STATE FAULTS (ex-BROTHER BEAR) interview

We conducted an interview with post hardcore band STATE FAULTS (ex-BROTHER BEAR) on December 30, 2011.

Thank you for taking this interview. Please, introduce yourself and your band. By the way, please describe the style / genre you represent.

Thank you for interviewing us! We’re STATE FAULTS, Jonny plays guitar and does vocals, Chip plays bass and does vocals, Jared plays drums, and Michael plays guitar and does vocals. We play heavy/fast/pretty/sad/atmospheric music.

You call yourself a post hardcore band, but wait a minute… aren’t you a “screamo” band? What’s up with the genre these days? I feel it’s like the repetition from the “wrong emo” era, don’t you think? What bands would you call “screamo”?

We try hard not to pay attention to labeling and “genre”, we call ourselves post-hardcore because we take influence from a lot of different types of “hardcore” music. We feel “post-hardcore” and “screamo” are sorta the same thing, and music more or less speaks for itself since everyone has a different definition of what each genre entails.

THE BIRDS ARE SPIES, THEY REPORT TO THE TREES, SUIS LA LUNE, RAEIN, SED NON SATIATA, BELLE EPOQUE, MIHAI EDRISCH, THE APOPLEXY TWIST ORCHESTRA, AMANDA WOODWARD, DAITRO, JUNE PAIK, SHIKARI, ONLY FOR THE SAKE OF ACHING, AGHAST, LA QUIETE… These are only a few of our favourite European screamo bands. What’s your opinion on European hardcore scene? Do you any favourite bands from Europe?

We love European hardcore! We feel that Europe usually does everything first musically and then us Americans follow [laughs]. SUIS LA LUNE, RAEIN, and LA QUIETE are three bands that have definitely influenced our writing, and we love them dearly!

Why the changing of names? What’s wrong with BROTHER BEAR? Please tell us again. [laughs]

Nothing’s wrong with the name BROTHER BEAR, in our hearts we’ll always be BROTHER BEAR and we still call each other “the bears”! Basically there were a TON of other bands named BROTHER BEAR, and the mediocre Disney movie and it was hard to promote when there were so many other BROTHER BEAR’s crossing the streams! STATE FAULTS is sort of an homage to where we live, we live on a huge fault line in the state of California!

How would you describe the city Santa Rosa, CA? What are the positive and negative aspects of living there?

It’s a beautiful small/big city! It’s got a small-town feel, but it’s the biggest city north of San Francisco, we all love it here! The music scene here is starting to blossom into this awesome community with everyone working together, and we feel so stoked to be apart of it!

What’s your experience been like with Tiny Engines Records? How did you end up on the label?

Tiny Engines contacted us earlier this year and asked if we were writing, and the rest is history! They’ve been so awesome and we’re honored to be on their roster (which you should check out the rest of their bands, every single one is so amazing!)

I am planning to finally go to the USA. Let’s hope I will make it happen in 2012/2013. Where have you been traveling? What countries have you been to?

That’s great! As a band we actually haven’t been out of California, but we’re heading out on our full US tour in January and we’ll get to see the country!

How many shows have you been playing so far?

We’ve only played a handful of shows but they’ve been with some amazing bands and we’re grateful for the progress we’ve made in just a little over a year of being a band!

Tell us a bit about your future recording plans.

Well we just wrapped up recording a full length and we’re gonna focus right now on playing shows and promoting it, but we’re always writing and demoing so it shouldn’t be too long until we’re recording again!

What are you most looking forward to in the future as a band?

Growing and writing together, and most definitely looking forward to the day we tour Europe, and the rest of the world for that matter! We just love making music and we love each other and we don’t ever want it to end!

What is the meaning of hardcore/punk for you?

Making honest music and making real connections with the listener is what hardcore and punk mean to us! Being punk doesn’t have to do with the content of your lyrics or the tempo of your music, it’s about making music that’s real to you and not caring what other people think.

Thank you very much, gentlemen. Are there any other things that you would like to discuss? Feel free tell people anything you want.

Listen to RUPTURES, NO SIR, STRIKE TO SURVIVE, ALL TEETH, NOT TO REASON WHY, and PRAWN! And never stop looking for new music to listen to, and support your local music scene. Go to shows, buy records and merch and help support hard working artists! And thank you for having us!