Sorry for the delay in posts, my friends. Ever heard the saying life comes at you fast? Well, believe me, it's the truth. The last two weeks of my life have been pretty crazy. I was given the opportunity to join one of my favorite bands, Paralyzer, and I'll be playing my first show with them next Friday night. I'm excited about it, because I've wanted to sing in a serious band since I was 14 years old. It's an even bigger treat to get to do this in a band with some of my best friends on the planet. So, I've taken a breather from learning songs, practicing, and helping with general band business to let you guys in on one more excellent band in the current East Tennessee scene.
I've been knowing the dudes in Stand Your Ground for five years now, and I can't think of one single band of our current scene that his put in the kind of work they have over the years. They've been through several member cycles, and changed their sound a bit over the years, but Stand Your Ground is still...well, standing their ground. Comprised of Will Ford on vocals, Daniel Taylor on guitar, Jonathan Taylor on bass, and Troy Prater on drums, the guys recently signed to Rite of Passage Records, a sub-label for California metal/hardcore indie giants, Mediaskare Records.
This might come as another signing to most people, but to those of us who've watched Stand Your Ground work as hard as they have for so many years, it is definitely a triumph for them. When original members, Rob Wight and Aaron Nidiffer, left the band in 2008, a lot of people didn't know what would follow. Wight was replaced on vocals by Luke Arnold, who lasted all of two or three weeks in the band, and Nidiffer was replaced on guitar by Will Ford. After Luke's unceremonious exit from the band, Will stepped in on vocals and has been killing it with the guys ever since. The band's sound is a hybrid between sweeping melodies and aggressive early decade hardcore like American Nightmare, Shai Hulud, and Figure Four.
Will also happens to be one of the nicest, most sincere dudes you'll ever meet and he was happy to take some time out and give Funeral South the scoop on what's happening currently for Stand Your Ground. Unfortunately, since the social networking site this interview was conducted on decided to erase the first half of the interview and my man is in North Carolina doing his thing, it's not quite as long as it originally was. So, let me catch you up on what Hatebook deleted.
Will started out in local favorites, Speak of The End, on bass. During that time, he also had his own pop punk band called Sundale. I loved both bands, but neither band ended up making it. When he stepped up to be vocalist for Stand Your Ground, he'd never sang in a band like this before, but you wouldn't know it listening to them. As a frontman, Will excels more than most people in this area...but the guy still misses playing his guitar. I've spent many nights at the old Stand Your Ground haunts in and around Kingsport, TN and have a lot of great memories of being up at five in the morning listening to Will play everything from "Master of Puppets" to "Blood and Thunder" on his guitar. There was also the night of the infamous Nu-Metal Knowledge quiz...which he won, in the fourth round.
I'll let him fill you in on the rest. Also included in this feature is Stand Your Ground's 2009 demo. The guys are currently tracking an LP, which will be out on Rite of Passage Records later this year.
Funeral South: Now, this isn't your first go-round with a record label since you've been in the band. I know some sketchy things transpired with the last one, so would you care to fill us in on that?
Will Ford: Well a record company, who will remain nameless, just kinda drug us around for about three months before completely pulling the plug. That led to pretty much all of 2010 for this band being very stale. We came back from a little three week run in March and honestly didn't pick back up until about 3 months ago, haha. So it was a rough go, for sure.
Funeral South: Is the saying true though that it builds character though?
Will: Absolutely. We've dealt with a shitty hand many times before and it's only made us grow as a unit, as sappy and cliche as that sounds.
Funeral South: So, what's on the agenda for you in the coming months? I know you dudes have a pretty big tour coming up in April, and you're recording in North Carolina soon.
Will: Yeah man, we're hitting the studio with Mitchell and Al again in Chapel Hill to do what will be my first full length with the band, and we start a full U.S. tour in Cali on April 11th. We're definitely chomping at the bit to hit the road again.
Funeral South: Who are you going out with, this time around?
