Since By Man

Interview by Carlo Gironi.

1.Hello, are you doing fine ?
Hello carlo, I am doing fine, thanks for asking. I hope you are also well.

2.First thing I’d like to ask you is to introduce SINCE BY MAN to the people who never heard of you before : how did you get together, started playing and got signed to Rev ?
Since By Man was a band for about three years before geting singed to rev. Justin (guitar) Jon (drums) Kevin (guitar) and myslef (vocals) got together through the local scene here in Milwaukee Wisconsin. We had two bass players before bryan who is now with us, and he is a keeper so things are going well. When we were on tour out in California someone from rev saw us play. She dug us and helped get us on Rev.

3.Where does the name SINCE BY MAN come from ?
It’s actually from a classical music piece called ’since by man came death.’ We just cut off the came death part.

4.Is "We Sing The Body Electric" your first album ? I heard you released some other releases before getting signed to Rev; do you think there was any kind of developement of the band from the "before Rev time" and "Rev time"?
Well, I think the new record has new and better developed ideas at work that are not on the early recordings. Because of time and money;restrictions our old recordings dont have the best sound quality, and we never really could capture our live energy. I think that the new record does a good job at representing what type of band we are and always have been. This time around we just had more time to…yeah I guess develope the recording.

5.Your new record is called "We Sing The Body Electric". What does this title stand for ? I think there was an old song entitled this way, also covered by The Me First And The Gimme Gimmes … has it anything to do with that?
No it doesn’t have anything to do with the Me First And the Gimme Gimmes. "I sing the body electric’ is a title of a poem by an american poet named walt whitman.

6.You recorded the new album with Kurt Ballou of Converge, in Boston: how Was to work with him and how was the recording expirience ?
The recording experience was great. Kurt was awesome. He helped us make the record sound huge.

7.I read on your bio that your influences are very wide: can you mention some of the bands/music that you listen to, and that influences you in any way?
Yeah, everyone in the band listens to all types of music. I listen to everything from hardcore to hip hop to pop to classic rock. I am mostly inspired and influenced by the bands that are doing something new and exciting…bands that are pushing the limits of their genre.

8.Do all the people in the band listen to the same kind of music? What are your musical tastes?
We all have our own musical interests but there are always those bands that everyone can agree on. Such as Converge, Radiohead, N.E.R.D., At the Drive-In, Fugazi.

9.Have you got some particular influence not strictly linked to music? ( I don’t know, movies, books, stories… ).
I love all types of film and literature, both of those influnce my lyric writing;as a band we also do all of our own graphic design.

10.Your music has been described as "metal core" : do you agree ? How would you describe your record ?
No, I don’t think we are metal core. I think we have some metal type parts, but I think we are just loud. We are a very loud rock band.

11.Talking of "We Sing The Body Electric", it has some social/politicalcontents: do you feel like you can change something with the music or just trying to spread a message to people that listen to you? I guess I just writing what comes to me, what i think is relevant / important in my life. If it connects with people if the listener finds what im saying provocative than thats great. It isn’t my intent to change the world, but if what I say has a positive impact on someone then I’m happy.

12.What do you think is the relationship between the lyrics and the music? Do you always write lyrics with an aim or you just let words come out ? Do you think it is important to have a "message" or anyways, something to say?
I think it’s important for lyrical content to have thought behind it. I don’t get anything out of listening to bands that just spit out the same old shit. I enjoy music with a brain, it doesn’t need to be life changing, or even have a conciecs message….I just what to know that the person who wrote the lyrics put some heart, some thought, into what they are saying. When I write it’s a mixture of words and meaning. I write some stuff with a very specific idea, other times I just write lyrics that work with the music.

13.Would you describe in general what you sing about in this album, evenwith some examples if you want ?
I dunno, I sing about allot of different things. Guys girls, music, revolution, the end of the world\ being young….I could go on, but I won’t.

14.The artwork of your record is original , I saw there are some political signs , like the one of the "comunism" . How did you come out with the idea of this artwork and what does the cover represent?

All of the artwork in the reocord was done by since by man. We wanted the art to have the same urgency that the music does. The cover represents…Since by Man taking over the airwaves!!! As far as the comunism imagry, that was just on the shirt I was wearing when my picture got taken.

15.What’s you relationship with technology and the internet ?
Computers are only as useful as the people that use them.

16.Talking of computers and stuff , what’s your opinion on the whole mp3 thing that everyone talked about sometime ago when Napster was not dead: do you download songs from the ninternet ?
I don’t really download music from the internet, but i think that if thats how people want to get music then that’s fine buy me. My only problem with people downloading our record is that when they do that they don’t get the art with it, and they go hand in hand.

17.Have you got some plans of touring ? If so, have you got some anticipations ? ( ie: where, when and with whom are you going to tour ? )
We are going to tour all spring and summer. We plan to get over to Europe, so everyone can see us! We aren’t sure right now who we are all going to tour with. Hopefully bands that don’t suck.

18.What’s in your cd-player right now? Have you got some cool bands to advice ?
The cd in my cd player right now is Interpol’s cd "turn on the bright lights" and Sunny day real estate "how it feels to be something on" .

19.Final comments ?

Thank you for the interview! We are excited to see everyone on tour!
keep on rocking.