they are Latin? (From the inside back cover of the CD trays on both CD's)
: Tempus Fugit, Memento Mori means Time Flies, Remember Death. Thematically it sums up what Not Now. Not Ever. Was about. It was just about being young and living your life to it's fullest. Vae Victis means woe to the vanquished. It was written on the door of one of the
gas chambers at Auschwitz. It's about how if you give up then you are defeated. Again, it sums up what Mill City is about.
After all your experiences with the band thus far which memories particularly come to mind that still make you sit back and think wow, did that really happen?
: Honestly, there are too many to go into detail about. But as a short list: breaking my arm skateboarding off of a roof in Cali and finishing the tour, Blowing up a hotel in Daytona Beach, Climbing halfway into the Grand Canyon, Running from the police on countless
occasions and at one point being chased by an actual police helicopter, going to Europe and snowboarding in the alps in the middle of August, Setting off about two hundred dollars worth of fireworks in Vermont and having the police come, shooting fireworks at the bands
that we're on tour with while driving through the night, playing to hundreds of people on certain shows, flying to Rival Showcase for one day and then going home... I don't know. There are so many more.
Any final thoughts or pieces of advice you could give someone interested in becoming more involved with the hardcore scene? Thank you for the interview, I look forward to seeing you guys sometime soon when you return to Europe! Hope this year is a
prosperous one for all of you!
: I'd just say that if you really want to do something it's pretty easy to find a way to do it. If you want anything bad enough be it touring or getting a job or getting laid or just about anything, so long as you put positive mental energy into it you can make it happen.