Will: Honestly, off the top of my head, I can't remember all the names but they all sound like The Acacia Strain. so we will definitely be playing the odd man out role on this tour as we've done oh so many times before, haha.
Funeral South: Many, MANY times before. For those who've never heard you guys, how would you describe the band's sound?
Will: Definitely just night and day with heavy and melodic. We're heavily influenced by bands of the early 2000's like Shai Hulud, Remembering Never, and Comeback Kid. Not to say we sound like any of those bands but that's definitely what drives our sound as a band.
Funeral South: Considering how often the musical landscape changes, especially with the kind of music you guys play, what do you feel sets Stand Your Ground apart from the rest of the pack?
Will: I do feel like we take metal and hardcore and just try to put our own spin on it. We've always never been metal enough for the metal crowd and at the same time we've never been hardcore enough for the hardcore crowd. But it's been cool because I feel that our band can play with almost anyone in either of the aforementioned genres.
Funeral South: And you have. As far as the financial aspect goes, are you guys hoping to be able to live from what you do with Stand Your Ground in the future?
Will: Most definitely. I think playing music and getting a check for it is what every kid who is a musician dreams of being able to do, haha.
Funeral South: Does your entire band work at Cheddar's when you're not touring? It seems like it's a job you don't have an issue juggling touring with, at all.
Will: Everyone but Troy does, haha! And yeah they're super cool with us touring so it's been a pretty great relationship.
Funeral South: Looking forward, after the tour in April, do you guys have any further plans you can reveal?
Will: We do have some big stuff I'm really not at liberty to talk about, but the rest of this year will be super full for SYG.
Funeral South: Now William, it's time for the Hard Hits round! 6 random questions, 6 random answers! Are you prepared, sir?
Will Ford: ALWAYS!
Funeral South: Your old drummer has a stuffed sheep named Abraham. True or false?
Will: Absolutely 100% iron clad, true as shit.
Funeral South: If you had a choice between taking guitar lessons from Rob Machine Head or going on tour singing for Comeback Kid, which would you pick?
Will: Wow. Definitely doing a tour with CBK, just because singing for them would be one of my wildest dreams come true...but at some point this band will do something involving Rob Flynn...MARK MY WORDS!
Funeral South: Sketchiest gig you've played yet with Stand Your Ground. Go.
Will: Uh, we played this place called World of Wonders somewhere in Kentucky that looked like the strip club from Porky's. It was so sketch. The owner lived in a junkyard out back in a shitty camper. It was so wild!
Funeral South: Worst tour experience. Driving all the way to Michigan to play a single show and come home, or being stranded in Georgia for days on end?
Will: Definitely being stranded in Georgia. We were at Daniel's crazy aunt's house. She made us go to bed at like nine, and we had to sneak around to smoke cigs. I was pissed for like four days straight, so all I wanted to do was smoke. Our friend Mallory basically came and covertly kidnapped us while his aunt was gone and took us back to Atlanta.
Funeral South: Next question. Role reversal. Do you have a question for me?
Will: What is the best movie soundtrack, "Strangeland" being omitted, because we all know how hard it rocks.
Funeral South: I'm gonna say The Crow, man. Totally wrecked my world for the better as a kid.
Will: Was it The Crow or The Crow: City of Angels that had "Milquetoast" by Helmet?
Funeral South: The Crow.
Will: Best riff of the 90's.
Funeral South: My first introduction to Helmet, plus it featured Pantera covering "The Badge" by Poison Idea. Can't go wrong either way. Last question...do you possibly have three dollars and fifty cents you could loan me for the blog?
Will: GODDAMMIT MONSTA!
Funeral South: Caught me! Will, this interview's been a hell of a lot of fun, buddy. Any last words for the readers?
Will: Definitely keep an eye out for our new full length...and listen to Fingers Crossed, Will To Die, In Time, Stronghold, Paralyzer, and Advent. And keep coming to shows.
Stand Your Ground 2009 Demo
