http://www.myspace.com/signsofhope
http://www.signsofhopect.com
First off i would like to thank Paul and Signs Of Hope for taking the time out to do this interview with Worldwidetakeoverzine
How did the band come to be named Signs Of Hope and is there any special
meaning behind the band being named this?
I was sitting on a beach pavillion with my good friend Chaz back in year 2000
and we we're trying to come up with a name for the band we wanted to start.
After going back and fourth and rejecting each others suggestions for a half
hour I said Signs of Hope and got an immeadiate "yes" reply from Chaz.
what are your views on fighting at shows?
It all depends on the reason. I would say 99.9% of the fights I have seen at
shows were over something totally stupid. However if we are fighting to defend
our scene from those who are ruining it, then its ok. But that never really
happens.
who are some of the bands main musical influences?
Ignite, Ensign, Where Fear and Weapons Meet, and Shai Hulud. The bands I loved
the most growing up have all had an influence.
what are your views on kids who talk shit on the internet and also bitch
about being hit at a hardcore show?
Talking shit on the internet in terms of just being a dick and picking fights is
pretty stupid but I do like the opportunity it gives for people to call out
problems with the scene. There are a lot of groups that like to rule their local
scene and sometimes these are the people who are running out the new kids and
destroying venues. I'm sorry but nobody owns hardcore. I like to see people
speak out against those who think they do.
are any members in side projects other than SOH?
We just got a new lineup but I don't think there are any other notable bands
that any of us play in.
how long has the band been together?
I started writing songs in 2000 but by the time we solidified a lineup and cut a
demo it was 2003.
how many cds eps 7 inches split cds and demos has the band currently
released?
We have our 3 song 2003 demo CD. There are about 8 test presses of the demo on
vinyl floating around somewhere but no official copies because Armor Music who
was supposed to press it pretty much threw in the towel as a label immeadiatey
after forming. First and Foremost was 10 songs pressed on CD in 2006 with
Project Detonate (Our old bassists design company whose logo I slapped on the CD
to look somewhat legit) then it was repressed on CD in 2007 with slightly
different artwork on Detonate Records (My label with no affiliation to Project
Detonate). Goodwill Records from Italy released 1st and Foremost on vinyl with
only 9 songs opposed to the 10 that are on the CD. Our new E.P. Titled "Choices
Made" was going to be a demo to label shop with but we had some upcoming tours
and wanted to have it out so we wouldn't be still touring on solely 2006's
release 2 years later so after having been set in stone that we would never
release an E.P. I ended up pressing the E.P. on Detonate. We were also featured
on the Stillborn Street CD volume 2.
what do you base your lyrics on when writing new material?
I like to send out some inspiration to our listeners. I can't sing songs about
people I hate or anything like that. Hardcore is the music, the message. If
people don't have anything important to say then they probably shouldn't be
singing for a band. I like to expresss that we as humans are capeable of
whatever we put our minds to and that we should always take every step necessary
in order to acheive our goals. We should never say "I wish I could......."
Because we can. Stop wishing and go out there and get what it is that you want.
Don't stop trying.
i see that you are signed to Detonate Goodwill and Stillborn Records how
have each of the labels treated you so far especially with touring and
merchandise while on tour?
I treat myself the best I can with detonate haha. Goodwill just released our
vinyl and did some promotion for it but it's hard with them being overseas to
get the vinyl here because of shipping costs we wouldn't make a dime if I got
some copies in to sell at shows in the states. Stillborn was gonna release First
and Foremost in 2006. I couldn't wait for the release date thing because we had
a tour coming up and I didn't want to tour without CD's so I pressed the disc
myself. Once again with Choices Made, I spoke with Jasta and he wanted us to
record more songs and make it a Full Length for Stillborn but I couldn't do the
waiting thing again unfortunately because we left for tour litterally a month
after we finished the record in the Studio. We will probably end up working with
stillborn for our next full length recording unless history repeats itself for
the 3rd time.
for someone who has never seen Signs Of Hope live before and is planning on
attending a show in the CT area what can they expect to see?
They can expect to see me going off for sure. I never pay attention to what the
other guys are doing behind me cause I'm so focused on the crowd and my personal
performance trying to display as much energy as I can but I'm sure there are
some guitars going all over the place because I have seen them barely miss
hitting me in the face a few times. There's usually a good chunk of kids setting
the place off when we play Connecticut as well. Always a good time.
is this the original lineup and if not what is the current lineup?
As of right now 16 people have taken the stage for a Signs of Hope set. In 2
days from now our new drummer Mario is flying home for a wedding and we will be
picking up some kid from Iowa who we have never met before, who's name we don't
even know, and that guy is gonna play 4 shows with us and then we pick up Mario
again at the airport in Denver. Signs of hope is on it's 8th tour and we have
never toured with the same lineup twice. I don't know if the current lineup
should even be mentioned because it will probably be drastically different in 2
months.
if you could have anyone do guest vocals on your next recording who would
it be and why?
Brian Twigg from the band Carry The Torch. I love them, I loved his old band and
I have always loved his brutal voice and the ability to switch from scream to
clean mid sylabol.
in only one sentence describe your sound to someone who has never heard you
before ?
Fast and energetic hardcore punk with a touch of melody.
when the band is on tour in the van what is usually playing in the cd
player?
