Features

If you're looking for a fun hardcore band that doesn't sound unlike Set Your Goals, go check out Take It Back! I don't especially care for the christian message but I do like the band's tunes on "Can't Fight Robots". A lot! Here's an email interview we did with vocalist Zack!

PRT: Who are you and what would you like to tell our readers about yourself?
Zack: I am Zack. I sing for TIB! Andy's with me, he plays guitar/vocals.

PRT: Who else is in the band and what kind of robot could they be?
Zack: Nick(bass) would be a very fashionable robot, Daniel(guitar) would be a dirty robot. and Josh(drums)would be a vaccum cleaner because he hates dirty or messy places. I guess my robot would have a huge megaphone for a head cause i talk all the time and Andy's robot would just be broken.

PRT: Can you give me the history of the band written in one minute or less starting… NOW!
Zack: We started as a fun band and ended up getting almost all new members and now we're signed to Facedown and traveling across country doing what we love.

PRT: Why does the world need another youthcrew band? :-p
Zack: Because not alot of youthcrew bands are really passionate about what they believe...this genre has become another fashion and needs to get back to it's begininngs.

PRT: Your Facedown debut is called “Can’t Fight Robots”… I know why I like it but can you give our readers three good reasons why they should pick it up? And while we’re at it, why exactly can’t you fight robots?
Zack: 1) Robots are cool. 2) Dave Quiggle did the artwork and it rocks! and 3) It's a fun record but the songs are full of heart and James Brown. The industry and media try to brainwash us into liking what they tell us to like and being what they want us to be and basically turn us into robots...it was kind of a take on that...people need to think for themselves.

PRT: Two names that keep popping up in my head and in other reviews I’ve read are Comeback Kid and Set Your Goals. Are those bands you feel comfortable being lumped in with?
Zack: Those bands are good and they're popular

PRT: As fun as your album sounds, you’re a band that takes its message very serious. Do you feel it’s harder to be accepted all throughout the hardcore scene being a christian band?
Zack: Yeah definitely. A lot of times the kids that come to our shows and sing along and dance but don't have any desire to go deeper with their faith...but then again we've definitly had those kids that come out and just let go and worship like crazy. We've seen both sides of it, some kids get what we do on a personal level and some kids take something completely different away from a show. It's all about personal interpretion.

PRT: Was Facedown your first choice as a label because of your beliefs or didn’t that come into play?
Zack: We really just wanted to work with a label that gets what we do. Facedown was definitely the main one we were interested in just because of the way they view themselves as a family...we were all about that. But the integrity that the bands on Facedown have is amazing...God is definitely the biggest priority on Facedown Records and we love that.

PRT: What’s more important for you… the music or the message? Does it bother you if someone simply likes your music a lot but doesn’t take anything else from it?
Zack: The message definitely has to be there for us but I think that the music is way important as well. Kids today are going to do what they want to...I can't make a kid go deeper in their faith, but I can let them know what Jesus has done in my life and I can love them like Jesus would. If they decide to go farther then I love being the one to listen to them talk, to answer their questions or pray with them. It's all about what they need. We're all in different places at different times in our lives.

PRT: If there was one thing you could bring back from the 80ies, what would it be and why?
Zack: Defintely the music...I love 80's music.

PRT: In the movie High Fidelity the guys that work in the record store constantly come up with these top 5 lists of songs for a specific occasion. If you would have to make such a list, which occasion would it be for and which songs would make the list?
Zack: It would be a road trip mix...I love road trips. I couldn't number them but it would include...
Hillsong United-The Stand
Phil Wickham-I Will Wait For You There
Alive In Wild Paint-Ceilings(the whole record sorry I can't pick one song)
The Emerson Letters-Everest
Jon Foreman-In My Arms
I've been listening to a lot of worship and indie music the past month or so.

PRT: Any last words for our readers?
Zack: Go listen to our friends The Overseer. A Plea For Purging has a new song on their myspace and go buy the new War Of Ages record!