Since By Man hails from Milwaukee, WI and is quite possibly, one of the most exciting new hardcore bands we have seen in some time. Their full length, We Sing the Body Electric, has garnered praise in almost every one of its reviews. Whilst on tour with Curl Up and Die, Jeff B. (of Spotlight Syndicate fame) caught up with them and scored quite the interview. AMP Magazine was nice enough to lend it to us for print online. We hope you enjoy
Scene Point Blank: So give us a little background on the band...how and when did the band come together?
Sam: We started the band a little over three years ago; our first show was in November of 1999. We started out of the demise of a few different bands. John and Kevin were in a local band called Straight Forward, after that ended they wanted to get something started so they asked me if I was interested in singing. We asked Justin if he wanted to play guitar and then that broke up that band, and then we stole the bass player from that band too. So we destroyed a band in the process, and then our bass player at the time went crazy on tour and punched me in the face and punched Justin in the dick. We found Bryan a year or so later, and we are now Since By Man.
Scene Point Blank: What does Since By Man mean to you?
Bryan: Hopefully one day, ten thousand dollars.
Sam: Right now Since By Man is a great thing; it has given me some amazing opportunities that I never thought I could get from playing in a band. We are going to Europe this summer and all the touring opportunities and just meeting new people. Since By Man is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I always joke around about how punk rock saved my life but think about how different you would be if you had never been exposed to all the great stuff that punk rock has to offer. Being in a band that is able to tour and things like that is the ultimate version of that. So I feel very fortunate.
Justin: For me if I wasn't in Since By Man right now I'd be at home working and going to school. Although I enjoy school, it is pretty cool to be not going to school and being able to tour and having fun. That's what Since By Man has always been about, having fun.
Bryan: It's basically like getting travel with your best friends all the time and do something your real proud of with people you care about and love.
Scene Point Blank: How has it been working with Revelation?
Sam: That's a popular question, so far so good. They've been real supportive of the things we have wanted to do as far as creativity.
Justin: Aside from some recent semi-popular art blunders, including our CD that has two pages fucked up. Also Curl Up and Die's shit came out too dark, aside from that they've been real good.
Scene Point Blank: How has the response to 'We Sing The Body Electric' been so far?
Sam: It's been good, most of the reviews have been good and our friends close to us that are in other bands and people whose opinions we value the most have been very complimentary. We strive to impress ourselves and make ourselves happy but when people we've been playing music with for the past four or five years, when they are the ones who are like 'holy shit you guys did something awesome', that means the most. We had one review who talked about how bad Bryan 's bass playing was but that's because he is this giant 'man infant' from Milwaukee who hates us and he is the fat baby bass player who made fun of Bryan . It's just a personal vendetta.
Scene Point Blank: How was it recording the album with Kurt Ballou (Converge)?
Sam: It was fun, Kurt is the man. He was real down to earth and he understands heavy music. He helped keep us on focus and trim some of the fat off. He was able to capture the way that we are live which we have never been able to do on a recording, our old recordings are weak and shitty and Kurt was able to get some of that live energy in it.
Justin: Were a random sounding band and I think that comes off on the CD more than it does live. On the CD we had time to devote to each separate part, where as live it's just loud and energetic but he was able to find the happy medium behind making a record sound like it has too many bells and whistles and making it sound raw. All the stuff he does sounds really live, which is something I'm definitely a fan of. My favorite recordings are basically like a band had a million-dollar microphone in front of them and recorded the show and put it on a CD.
Sam: He also had an awesome perverted sense of humor so we got along well.
Scene Point Blank: Are there any songs that stand out lyrically and or musically that you're especially proud of?
Sam: As far as both are concerned I really like 'A kid who tells on another kid is a dead kid'. I also like 'The Enemy'. It's got wicked mosh. I'm happy with how the content came across although I'm not sure if anyone knows what the song is really about. It's about bands being assholes. My favorite song on the record is probably 'Push the Panic'.
Justin: Musically I'm really happy with how 'In Threes' translated to record, it's a song we used a play live a lot but we didn't practice it for this tour because we went in the studio we spent a lot of time and made it sound the best we could. It turned out so good recorded that we've come to the conclusion that if we are going to play it live again, we need to re-evaluate how we play it.
Bryan: And buy lots of expensive gadgets.
Justin: But I agree with the songs Sam said, those are the three songs that culminate the direction of how focused our music is now.
Scene Point Blank: I love the packaging on the split with Seven Days of Samsara and the 'Starter kit to promote the destruction of adulthood' 7inch. I hear Revelation is going to be releasing a discography, when can we expect this?
Sam: I think when we return from tour we are going to start working on the layout for that, so most likely around winter.
Justin: We've been talking about doing it all hand-assembled to sort of go along with how all our early stuff was. You know bring it back, Kinko's warrior.
Scene Point Blank: So how has the tour been with Curl Up and Die been so far?
Sam: It's been awesome; the shows have been weird here and there. I think we fall through some cracks when it comes to identifying with the right crowd or people. We aren't looking for any certain people to like us but I think sometimes people aren't too into it. Perhaps cause we are juggling too many things or they like one part and don't like another part. It's been quite apparent on this tour; we've been playing a lot of shows with people just staring at us. This is the first tour we didn't book ourselves. We are used to playing basements and house shows like we did at the Laurel house in Santa Cruz with your old band, you know houses with people jumping off bookshelves and shit like that. We've been playing more venues, which is automatically weak and just not as cool. A Couple of shows have been a little more 'chugga-chugga' than we are into.
Scene Point Blank: You guys have been on a couple of tours, as an independent band how difficult has it been to put together these tours?
Justin: Booking is a pain in the ass, but it's also really rewarding because that's how you establish the strongest relationships with people. You talk to them for like 3 months before you get out there to play and then you meet the kid for no money and nothing that is doing the show. Our first tours were like 3 weeks, with like 6 shows. It's hard to have a million bands touring at once and have these kids devote their time, energy, and money to put on these shows and kids don't come.
Scene Point Blank: How's the scene in Milwaukee?
Sam: It's awesome; it's an ultimate 'mish mash' of everything that has been going on the past couple of years. There's no good music store's or no good venues but local bands have been getting good turnouts lately, around 200 kids at every show.
Scene Point Blank: Any new records or new bands that people should be aware of?
Bryan: Temper Temper is going to be taking the world by storm with their onslaught of sex rock.
Justin: Paris, Texas ...the new Forstella Ford is kickass; they got a new guitar player who is amazing. Nihilist was insane, we played with them Portland and they tore shit up.
Sam: The Mistreaters and Curl Up and Die.
Justin: For real, the new EP that is coming out on status is insane. They are my new favorite band.
Scene Point Blank: Any last words?
Band: 99 cent shrimp cocktails!
Sam: No, we need something posi. It's all chocolate. We don't have any awesome words of inspiration. Keep it real and have some 'serious fun'.
Interview: Jeff B. (reprinted from AMP Magazine)
Photos: Nathan Baker (minno9.com)
