Feature / Interviews
For The Crown

Words: Zed • Posted pre-2010

ScenePointBlank: Oh yeah, what's your name and what do you play?

Phil: I'm Phil, I kind of play second guitar.

Matt: Yeah, he does play second guitar.

Andrew: But he's a fill in.

*Andrew makes a joke about Phil being a fill in guitarist*

Matt: Phil has been our fill in guitarist for a year, and for some reason he's not in the band but he plays with us every show. It's really weird.

Andrew: My favorite shows were probably Prescott, Arizona and Nick Traina Benefit

Matt: I already mentioned the Nick Traina Benefit, you are out of the band.

ScenePointBlank: Can you still kick people out of the band?

Matt: Yeah.

Phil: Yeah... in fact I quit, I hate you. No show tonight!

ScenePointBlank: Worst show?

Matt: We played the shitty Gazebo in Redlands, California. We just played there, no one cared when we played. We stopped caring half way through, and we were wondering why we were there, and it was the shittiest show ever.

Phil: Yeah, and then Aaron was running low on insulin.

Matt: It was pretty crappy altogether; I think I broke three strings all together.

ScenePointBlank: Have you considered hiring a security team to help you with the groupie problem?

Andrew: Yeah, well we looked into it for a while, but we couldn't find anybody that would properly represent us as a band. We wanted people who were also white power.

Phil: I think the most effect action that we've taken as a band was to keep For The Crown shirts out of Hot Topic. And that sort of maintained the low level, but you can still find them at the mall.

ScenePointBlank: Was this a difficult legal battle?

Andrew: Yeah, we had a lot of copyright problems, people bootlegging our stuff, Duncan... stuff like that.

Donald: We love you Duncan.

ScenePointBlank: Let's say you guys had a crown. Now let's imagine in this situation I could do something for the "For The Crown" crown. Discuss.

Andrew: Can you say that again?

ScenePointBlank: Let's say you guys had a crown. Now let's imagine in this situation I could do something for the "For The Crown" crown. Discuss.

Phil: I think Donald is the only one that finds that to be funny.

Andrew: I'd pet it and make breakfast in bed.

Phil: I'd carry it around with me.

Matt: First I'd roll up in my smooth ride. I'd pick the crown up around seven o' clock. I'd take it to San Francisco. We'd go out for a beautiful dinner. Then we'd ride around on a cable car. Then we'd go back to my room at the Holiday Inn and have a romantic dinner.

ScenePointBlank: That's really romantic.

Matt: I know.

ScenePointBlank: How has The Locust influenced your sound?

Andrew: You have to take into consideration here that the in The Locust runs 31G and they put out an Unbroken 7' so they're amazing. Basically, Unbroken.

ScenePointBlank: Do you have a drink preference before shows?

Matt: Root beer.

Andrew: Fucking 40s man!

Phil: 40s or root beer.

Andrew: I drink lots of water.

Matt: Water with rum.

Donald: I like soy milk.

ScenePointBlank: Do you have a drink preference for after shows?

Donald: Food court.

Phil: That's not a beverage.

Andrew: We go to food court, crispy vegan chicken. We're going to give a shout out to food court.

ScenePointBlank: Do you guys have a favorite type of smelling fart?

Phil: Personally, my farts are my favorite. But you like your own brand.

Andrew: Aaron definitely has the worst.

Matt: We had two band rules. One was no voting. The other was Donald not singing. Donald broke the van rule constantly inside and outside the van.

 

ScenePointBlank: The Backstreet Boys have the best looking, in FTC, who has the best smelling farts?

Phil: I think they've gotten so many of mine that they're biased.

Matt: Andrew's are my favorite because I've never smelled them because they don't have them.

Andrew: Aaron kills it.

ScenePointBlank: Favorite kind of pornography?

Phil: We really resent that...

Andrew: ...we're Christian.

Matt: We prefer to call them G-Sauce.

ScenePointBlank: If there was one message people could derive from For The Crown, what would you want it to be?

Matt: I didn't write the lyrics, Andrew did, but I'd have to say is that life isn't always easy, you go through a lot of hard times in life. This is also the message for Cross The Line. Life's not always easy, but if you keep your head up, things will get better.

Phil: It's also about eating babies.

Andrew: Most of them are pretty negative, but pretty hopeful. It really drives you to continue on.

Phil: I think they know you're joking, haha. I think Andrew keeps it real in his lyrics. There's a lot of the upset stuff, Andrew gets upset about stuff. But I think he remains hopeful about stuff, I hope that's the part that people get out of it. The anger and not being posi, is just one of many sides of the lyrics. Anybody can get angry out of listening to a Korn song about being raped by your dad.