Right now we are driving from Kansas City to Omaha Nebraska and we are rocking
out to Desperate Measures. I had to leave the driver seat to fill out this
interview but I threw on the 1st Stretch Armstrong full length this morning and
yesterday we rocked out to some Judge and Chain of Strength. We also had a hard
block the other day where we played Bulldoze, Merauder, Sworn Enemy, Redline,
E-Town and some other tough bands. And one night we went for the Nu-Metal of
hardcore and put on everything from Throwdown to Bury Your Dead. We also get a
Dialy dose of The Killers and Trapped Under Ice..
how were you first exposed to the scene and what made you say i want to be
in an band?
I started going to shows as soon as I got my drivers license. It was something
to do. I didn't have anyone to show me bands, take me to shows or even tell me
when shows were so I had to learn everything the hard way. I played guitar and
my friend Chaz wanted to sing for a band, Even though he never did the band was
meant for us to make up for an absence of the style at the time.
when on tour and driving from city to city what is some of the weirdest
shit you have seen happen or pass by?
Some kid walked up to us with a dead bird in his hand the other day. I've seen
flipped over trucks, robberies, car chases, bar fights, street fights, fires,
ridiculous people, all sorts of things.
where do you see the band in 3 years from now?
Honestly, If we catch a break I want to go full time. I want to tour as much as
I can and get out to some other places we have never played such as Austrailia
and South America.
who are some of the up and coming bands from the Bridgeport area as well as
throughout Connecticut that we should be on the lookout for?
Crowns of Kings, other then them there's not too much going on in CT. All the
notable names from the state have all called it quits recently.
How can the readers from around the world contact you about ordering
merchandise?
Signsofhopectxhc@hotmail.com is my email if anyone wants to hit me up. We do
have pics of all the merch on the myspace page as well as the option to buy it
there.
the term hardcore has become so overused that any band putting a breakdown
into a song is considered hardcore but explain to the readers what hardcore
means to you?
For me hardcore is all about the message. It doesn't matter what the band sounds
like as long as they have the hardcore mentality. If a death metal sounding band
claimed hardcore and the lyrics actually were, then I would consider them a
hardcore band. If a band sounded exactly like Madball but sang about girls and
broken hearts then I would NOT consider it hardcore.
What is your most memorable show and why?
I drove all night through a blizzard once to see my favorite band play in West
Virginia. They were the only hardcore band on the show but the insane trip to
see my favorite band definitely made it a memorable one. Nothing like getting
snowed in!
what is your favorite city and country to play shows in and also your least
favorite and why?
I love playing El Paso TX. Its just so different from everywhere else and I love
it there. The kids are great. My favorite country to play was Germany. They know
how to party for sure. My least favorite country to play was probably the Check
Republic. I mean the show was cool but there were no hardcore kids there just
metalheads. My least favorite city to play in is New York city. I feel like
there is no scene there and the show draws are minimal unless kids drive out
from Long Island, Poughkeepsie or Connecticut.
where else besides myspace can the readers go to to findout about upcoming
shows and other band related information?
That's pretty much the only place we list shows because we don't get much
traffic through our official website and I don't update it that often. If you go
to our official website and click the shows tab it will just take you to our
myspace page.
Who are some of the bands that you enjoy touring with?
We don't really tour with any other bands but there have been some bands we've
done a few dates with and it was always fun. Bands like At Half Mast from South
Carolina, All Hype and Under Anchor both from Michigan, Kingdom from Philly.
There's some bands we always enjoy running into.
what are your favorite songs to cover during a set?
We have never played a legit cover. Sometimes we'll mess around and play a
popular breakdown but never any full songs with lyrics. I'd much rather just
play our own sruff.
What advice can you give to some of the newer bands starting out that maybe
having a tough time and thinking about giving up?
You have to give it your all. Its very difficult to establish yourself with so
many bands in existance. There were times I was spending all day and all night
on the internet promoting for years. I would definitely reccomend recording the
best demo you possibly can and just burning thousands of copies and passing them
out to everybody everywhere including posting on messageboards and mailing them
out to kids requesting them.
where do you think you would be right now had you not been exposed to the
hxc metal scene?
Dead in a gutter somewhere probably. Hardcore helped me out way more then
anything ever could. Hardcore became my recreation, my life, my advice giver, my
inspiration. And my reason to live. Seriously.
what is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to the band when
playing a set?
Probably the 1st time we played out of state and screwed up every single song so
badly to the point where we had to stop in the middle of the song. That was back
in 2003. What a mess!
what is the worst injury that any of the band has had happen when playing
show?
My leg likes to pop out of socket every now and then from me landing on my hip
too many times diving/rolling into the crowd. One of our old bass players got
smashed in the face with a guitar cause they were both going off to the music
and didn't see where each other were standing. I hit myself in the nuts by
accident a couple of times too. Good stuff.
why do you think that people always associate violence with hardcore shows
and it always gives hxc scenes and shows a bad reputation?
There is a pretty good amount of violence when big bands play. Most of it is
acceptable within the scene. It is perfectly fine to go off if that's what the
music forces you to do. There are also kids that mosh just to hurt people. That
I don't agree with at all. Yeah hardcore gets a bad reputation but that's to
people who aren't in the scene so who really cares what they think as long as
we're doing what we want for ourselves.
Do you have any upcoming shows that you would like to tell the readers
about?
We're in the middle of a US tour right now. I'm not sure if it wil be too late
or not once this interview gets released but we're doing a string of dates with
Grave Maker at the end of july and we will be on tour till the end of August.
Is there anything else that you would like to add that i may have
I have never done an interview with this many questions before. I must say this
is great to get so many new interesting questions aside from the same 10 all the
time. A lot of what I really have to say I express in our songs. Please check
out the jams to everyone that hasn't heard us before and I hope you enjoy them!
