As a Washougal, Washington based thrash/hardcore band, Mourning For Memories is bringing a positive message in a dark and hefty package. Hurdcore.com first experienced Mourning For Memories live as part of the mega-gathering of local heavy music talent at Savage Fest 2010 hosted by members of …And The Sirens Sang and King Arthur Booking. Connect again with these aspiring artists as hurdcore.com presents One More with Mourning For Memories, you can also view the original full length interview with the gents of MFM from 2010.

One of our songs that personally means a lot to me? Echoes and Shattered Yesterdays both tie for our most meaningful song. Echoes tells of a life of former addictions. Shattered Yesterdays is about heartbreak. Both are meaningful and strong and are meant to portray hope and a brighter side to darker motives. If I had an extra $1000, the first piece of equipment I would purchase for the band is… Either a P.A or new guitar amps. I play music because… We love music. Current trend in music/scene that bugs me… People that stand around at shows. Currently reading… the questions in this interview. Currently watching… Terminator Salvation “We have no fate but what we make” -John Connor. Top 5 songs in my personal ipod right now? Airplanes by B.o.B, Machine Gun Mouth by Our Last Night, Sex Education by I Set My Friends On Fire, The Escape Artist by August Burns Red, and No Bragging Rights (Whole CD).

Any crazy pre-performance rituals? We stretch…..like really hardcore stretch…and some of us aren’t very flexible to it looks pretty weird, and we pray. Best memory that comes to mind from a show/tour? The Hawthorne show we played, or Savage Fest. Worst memory that comes to mind from a show/tour? We played a show with two acoustic acts cause the other bands dropped out so it was an odd show.

Mourning For Memories is: Tyler Duff – VOKILLZ; Steven Murphy – GEETARS; Dylan Pollard – GEETARS; Kyle Van Zitteren – SLAPPIN DA BASS; Mike Towell – PERCUSSION. Keep up to date with songs, releases and tour info at the MFM Myspace

Music news, reviews and interviews posted weekly at hurdcore.com. Partnering with artists, fans and venues to fan the flames of local ambition. Hurdcore supports local rock, pop, hip-hop and metal from Northwest to the Midwest. Keep reppin’ local, friend us on myspace and join us facebook.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. – Proverbs 14:12

Whenever a band shows any scantily of ingenuity it vapidly becomes a chalk mark in the hyphen-core ad infinitum for the heavy music genre. Mourning For Memories is making their mark with their music and a distinct collection of guitars. One pink guitar in particular has spawned Kitty-Core, or more specifically Hello-Kitty-Core (read on to uncover the entire story). We’ve had the privilege of experiencing Mourning For Memories live when they opened the festivities at Savage Fest earlier this year. Gladly we were able to catch up with this Washougal, Washington based thrash/hardcore band via the wonders of internet based social networking for an exclusive hurdcore interview. This local band is bringing a positive message in a heavy package and is preparing to play in a venue near you.

Mourning For Memories enters the Portland area hardcore/metal scene, what is the meaning behind your name?
MFM The meaning of our name falls from a belief that once you live a moment it becomes a memory. That and we thought it just sounded cool.

How would you define your sound and what makes Mourning For Memories unique
MFM We’ve been called a number of things from thrash to hardcore but with our new songs we’ve been trying to incorporate a style of our own to further our bands individuality.

MFM has launched with a duet of vocal brutality, what directed you to take this tactic in dividing vocal responsibilities?
MFM As for the dual vocal approach we feel our live performance can be far more entertaining when a singer/screamer isn’t constantly out of breath and panting for his life.

In your song, “Sometimes Dead Is Better” you have the very pointed lyric, “You’ll soon be choking on your guilt or is that emotion there?” Is this a break up song or is there another story behind it?
MFM The song “Sometimes Dead Is Better” could be called a break up song but i think it goes much further then that. It also has some underlying concepts of self realization and redemption.

