Scene Point Blank: A lot of interviewers have badgered you for specific meaning regarding your song lyrics. How do you feel about that?
Jimmy Stadt: Coming from the background you do, you understand that mathematical way to look at texts. To me lyric writing is not mathematical at all. There is no end result. There is no clear-cut answer. There are questions. It's hard for me to answer those types of questions because I'm forced to intellectualize something that I can barely grasp. I think of lyric writing coming from the plays I love, and the films I love, and those don't answer anything, they ask questions. I think it has something to do with our education system. We're taught to find the answer. We're taught to find the moral. I read things in high school and was asked, "What does it mean?" That is literature death. It's not there at all. When I took a Shakespeare class in college it taught me how to really appreciate these things. I was taught how to love it, not to answer it. That's how I try to write.
Scene Point Blank: Do you think it is important to keep a sense of ambiguity?
Jimmy Stadt: I do. I really do. There is interpretation. If you're ambiguous you can have things hit on a personal level as opposed to just saying this is what this means. It could mean a bunch of things to a bunch of different people. On the converse of that sometimes I will just write a straightforward song. Our song "Our Ballads" is a pretty straightforward and literal song. That's kind of rare for me. I don't usually write songs about social things. I'm pretty emotional and internal with the songs I write. Nothing is all one thing though.
Scene Point Blank: Getting down to the business questions: Tell me how you got hooked up with Bridge Nine?
Jimmy Stadt: I think because of the attention we were getting as a part time band there were some labels that were interested to see if we were going to tour. When we made that decision to go full time we got some emails from some different labels and Bridge Nine was one of them. We met with a bunch of labels. When we met with them we just thought that was the one that made the most sense. In terms of the bands on their label it probably doesn't make a lot of sense to other people. Some people thought that that was such a weird thing. I think that they're trying to branch out and still do awesome hardcore bands but also do other stuff. I think we might be a bridge to that for them. They're hands down a great label.
Scene Point Blank: I've heard the band is back to writing, and there is rumors of you working with a certain producer.
Jimmy Stadt: We spent January writing. After that we tidied things up and after this tour we're off to Seattle to record with Matt Bayles. That's where we're at now. We were just thinking of guys we wanted to work with and that name came up. Our guitar player Chris is probably the biggest Minus the Bear fan there is. Those records sound awesome and that Mastodon record is really good, too. I didn't think we had a shot with him but we talked and hashed out all the budget details and he was down.
Scene Point Blank: Is their a time frame for the new record's release?
Jimmy Stadt: Hopefully it'll be a September release.
Scene Point Blank: Have you ever gotten a response from Silent Majority about the band name?
Jimmy Stadt: Sort of. We've done a ton of shows with Capital, and the singer of Silent Majority sings with Capital. He's never really said anything about it, but he's never seemed mad about it?everyone from Long Island was such huge fans of those guys. When we toured with Crime in Stereo, who are also from Long Island, they were psyched on it. That band was maybe not so big world wide, but they were just amazing. I've never asked about the name. Maybe next time I should.
Words: Graham | Graphics: Matt
Photos Dan Hough (http://www.myspace.com/inthepituk)
Burkhard Müller (http://www.facetheshow.com)
- Official Website: http://polarblogclub.com/
- Bridge Nine Records: http://www.bridge9.com/
