During the band’s infancy in the late 90s, Thrice would perform at any shows they could get. “We played at a SeaWorld [parking lot],” guitarist Teppei Teranishi laughs, speaking candidly in the green room of Los Angeles’ Mayan Theater. “We had to turn our amps down. We were literally told that we were scaring the whales.”
“We were just young and hungry, and wanted to do whatever we could,” guitarist Rob Arnold reflects on Chimaira’s early days as a band. “Now being in it, we just know so much more — so much of the reality.”
Sitting outside a cafe on Sunset Blvd, Arnold reminisces on Chimaira’s 13-year career and the late 90s Cleveland, Ohio music scene that spawned bands like Mushroomhead and the short-lived Sw1tched. Out supporting their sixth studio album The Age of Hell, Arnold says that outliving the nu metal era at the turn of the century had much to do with being prepared for longevity from the start.
On a warm autumn day in Southern California over cold beer and YouTube videos, the members of Zechs Marquise talk of their recent boating experience.
“It was a day off [during the RX Bandits farewell tour] and we all went to [Shasta Lake],” bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez explains. Drummer Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez (who also handles percussion duties in The Mars Volta) chimes in, “[RX Bandits] rented a boat for us!”
In the late 90’s, Jeremy Hiebert’s main goal as a young musician was to play in a band that sold 10,000 records. “I wanted to be on the road,” he comments. “I love [going] to a city that I’ve never been to, and [walking around to see it].” Being a musician, he says, is an ongoing “learn as you go” process — “You’ve got to jump in the deep end and swim to save your legs sometimes.”
On a day in 2003, Ian Fike received a phone call that changed his life: his Portland-based band Ever We Fall landed a deal with Rise Records. At the time a sophomore in high school, Fike found himself in the studio recording what would become the band’s debut EP, Endura; a release that put the 15-year-old on two extensive U.S. tours, opening sold out shows for bands like Gatsby’s American Dream at New York City’s Knitting Factory.
But somewhere along the line, Fike had a change of heart, and quit Ever We Fall in 2004. “I always wanted to be in a hardcore band,” he admits, professing his love for bands like Shai Hulud and Strongarm. “I said, I’m gonna start playing the music I want to play. Then we started It Prevails.”