Interviews

Interviews: Sinch

Smother: Your debut has been ready for some time now, yet is finally seeing the light of day on July 30th. Are you excited to see your album in stores after all this work, and how come there seemed to be so many delays on it's way to store-shelves?

Sinch: It's pretty amazing that the album is finally out considering everything we've been through in the last year and half. I'm glad it's finally out. A lot of our fans have been waiting a long time to get it. Originally, I think the album was planned for a March 26th release. From there it got pushed back several times to the July 30th date. I think a lot of it had to do with how the album turned out and people at the label realizing that maybe there was more there than they had orginally thought. We recorded the album with very little involvement from the label, and I don't think they planned on doing a video and going to radio right away. So when you add all of that into it, I guess they saw the need to hold off on releasing the album until everything was in place.

Smother: One of the most intriguing aspects of the band is the mysterious "ocular noise machine", as it even has it's own personal website. For those who do not understand, what exactly is this marvelous contraption, and how does it enhance Sinch's live performance?

Sinch: Basically, it's an instrument, which was invented by Jay, that manipulates video in real time. It's shaped like a guitar and played in the same way that you would play a guitar during a show, except that it's putting out visual information instead of audio. Well, that's not entirely true. It can put out audio as well, but in our current set up it's used mostly for video. But like everything else with this band, it will expand in the future. Basically, the way it is designed, it can pretty much control anything (audio/video/etc) so the possibilities are endless. I think it enhances the live performance by adding a visual element to the show that's performed as a part of the music and not just as a backdrop to what's going on on stage, so it's emotionally connected to the music.

Smother: Roadrunner recently released a limited EP in preparation of the new album. Do you personally see the sense in releasing an EP only a few short weeks prior to your album arriving in stores, or is this just an act of last minute promotion?

Sinch: I guess you could say that, but at the same time there's been a pretty good reaction to it from our fans. I think it's a good way to get some unreleased tracks out to people in the US. Normally Europe and Australia and Japan get all the bonus tracks on their CDs, so this was a way to get an extra track out there. A lot of our fans are the type of people who are music collectors so I think this is actually a pretty cool thing, and there's a very limited number of copies out there (3500), so if anyone bought it and was disappointed with it, I'm sure you'll be able to sell it on ebay or something.

Smother: You just had the chance to tour Texas with Unloco and Epidemic, how were you received down South?

Sinch: We had a great time with both those bands. We're actually still out with Epidemic right now. I think we were recieved pretty well everywhere we've played so far. There have been a few shows where there weren't really any people there, but when we get a good turnout, the reaction always seems pretty good. It's been better than I would have thought, considering we're playing for a lot of people who don't know who we are and don't really know any of the songs.

Smother: Many critics seem to slump you into the same category as the likes of Nickelback, Creed, etc. and you are currently touring the country alongside Epidemic, another band being slumped into this hard rock category. Do you feel the comparisons are just?

Sinch: Not really. Honestly it's not something that I think about all that often. I guess if you're a critic and you only have time to listen to one song one time through and then make a judgement, then go right ahead. Lump us in with whoever you want. It's not really going to affect what we do.

Smother: Something More is fairing well on modern rock radio, yet your music tends to be a bit darker and have a bit more depth than most artists on the radio. Do you believe Something More is an accurate representation for the band on a national level, and is there a song you think would better define the Sinch sound?

Sinch: I don't think there's one song that can really represent the band. I honestly don't think the album even totally represents the band. I think it's the best we could have possibly done right now and it's definitely a great starting point for us, but there's so much more that we do (and that we want to do in the future) that isn't really represented on the album. We just have to take one step at a time. I don't think we're the kind of band that fits well into the rock music, industry standard kind of thing, where we sound a certain way and we write certain types of songs. But yeah, I think this is a good introduction to the band for people who don't know anything about us. I think each of the songs on the album shows something different that we can do and hopefully in the future we can follow each one of these paths that we've started and explore all these different areas of music.

