Feature / Interviews
For The Crown

Words: Zed • Posted pre-2010

October 4, 2003 marked the ending of 2 crucial bay area bands: The Damage Done and For The Crown. Prior to For The Crown's last show, ScenePointBlank got an interview with the band to reflect on the band's memorable times, taking crowns on dates, and fighting off groupies. This is over a year old, sorry about the delay!

ScenePointBlank: What's your name and what do you play?

Donald: I'm Donald, I play guitar.

Andrew: I'm Andrew and I sing.

ScenePointBlank: How did Flinch Factor develop into For The Crown?

*mob laughs*

Andrew: Ok, do you want a serious answer?

ScenePointBlank: Yeah.

Andrew: We were this really shitty punk band. We played this show with a band called Figure Four from Canada and Through It All.

*laughter*

Andrew: You can say 'Haha' like laughs in there.

*Matt arrives*

Andrew: That's Matt our bassist.

Matt: Basically I run the show. No matter what Andrew says, I wrote all that shit.

Andrew: We played that show, and everyone was like, 'Man, this band sucks.' So I was like, 'Dude, I want to be in a hardcore band.' So the next day we broke up, and that same day, we started For The Crown.

Donald: Basically.

ScenePointBlank: Where did the name For The Crown come from?

Andrew: We were talking about Flinch Factor, none of us liked the name, and our drummer was like, 'Yeah, we should call ourselves Cloud Factories.' *laughter*

Andrew: And I was like, 'How about we call ourselves The Crown?' But then there was that metal band, The Crown. So we just threw the 'For' in there.

ScenePointBlank: Was it originally the number four?

Andrew: It was actually the number eight, but then we changed it to four, then we changed it to the word for.

Matt: Before the number, it was like the verb, like eating, like how I'm eating this apple right now.

*Matt is eating apple*

ScenePointBlank: How did Blueprint go for you guys?

Matt: Recording the record was hecka fun, it was really fun to record. We weren't extremely happy with how the layout came out, but I like the songs, we all like the songs and we're all happy with how it sounds.

Andrew: I think it's very diverse musically, because we wrote the songs over the course our entire time as a band. So a couple of the songs we wrote in the first two months of our existence, and some of them we wrote the night before, because we did write one the night before.

ScenePointBlank: Which one was that?

Matt: Don't tell, it'll ruin it. Find it yourselves.

Andrew: Yeah, it's like a 'Where's Waldo?', except it's a song, and it's not waldo.

ScenePointBlank: Any clues?

Matt: No... it's about buildings...

ScenePointBlank: Have you written anything new since that?

Andrew: Yeah, we wrote five songs, but they aren't going to be recorded or released.

ScenePointBlank: Why?

Matt: The reason why is because we felt extremely rushed and we wanted to put something out that we were proud of, and certain members in the band did not feel like putting the effort into it. It just didn't work out.

ScenePointBlank: Do you have any final releases?

Andrew: The demo discography thing is actually a Rick Ta Life type thing. I put that out originally at our record release show for the first twenty five people who bought Blueprint, and then Duncan A.K.A. Rick Ta Life bootlegged it and is selling at the show tonight.

Matt: It's cool, we don't mind, it's all good.

Andrew: Duncan's cute.

*Phil enters*

ScenePointBlank: What was your favorite show?

Matt: The Nick Traina Benefit we played here

Donald: And Seattle.

Matt: Yeah, and Seattle.

Donald: And Prescott.

Matt: We played here [at Gilman] for that Nick Traina Benefit with All Bets Off and some other bands. It was really good. We did a Link 80 cover, and Phil played Trumpet. It was the first time people reacted to our songs. They weren't just like 'wow, cool, new songs.' They actually moved around.

Related features

Little Low

One Question Interviews • August 6, 2025

Christine Atturio (Little Low) SPB: What is your favorite Disney soundtrack? Atturio: Aladdin, hands down. Robin Williams singing "Friend Like Me" is fire! The soundtrack as a whole goes from hopeful to scary to funny and back again, sometimes even sounding like the music from Indiana Jones when he's exploring … Read more

Normal Park

One Question Interviews • August 5, 2025

McKinnon (Normal Park) SPB: Your bio references math rock, [my opinion] one of the sillier genre names. Is there a music term you hear often that seems like it could have been phrased better? Tyler: I don’t mind math rock as a genre term because it’s simple and descriptive, plus … Read more

Foolsmate

One Question Interviews • August 4, 2025

Alex Gilliam (Foolsmate) SPB: What does the term “Midwest emo” mean to you? Gilliam: After getting this question, I immediately asked the other guys in Foolsmate for their input. Though their answers varied drastically, they all touched upon inclusion. Midwest emo has always been about being vulnerable about yourself and … Read more

Sell The Heart Records – History 101

Music / History 101 • August 3, 2025

Like most independent labels, Sell The Heart started to document a scene without really asking themselves “Where do you see yourself in 15 years?” In 2010, founder Andy Pohl was barely even thinking about vinyl. In “History 101” tradition, Scene Point Blank picked out some of the label's notable releases … Read more

The Planet Smashers

One Question Interviews • July 23, 2025

Matt Smasher (The Planet Smashers) SPB: How did the collabs on the new album come to be? Did you reach out to the artist with a specific idea, or just ask “hey is there something you want to do here?” Matt: It started out super simple, just a “would you … Read more

Related news

Wilco News: Tweedy into Rehab, New Album Online

Posted in Bands on April 6, 2004

Related reviews

For the Crown

Blueprint
Give Me Strength (2003)

It's so sad when a great band releases a great album and then breaks up soon after before they even get a chance to showcase their talent to the world. Such a thing happened to For the Crown, a melodic hardcore band hailing from the Bay Area in California. The quartet released on one full length in their short lifespan. … Read more

More from this section

Arms Aloft

Interviews • June 23, 2025

Remember Election Day 2024? Maybe you shouldn't. Maybe you've blocked it out. That's fair, but there was one pleasant surprise that day: a new EP from Wisconsin's Arms Aloft. It took a while to claw out of the darkness in November, then Year End 2024 coverage took over the Scene … Read more

Ilya Arbatman (Rotary Club)

Book store co-owner

Interviews / Don't Quit Your Day Job • May 13, 2025

There are a lot of misconceptions about the life of a musician. Most musicians have day jobs – and not just to pay the bills. Jobs provide new challenges, personal fulfillment and, yes, some rent or gas money. How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative … Read more

Chuck Ragan

Fly fishing tour guide

Interviews / Don't Quit Your Day Job • April 14, 2025

How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Scene Point Blank looks at how musicians split their time, and how their careers influence their music (or how their music provides escape). In this edition, we caught up … Read more