Speaking of guilt, it often seems that people either feel guilty for things that aren’t their responsibility or there are those who feel no guilt when they should be accountable. The aforementioned song seems to address the sort of person that falls into the later category, how do people convince themselves that they bear no guilt?
MFM Life is a lot about who you surround yourself with and choices you make along that path. For someone to go through life with a mentality of no remorse seems like that would be caused by something far deeper then one could tell. And because we don’t feel we think that way, we just don’t know…

Other than you love for music, what is the bond that fuels Mourning for Memories?
MFM We just want to have people listen to our music and be the forerunners of a new sounds we wish to create through our music. We are also all Christians and believe that music is a great and passionate way to show our love for Christ through our live performance and energy. Despite our somewhat aggressive style and appearance we really enjoy our fans and love seeing new faces at shows. That being said we are Christians in a band not a Christian band.

What do you hope Mourning For Memories is known and remembered for?
MFM Hopefully people are remembering us for our live performance and the passion we feel for the music we play.

You are fairly new as a band yet you’ve played with some well known names and some of the biggest venues in and around the Portland area.
How receptive are fans to new bands like MFM?
MFM Some shows have gone a lot better then others. It seems that sometimes crowds can be very genre driven and the softer side of our music seems to burn out on some people before we can get into our set. However some shows turn out great and everyone seems alive and moving. We are a new band so hopefully as time goes on we can continue to get better and branch out to a larger fan base.

Do you remember how your first show went?
MFM Our first show was at the Pop Culture in Vancouver [Washington]. Our friends Aleen got us on that show and we are still thankful today. We were supposed to play 1st but showed up late and went up second. So the stress from it being our first show got worse since we were up after what would have been the second band. Our band just kept our cool and got on stage called everyone to the front with Dustin’s (Aleen) help. We played 4 of our songs because that was all we had written at that point in time. It was one of our favorite shows and we had a great time playing it, the crowd responded really great to our sound and live performance.

How have you grown as individual performers and as a band in the time that you have been together?
MFM We’ve all progressed in the instruments we play as well as the vocals which used to be a huge concern for us. We feel that everytime we make a song it should be better then the others previously written without sacrificing our sound.

What is the story behind the Hello Kitty guitar?
MFM The story behind the Hello Kitty guitar…ok, we have a friend who has helped us out a lot, his name is Victor Perez and he gave us some guitars to use and we thought that it would just be really funny to have one of us playing a pink Hello Kitty Strat. Not only was it funny but it started a revolution hahaha KITTY CORE woot woot. But sadly we have stopped using it lately but tell you what any show that hurdcore attends we will bust out the Kitty Core.

Mourning For Memories is: Tyler Duff – VOKILLZ; Steven Murphy – GEETARS; Dylan Pollard – GEETARS; Kyle Van Zitteren – SLAPPIN DA BASS; Mike Towell – PERCUSSION. Keep up to date with songs, releases and tour info at the MFM Myspace

The hurdcore.com format provides a new interview with local and national bands at least once weekly with additional content related to reviews, releases or other music information throughout the week. Local bands throughout the West Coast and Mid West – Seattle, Spokane, Vancouver, Portland, Salem, Albany, Eugene, Medford, Moline, Davenport. Stay tuned to hurdcore.com, friend us on myspace and join us facebook. To request album reviews, band bios, interviews or to discuss advertising opportunities email us – hurdcore@gmail.com – be specific in “subject” line.

“At last the time has come!” he [Jesus] announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Turn from your sins and believe this Good News!” Mark 1:15

At hurdcore.com we have the privilege of meeting and introducing our fellow fans to the hardworking bands throughout our great nation. Whether these bands will remain as local treasures or others will find/make their break and forge a deep run though the several layers of entertainment success. Will Breitner has distinguished himself as one of the hardest working musicians at the local level in the Portland area, spearheading several bands, each with their own unique identity, collaborating with like minded musicians to promote local shows and pioneering his own effort to enable grassroots artists to begin the recording process. On Saturday, April 24th, 2010 Mr. Breitner will be organizing and performing with several other local artists in an all day metal extravaganza for the first Savage Fest to be hosted at the Camas Courthouse in Washougal, Washington. This event will showcase some of Washington and Oregon’s finest metal bands while simultaneously demonstrating what hard work and local collaboration can produce. Join the hurd and come get your metal on!

Is the Camas Courthouse an actual functioning courthouse?
WB Yes it is. It sometimes makes shows difficult actually because on Fridays you can only rent it out after 5pm.