Matt: We actually had a song about being raped by our dad, but our label made us drop it. A lot of our songs seem to be about tonight, as in we're all going our separate ways and it's really sad. These have been really good times for us. We've had friendships in this band and outside of the band, and we're going to miss that.

ScenePointBlank: What are your thoughts on being featured on the runner in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Phil: He's a good guy, I met that guy. That was awesome, he's a good guy.

ScenePointBlank: Andrew, how was Boston compared to the bay area?

Andrew: It's cold. There's a lot of people, but it's not as tight as the bay area. Everyone in the bay area knows each other... even if they don't like each other, they still respect each other. In Boston everybody hates each other and punches each other in the face.

ScenePointBlank: What bands in the bay area should people be looking out for?

Band: Our Turn, Cross The Line, Lights Out and Allegiance.

ScenePointBlank: Any bands from other areas?

Band: Modern Life Is War.

ScenePointBlank: What will you miss most about For The Crown?

Matt: I'm going to miss Andrew, the other people I won't miss because they're still going to be around.

Phil: I'm going to miss, the hanging out, the touring, playing shows, Murphy and groupies.

ScenePointBlank: What was your favorite memory?

Phil: There's some good memories.

Andrew: Lake gone wild.

Donald: Matt at Imperial Beach.

Matt: Legoland, but they wouldn't let us in.

Phil: The summer camp in Arizona.

ScenePointBlank: What new bands will be created from the breakup?

Phil: Cross The Line. Matt and I were doing it before I was even in For The Crown, so it's not like it's a created after band. Aaron's in Lights Out.

ScenePointBlank: Any last words?

Andrew: Just let me do this.

Phil: Check out the new bands.

Matt: We'd like to thank anybody that's ever supported our band. We want to thank all of our friends, our family. I'd like to thank my mom and brother personally. We'd need to thank Sammy and Naoma because they did tons of stuff for us, and we thank them for the bottom of our hearts.

Phil: Ryan too.

ScenePointBlank: American Steel or Unbroken?

Phil: Just walk away Andrew, you can not answer this question.

Andrew: You fucking dick.

Phil: The answer is too revealing.

Andrew: American Steel. That was really hard for me.

ScenePointBlank: Is that why you have your hand in your pants?

Andrew: Zed, I hate you.

For The Crown live gallery


Interview conducted by Zed in person. Layout by Matt.

Related features

GØKHA

One Question Interviews • October 21, 2026

GØKHA SPB: The entire new record is solo. How did you decide to self record and self release? GØKHA: I’ve been writing music since I was 16. I’m 36 now, so that’s 20 years of dealing with the same problem: finding people to play with. And not just any musicians, … Read more

School Drugs

One Question Interviews • October 20, 2026

Josh Jurk (School Drugs) SPB: What do you remember of your first show with School Drugs? Jurk: We opened our set with the intro to “Crazy Train.” I don't really know why, seemed like a good idea at the time. We'll reprise it at our last show when we're all … Read more

Little A

One Question Interviews • October 19, 2026

Little A SPB: Is there an album or concert that inspired you to start to playing your own music? Bryan – drums: It may be a standard answer for folks my age, but Nirvana's Nevermind album changed everything. The rawness and energy made me want to be in a band, … Read more

Fest 24: Artist Interviews

Interviews / Fest 24 • October 16, 2026

It's almost FEST time, and you know what that means: SPB has dived in to speak to a bunch of bands and artists playing this year's event. Some are FEST veterans with tips and highlights for newcomers, and others are FEST newbies with their own plans for the week. Read … Read more

FEST LIBS 24 & Fest Survey Findings

Music / Fest 24 • October 16, 2026

Are you ready for The Fest!? While we’re pretty sure you’re already counting down days until your trek to Gainesville, FL, we’ve got some Fest games for you to play, including a few samples from this year’s performers. Click here to play FEST LIBS -- like a fill-in-the-blanks word game … 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

Fest 24: Artist Interviews

Interviews / Fest 24 • October 16, 2026

It's almost FEST time, and you know what that means: SPB has dived in to speak to a bunch of bands and artists playing this year's event. Some are FEST veterans with tips and highlights for newcomers, and others are FEST newbies with their own plans for the week. Read … Read more

Red Rockers

Interviews • September 20, 2026

By 1981, the Red Rockers were famously branded "The American Clash" by Lester Bangs -- a tag that carried both the weight of massive expectations and the raw power of a band exploding out of the New Orleans humidity. Decades before they became MTV fixtures with the polished pop hooks … Read more

Vivabeat

Interviews • September 6, 2026

LA’s Art-Punk Pioneers Who Bridged Continents and Genres In 1978, Vivabeat emerged from Los Angeles with a sound that defied easy categorization. As I spoke with Marina and Mick years later, it became clear that this was a band always slightly out of step with the local scene -- East … Read more