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Pianos Become The Teeth - Sound In The Signals Interview

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You guys have a really cool sound and I guess it contains a lot of melodic, heavy, and chaotic sounds and kind of creates this interesting atmosphere in your music. It also contains some throwback elements to 90's hardcore. Can you tell me how your sound evolved to where it is now or at the least the overall sound on Old Pride?

Chad: I think our sound has evolved based on all of the bands we love listening to. We’re just trying to stitch it all together and make something that is somewhat our own. We all listen to different varieties of punk/hardcore/post-rock/metal/screamo.

One thing that caught me about your band was the cover art to Old Pride. I really thought it was an interesting choice and fit the overall mood of the album. Who did the album art for that record and why did you decide on that art work?

Chad: Danielle Yurchinkonis took all of the photographs and August Schwartz designed the packaging. We chose that specific image because it fit thematically with the lyrical content on the record and it’s a beautiful photograph. In my opinion the overarching theme of the album would be coming to the realization that the growing pains of life never really end. I’m sure kyle could answer this better, but I’ve always held this internal expectation of reaching a certain age and saying “that’s when I’ll be an adult and be completely self-sufficient, emotionally balanced, in a stable relationship, have a decent job etc. etc.” Realizing that that’s not going to happen and that it’s not how it happens for anyone else is a relief but also kind of terrifying.

The songs on Old Pride lyrically I've read have a lot of meaning and have a lot to do with personal experiences. Can you tell me how lyrically Old Pride came together and what some of the themes of the album are?

Kyle: I tend to write about people in my life, and the relationships that have shaped the person I've become. I think the overall theme of the record, like Chad hinted at before, is just this overwhelming uncertainty about your future. The record is pretty much about just dwelling on what your life will become and not really doing anything to stop it.

You guys recently released a newer song as an Absolute Exclusive on Absolutepunk.net can you tell me a little about the song and the new material you are recording?

Kyle: The new song is called "New Normal" and it came out as a split with our friends in The Saddest Landscape. In my opinion, it's a song that could have been on old pride, but perhaps maybe a bit more abrasive. I think we all thought writing just one song, just one idea, would be so much easier, just because you don't have to have a big picture like on a full length, but it took us forever to finally finish this one. Lyrically, it touches on similar aspects as old pride, pretty much just waking up in the morning and realizing life is what you make it, but sometimes, things happen to make it seem monotonous and you become so hateful towards everything and you have to adapt to a "new normal." I can safely say there will be a solid, more specific them running through the next record.

Chad: We’re in the process of writing a new record at the moment. I feel like the songs we have so far are more focused than the songs on Old Pride. We’re working on becoming better songwriters as opposed to writing cool riffs.

I know you guys are currently working on your next album. Do you have a tentative release date or working title for the next album? What do you think some of the biggest differences will be between Old Pride and the album you are currently working on?

Chad: Our plans as of right now are to: Tour down to the Fest, take a week off, practice and write as much as we possibly can until we leave for Europe in April. Hopefully we’ll have enough material to record a new full length in the Summer of 2011. I hope the biggest difference will be that the album is better - who knows though? We’re going to work as hard as possible to write the best record we can.

You guys are signed to Topshelf Records what made you decide to sign to the label and how has the label experience being going for you so far?

Chad: Signing with Topshelf was such a good decision. Seth and Kevin, the owners (and everything else) of Topshelf, want nothing but good things for the bands they sign even if it’s at the expense of their label. That just goes to show you how much they care about the music that they release. The story of how we hooked up is pretty boring. They contacted us online and then they wined and dined us with pizza and soda. After talking with them for a while it was obvious that they were solid dudes and that this would be a mutually beneficial partnership and so that’s how it happened. Oh, and I heard they’re buying us a new tour van.

The first release of Old Pride on vinyl sold out and now you guys are into the second pressing. Is there anything neat about the second pressing? Also with vinyl popularity becoming steadily on the rise over the last 2-3 years how important is it to you guys as a band to have your album(s) released on vinyl?

Chad: It was incredibly important to us to have Old Pride released on vinyl. I remember all of us talking about how awesome it would be to have something that we created released on vinyl and then feeling so proud when we were finally able to do it. Collecting albums has always been a big deal for me. I still have a couple plastic bins filled with cd cases underneath my bed at my parent’s house that I won’t let my mom throw away because those albums mean so much to me. Now I have a few hard drives filled with thousands of albums, but if you love to collect music it’s just not the same because it’s not physical. With vinyl you get the best of both worlds - you have the physical record, enlarged artwork, whatever goodies come along inside the sleeve and a download card to get the digital release.

You guys are a newer band I think is kind of doing good things for hardcore scene. Hardcore has kind of become a fairly watered down genre over the last 5-7 years. Who do you guys think are some good newer bands and what is your opinion on the current state of hardcore music?

Chad: I’m not sure I’d agree with hardcore becoming a watered down genre of the last 5 to 7 years. I would say that there have been some terrible TERRIBLE genre branches like screamo-rap and Attack!Attack! type bands. Some of my favorite records in this genre came out during that period though. As for new bands I would suggest that you hop aboard the wave and surf to these pages: Defeater, Touche Amore, La Dispute, Make do and Mend. Then you could check out: The Caution Children, The Saddest Landscape & My Heart to Joy. The new Balance and Composure/Tigers Jaw split is incredible. So is the new Hostage Calm record! Oh, and the new Foals record Total Life Forever has been on repeat in my apartment for the past 5 months.

I guess that about wraps it up. Thanks for taking the time answer the questions. Do you have any closing comments you'd like to make?

Chad: Thank you!

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