Will SAVAGE FEST be indoors or outdoors?
WB It will be indoors

What can you tell us about the venue, why did you choose this site?
WB I chose the venue because the room is a little smaller, perfect for getting in around 150 kids and having a really intimate atmosphere where the bands can be directly interacting with the fans and friends who are at the show. There is an actual stage in the venue, but it is only about a foot off the ground, so like I said, the bands are right up in your face which is awesome as a listener.

For those, like myself, who are unfamiliar with Camas, WA – what types of food selections are there and how nearby to the show will they be?
WB Well there are a few options. Right next to the venue, there is a Burger King, Subway, Starbucks & Chevron and then if you go about a mile into the actual town of Camas you have Burgerville, Dairy Queen, Top Burger & more gas stations.

Even though this is an all day metal extravaganza, there is quite a range of sub-genres within that metal umbrella which will be on display, tell us some about the music and performers we will be seeing?
WB Well I like my shows to be diverse so you aren’t seeing the same band 18 times in one day and kids don’t get burnt out after the third band and decide to leave or something. I have two acoustic acts, a couple of rock acts, some metalcore, some straight up thrash metal, and then of course some death metal thrown in the mix. I think that diversity makes for an awesome show.

How did you select the bands and the lineup, are these all bands you know personally?
WB I selected the bands because they are pretty much all close friends of mine and great people. There isn’t a single band on the show that I haven’t worked with before and haven’t performed with before.

You are an impressive young man who wears several hats within the local music scene. You perform, promote, record and what else are you involved in?
WB Haha well thank you very much! I just try to do everything possible to put the fire back in our scene basically. I try to help my friends’ bands with getting endorsements and bigger shows and out of town shows and whatnot because I love music more than anything in the world. Me and my best friends that compose my main band …And The Sirens Sang are working on making a more professional studio, then I will be starting my own label to help smaller bands be heard and get merch and tour and stuff. We also will be doing management, local show booking, tour booking, and someday screen printing and professional CD printing. All local, all cheap. I believe that every band deserves a chance to show the world what they’ve got, but unfortunately for bands, the industry is a cash cow and everything costs so much that most bands can barely make it out of their home town, let alone put out a professional CD and merch and whatnot. I want to call it “Siren Industries” hahaha

You are currently involved with at least 3 bands that I know of, but you had mentioned maybe as many as 6? What bands are you actively playing with now and in what capacity?
WB Well my main band is called “…And The Sirens Sang”.
We are working extremely hard right now preparing for 2 summer tours as well as about 20 shows around Washington & Oregon in the next couple of months and that band takes up most of my time. Me and three of the guys from that band are working on a side project called The Leper Legion, which sounds like The Black Dahlia Murder, but with everything that Sirens is doing in preparation for tours and to make our band as professional as possible we just don’t really have time right now. Another thing I’m working on is a project that sounds like AFI because they are the reason I started playing music. I’m doing it with Brady Johns, who is also in Sirens. Just a fun project that is a tribute to them. I have an internet based two member band called “The Assyrian Sonata“, which is on a stand-still because the other member is going into the National Guard so we have to wait about a year before we can do anything more with that but we have a full length written and demos on our myspace page currently. I have a rap project that’s for fun called “Slug Stompaz” with my brother and the guitarist Will Terada of Sirens. And I have my solo project.

Your also have a music studio (Siren Studios), is this your daytime job? From your comments the main purpose of your studio is to help grow young artists, how do you go about recording?
WB It is indeed my daytime job but I see it as more of a hobby because of how much fun I have doing it! I just wanted to try my hardest to create a place where bands could come to record an EP without spending a thousand dollars that still turned out well. First, we lay out all of the click tracks for every song so that the album will be perfectly on time and not fluctuating or anything. Then we record a scratch guitar track for the drummer to play to. Then drums, then bass, then guitars, then vocals. If there are any additional instruments such as piano or something we do those also before the vocals.

With your diverse efforts, are you at a point where you are able to “live” off of music?
WB In a sense, yes. I make pretty good money recording bands, playing in my band, and booking shows. I make enough to pay rent and have just barely enough to live off of and that to me is living the dream. It’s more than I could ever ask for and I am incredibly grateful for all of the support from my family and friends that make it possible for me to pursue this versus forcing me to go to college or whatever.