Smother: Has it been frustrating being on tour, and having your schedule juggled so often? How would you describe life on the road?

Sinch: It's definitely been a learning experience for all of us. The schedule can be pretty rough. For me personally, though, I'm enjoying it. It's what I've always wanted to do.

Smother: You've been a part of Roadrunner for a bit now, what is your take on being one of the few lucky bands to make it out of the independent scene?

Sinch: It's hard to say. When we first signed with Roadrunner, they were still an independent label. But before we even recorded our album they merged with Island/Def Jam. So, basically we're on a major label now. I feel pretty lucky just being able to do what I'm doing, but I don't feel like we were ever a part of any independent scene or anything.

Smother: Does being on a record label illustrious for it's metal groups prove to be intimidating, considering Sinch aren't exactly a metal band?

Sinch: Not really. I've just kind of accepted that a lot of the metal fans aren't going to be open to what we're doing, or they're just not going to like it or whatever. A lot of them just write us off as another Nickelback or something. On the other hand, we've gained a lot of new fans just by being on this label. There are a lot of people who will check out every new band on Roadrunner because it's always been known for the heavy bands. It's like they're fans of the label and not just individual bands. If we were on one of the other major labels we wouldn't get that.

Smother: How come you chose to re-record so many older songs as opposed to entering the studio and writing a lot of new material?

Sinch: When we signed with Roadrunner, the first thing we did was go into rehearsal and start writing and rearranging and going through old songs and old parts and putting things together. After a month or two, we had some new songs that we were really happy with. But we also decided that a lot of the material we already had should go on the album. We just decided that we wanted people to hear these songs. They may have appeared on our independent releases already, but they are so limited in number that if we didn't put them on the album, most people would never hear them. And it was also an opportunity to finally record the songs the right way. I'm glad we chose the songs we did.

Smother: You recorded the new album with Walter Shreifels, well-known for his time with Quicksand and currently as part of Rival Schools. Had you been long-time fans of his, and what was it like to have him working closely with you on your own album?

Sinch: Actually, Walter was involved in the pre-production for the album. We recorded it with Malcolm Springer and Charlie Brocco. But working with Walter was awesome. He basically helped us to look at our songs from a different perspective and kind of break them down and put them back together. Some of it worked and some of it didn't, but I think the process we went through really had a big impact on how the album turned out. A lot of it was just him forcing us to rethink things, so in the end we came up with ideas that we never would have come up with if we had left the songs the way they were. It was defintiely a cool experience to have this guy come in who's a well respected musician - he has fans all over the world... and he's going through our songs with us and helping us out. At that point we were still just a garage band getting ready to record an album. So it was really an eye opening experience for all of us.

Smother: Having been around since 1994, was there ever a time when the band felt like it was time to give up? It must take much perseverence to remain in the independent scene for several years before being given such a chance.

Sinch: From the day this band started I've always just had this feeling that I should keep doing it no matter what happens. I'm not exactly sure why. It's just what I need to do. But there's definitely been those points here and there where we questioned what we were doing and if it was ever going to go anywhere. I think over the years, for me at least, it's been the fans that have kept me going. Sometimes it's just one guy watching us play, but it just feels good to know that what we're doing has some kind of effect on people. Someone once told me that one of our songs made them cry. Things like that kind of make you realize that there's something going on here and we shouldn't just give up.

Smother: Sinch released two other full-length albums as well as an EP before inking a deal with Roadrunner. While these albums are no longer available to purchase, they have emerged as a hot commodity in the underground trading scene. Do you have any problem with fans making copies of these out of print discs, or do you encourage it?

Sinch: I've always encouraged it. I actually scanned in all the artwork and put it up on our site so people can download it and make their own jewel cases. And I get emails all the time from people who have downloaded all the mp3s and made their own cases, but they still want to buy an original copy

Smother: Any final thoughts/comments before we wrap this up?

Sinch: Skeleton foot is Mike's jam

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