ecessity is the mother of invention. Think of how original this statement really is. What do we hear day after day? Cookie cutter bands with the same breakdowns, the same melodies and the same exhausted stories have become what we are spoon-fed and we are constantly asking for seconds. Maybe we believe that this is all there is for us, that we need to support and be grateful for what we do have even though it’s a copy of a copy of a copy. A Hope for Home fully realizes this issue in today’s music scene and has now released what, we will be the first to say, is the future of this genre. A new edition to Facedown Records, A Hope for Home is here to invade your headspace with something new, something original, something worth telling your friends about. Vocalist Nathan Winchell and guitarist/vocalist Matt Ellis further explained the depth and ideals behind their Facedown debut while out on the road on The Young and Wreckless Tour alongside future heavy hitters at their new label. Through trials of many kinds, AHFH still stand on the edge of constant questions but the future is looking bright and the boys from Portland couldn’t be more stoked for tomorrow. Realis isn’t all rainbows and puppies however, this is something real. This story is about doubt, questioning and finding your place in this world told through the eyes of a band you might not know today, but trust us, will be making waves for years to come.
So we last spoke with you guys in July. I know a lot has happened since then. Can you fill us in on the last eight months?
Matt Ellis: We spent most of the summer out on the road at various festivals and did a little stint with our good friends in Hands. At Cornerstone, Jason
Dunn showed interest in moving us up to Facedown for our next release, which meant that we had to get to work on a new record. We rented a practice studio in September and took a couple months to write what would become Realis.
We know that you guys lost a key member in drummer Ian Vidovic earlier this year. What is happening with his position now?
ME: I went to high school with our new drummer, Lance, and he had been living in Japan for the past couple years. When we first started writing, the plan was to just have him write the record with us and then he would go back to Japan for school in the spring. Things clicked really well however, and he decided to drop out and join the band. We couldn’t be more excited, I think he’s an amazing drummer and his style fits our progression really well.
Nathan Winchell: Ian had been there from the beginning which is more than I, and almost half of the other guys, can say. As we all started to grow musically and personally it became more and more apparent that Ian was going one way and we were moving in a slightly different direction. We didn’t know what we were going to do; we just knew things wouldn’t work if we allowed them to stay the way they were. After jamming with a couple guys we got in contact with Lance, who played in local bands a few years back. He had been going to school in Japan, close to earning a degree, and was pretty apprehensive about uprooting his entire life to play music but things with him clicked a lot better than any of us could I hoped for. He agreed to write and record the album with us and after a little while it was pretty evident that we all wanted him to be a permanent figure in the band. Luckily he’s sticking around for a while, if he doesn’t get sick of us first.
You guys signed to Strike First nearing the end of 2008 then announced you had moved up to Facedown Records at the end of 2009. Talk to us a bit about your experience on Strike First and your transition to Facedown?
ME: Jason and the rest of the Facedown staff are amazing. We had a pretty rough week at Cornerstone last year and Jason told me he wanted to meet for lunch. I was horrified because of how things had been going, but he told me he was interested in moving us up. We were so excited, and their faith in us was so encouraging. Facedown has been nothing but extremely supportive and we couldn’t imagine working with anyone else.
NW: It was a little surreal for us at first, I think. I grew up listening to some Facedown bands but had no idea Jason was even interested in bands like us. When we heard he wanted to sign us to Strike-First it was a surprise. We ended up re-releasing The Everlasting Man with them and did a small tour and shows here and there with Facedown bands who kind of showed us the ropes. A Lot of Strike-First bands end up moving on to Facedown but we weren’t sure how we would be received since we didn’t sound like any of the bands on the label. We were at Cornerstone when Jason told us he was moving us up to Facedown. Something must have worked in our favor.
Your last album was a concept album entitled The Everlasting Man. How important is it to you all to have a message behind your music?
