State Faults is a hell-storm of angst and frustration dawning from the rocky coasts of Santa Rosa, CA. While the suburb seems a peaceful place to live, it is still evidently the birthplace of some of the most distraught jams in the screamo scene. Jared, who plays drums in the band, was cool enough to sit down and answer some questions for us.
Hey man! I’ve followed you all for a while, through when you were unsigned as Brother Bear, to when you were State Faults on Tiny Engines, to now as State Faults #boysthatcryandkisseachother on No Sleep. Did you guys ever anticipate this kind of success when you were starting out? Was there any one band that you were stoked to be represented with when signing to No Sleep?
Signing to a label like No Sleep was always something we hoped would happen, but we never anticipated we’d actually be signed to No Sleep after only 3 years of being a band. It still seems weird to think about it. Were just a bunch of a fan boys, who still look at all the bands on No Sleep and think “man I hope we get to be that awesome someday!” Their roster speaks for itself. So many good bands. We feel so lucky!
The North Bay is possibly the only part of California that can compare to the recent insurgence of music culture on the East Coast. What is the music scene like in Santa Rosa? What are some local bands that inspired you guys to start the band?
There are so many amazing bands making waves in our area whose music is starting to get nationwide recognition, which is incredibly inspiring; Creative Adult, No sir, Strike to Survive and Brown Bags to name a few. For our band in particular, Not To Reason Why and The New Trust are two phenomenal bands from our area that were really big influences. Their music is so inspiring and expertly crafted. You listen to their music and watch them perform and it’s obvious that they were all born to do what they do. They’re so gifted and their music has given us something to strive for. We’re never gonna be as good as those bands but that’s okay because they’re constantly raising the bar and keeping us on our toes creatively.
You guys recently did a summer tour with Strike to Survive that took you all around America and to I Got Brains Fest. How was that tour? Do you guys think that touring is essential for all bands?
YouTube has proven that touring isn’t quite as essential as it used to be. All you have to do is come up with a catchy tune and a clever image and you can get worldwide fame in the course of a few days. Having longevity as a musical act is a different story though, and I think the best way to stay relevant is to get out there and tour. It’s hard work but it’s so much fun and if you’re smart and you have a game plan the payoff is worth it.
As for our recent tour with STS, it was incredible. Those guys are our best friends who we grew up with so getting to hit the road with them was beyond amazing. We still have a continuing group text conversation that started at the beginning of that tour. Most of us haven’t deleted any of the texts yet just for nostalgia’s sake.
You guys are one of a few bands that immediately come to mind when I think of bands that engage their fans in a fun way on the internet. You have a really interesting internet presence with the whole #boysthatcryandkisseachother thing. What did that stem from? Also do you guys have any strong opinions on equal rights or the LGBT community?
That’s really cool that you think of us when you think of fan interaction. It means a lot! We just love keeping in touch with people who like our music. Aside from being a great way to network with promoters and record labels and such, it’s a great way to keep from losing your mind when real life starts to creep in between tours. It’s tough to stay sane sometimes so being goofy online with other goofy guys and gals makes us laugh. That’s just part of our sense of humor. In fact most of what we tweet or post to tumblr are inside jokes that we have between each other that I guess have now started to catch on. Our band has these big communal inside jokes going on in our social networking circles and everybody just adds to it. We’re lucky to have such awesome supporters of our music who also have such great personalities and senses of humor.
As for our stance on equal rights within the LGBT community, we’re definitely proponents for equality. Nobody should be judged on something as harmless as sexual preference or gender. We were really inspired by Laura Jane Grace’s (Against Me!) story when that Rolling Stone article came out. She took such a brave and bold stance and got people really talking and questioning why these stereotypes and stigmas exist when it comes to gender identity and sexual orientation. People just want to live life happily without shame and we don’t see any reason why anybody else should have a problem with that. Hopefully our music speaks to that. And hopefully our #boysthatcryandkisseachother tag hasn’t offended anyone. We’re a bunch of softies who sometimes cry at the end of beautifully written video games and sometimes kiss each other on the cheek when we hug. We definitely have nothing but unconditional love for anybody who lives their lives honestly and passionately and who practices kindness and acceptance. That’s what our band is all about.
In your new song titled “The Wild Wild West Fires,” a desperate “MISSERRRRRRYYY” is belched, over a Joy Division-esq reverb drenched riff dances in the background. How sad is this new album? Are you guys worried about how sad your album will make America?
