Stick To Your Guns
Posted Apr 7, 2007, by Josh Snider.
Justin-Guitar
Casey-Drums
Jesse-Vocals
www.myspace.com/styg
Who got you interested in playing Hardcore music? Music got me interested I guess you could say. I've always loved music, my dad got me listening to music and really understanding it and having an appreciation for it.
A few of you have been in other bands, why did they end or how are they going? Jesse has about a million and a half side projects going on at any given time, aeryn i think is his main one. I know Casey also has something going on I don't really know anything about it. For me, I tend to keep my focus solely on Stick to Your Guns, mainly cause i'm not nearly as talented as those two.
What venue has been the best to play at? Chain Reaction of course. Also, this venue in St Paul was awesome, it was called Station Four, just a really cool atmosphere I guess you could say, for some reason I really liked it.
Was that your best show of all times? For me, we've had two best shows, recently at the alpine. Things were getting pretty crazy and I think the kids really connected with us that night and we really connected with them.
How was your first show? Our first couple of shows were at this place called club pearl in lake forest ca, it no longer exists but it was a cool idea for about the five minutes it lasted.
How have you seen yourselves get better since then? The three of us are definatly more comfortable playing on stage, with each other and all that. Every night is just a fun night for us to enjoy and connect with the kids and not so much being nervous or worried about stuff.
What makes a show the best? Kids singing along screaming every word, it puts chills down my spine.
Who do you one day want to open for? STRETCH ARM STRONG!!!!
What inspires most of your lyrics? life!
How many people in the band right now are the original band members? All three of us are original members, we've had an assortment come and go that didnt end up working out. But it's always been the three of us from the beginning.
When was your band formed? December of 03
Where do you wish for your band to be in 5 years? Doing this full time and writing awesome music.
What do you think its going to take to get there? Hard work and persistence.
Where have you been playing lately and how has your response been? All across the country our response has been awesome these past couple of tours. It's been our first or second time in most of these places and kids go nuts and it's just awesome.
Do you have any upcomming shows? a Full US tour with Bury your Dead, Suicide Silence and Since the Flood.
Do you have any advice to starting bands? Love what you do.
What other instruments can you play? Casey and Jesse can play pretty much anything. when I (Justin) have time I'll sit on my keyboard and try and learn, I love it even though I suck. I also want to start playing trumpet again like I did in grade school. I wish I would've kept up with playing it.
Any funny or interesting stories? Casey has a hernia and his balls sag unnaturally low.
What do you think about UFOs? Casey thinks he's seen one before....he's an idiot
What do you guys do for work right now, other than playing music? I'm (Justin) an assortment of random jobs. Busy paperwork for my mom's loan company, working with my dad doing plumbing, anything that helps bring in extra cash to pay the bills.
Do your parents like you playing music today? they are 100% supportive and I love them for it.
What were some of your favorite bands growing up? Stretch arm strong, strongarm, death by stereo, the get up kids, slick shoes, dogwood.
How old were each of you when starting to play instruments? 7 or 8 for me (Justin), I'm not sure about the other guys, probably around the same time
Have you lost any fans for doing something drastic? Fans come and go, we keep doing what we love and hopefully others enjoy it.
Every bands music changes over the years, but do you like playing and the style of the old stuff? Considering we only have 20 songs recorded it's tough to say now. But I love a lot of the new stuff we've been writing, definatly a lot different than our previous stuff I think. Considering pretty much all of those songs on "For What It's Worth" were written two years ago.
How does it feel to tour with the band? Tour is definatly a lot of compromise, for the three of us, we love it, we understand each other, our moods, what pushes our buttons, etc.
What do you guys do on the road to keep busy? Read, write, listen to music, watch movies,
Do you have any advice to bands about to go on their first tour? keep up with maintenance on your van! That stuff will bite you hard if you don't.
How did you come up with the title of your latest album? Positive aspects of negative situations.
It has gotten some radio play, what happened when you first heard it? I haven't heard it on the radio yet, that's awesome that some indie stations are picking it up and giving us some air time.
How long did you wait from start to finish making the CD and how did it feel? Very very very stressful for us I think. We didn't think we could've done it, considering none of us had ever recorded a full length, much less written one.
What do you guys think about it? I was very happy with it and still am. I think it's an awesome starting point for us and really gives kids a chance to hear our progression and maturity when the next album comes out.
Where can we get it? Hot Topic, iTunes, Best Buy, your local record store, etc.
