What Lies Within
First off, the latest album out from you guys is The Complete Discography, does this collection include the entirety of your career?
Steve:
Yes.
Brenton:
There's a few rough tracks that never made it, but
everything anyone would want to listen to.
Ethan:
The songs that are on the discog are the best recordings we have
of all our songs except maybe one they disowned before I joined. It apparently
was so bad they refused to show it to me at practice.
How did you guys get started in the industry? What were the beginnings like?
Steve:
I contacted brenton through an ad in some oc publication. I was jamming with
Josh at the time, just drums and gtr. we brought Brenton in one day and came
up with antithetic. we decided to keep playing together.
Brenton:
We got started by making a demo and playing shows. We mailed our demo
out to a bunch of labels and Goodlife picked us up that way. This is quite
unusual, because the typical way to break into the industry is by becoming a
sociopath. In retrospect, that was our downfall.
Ethan:
Well I kinda joined about halfway through the life of the band. I went to
a show in San Diego one night and I saw them play and I thought to my self "HOLLY SHIT I WANNA BE IN A BAND JUST LIKE THIS!!". So I talked to the guys
after they played and told them how awesome I thought they were and I kept in
touch. About a month later they were looking for a bass player and I lucked out
and got the part.
What (or who) were the major influences which propelled you to your own creativity?
Steve:
Good Riddance, Ensign.
Brenton:
Shai Hulud was probably the biggest, but also Ensign, Bane, Good
Riddance, Nofx, In My Eyes, and maybe a little Refused.
Ethan:
For bass playing, at the time I was pretty into Stu Hamm. I mean that guy
is so good it's retarded. But I guess I've always been a fan of epic solos
and stuff that just makes your brain bleed trying to keep up with it (hence my
current 'elf-metal' addiction). However as far as actual bands go, the
stuff we wrote as a band was nothing like what I was playing on my stereo back
then. Slayer, Iron Maiden Judas Priest, One King Down, Blood Has Been Shed,
Cave-in, xProclamationx, Infectious Grooves? pretty much everything we were
not playing. But maybe that's why I liked it so much? it was just a really
nice change for me, and it flowed pretty naturally for me when it came time to
write and play.
How long have you guys been together?
Steve:
We were a band for a little over a year.
Ethan:
Half a year or so.
How do you feel your sound has evolved since you begun?
Brenton:
It got more ambitious but ultimately worse. The lyrics got better
toward the end though! We got a little writer's block in the middle
Ethan:
Looking back, the sound did change alot when I joined. We did some more
simplistic old-school kinda stuff like 'This Fire', and being down to only
one guitar had a clear impact on the fullness of the sound. However at the same
time we wrote my favorite song 'The Walls You Build', which was just so
huge and so well put together. I really wish we had a better recording of it,
but at the same time the one that survived to make it on the discog dose have a
neat character to it.
What methods did you guys use to write songs and to play together? How was the chemistry on stage?
Brenton:
Well I wrote a few songs entirely, then sometimes we'd play music for
hours until something caught our ear. On stage we just went nuts and had a good
time. We never fought on stage or anything, but I definitely lost it on our old
guitarist at practice a few times.
Ethan:
I'd just try to think up riffs, and bring them to practice. We'd
often have to pay hourly for a practice space so it was kinda imperative that
we make the most out of our time. We'd still jam a lot, and it really was a
privilege to play with musicians like Brenton, Steve and Josh. Steve and Josh
were both really in sync with each others playing styles, which made it easier
for me fit into the sound. As far as on stage, we'd just go up and have fun.
It seems like a lot of bands these days are way to image oriented, I don't see how you can have fun playing when your worried about wether people think
you look gay or tough in your pants that are 3 sizes to tight. Face it, you
look gay.
Steve:
Brenton would come in with ideas for whole songs in his head. thoses ones
usually turned out best. Josh wore rambo bandanas, so great.
How would you describe your sound, for readers unfamiliar with your music?
Brenton:
It's melodic, pissed-off, genuine, original, undanceable, and
unmarketable. So there's a chance you may not like it. For fans of any of the
influences I mentioned above.
Ethan:
Non-moshable, melodic, hardcory-rocky-stuff, with a dash of metal, that
wold probably now be degenerately thrown in to the 'post-hardcore'
category. The funny thing is I don't think 'post-hardcore' was around
when we were playing out.
Steve:
Fast drums, crappy guitar, and lots of screaming.
What does the group, or individual musicians, plan to do now?
Brenton:
I play drums for Every Second Counts, a melodic punk/hardcore band. I
put a lot of effort into that, but I'm also getting ready to go to law
school. Steve, as far as I know, is a sound engineer in Hollywood; he does
sound effects for movies. He hasn't played in any committed bands lately, but
whatever he ends up doing, I'm sure it will be amazing because he's a
musical genius. I haven't talked to Josh in a while, but I know he still
lives in OC and he still rocks the drums. We reunite every few months and swap life experiences. Ethan moved back home to MA and started his label Hold True
Recordings (named after the WLW song). I know he puts a lot of work into that, and I hope it takes him many great places.
So we're all doing great. Takin' it one day at a time, ya know?
Ethan:
I finished up my time in the Marine Corps and got out, and moved back to
'Tax-a-chusetts'. I started up my record label and recording company
'Hold True Recordings' and I work a day (and night) job as an EMT in
Boston. My basic plans for the future are to try to keep the company afloat and
have as much fun as I can in the process, while balancing school and the rest of
my life. Brenton is in a new band called Every Second Counts, and it seems like
it's going well for him. Steve also got into the recording field and seems to
also be doing pretty well. I have no idea what happened to Josh cause I
haven't heard from him in a looooong time. I hope he's doing well and still
playing cause he was a pretty solid drummer and those are hard to find. I try to
keep in contact with Brenton and Steve when I can and I wish them all the best
of luck. I would very much like to get together and jam and try to come up with
a EP some day, but unfortunately I don?t think that day will come any time
soon. Yes, I?m ending the interview on a low note!
Steve:
Hopefully play again sometime with a different style of play.
Thanks again for your time.
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