Interview

EP: For the record, let’s state your name and what you do in the band?
TSC: My name is Nick Thomas and I play guitar and sing for the Spill Canvas.

EP: What did the Spill Canvas first start? How did it become the full band thing it is now? I know it was originally kind of a solo- project.
TSC: It basically switched over to the full band thing about two years ago, maybe a little more, two and half, three years ago. It started as a solo project when I was almost done with high school. The reason I did it that way was there is not a lot of people to choose from, as far as musicians from South Dakota, that want to give up everything as far as college goes and touring-wise, especially without any promise of really anything happening. You know?
EP: Yeah I definitely understand.
TSC: It was hard to find those people but, it just took a little time and now it has been evolved, almost as a necessity to what it is today.

EP: Was the writing process easier or more difficult for One Fell Swoop?
TSC: It was definitely easier because it was four minds coming together. Whereas before it was kind of like, “Well, I like that. That’s good with me. Let’s keep going.” It was cool because I would kind of come in with the basic frame and everyone puts their two cents in and it becomes the full band effort. It’s really cool to work with that.

EP: How was it working with Ed Rose?
TSC: It was amazing. His image can be taken the wrong way because some bands might not get along with him. He is kind of known as a “hard ass” so to speak. But he is just doing a really good job. He does his job and he takes it pretty seriously and he wants everybody who is involved to be happy with it. He wants to get a good record out. He is amazing and we got along really well with him.

EP: How have the fans responded to the new record?
TSC: There are some that prefer the solo stuff, the more toned down stuff. And some really like the full band and it was kind of a progression that we couldn’t worry too much about what they thought because it wouldn’t have felt natural. So we kind of had to go with our guts and see what happens. It came out to be our own take on a rock record. We tried to get as much rock relevance in there as we could. From some simple rock songs to more complexities. But the fans have definitely taken to it in a good way. There are some fans don’t really like it and that hard because you are never going to please everybody. So we’re happy enough that we have fans in the first place. We are grateful for all of it.

EP: Over the summer, you put out a video for “Staplegunned” and it never really took off. Can you tell me why it never really took off? Did you not get the push you needed?
TSC: Basically it came down to us being not very pleased with it. Because we were really new to this. I did a “Tide” video, but the story was all right there for the directors. So “Staplegunned” was us saying, “Well let’s just get a performance,” and we left it in the hands of some good friends of ours and it kind of worked out. It was just a vision we didn’t really like and they just did what they could with it. We are actually gearing up to redo that video. We still want to get the push there because we weren’t very pleased and other people working with the record weren’t very pleased either and no one really had much ambition to really get on it and push it to Fuse and MTV. So, basically we are getting ready for that second push for “Staplegunned” and trying to get a new flavor in the video and trying to get some other stuff rolling with that. I think this time we have a bigger part in it and we want to have a lot more of a say of what goes on in the video and have it more to our liking I guess.

EP: I wanted to ask you about the upcoming tour with Nightmare of You, Hit the Lights and As Tall As Lions. How did you hook up with these bands? Was it a label decision or did you get to have some say as to who you brought out with you?
TSC: We had toured with As Tall As Lions before One Fell Swoop came out, a long time ago. We knew them from before. We spoke with our booking agent and we were planning on doing one of our first headlining tours since One Fell Swoop came out. So we wanted to get some of our friends as well as some other bands we like on there. We wanted to get As Tall As Lions on there and also we wanted to get Hit the Lights on there because we had played a couple shows with them way back in the day. We kind of realized that all these bands are associated with this whole EastWest thing that is going on. And it got to be, “Hey, let’s get a label tour going for our little headlining jaunt.” Nightmare of You were down to do it. And everything just lined up. It’s going to be so amazing. I’ve heard great things about the Nightmare of You guys, but I have only heard a couple songs and it is going to be amazing. As Tall As Lions are one of our favorite bands and their new stuff coming out is pretty crazy. And the Hit the Lights boys are always a really cool live show.

EP: Are we going to hear anything new this tour? Is it going to be mostly stuff from the old record? Will it be a mix?
TSC: We tried to get a lot of little tricks in there. We are doing a remake of one of the old songs from Sunsets and Car Crashes; we are doing a full band version of the song “So Much.” But there will be a lot of new material. Different versions of new material and a lot of different things that are little surprises. But definitely trying to get a cool fun show going for everybody and to keep the energy up and have fun.

EP: If you could tour with any band right now, who would it be?
TSC: Personally, I could probably speak for our drummer, Joe, and probably Dan, our guitarist. But I would be insanely happy to be able to tour with Saves the Day, just because I grew up listening to Chris Conley’s songs and lyrics and he was a huge part of me starting to write songs. And, obviously, I am huge, huge fan of Mr. Max Bemis with Say Anything. That band is something cool that I haven’t heard anything with so much feeling in quite a while. It would be totally amazing to play a show with any of those bands.

EP: What is your favorite song to play live?
TSC: One of my favorite songs to play live is definitely “Lust A Prima Vista,” because the energy is always going and it has such a cool feel to it and the kids can participate with the claps and stuff. It is just amazing. Plus that is the first song we play normally in the set so the energy is all there so it’s pretty cool.

EP: I know about a week ago the B-side, “Rock Bottom” was put up on 111records.com for “111 Day.” Is there any chance that song or the other B-side, “Mother Confessor” will make its way onto an EP or even played live?
TSC: Well there is talk of getting a B-sides disc together just to keep kids interested and keep the fans happy, to give them something that isn’t a new record while we could be writing a new record. There is a handful of songs I did after the release of One Fell Swoop that are kind of Postal Service-y and other acoustic jams that were from a long time ago that we always kind of wanted to redo or maybe just remix and them on something for kids to hear.

EP: Where your top records of 2005?
TSC: Was Say Anything last year?
EP: No, I think that was the year before.
TSC: Yeah, it was. But that is still pretty awesome. (Nick is scrolling through his iPod) I know there is some that I am leaving out. The new Coheed and Cambria record was quite inspiring. I mean, a lot of people might not enjoy it because of his voice and all that. Then again a lot people love it. But from a musician standpoint, that band is so influential, not just style-wise, but they are one of the more technically amazing bands out there today. It is just amazing that you can tell they aren’t pushed around by any big guy up top at a label. They’re kind of living the perfect dream because they are doing exactly what they want and people are eating it up. It is just really, really inspiring to listen to that record, because musically it is so amazing. I have never heard much like that.
EP: Yeah. Musically, those guys are on a whole other level.
TSC: Yeah you can’t really touch them. It is just so cool to do that and not think twice about it and just go with it.

EP: Is there anything else you want to say before the wrap this up?
TSC: (laughs) Not really. We are just on this crazy ride and we are just going with it. Anybody that is even interested in reading to the end of this interview, we are insanely grateful for that and that is what keeps us going and people that enjoy music. Even if they don’t like us but still support music, that is the thing that really matters.

Thanks to Jeremy Chang for hooking this up and of course Nick for taking 25 minutes out of his busy schedule to talk to us.