Life In Your Way is a Hardcore/Christian band from Connecticut in the northeastern United States. They have two albums: The Sun Rises and the Sun Sets… and Still Our Time is Endless (2003) and Ignite and Rebuild (2005).

Interview by Carlo Gironi | carlo@staff.truepunk.com | with Joshua Kellam.

Hi! How are you doing?
Good, thanks for this opportunity.

Can you introduce the band’s members and a story of how you got together?
Sure. Dave and James on guitar, john on drums, my brother Jeremy on bass and for me its just the microphone. Jeremy and I started the band almost 6 years ago, along with some old members. About 2 years after the start we scrapped the metalcore sound that we had for a more melodic sound. Going through a few member (still my best friends) we’ve hit who we have now. Going through a few members has made us think about changing the name but the one thing we always came back to was that the vision for the group has always stayed the same.

Where do you come from? How is the indie/punk/rock scene in the place you come from?
We’re all spread out though the state of Connecticut. The scene really seems to go up and down. Overall the kids here are awesome, I wouldn’t trade them for anything. There are plenty of good shows here, whether we’re playing or not they are fun to go to. A lot of good bands, some new bands coming out of CT are amazing.

Do you consider yourself a hardcore or emo band at all? What do you think of the emo hardcore scene of nowadays?
We’ve definitely never called ourselves an emo band. When we’ve had to put ourselves in a category we usually say we’re melodic hardcore. if we really have to spell it out for someone we’d say we do have some “rocky” parts but still with a hardcore feel. I think kids get into bands a little too quickly sometimes. If you haven’t ever played out for people before then don’t rush it. Stay in your practice space as long as you need to, build your passion and vision for what you put into your songs. Don’t rush… I’ve seen a lot of bands pop up and not do well at all. I
don’t mean that you’ve got to sound perfect or any such thing like that. I mean you should know your songs in and out along with having fun. And with the kids who go to shows… the one thing I always like seeing is when kids stay and respect every band. I wish everyone could give a little more respect for bands or even the kid next to you, the scene would be doing so much better.

You released your new LP “Ignite And Rebuild” on Indianola Records; how did you get in touch with the guys at the label and what is your opinion on your record label? I think it has a great potential, with such great bands as you, Mercury Switch and more. That’s a funny story, we squeezed on a show last minute in Valdosta GA one summer. Not knowing at all that the guys who set up the show also ran Indianola Records. About a month or two home from that tour we got an email from them saying how much they had enjoyed watching us there. Indianola has been pretty good to us. The one thing that I’ve seen about them is they are always trying to grow as a label. In knowing this, it has been an easier time with them. The guys them selves are awesome. There are 3 guys involved, the one that’s gotten away from it a little, just be cause of school I would say is now one of my best friends. I would refer any band to this label especially a band that’s just starting out.

Have you released some other stuff before your new LP?
Oh yes. Back in the metal-core days we did a split with a band called Solace, after we put out a demo ep (witch helped us get signed) then our first full length on Inianola. The first one was a lot of fun, its exciting to it in stores.

Your new LP “Ignite And Rebuild” has just come out: how would you introduce it? Like, if you had to make something like an announcement or a radio commercial…
ok… “wuzz up? This is Joshua from LIYW! I want you to know that we’ve put out another, yes another full album!!! This sweet new CD has 10 sweet new songs on it. From awesome breakdowns to catchy singing parts…you’ll love! Pick it up today while supply’s last!” how was that?

The new songs are very fast, melodic and heavy … how is your composition process? How do you write songs and what did you want to gain with this new disc?
The music seems to come together with one idea first. It might be a good riff or a great lead. It really starts with the guiar work. Dave and James will come to us with at least a small part of what should be the beginning of a song. John will put a beat to it and Jer will throw down some bass. The beginnings of a song usually start out a little more simple that the finish product. Sometimes our songs will be totally written over and over before they become solid. 99% of the time I can’t put lyrics to a song without it being at least half way done, I like to see where it’s going before so can get an overall feel for it. One big question I we get is that do we write the lyrics fist then write the music to it or the other way around. The answer for us is that we write the music first then put the lyrics to that. I know bands do it all different ways but that is what how we find to be most efficient.

Your sound is basically metallic, and it has also some hardcore influences according to me; where do you get your inspiration from?
Other bands, music, books, movies, life … Well, music of course. I think whether it’s the favorite CD of the week or even a good friends band it can inspire you in many ways. The main thing that drives our music inspiration is how we grew in music itself. Jeremy and I have been into hardcore for 10 years now. Writing punchy lines for a chorus type part I think comes from all the bands I’ve been into. Things like that come from my own growth in music. Dave and James grew up listening to a lot of rock, whether it was indie or U2. So that should help them in where they are. John has been into hardcore and lots of other music for a long time. Just before he joined the band he finished his associates degree in music theory up in St. Paul Minnesota. He is able to put a lot of different techniques in his drumming. He’s been doing an awesome job. I couldn’t be more happy with everyone in the group right now.

How would you describe LIFE IN YOUR WAY to a person that have never heard of you?
Hardcore with singing, but I’ve had to say different things for different people. For people who know hardcore is all about then I’d say melodic and progressive. There are a few things we tend to do in our songs, one is that we rarely return to the same part. Keeping the parts in the songs rolling is hard to do some times. We’ve got to keep the songs interesting and flowing without losing excitement. So I might say to someone we’re fast pace, progressive and full of melody.

What are some of the bands that you guys in the band regularly listen to?
A few bands I know we all listen are Copeland, Underoath, Misery Signals, Further Seems Forever, As Cities Burn, He Is Legend, Mercury Switch, With Honor, Pedro The Lion, StrongArm, Jimmy Eat World, Coldplay, As I Lay Dying, One Dead Three Wounded, August Burns Red and of course many more.

Have you got some plans of touring to support your new album? If so, where and with whom?
Well we did a short tour with some friends in Mercury Switch the week before “Ignite and Rebuild” came out. We were able to sell the new disc before the release date. We did a tour to a festival in Illinois called cornerstone after it came out and now we’re waiting for the next one to happen. We’re excited to hit up a tour with some friends bands such as As Cities Burn, With Honor and our good friends in August Burns Red. All these will hopefully happen but you know how it goes. We’ve started to plan a tour in Europe for this winter. The tour would start in Germany and head around as much as 3 weeks would get us, we’re not sure who we’d be touring with but we can’t wait for that. Anyway, we will be touring as much as we can.

Do you think it is difficult for a young band to get hooked with a good and interested label? I ask you this, because in the last year I witnessed a lot of unknown and untalented bands getting signed by major labels and all…how do you relate to this thing? Are you willing to get signed to some major or you just do not care?
I think there has been a boom in the underground music scene. Along with the boom there has been a lot of good things and I think some poor things too. It seems almost any band can get “big” quick and maybe loose a lot of passion just for music and everything else a band should always remember. One thing in the past hardcore had always had the “we got to work hard for what we get” mentality. Indie music now has gotten so popular, a band can do well even in their first year. Anyway, I think any new band can get hooked up with a label, there are so many out there… looking for bands. I would just say to kids, keep your head on strait when going through all these things. As far as the major label thing, we would do what is good for this band. One of our goals is to simply play for as many people as possible without losing our passion and our goals.

Any final comments?
Sure, first of all thanks for this opportunity to share and I hope that the readers were able to find something they can relate with. I would ask all the readers to check out a song online and let us know what you think. So, peace and thanks so much.