Would you believe that when Jonny recorded vocals we locked him in a pitch dark vocal booth and yelled obscenities at him via his headphones in order to crush his spirits before each take?
Hopefully the music makes America feel okay to be sad. If you’ve ever watched the movie Dancer in the Dark, that’s how I hope people feel about the album when they finish it. I know that’s asking a lot considering Bjork’s and Lars Von Trier’s artistic abilities are untouchable, but I would hope that if it happens to be so sad that they are brought to tears, they feel okay about it. Even if they don’t cry, I just hope people are okay with it. It’s very sad, but life is like that sometimes, and that’s okay.
I hear you guys talking about mewithoutYou sometimes as a band that you all like. I can hear the influence in the last half of the new track “Amalgamation.” What other bands do ya’ll dig?
MewithoutYou is one of my all-time favorite bands and I know the rest of the guys dig them as well, so they are always going to be an inspiration for us to one degree or another. On songs like “Amalgamation” and “Wildfires,” the inspiration is pretty easy to recognize. Sometimes that’s where our songs begin. We come up with a riff that reminds us of one of our favorite bands or songs and we just go with it. I’m a firm believer in the phrase “imitation is the finest form of flattery.” Everybody wants to make music that sounds original, but there’s nothing wrong with borrowing ideas and expanding on them. If you listen closely to our music, you’re gonna hear lots of Thrice influences as well as Underoath, As Cities Burn, The Cure and of course Suis La Lune and Pianos Become the Teeth. It’s inevitable that what goes into our ears will eventually find its way back out through our music.
I think you guys look wayyyy cooler with facial hair and I also think that’s a big thing with the younger fan-base. Don’t get me wrong, I mean I think Chip’s cool and all, but Jordan had a real nice beard, ya know. It must’ve been weird either way like, “Hey man, this isn’t working, but we really do like your beard,”or Jordan was like “Hey guys, I can’t do this anymore” and you all were like “Darn man, too bad, but can we keep your beard?” I think people would be interested in knowing what happened with that whole thing?
It basically came down to him letting us know “hey guys, my beard and I unfortunately have to go our separate ways, but we both still love you and we always will,” and we all went “dude, we totally understand and we love you and your beard as well and we wish you and your beard the very best!”
We were very fortunate that Chip was able to rejoin the band once Jordan parted ways. Life is funny sometimes and people weave in and out of your life and that’s basically the story of how we arrived at the lineup we currently have. We will miss the beard though. We’ll miss it dearly.
Hey, but what I really don’t like is that picture with Michael’s face on that dude from HIM’s body and then Jonny’s on Criss Angel’s. Did the fans react weird to it? Do you think that people will go to your shows and feel “ripped-off” because they thought you guys were hella “emo-ripped”? Speaking of the 2000’s, do you guys know any CKY riffs?
We didn’t even make that picture! It was a “fan submission” if you will. It just goes to show how our goofy awkwardness has rubbed off on other people. Or maybe we just attract people as crazy as we are. Either way, I hope nobody is disappointed by the lack of long black hair and flowery black tattoos. I’m not sure if we know any CKY riffs but I feel like Jonny and Michael might know at least one HIM riff between the two of them.
“WHY DO FIREFLIES DIE???”
Because nothing stays.
“WHY DO WILDFIRES WITHER AWAY???”
Nobody knows. Not even scientists.
Great stuff guys, peace out and good luck with it all!
Thank you, and thanks for asking us such interesting questions!
Check out some North Bay jams that the dudes dig;
No Sir (Dragging Your Knuckles Through Rocks/ Headbanging/Punk)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/No-Sir/186861398021384
Creative Adult (Not Dancing At High School Dances/ Raybans/ Punk)
https://www.facebook.com/CreativeAdult
Not to Reason Why (Eating a Cheeseburger in Heaven/Loving Another Human More Than Yourself)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Not-To-Reason-Why/146026611841
The New Trust (Old School/Moody/ Punk)
https://www.facebook.com/thenewtrust
Strike to Survive (Angsty as Heck/Being Young/ Punk)
https://www.facebook.com/Striketosurvive
Brown Bags (Beach Chilling/ Summer Vacation Montage)
https://m.facebook.com/brownbaaaaaaaags
State Fault’s latest ‘Resonate/Desperate’ is available now through No Sleep Records.
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