I love By A Thread. They released a fantastic album called 'The last of the daydreams' on Revelation last year and everyone into emotional music must check this one out. But first you have to read this interview I did with Sean who plays guitar in By A Thread...

Please tell me a little bit about the history of By A Thread, who is in the band and how old are you guys?

By A Thread formed in 96 as a side project between John and I, at first it was just me, John and a guy named Gabe on drums (he plays in Brand New Unit and Gob now) but Gabe didn't have enough time as we started to get more serious about the band so we got John’s brother Joe to play drums and the original bass player was their cousin Johnny, he wasn’t that experienced so we had to let him go and we got an old friend of John and Joe's to play bass, Kelly. Here are the stats: Kelly plays bass, he is 25, Joe plays drums, 20, John sings and plays guitar, 23, and Sean,guitar,24.

What do you think about people comparing the sound of a new band to that of other bands, do you think that’s just stupid or do you think it helps people to get an impressions how a band sounds they haven’t heard before?

Personally I don’t really like being compared to other bands that much but I think people need some comparisons to get an idea what a band they havent heard before sounds like.

You are from Canada, right? Where do you live there exactly and do you like the place you live?

Yes we are from Canada, we all live in the Vancouver area, we probably live about half an hour apart. I totally love Vancouver, the only thing that sucks is the rain, it rains so much here, but other than that it's a beautiful place.

What do you think about the Canadian Hardcore scene?

I don’t know too much about the Canadian hc scene as a whole because everything is so far apart, as far as Vancouver goes it has its ups and downs like most scenes do, but there seems to be a lot of gossip and stuff like that wich is a little annoying, it's a fairly small scene here though.

What about the Canadian hardcore legend SNFU, are they still around (by that time I hadn’t heard their new EP on Alternative Tentacles)? Did you ever see them play live?

Yeah SNFU are still around, I actually play ice hockey with some of the SNFU guys in the musicians hockey league out here, they were one of my favorite bands growing up, I remember going to see them like ten years ago and being blown away.

Did you play a lot of shows so far in the US and will you come over to Europe in the near future (I hope so!!)?

We’ve played quite a few shows, not tons though, I think more shows have been played in Canada so far, the band did a Canadian tour. Yes there will be a lot more touring in the future and we will get to Europe for sure, my favorite place to play.

The first time I heard from By A Thread was on the Revelation 1999 Summer Sampler and I was totally blown away. Did you appear on any other compilations so far and what can you tell me about the new album and your plans for the near future?

First of all thanks for the compliment...no we haven’t appeared on any other comps as of yet but the same record that is coming out on Revelation has been out on a Canadian label called Landspeed for about 6 months now. They sell the record in Canada and Revelation takes care of the rest of the world. We do have a seven inch coming out on Two Friends Records out of Germany and maybe a split on Genet hopefully with Children Of Fall from Sweden.

We recorded 10 songs for the album and we used all of them. We recorded it at Greenhouse studio in Vancouver. Blair Calibaba produced it. He also did Strain, the new Trial record, Brand New Unit, Gob, and many others, he is also a friend of ours which makes it nice. I think as a whole we are pretty happy with the record but there are always things you would like to be different. We recorded it quite a while ago, it was June of 1998.

How do you create a song, do you write the music first and then the lyrics or is it the other way round? Who writes the songs, all of you together or every one on his own?

It comes out different ways, it usually starts with a riff that John or me has and it develops, or sometimes we just make things up while we jam or whatever, but we all have our input, John writes all the lyrics though.

What do think about your label Revelation Records and how did you get the deal with them?

Well, since day one our goal was to be on Revelation, I grew up listening to Youth of Today, Bold, Gorilla Biscuits, Inside Out, the list goes on and on, Revelation has always been my favorite record label and we thought that By A Thread could fit into their roster somewhere so I got the Revelation phone number and started calling them like two years ago, and finally when they heard the finished product of the album they decided to sign us.

Some of you guys played in famous Hardcore band Strain before, right? Their music was quite different from By A Thread, what were the reasons for that change and do you think some old Strain fans may be disppointed?

Yeah, John and I played in Strain, actually Joe also played in Strain for a while too. We are playing this type of music now because this is what’s coming out now, personally I still listen to the same stuff as always but I think this is just where we were headed musically. I think that some people might be dissapointed if they are expecting something Strain like, I used to be the same way, I used to hate it when bands mellowed out but that sometimes happens as you progress as a person and as a musician.

Why did Strain split up back in the days?

Basically Strain split up because John and I were more interested in pursuing By A Thread and we wanted to put our all into it, so we had to let Strain go.

Strain released a record called ‘Bomb the Wedemark’, so I guess you don’t like that ‘famous’ record label too much that comes from there?

I think Lost and Found sucks, they rip people off left and right, that is not what the hc scene is about, they are just in it for the money and everyone should boycott that label in my opinion.

Are you guys straight edge and what do you think about sXe in general?

By definition John and I are, but I dont want to label myself anything anymore, there are too many messed up people in the sXe scene for me to label myself as such, too many things that I dont agree with to group myself in with a lot of these people, I'll leave it at that.

What do you guys do besides the band, do you have jobs or is the band a fulltime job? Do you see each other often or only when you record or rehearse?

Besides the band I work, I play hockey and I work out and stuff like that, I buy a lot of music, it’s my addiction (I know exactly what you mean – Stefan). Everyone in the band does their own thing but we are all good friends and hang out when we can.

Have you ever been to Europe and how did you like it?

I have been to Europe twice with Strain, John has been once with Strain, we love Europe, you get treated so well over there, and the people are very genuine. I also love it because of all the history and interesting things you get to see in each place you go to, it’s such a great experience and we can’t wait to get over there with By A Thread.

Did you see Star Wars: Episode 1 and what do you think about it?

Umm, no I haven’t seen it yet, but Joe and John are huge Star Wars fans and they loved it, I know Joe saw it many many times, he was just talking about it the other day.

Which question do you hate in interviews (hopefully I didn’t pick that one)? Which questions would you like to be asked? You can ask them now and answer them right away

I hate when people ask ‘Which question do you hate in interviews’ (Now I’m in trouble – Stefan). No just kidding, umm I don’t really hate any questions, there are the standard ones that get kind of boring but they have to get asked usually. Which question would I like to get asked, hmmm...now that’s a tough question, how about who’s my favorite backstreet boy, damn I don’t know, Nick, definitely not AJ.

I guess we’re at the end of this interview, did you like it and do you have anything to say I forgot to ask?

Yeah I totally liked this interview, I’m just a really slow typer so it took me a while, anyways look out for the By A Thread record, it’s out on October 26th and its titled ‘The last of the daydreams’ so check that out and hopefuly we will see you in Europe soon! Thanks very much for the interview! Take care.

(Stefan)