Interview with Further Seems Forever

Further Seems Forever :: Cologne :: Underground . 05/11/05 . Steve/ Derick . interviewer: Oliver

Punk76: Please introduce yourself and your job in FSF.
Steve: Well my name is Steve and I´m the drummer
Derick: I am Derik and I am the guitar player

Punk76: Please describe how FSF began
Steve: Two of our members are not here today, because they don´t tour- but they are still writing members of the band. The two of them and I started the band FSF in 1998. The three of us met Chat Neptune who was in Strongarm.

Punk76: Is it true that some of your members played in Shai Hulud before?
Steve: Just me.

Punk76: I recently received a Shai Hulud restrospective with 24 songs on.
Steve: Hah, all the old stuff!

Punk76: I am so stoked by those first six songs with Damien on the microphone. That was you drumming in the back. I also recogized, Chad from New Found Glory is singing o some of those songs too. Can you remember how you invited him to sing in Shai?
Steve: Yes, Chad sang for Shai Hulud after Damien. We knew Chad from around town. We were at a show and he sort of likes at to grab the microphone and sort of scream out lyrics. And we heard his voice one night and it sounded overwhelming.

Punk76: Yes, I was surprised how aggressive is voice is.
Steve: Yeah. We looked at each other and said: “Wow, this guy would fit!”.

Punk76: And Damien left to found As Friends Rust?
Steve: The guitarist Matt Fox and Damien got to a point where they just couldn´t function together. So he left and founded other groups like Mourning Again.

Punk76: I have followed your band career (FSF) since a long time now. I own your EP together with Recess Theory on Takehold Records. And then I got that old stuff from Chris (Carabba). So may you please explain how that FSF-thing started? How did Chris joined the band?
Steve: The other four members aside from Chris- the original members were in Strongarm- and we wanted to do something different then Strongarm. We wanted to have different directions. So we ended Strongarm and started a new band which is more Rock orientated. And Chris we knew from the local music scene.

Punk76: Can I interrupt you shortly? I think Strongarm was only hardcore music, or?
Steve: Excactly. Strongarm was heavier music. The music we wrote in Strongarm was very different. We wanted to start something fresh and new. Chris was in a band called “The Vacant Andys”. We had talked after shows and seen him around and then we start thinking he would probably fit in good with us. And so we asked him if he wanted to sing and colaborate with us and he said: “yes!”. And so we started writing on songs.

Punk76: Until now you released three releases on Tooth and Nail Records. I found out that there is a different singer on every album. But that doesn´t matter, because everytime you had a new singer I was totally stocked! Did Chris left because of Dashboard Confessional?
Steve: Yeah, he wanted to persue Dashboard Confessional full time and so we left on good terms. The timing was a little akward when he left- but it was respectful.

Punk76: How did the next singer (Jason) join the band?
Steve: We just sort to put on our website that we search for a new singer. So we got additions from around the country. Most of them was really bad. We had a couple- Jason was one of them- who fit good.

Punk76: I think the band has gone in the right direction: You started with a very emotional and soft singer. Jason suddenly joined the band and brought those powerful lyrics in the band. Now you have Jon Bunch, who sang in Sensefield before and seems to be the perfect fit. He combines the soft and the hard aspects of both singers in one voice.
Derick: Yeah, I think Jon is definitely a combination of their strengths; having a powerful voice but also beeing able to be very emotional with very personal lyrics. I defintitely think that he is the best fit so far

Punk76: I have the new video “Light Up Ahead” on Toothandnail records. It is an animated video, which looks really expensive.
Derick: No, not really. 'We've done a couple of videos before that were filmed. One of them was “Snowbirds and Townies” and the second was for “The Sound”. These were really good videos but we just felt we wanted something different, cause every video starts to look the same. So we just asked companies to submit what they were doing. One company stuck out- we really like what they are doing. The company is called plaidsanimation.com.
Steve: They did a video for The Shins, which is also animated and they did a video for Mogwai, which was also animated and couple other groups. They done enormous videos now.

Punk76: Can you explain what the video is talking about? I mean I see and old man, who experienced World War II. He receives medals and suddenly he dies. So what is the story behind that video?
Steve: It was a story line that got presented to us from the animation company. And they gave us a couple different story lines to choose from. Do you know the exact story Derick? Was it just a story line we read and accepted?
Derick: We read the script and we thought it was a really good fit. The song has a lot of posititve lyrics. We thought it was cool having someone look back on his life and see all the important moments. It just had a very cool concept.

Punk76: Something else. Now Jon is the new singer in your band and all his releases before were put out on Revelation Records. I never read any lyrics about God. Now he is the singer of a band who is signed to the biggest Christian label and suddenly a lot of the new lyrics deal with the theme of God. So can you explain why he concentrated this time so much on God?
Derick: First of all: I am not trying to speak for Jon, just because he is not here. I talked with him about the lyrics and I think his goal was just to make a beautiful record with very positive lyrics. And I think that you can definitely read a lot of spirituality in the lyrics. But people can interpret those lyrics the way they experience them. Some may figure out just a relationship or something just about life. It´s just some kind of peoples perspective.

Punk76: Keep guessing: What do you think: Will there be a new singer on the next record?
Derick: No, Jon Bunch will be the last singer in Further Seems Forever.

Punk76: Yeah? Let´s make a bet!
Derick: I am pretty shure!

Punk76: Ok, then please explain why Jon will be the last singer.
Steve: We won´t continue with another singer.
Derick: We were very hesitant when Jon expressed interest. We received a lot of emails- a lot of positive feedback: “Please keep the name, keep beeing FSF”. When Jason left we inititially thought we were gonna break up. We even posted on our website that we are breaking up. And then we found Jon and talked with him about a new band. We just kind of devated back and forth, whether we should do a new band or FSF. And after really thinking about it and all those positive things we received we decided to keep just FSF.

Punk76: I am also happy that you kept the band, because FSF is one of my favourites. One last thing: The new record was designed by Jason from Starvingeyes.com. He is an impressive designer with amazing art work. So how did you enlist him for the artwork?
Derick: We were on tour with New Found Glory in the US and they told us about a game called Emogame.com and we went and checked it out. We thought it was really funny. And then the time came we needed some design for our t-shirts. And so we talked to Jason, who was a fan of our band and he said: “Ok, I do some T-shirts”. We were so impressed by that and by his website and everything he does. But then came time to do the new record and we asked if he would design the new record. And he did it obviously.

Punk76: You guys are sponsored by Atticus/Macbeth, right?
Derick: Yeah, we do Atticus and Macbeth. They give us shirts and stuff and they've helped us out a lot.

Punk76: Seems that you are pretty well known in the states, otherwise they wouldn´t have offered you a sponsorship.
Derick: We had a great relationship to them. Early Atticus and Macbeth was one company, now I think they are 2 separate things. Atticus is very supportive: Our van broke down and they let us borrow a van. They have definitely been very supportive.

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