Encroach

Interviews | Feb 24th, 2005

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Who’s all in the band and what do they play?
Kris- Guitar. Will- Vocals. Rich- Guitar. John- Drums. Right now we just parted ways with our original bass player Ben, and we’re in the process of finding and training in a new one.

Has the line-up always been this way?
Well, we used to have a bass player. What a smart-ass, eh? Well, it started as a project between Kris and Ben. Kris knew me from school, so he gave me a call. Then after a couple failed attempts at practices, I showed up and Ben dragged in Will. For the first two months or so it was just a four piece. We played only one show with that line-up, and recorded or first demo also as a four-piece. Will had known Rich forever, and they had been in bands like Standpoint and Silent Fall together. One day I show up to practice and here’s Rich, and he was in the band. Now Ben isn’t the bass player anymore, and we’ll soon have a new guy (or it could be a gal, but it’s a guy.)

What does Encroach do besides the band as far as means of making money?
Will works at a bike parts company. Rich works for the phone company, like one of the guys out in the trucks fixin stuff. Kris does something that deals with engineering, at least that’s what he tells us. I mostly just surf the internet all day at the place where I work.

Has anyone or does anyone currently go to school, and if so what for?
Myself and Kris went to UW-Stout in beautiful and boring Menomonie, WI and got our degrees (mine in Telecom Systems and his in Engineering or something.) I think Will and Rich might have done some school too, but never got degrees.

Does anyone in the band do anything to help and further the scene, besides the band? (ie: Zine, Another Band, Distro, etc…)
I help our former bass player Ben with the Twin Cities Hardcore Journal, which he started about two years ago. We try to cover our local scene, along with any touring acts that we get an interview with. Also on the website, I list shows and have links to all kinds of resources and info on venues, stores, etc. Ben and I are also in the 1-2-GO! Crew, a project where we rap the lyrics of old school sXe and punk songs. That’s a lot of fun. There is also XcreepinXcharlieX, which is another of Ben’s projects that I probably going to become involved with.

What does your family think of the band, and have any of them ever ever came out to a show or listened to one of your releases?
Almost universally, families thinks that the music is pretty good, but they always want to know what Will is so angry about.

Try to picture yourself as an outsider looking in, what would you think of your music?
If it was me- I’d love it. But as a general person who doesn’t listen to this kind of music regularly, I’d be confused as to why Will’s so angry. The music wouldn’t be so bad.

What does the name Encroach mean and how exactly do you pronounce it?
Encroach – 1) To take another’s possessions or rights gradually or stealthily 2) To advance beyond proper or former limits. It’s pronounced Slay-er. It fits the music and the lyrics, so it just works for us.

What is your affiliation with Medical Records?
We signed a deal with them to release one CD, which turned out to be “Life in The Quicksand.”

How did you guys hook up with each other (Encroach & Medical Records)?
Last spring we were sending demos out to a bunch of labels we found in Book Your Own Fucking Life. We got a bunch of responses, but Medical seemed to be a match, in terms of what they were looking for and what we were looking for. We didn’t know of Medical or any of the guys that run it before we sent out the demos, and they’re located in California so we haven’t met them either yet.

Could you tell us a little about your new album? Title, CD or CDep, Amount of songs, etc…
“Life In The Quicksand” is Encroach’s first full length CD, with 10 tracks/13 songs. It covers the range from all of the material we’ve written from the first practices to a couple songs we wrote during the process of recording. It’s the departure point, if you will. I think our song writing has gotten a lot stronger, and we were just starting to find our “sound” at that point. We started the recording process a year ago, and we’ve come a long ways in that time.

I first heard you guys on the punkhardcore dot com compilation and your song was one of the best songs on the entire disc. Have you guys noticed a difference in fan base since the release of that compared to prior?
We’ve been contacted by a few of the bands and some various people that heard the CD. I can’t say it’s increased our fan base locally, but it has gotten our name out to people outside of where we’ve ever played. Which is why we did it.

I don’t want to jinx the band and have this happen, but if Encroach was to break up tomorrow, what would you like to have people remember Encroach for/as?
A decent band that wrote good songs that had lyrics with a purpose. And they had a damn sexy drummer.

What is one thing that as a band you’ve wanted to accomplish since the beginning, that you still have yet to do?
I can’t speak for the other guys, but I think we’ve exceeded expectations when we were starting out with this project. It started out with a couple guys messing around in a practice space, and I don’t think we ever would have expected to have released a split CD, go on tour, and put out a full length CD on a label. The only thing I ever wanted to do was to maybe play a couple shows, and it would be cool if I could inspire someone to start a band or start playing music. I got all the response I wanted from a couple kids after our second show (also the first one with Rich). So I’ve achieved all I set out to with this band really quick. The only reason we’re all in this band is because we enjoy it. If we were in it for the money or the fame, we’d have quit a long time ago. We could be in a bar band or a radio friendly rock/metal/rapcore band, and make more money and get chicks and all that if we wanted, but that’s not what we’re doing this for. At least not yet. Our major label release isn’t planned till about 2007.

What’s next for Encroach?
Right now we’re in the process of getting a new bass player, and trying to unload as many of our CD’s as we can. We’re probably going to start writing some new material, to further develop our “sound.” Damn I’m an artist! Other than that, it’s mostly just the same ole thing, working to make a living.

Thanks for taking the time out for Keroscene. Anything you’d like to add?
Thanks a ton for the interview, and check out our website – www.lounge-core.com, and check out the Twin Cities Hardcore Journal at www.geocities.com/tchcj, and support your local scene!

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