From whence came the idea for an all day metal festival?
WB Well I love metal. All kinds. I love all kinds of music actually haha I just wanted an awesome event where great bands could hang out and party with like-minded musicians and just have an awesome time. It’s somewhat of a “I know how hard you work to be in a band, so I want you to play my awesome show and have a great time” festival haha

Who are you partnering/working with to make the Savage Fest happen? Who is there to help you run the show especially when you are performing
WB My good friend Brady Johns who plays keys for Sirens runs a booking agency called “King Arthur Booking” and he has also done a TON of awesome shows, so I’m bringing him in to help run sound as well as oversee everything. While we are playing we have a few friends who will be handling the door and everything else.

What got you into metal, who were some of the most inspiring bands for you growing up?
WB As far as metal goes, it was always bands like Slipknot, Metallica, Ozzy, Megadeth and Pantera back in 7th grade. My favorite band, however, has always been AFI and I don’t think that will ever change. “Sing The Sorrow” inspires me every single day to get better as an instrumentalist, composer and singer.

Who are you listening to now, what is in your top 5 on your ipod?
WB AFI, Emarosa, The Black Dahlia Murder, Isles & Glaciers, and Rose Funeral.

How did you get into playing and performing? How do you keep your skills sharp and continue to grow in your craft when you are busy with so many things?
WB Honestly, the first time I heard “Miseria Cantare” by AFI I knew that I belonged playing guitar on a stage. I just love performing music that I have worked countless hours on and having people react to it, for the most part, in a good way. And it’s all about staying busy! I practice playing songs on guitar that I can’t play so that eventually I will get them down and better myself as a musician and I am always working on writing music in genres such as hip/hop, country, pop and rock that I normally wouldn’t play in so that I don’t get stuck in a box so to speak and I am able to progress versus write the same song every time. Me and the dudes in my band are also always working on our vocal harmonies with an acoustic guitar to keep our voices strong and fresh.

What do you enjoy most about music – writing/performing?
WB DEFINITELY performing. Don’t get me wrong, I love writing. But the feeling of actually playing a song that you’ve spent months fine-tuning is what being a musician is all about. It’s truly the best feeling in the world.

Do you just like music for itself or would you say that there is a meaning in or through or even beyond the music that inspires you to press forward in what you are doing?
WB As far as meaning goes, I write our albums about heartbreak, loneliness, abandonment and other human issues that are very close to home with me but I write them in story form so it kind of plays out as a whole big story as the album progresses. So yes, the material is very heart-felt by me and it is very touching for me to play the songs live because I write them in times where I am the weakest and it is a great release to sing it in front of a crowd and have them singing back, possibly even going through the same things that I was.

SAVAGE FEST
Sat 4/24/2010
Camas Courthouse
89 C Street
Washougal, WA 98607
18 Bands // $10
11AM – 11PM

Band Lineup – order subject to change:
1. Jack Devore (Blues, Seattle)
2. If All Else Fails ( )
3. Mourning For Memories (Thrash – Washougal, WA)
4. Edessa (Hardcore – Camas, WA)
5. Daematta (Death Metal, PDX)
6. Apsis (Progressive, PDX)
7. Ashlynn (Hardcore – Kelso, WA)
8. We Move Mountains (Metal – Maple Valley, WA)
9. Upon Departure (Metal – Longview, WA)
10. Almost Is Nothing (Thrash, PDX)
11. Chin Up Rocky (Happy Hardcore, PDX)
12. Bring Me Solace (Progressive, PDX)
13. And The Sirens Sang (Screamo, OR)
14. Aleen (Screamo, WA)
15. The Leper Legion (Death Metal, OR)
16. Idols (Death Metal, Seattle)
17. Proven (Metal, PDX)

For more information on local music, band interviews, concert updates and promotional content. Local bands, artists, concerts, venues, tours and events from rock, hip-hop, metal, pop, punk, hardcore, acoustic, indie, organic, progressive, funk, rap and more. Stay tuned to hurdcore.com, friend us on myspace and join us facebook Hurdcore is open to partnerships to promote local arts, music and entertainment as well as advertising opportunities – hurdcore@gmail.com – be specific in “subject” line.