PAUL: “For those who may not be acquainted with Over It yet, please tell our readers a little bit about yourselves and your sound.”
SETH: “We’re four best friends that started a high school band years ago in the suburbs of Washington D.C. … We’ve always been influenced by labels like Fat Wreck Chords, Epitaph, Nitro, Lobster, Hopeless, Burning Heart, Jade Tree, Equal Vision, Dr. Strange (too many to name)… We like to think we play angsty rock for a hopeful future. ”
PAUL: “Many people in the UK probably only know about Virginia because the hurricane recently passed through. What is the local scene like and are there any bands that you would recommend to our readers?”
SETH: “Our local scene in Northern Virginia has a really cool band on Equal Vision Records called Fairweather. The main problem w/the scene is a lack of venues. We dont have anything that will do shows between 50 kids and 400. When you start selling 700+ tickets, you can do a show in Downtown DC… but we’ve always put on our own shows in community centers by our homes. Other cool Virginia bands are Strike Anywhere, Avail, River City High.”
PAUL: “I heard that the band was named following the death of a good friend of the band. (Without wanting to be insensitive) is this true?”
SETH: “Yeah, our buddy was the original bass player (his name was Joe Tennant) and this was about 5 1/2 years ago. I sang back then and Peter hadn’t even thought about joining the band. After he died we took some time off and kept the name he had wanted for his band.”
PAUL: “You are all reasonably young guys yet you’ve released loads of records already! There’s two full-length albums, a couple of EPs, the splits and dozens of contributions to compilations. How come you have been so prolific?”
SETH: “Wow! I never thought of it that way. We started really young. The first EP and full length came out while we were still in high school together. The second EP came out during the only year we all attended college. We try to stick to a release per year (this year the only thing we put out was the acoustic split that cost half a dollar)… obviously full lengths take the most preparation. Some of those splits are a scam though. The European one on NH-N records is songs from the second EP and the first Full length. Nothing unreleased so we never had to enter the studio for that release. Canada did something similar this year w/ our latest full length (a four way split)… but someone remastered our stuff and parks stuff and made it sound lame. ”
PAUL: “How does the Over It songwriting work? Does someone bring lyrics to the table or does the music come first?”
SETH: “James writes all music, all lyrics… Nick and Peter try to lie and claim responsibility but the songs really come to James during ceremonial two days of binge drinking. ”
PAUL: “Your ‘Timing Is Everything’ release has had some awesome reviews. Do you feel it is your best work to date?”
SETH: “Definately. We’re all really proud of that record and we’re excited to debut new stuff.”
PAUL: “What influenced the record?”
SETH: “Green Day, They Might Be Giants, Strung Out, Bodyjar, Open Hand…. Specifically.. track 10 was influenced by the Euro band HIM. We listen to so much and we are constantly picking up records. Definately European bands influenced this last record (China Drum, In Flames, Soilwork).”
PAUL: “You’ve done four split CDs on different labels and with different bands. Which do you think is best and which of the bands you’ve ‘shared’ are the best in your opinion?”
SETH: “Well, the four way split we did is weird. Im sorry, but someone fucked up mastering the cd. Park sounds horrible and i didn’t get any straight answers when I asked about it. My favorite split we’ve done is either the acoustic split w/ Junction 18… or the split where we released our Timing Is Everything demos ..(split w/ My Captain)… the my captain half is so good.”
PAUL: “Which of the songs that appeared on the acoustic split do you prefer in stripped down form? Are there any you feel sound better with the guitars turned up?”
SETH: “The songs are so different on our acoustic split. Arrangement and mood have completely changed in all of the songs and I think Nick and Peter did a great job giving them a lounge feel. I can imagine it started as an expiriment that they were both extremely happy with. ”
PAUL: “You’re currently signed to Lobster Records, how did you hook up with the label?”
SETH: “We met them after a tour w/ Staring Back, and we had just ended our obligations to Negative Progression Records. we kept up talks over half a year or so and kept touring out to California. Things worked out and we signed in december of 2001. ”
PAUL: “There are so many good bands on it, which bands do you consider yourselves closest to?”
SETH: “Mainly Yellowcard, Park, Staring Back. We dont really know A Small Victory yet and we haven’t had that much time to hang out with Days Like These. Mock Orange hates us because they’re indie elitests, but thats ok, cause we’re big fans. ”
PAUL: “Do you look at bands like Yellowcard, who up until a year ago were on Lobster, and think that bands can still get noticed by the big guns, or do you think labels are snubbing the feeder labels and immediately snapping up the boring soundalike pop-punk bands and therefore stunting the growth of talented bands?”
SETH: “I dont think this process is stunting the growth of talented bands, because Yellowcard leaving lobster is directly responsible for our record. Lobster used the money they got for selling YC to pay for Timing Is Everything (i’ll never complain about that, thank you YC!).”
PAUL: “What do you think of the RIAA’s decision to sue people who download music from sites like Kazaa?”
SETH: “STUPID. Sue the computer industry. They’ve created a monster!”
PAUL: “‘Timing Is Everything’ was released last year, are there plans to release another full-length any time soon? Will it be on Lobster? Are there any confirmed titles or dates yet?”
SETH: “We will most likely do a full length in the first half of 2004… but I dont know anything about what label it will be on, or a tenative title. We should just change our bands name to Jesse Jackson Five. or Personal Space Invaders.”
PAUL: “You’re good friends with the guys in Appease, who have their forum hosted by us at Punktastic. How did that come about and do you have any stories that we can bribe Ben with?”
SETH: “Yes. We all went to a strip club, and our good buddy GIBBY decided to hook ben up and pay a stripper to get cozy. I guess she started telling ben her life story and she was all ‘my husband beats me, it’s horrible’… and instead of sticking around he said he was going to the bathroom and left her. We all laughed at ben, he was freaked out by the stripper.”
PAUL: “With the Appease connection, are there any plans to come across to the UK and play a few shows any time soon?”
SETH: “I wish we had some set in stone, but we dont. We WILL come to the UK and play with Appease, that is for sure. ”
PAUL: “What are your plans for the rest of the year?”
SETH: “Right now we’re finishing up a tour with Rufio, Motion City Soundtrack and Northstar… then we take some time to knock out demos for two weeks in Virginia… back on tour and then we head to Japan with Yellowcard.”
PAUL: “Have your friends in Maphia Clothing any plans to sell their clothes over in the UK? (a couple of our readers wanted me to ask that!)”
SETH: “Yes. they plan to take over the planet. cool clothes and cool guys. I like hanging out w/ them.”
PAUL: “If there is anyone you would like to recommend/thank or anything you’d like to say that I’ve missed, please leave it here:”
SETH: “Please become familiar w/ all of these bands/people/labels/websites… they’ve helped us tremendously: dont look down, autopilot off, yellowcard, rufio, jason tate@absolutepunk.net, lobster records, nitro records, the stryder, my captain, cameron webb, hurley international, maphia clothing, MESA BOOGIE amplifiers, Michael Gwiazda (gibby from my captain/boredom).”