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My Gmail account is going crazy! And the other day I received an e-mail suggesting I check out a band from Chicago; "My Were They." So I decided to take a listen.

I'm glad that I did.

It seems that in some of their tracks, like in "Is Love Enough," they spend a lot of time trying to convince you of their instrumental talent by putting together long strings of JUST music without vocals. If I were watching them live this would be the song I could envision the lead vocalist introducing all the other band members and giving them a moment of glory with a solo.

Let me be the first to say, there is no need to spend all that time convincing the listener, if there isn't a live performance. All of their songs are well-crafted pieces and flow together nicely on their album. It might just be me, but I also appreciate the lyrics of a song, because that further connects you to the band.

I had some questions for the crew...

1. If you will so kindly give me the cliffnotes on the name of your band?

cliffnotes on the name.... we went through a lot of names in our formative days, and settled on my were they because... i suppose it was originally
intended to be sort of nonsensical, but i've found that people can place it
in all kinds of unintended contexts.

2. Do you find it easier to write about pain or happiness? Because I have to say, your music has a lot of edge..sharp edge.

i find it easiest to write about whatever i'm feeling at the time, which for this album was a rather dark period so that's what happened. i'm not
opposed to writing happy stuff though, it's just never come out that way.

My Were They plays what I would call pop-punk, though it does reflect early U2 and later Jimmy Eat World. So if you like either of those bands (as you should) I am confident you will enjoy My Were They. And if you're looking for something a little heavier, with an all-over foreboding tone then be sure to take a listen and buy the album because "My Were They" definitely has those qualities.

Listen here:
My Were They - "Velocity"
My Were They - "Is Love Enough"

Their new album "'after they threw me in the river and before i drowned" comes out in a couple of weeks, but you can get "Epigrams and Interludes" on iTunes or at CD Baby.

Labels: music