ME: I wouldn’t want to be doing this if it was all for some selfish personal gain. None of us are in this to get huge or be the next big thing, (our music would definitely sound a lot different if that was the case). My favorite bands are all bands that use their music as art, or to express themselves. I wouldn’t want it any other way for our band. There are so many other bands that are way tighter and more creative than we are, and my hope is that what we create would mean something to just one other person rather than us being the craziest and most flashy band around. That one other person can listen to how we express ourselves, and relate to what we are saying is all I can ever ask for.
NW: I would say it’s pretty important. Sometimes it feels like Matt and I spend the same amount of time collaborating on lyrics as we all do writing the music. A lot of our favorite music has been made by people who had something to say so I think it’s natural for us to want to do that as well. Everyone in the band is usually there giving input on the vocals so it’s never something we take lightly.
What is the message behind your new album Realis? What does Realis mean? What theme do you wish to carry through?
ME: Realis is somewhat of a reaction to everything we have gone through as a band and in our individual lives. We have all been raised in the church and spent our whole lives as firm and adamant believers. But after a year of touring with other extremely powerful evangelic bands on our label that all seemed to be ready to give their lives for God, I at least started to look at myself and wonder what I was doing with myself. Is the goal of what we are doing to save as many kids as possible? Heal people? Wouldn’t it just be okay if I wrote a song about how Jesus is great and how He makes me want to not be a jerk or something? I realized that if I only had one more record to write, one more thing to say, I would want it to be a lot more meaningful than a song about feeling bad or about how Jesus is great dude. Again, not that that isn’t an overarching truth, but how much am I truly giving him or anyone else if I resort to something so easy, so safe to say? I began to ask myself, conceptually mind you, what would this world be like if there were no God? If He isn’t real, what does that mean for my life and that of the rest of the world? That question is where Realis begins. The concept follows a man trying to reconstruct his understanding of reality without a God, without universal truth. Throughout the rest of the record, the man tries to reconcile his doubt with what he finds. So many bands are very eloquent speakers and very passionate, and we realized that that kind of ministry is not really what we are meant to do. My hope is that someone can relate to the questions raised and the doubts felt, with a firm understanding that there is a meaning and a purpose to everything in this world. The title sums it up: “Realis” is an early Latin word which has no direct English translation but roughly translates to “affirmed existence.”
NW: After thinking about what I wanted to say with this album I knew I wanted to address some grey areas. We’ve always been a really positive band and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but life isn’t always that way. Things aren’t always black and white. Even when it’s easy for you to stand steadfast in whatever you believe, there are going to be times in your life where it’s just not that easy. It’s alright to search, question and sometimes fear the unknown, it’s human. We wanted to address the human condition throughout the album and that’s where the title Realis, which is a Latin root for “reality”, came from.
Talk to us about the production of this album?
ME: We went up to Seattle in January to track drums with Chris Common, who used to play drums in These Arms Are Snakes. He runs a studio with Matt Bayles, who is one of my favorite producers ever, and both those guys have worked on a lot of my favorite records by bands like Botch, Isis, and Minus the Bear. We only did drums and mixing there, so that was kind of a bummer, but it was definitely a huge step up from doing everything ourselves as we had done in the past. Chris really got what we were going for and helped us translate that onto tape. We had a bit of a time crunch while we were recording it ourselves, because we moved the release date up a couple weeks to coincide with a tour we were heading out on. It was really intense, but I’m super proud of how everything turned out.
NW: Last fall we locked ourselves up in a tiny 12 by 12 practice space four or five days a week and just wrote as much as we could. In January we went up to The Red Room studio in Seattle and record the drums with Chris Common. It was a really great experience and Dan got a geek out on all of the awesome gear up there. We took the drums tracks back home and recorded everything else ourselves over the span of about two weeks. It was nice to be able to record in the comforts of home again like we had with the past records but doing the drums with Chris gave everything a crisp feel we never could have gotten on our own. We took the tracks back to him so he could mix it as well. We were pretty strapped for time towards the end of the month but everything ended up sounding really big and powerful. We’re pretty happy with it.
