origin We met in kindergarten and at the beginning of high school started the band. Originally it was just three of us (Jesse, Bone and Worobec). At the time, Slater was drumming for another band. Then we decided we needed another guitar player/backup vocalist, so we stole him! He had never played guitar before, but he caught on very quickly. It was important to us for the band to all be close friends rather than being brought together by putting out an ad out for a guitar player. Looking back, we are very happy with that decision because our friendship is the main reason that we have made it this far. We are like a family. If we are not together doing band stuff, we are together doing something else.
influences The band has many different influences, some of which are drastically different. We were influenced by a lot of punk rock bands - especially Green Day, who pretty much steered us in the melodic pop-punk direction when we first started out. Another band that became a big influence later on was Strung Out - probably the most talented punk rock band, in our opinion.
sound The sound of the band probably comes from everyone bringing their different influences to the table and having an equal say. Much like most bands, we started out modeling our sound after our major influences and gradually brought it around to what sounded good to us. Not much has changed since, except that now we try to focus more on the melodies of the songs, rather than technicality. Our main goal is to try to keep every song sounding a little different than the last and to make sure every part is as good as it can be. Only 1 in 5 of the ideas gets worked on.
something beautiful Something Beautiful is a story about the end of a relationship, and the feeling that there is nothing you can do but watch it happen. I was picturing it like being forced to watch it being played out in a movie - like the scene in A Clockwork Orange where the guy is tied up in the theatre with his eyes pinned back.
lyrics It starts out by me just jotting down lines as we are working on the music. In most cases I don't even have lyrics until the music is recorded, then I take a copy of that, and along with the notes I have made, I come to the studio and sing them. So in most cases, the first time I sing the song completely is during recording. It usually ends up being pretty stressful because by the time I get in there I have no idea whether the words or melodies are good until it is too late.
live We try to put a lot of energy into the show because if people come out and all we do is stand there they might as well have just stayed home and listened to the CD. Also, with being a new band and playing for people, it may be the first time they've seen or heard of us. We see it as an opportunity to gain new fans.
