Showbread
“With fans like you, who needs enemies?!” Music fans can be an intense group. If you don’t believe me, listen to the conversations at the cusp of the pit at the next concert you attend. There is nothing more comical than Hot Topic guy or I just learned my first barre chord guy breaking down their favorite (or former favorite) bands before a live performance. Conversations usually digress into pseudo theoretical dissertations about how scene guy could totally shred better than this guitarist or tears shed over how could that band have changed their sound so much. As fans we forget there is a reason that bands are on stage and we are in the audience – someone in the equation put the time in to get their dreams in action and the other party in the discussion paid to observe. Maybe we at hurdcore.com have been asking the wrong questions or maybe some bands are just hesitant to speak their minds, but in our recent interview with the dudes of Showbread we were the glad recipients of an in-depth, insightful and sincere look into the realities of performing music. In an era where the music industry is in serious transition, if not on the verge of death, some artists are taking a very different approach to music. For some, the content of this interview may kick your teeth in but for fans of the art and evolution of music, the path and message of Showbread should be a breath of fresh air.
With this upcoming release and the evolution of your sound, do you anticipate that there will be some initial shock from longtime fans?
SHOW: Shock, frustration, disappointment, excitement… all of these things. It’s very easy and very boring to play to an audience’s comfort. I’d rather divide them, make some of them love us and some of them hate us while challenging the open mindedness of everyone. I love hearing people’s reactions to new Showbread albums, it never fails. Some listeners are so incredibly passionate and enthused and others are completely convinced that we had no idea what we were doing, it’s hilarious.
What about the vision of Come & Live and the timing for your band made the move from a more traditional and established label right for you?
SHOW: Our contract with Tooth And Nail was up right when Chad was getting Come&Live! off the ground. We had been talking with him about it for months and knew it was where we were being led. The idea that we could eliminate the profit minded motivation behind music as a full-time job meant everything to us. At Come&Live! no one will ever make a plan based on what will sell more records, because there are no records to sell in the first place. It’s all about the art and the message, it’s incredibly liberating.
In regards to the free format through which you are releasing your latest album Who Can Know It, you have stated, “Even considering the sorry state the industry is in, the move wasn’t about reinventing the wheel, it was about believing in a message of hope so sincerely that you’d much rather hand it out as a gift than charge someone for it.” What are some of the biggest changes you have seen in the flow of professional music in your time as a band?
SHOW: An ever-growing disinterest. Nowadays so many music fans are spoiled, narcissistic thieves. There’s this mentality of “How dare anyone try and charge me for music. I don’t care that it took hundreds of thousands of dollars and months of hard work to create this thing, these arrogant rock stars should just stop being greedy and give it to me for free.” As a result artists have to spend as much time thinking of ways to “trick” people into buying a record as they do actually making the record itself. They have to tweet and video blog and give away posters just to get someone’s attention for a moment before it’s lost to the next record they steal and dismantle. I honestly believe that in the not so
distant future professional music will be completely dead (except for maybe rap and country) and someone will be forced to figure something out. As intense as that all sounds, that wasn’t why we decided to give our album away for free, but it was something that made our “career” a tremendous challenge when we were on a huge record label.
As I understand, to fund your album you opened the format to the fans with a 90 day fundraiser and were very successful with that effort. Where did this idea come from and what did you learn from this experience?
SHOW: We used a website called Kickstarter.com that has recently really caught on as an effective way to fundraise for all kinds of projects. What we learned is the complete irrelevance of the record label. We raised more money than our label would have given us to make an album that we own and control, and we’re nobodies. What reason is there for a band to stick with a label anymore?
In a season of big changes, you’ve teamed with a free music format, produced your album funded by the fans and are preparing to embark upon a free tour. What has been the response from fans and venues for the 2011 tour?
SHOW: I’m not entirely sure yet, but I’ve been told some funny things. Obviously, a lot of people seem to be happy about a free tour and the possibilities connected to it. Other people criticize it. Someone told me people on the internet said we we’re ruining the industry and that we cheapen our performance by giving it away. Sometimes you can’t win for losing. It’s hard to tell exactly how this thing will work, our hope is that someone who might otherwise stay home will show up and we can get them thinking a little. That’s the draw of a performance for us, not selling tickets or having thousands of people cheer for you, but connecting with individuals and loving them. That’s our ideal “concert.”
The name for this album, Who Can Know It is taken from Jeremiah 17:9, what about this passage inspired the theme and writing for this record?
SHOW: The hint of resign in the tone. The human heart is such an unknowable thing, why do we try? It is “desperately wicked.”
Your sound has always had a heavy core while you have continually colored outside of the lines of any particular genre. Even with that uniqueness to your sound, have you felt the pressure to meet certain expectations as a band (whether from fans or labels or both)?
SHOW: Absolutely not. We decided early on to never even consider the expectations of fans or labels or anyone for that matter. To us, it only matters that we make a record that we believe in because we know the people who appreciate what we’re doing appreciate it for that reason; our unwillingness to compromise.
Showbread (Rock – Guyton, Ohio – Come & Live! Records) is: Josh Dies (vocals/guitars), Patrick Porter (bass), Garret Holmes (synth/guitars) and Drew Porter (drums). Keep up to date with news and tour dates at showbread.net. Download their latest album Who Can Know It? at comeandlive.com or purchase on iTunes.
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What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul? - Jesus