Interview with Joe of The Weekender 1. Give me the names, towns and roles of the line-up. How did you guys get together-I read the release, but get a little more in depth. Strength For A Reason consists of Karl Kivler on vocals, Jack Siergiej on guitar, Ed Banja on drums, Steve Baran on bass, and Tom Thompson on guitar. Karl, Jack, Steve, and Tom are from Nanticoke and Ed is from Freeland, Pa. SFAR was formed back in 1997 with just Karl on vocals and the rest of the guys were from a band called Out To Win. Within the year, Karl moved on to get his own members in the band because he didn't want to be dependent on Out 2 Win's schedule for playing shows. He chose his own members and I (Jack) joined the band. The other guys that also joined the band back then are not with the band anymore. So Karl and I are really the only "original" members. Over the next 6 years, we have had many lineup changes. We've had 3 different guitarists, 3 different bassists, and 2 drummers, but we finally ended up with the members we have now, which is working out really good for us. Steve will be leaving us within the year to attend college at Penn State, so we will be in need of a bassist shortly. I guess we can add 1 more person to our long list of lineup changes. 2. Why hardcore-who influenced you? Hardcore had always been a big part of all of our lives. Personally, I was first exposed to it about 13 yrs ago. The band I first got into was called "Minor Threat". They sang about being drug free, straight edge, and living for yourself. I picked up those values and have stuck with them ever since. I am now 23, soon to be 24. Hardcore music has a message, it means something to everyone who listens to it. We are all like a close-knit family even though the music is spread worldwide. Every hardcore band's music and lyrics relates to their personal lives and the world around them. Our music spreads the message of the importance of friendship and family, being true to yourself and beliefs, and standing up for yourself, respecting others, and not letting people take advantage of you. 3. Describe your writing process for music and lyrics? How much does the intense nature of your performance influence the creative process? For our music and lyrics, we put a lot of time and energy into it. We all work together to write the music and Karl writes the lyrics to the most of the songs and the rest of the band helps out where we can. Our music has many different styles, which appeal to a lot of different peoples' musical tastes. 4. Talk about your fan base, who is buying-- online? shows? stores? So far, we have had a lot of sales through records stores, such as Gallery of Sound and Very Distribution. We have also done very well in sales though our own internet site. Most of our personal sales are made by fans at our shows. I think a lot of people like to come see the band and show their support by buying their merchandise right from the band themselves. It gives them a chance to talk to us and get to know us and vice versa. The new cd is doing very well in Japan and its moving good in Europe as well. We love getting phone calls and letters from people overseas and here in the states because its just amazing that your music is being heard and appreciated worldwide. Our fans mean everything to us, without them we wouldn't be here. We do it all for them, and we love to see our fans enjoying our music, which helps us grow as a band. 6. Talk about "Show and Prove"- and the recording process- is it difficult to capture your live energy on disc. Show And Prove is our debut full-length on Thornz Records out of Illinois. It is all original music, 11 songs in all. It took us two months to record the album and it is pretty intense to record music and try to make it the best you possibly can. There are so many decisions to be made and so much time involved in writing, recording, and mastering the music. Even when you are finished with everything, as a musician, I always feel like I can do more with the music. The process is never complete. It is kind of difficult to capture your live energy in a recording for any band out there today. Live shows are the best place to check out bands and get a feel for what they can do. The energy expressed by a band can only be partially captured on disc, the true energy has to be experienced first hand. 7. Do you love to play live- how often to you get to play around here and where else do you play? Playing live shows are what we are all about. Meeting new fans, having fun on stage and off, and seeing people getting into our music and singing our lyrics is what it is all about. Nothing gives a musician more motivation than seeing fans enjoying your music and singing along. When we play live, we play wherever and whenever we can. We are the typical "weekend warriors", being that we all have good jobs and responsibilities. We play Pennsylvania the most, but we do venture out of state almost as much. We have played many states along the east coast and hope to get out to California, Japan, and Europe very soon. 8. What can fans who never seen a SFAR show expect? People who are new to us can expect to hear music full of non-stop energy, excitement, and emotion. We are a band that gives it our all for our fans and our music. 9. Do you like the other bands? Who do you really want to play with that you haven't yet? There hasn't been a band that we've played a show with that we didn't like. We are always up to make new friends and spread the word about our music and our band. We frequently trade shows with other bands and help out whatever band we can to get them up to our area so people can hear their music. Its all about family and helping out people who need it. There are so many bands out there today that we would love to play shows with. Basically, we would love to play any show we can with whatever bands we can. Its all about fun and the love of the music.