Awhile back, you had admitted that this album would be quite a departure from what AHFH fans were used to. Can you expand on this?
ME: Ian had a very unique style which led to a lot of what made The Everlasting Man what it was. He is a very good drummer. When we started writing Realis, however, we really wanted to focus on being a little more groove oriented and try to stray from a lot of the bands we had been compared to or lumped in with. One thing we really set out to do was to make a record that sounded a little different than a lot of what is going on in the scene right now, in the hopes of making something that would at least stand separate from a lot of the trends that are going on right now. Not that any of that stuff is bad, but I really feel that the scene is growing stagnant, and not a lot of bands are trying to do new things. Comfort is such a temporary thing in this industry, and we don’t want anything to do with it. So at the end of the day we decided to just write what we wanted to, highlight some of our influences such as Isis and This Will Destroy You, and simply play music that we wanted to play, regardless of how many records it will sell or what tours we will land on.
NW: Musically and lyrically it’s a departure for sure. With the past records we where still trying to figure out who we were as a band and I think that created a lot of inconsistency and maybe even made some parts seem awkward. We’re a little older now, our musical influences have changed. These songs are definitely darker. You’ll hear the heaviest stuff we’ve ever written as well. Some people might be a little surprised to hear hints of hopelessness, cynicism and questioning of beliefs within the lyrics. Although it’s all a part of a narrative concept, it is new territory for us.
Do you feel added pressure from this being your first release on a larger label? Do you feel pressure knowing that this is the most unique album you have put out to date?
NW: Not as much pressure as I feel like I should be feeling. Although since we aren’t really a dance band I think people started to connect with our lyrics, which is utterly amazing and fulfilling but as one of the main lyricists I did feel that slight pressure to live up to and surpass everything we did in the past.
ME: I have to be honest, when we were sitting on the couch mixing the record, I had a moment when I thought “Crap. How are we going to sell this?” Most of the pressure came after getting the record done, honestly. It is a scary thing to have your first release on an established label be the one that we decided to experiment the most on. But Facedown has been nothing but supportive, and it has been such an encouragement. At the end of the day, we can’t worry about stuff like that, and we just need to focus on playing and writing music that we want to play. If you’re not pleasing yourself with what you create, everything else will fall by the wayside.
What do you see as some of the main purposes for A Hope for Home making music?
ME: I guess I would have to say what I stated before, to express ourselves. I don’t want to think for a minute that I am more important than anyone else, or that I am any better than the kids at the show that come to watch us play. We are just another voice and for me anyway, this underground music scene has always been about sharing different views and creating a safe outlet where people can express themselves. For some reason or another, we have been blessed with the amazing opportunity to share our music and faith with other people, and my goal is to be able to create a piece of art that one other person can hear and say, “Hey, I feel that way too,” or to be able to better understand what they are going through by the shared experience of other people.
NW: Well, I would be lying if I didn’t say we’re all making music because we think its fun and we like the songs we write. The music we make comes from our hearts without any pretense or motives and hopefully people can sense that when they see us play. It’s not like we sat down and wrote out a mission statement for the band, but I think we have and always will aim to be some sort of positive light for anyone exposed to us or whoever is willing to listen. We’ve never seen our selves as a ministry per-say but if we can lift people up with our music then I think we did our job.
What do you see happening in the life of A Hope for Home over the next year?
ME: We are out on the road right now on the Facedown Records Young and Wreckless tour with Onward to Olympas, our good friends Hands, and In The Midst of Lions, who are going to literally be the biggest band in the world soon, and it has been so awesome. We have a few other awesome tours lined up as well as some festivals this summer such as Cornerstone and Sonshine. Hopefully we can just stay out on the road and hang out with everyone who would like to hang out with us.
NW: We’re already starting to think about the next record too.
