Last week, For.The.Win celebrated the release of their new self-titled album with a headlining record release show at Nickel City in San Jose. Gnarboots, The Atom Age, and Classics of Love started the night out with a diverse array of punk rock noise, warming the crowd up and getting them moving. For.The.Win played a great set of primarily new songs, after which Dying Scene was able to talk with the entire band about the new album, the difficulties they faced without a full-time bassist, and what we can expect from the guys in the future. Read the entire interview here.
If you haven’t picked up the new For.The.Win album, head to the band’s MySpace page to give it a listen!
How did Wardogs come about? Was it the same 3 guys?
Wardogs came about when I moved from San Diego to San Jose and I guy I knew who was in a band ended his old band and we started Wardogs together. After that, we just kind of played for like a year. Then the bass player and myself went on to start For.The.Win, the original drummer for Wardogs is now in The Atom Age, he plays guitar, and then we had a new drummer come in for Wardogs. Us three then went on to form For.The.Win afterwards.
What’s the story behind the band name, For.The.Win?
To be 100 % honest, there is absolutely no story. Did it have to do with the FTW (fuck the world) kind of acronym? No, not even, ha. We wanted a name that would kind of be fun, and our old drummer was like let’s call it For.The.Win, and it just kind of happened.
Did you notice a change of style with the departure of Nate, and Justin filling the role on drums?
The changing of the drummers definitely change the sound. Our old drummer came from a hardcore background, and then drummer here, Justin, drummer three, came in and he’s pretty much all over the board in terms of music that he likes.
What’s the story behind Jake leaving?
Jake left for personal reasons. You know, being in a band isn’t free. He needed to make a living to live in a home and that’s what he wanted to do. I mean, he’s still pursuing music, but just right now it’s not working for him.
What kind of difficulties have you encountered being without a full-time bassist, especially as you were recording your album?
It was definitely rough. Mike stepped up and recorded both lead guitar and bass for the record. He wrote the entire record on bass in pretty much a couple days.
Have you thought about bringing in any other instruments to supplement your sound?
HORNS! Haha, I mean, I think what we have now – we have a new guitar player, we have a new bass player, we’re going to be doing a lot of local shows. I think with the first record to this record, we can do anything in the mix of that. So who knows, there’s potential for anything.
Your first album had a very good street punk sound with a lot of gang vocals, this new album seems to have a much harder feel to it, is this an accurate progression?
Yea, a lot of the first record…the songs were essentially Wardogs songs. Wardogs didn’t break up, it changed it’s name to For.The.Win. So all of the songs were written as Wardogs, so it kind of has that feel and sound. From that point on, I have always wanted to be in a harder band, and this is definitely the path I want to be in, and I think I’ve found guys who want to be in the same boat.
What was it like playing Awesome Fest?
It was fucking hot, and fun. We went right before Dead To Me, which was a good time, the whole festival was a bunch of fun drunks playing kickball and having a good time.
I didn’t see your name on the lineup, are you guys playing this year?
The lineup’s not complete so, we’re still waiting. I think 500 bands submitted, and they’re taking like 120.
Do you guys have a favorite place to play?
San Jose I think. Nickel City and Homestead Lanes are two really good places for us. As far as anywhere else, San Francisco. I really like Thee Parkside, and what is it, Bottom of the Hill is good too.
You guys call yourself ‘posicore’ – is there a certain message you would like to convey to your fans?
The lyrical content is very, I mean as much as it is like puffing some sort of crap, per se, to somebody, it’s more like, there’s a lot of positive message in there. We all come from different backgrounds, crappy upbringings or whatever, so it’s more music that people can relate to. It’s easy for a band write lyrics that don’t really matter, and it sounds good. I think we can write a song, and if it doesn’t sound good at least there’s a message behind it. I think it’s a good thing. J: Haha, yup, sounds about right.
What can we expect from For.The.Win in the future?
A: Horn section, horn section, horn section! No I mean, just loads of shows, and trying to get this record out to people. I think it’s a really rad record and it was great to get it released.
[At this point in the interview the band turns on me, and begins examining the patches and pins on my jacket]
A: Blue Meanies? You like Blue Meanies? Ya, I grew up in Chicago. So you’ve been to the Fireside Bowl? Oh yea, Fireside, Metro, Vic, all those. Billy Spunk used to come up to me and be like, “Hey Adam!” and would scare the hell out of me. You know how little kids are scared of clowns? Well, I’m scared of The Blue Meanies. Like, I love them, I think they’re an amazing band, but they scare the shit out of me. It was like having Pennywise from “It” pop out.
Thanks again for the interview!
Discover more from Dying Scene
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.