The Classic Crime interview
by Amber Hartman – 2008
Can you describe your sound?
Ahhh Rock. Rock meets pop. It’s a lot of different things, we think.
How did the theme of your new album, The Silver Cord, come about?
We were just writing songs and as they formed there seemed to be an overall theme of life and death. Struggles with life or struggles of death. So we were looking up references to things like that and we found a metaphor called the silver chord and basically it’s this thing that attaches your physical body to your spiritual body or your soul and once it’s severed you die. It was kind of inspiring to hear that the thing that holds you from the afterlife is this fragile little tinsel-like silver cord.   So that’s how it came about, and we wrote the rest of the album with that kind of theme in mind. It’s the most thematic thing we’ve ever done?
Is there any sort of religious background to it?
There is a religious tie to it, it’s written in Ecclesiastes it’s passed down through a lot of different literature. It’s even been seen by people who have died and come back. It’s a really cool topic and it was a lot of fun to write.
Who does the majority of the writing in the band.
It would probably be me (Matt MacDonald). But, we’re really open as a band to anybody writing and we all come together as a band with ideas to record. We allow our creativity to flow. I write all the lyrics and the melodies, but we all have musical tastes and talents that we exercise.
Is there any band you aspire to be like or sound like?
I like the status of Thrice, or Jimmy Eat World. I like the fact that they’re a little bit under the radar, but they still continue to put out good music and they still continue to draw fans and make a connection with them.
Do you plan to have your next record be as thematic as the Silver Cord?
Maybe. This one just came out, so we’ll see. I’m pretty sure with every album we wanna top the last. That’s the goal, write the best music we can possibly write, not rush it. A lot of bands rush out their albums, they put three good songs on there and the rest is just ok. Whatever we do, we wanna give 110 percent.
How long have you been on Warped Tour?
Two weeks, and we finish it out.
Do you have a favorite band on Warped Tour right now?
We’re friends with a lot of bands, so it’s hard to call out favorites. We like almost all of them. We like to watch Anberlin and Story of the Year.
What do you have planned for after Warped Tour?
We’ve got a headlining tour coming up in November. But we’ve got a few shows thrown in there in September and October.
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