Kat: In what good and bad ways have you seen the music scene evolve since your band first started playing?
Daryl: I think that it has gone through lots of different changes and right now the scene seems to be most creative and the least violent that it has been in a long time which is a nice thing.

Kat: Do you like it (the scene) better when it’s not violent?
Daryl: Of course I like it better when it’s not violent.

Kat: In what ways has your own music evolved?
Daryl: We’ve become more creative as a band, and we’ve also become I think better songwriters and overall. We now have five songwriters in the band and in the beginning there was basically one songwriter. So having five different people writing the music is a good thing because you have that many more influences coming into the picture. It allows [us] to expand on what we’ve done in the past.

Kat: Do you collaborate with each other or do you just write individually?
Daryl: Pretty much both. I mean sometimes someone will have a complete song, but usually we collaborate and all come together to complete a song.

Kat: Do your songwriters all have different influences or do you all have basically the same sound?
Daryl: Yeah, we’ve all gone to different things. We definitely share interest in a certain amount of groups, but then each of us has a group that we like or listen to that the other guys either don’t care for or haven’t been exposed to.

Kat: Like who? Who are some of your influences?
Daryl: Well for me, my biggest influence[s], especially in lyric writing and things like that, are Fugazi, [and] things older such as early Rolling Stones or David Bowie.

Kat: So you have a lot of other rock, not just punk rock influences?
Daryl: Right.

Kat: What are some of the messages that you are trying to communicate through your music?
Daryl: Snapcase is generally always focused on a message of self-motivation, self-realization as far as being able to except the person that we are and not just trying to fit in. Not trying to identify with other people to be comfortable. To identify within themselves and having the guts and courage to go out there and be anything that we want.

Kat: So you think that your music, for the most part, has positive messages?
Daryl: Yeah, for the most part. Anytime we point out negative things, it’s usually as a means to look for a positive solution. We don’t really focus on anger or hatred or violence or stuff like that. Its more about lets not waste our time complaining and being angry with this, but find a way out of it.

Kat: Can you give us an example of one of your songs where you’re giving a negative message but you’re just trying to find a positive answer?
Daryl: Well basically the whole concept of End Transmission, its just kind of like an apocalyptic vision. The world gets to a point where basic human values are removed and taken from them [the people]. Its kind of like how far things need to go before people are willing to fix their lives and make an effort to change the way things are and make an improvement.

Kat: Would you classify your music into any specific genre?
Daryl: No that’s a funny question, because we’ve never really been that concerned with defining the different genres or trying to fit in with them. Most people have a hard time just defining hardcore, or what is punk rock? I mean, are the Dead Kennedys punk rock and Simple Plan punk rock all in the same? I mean, I don’t think so, but both bands have been tagged punk rock. It’s just really difficult and everybody has a different vision of what they think something means. We’ve managed to go on the road and play with bands that are considered punk rock bands, that are considered metal, bands that are considered hardcore. I think we’ve kind of fit somewhere in between all this stuff and smash it all together.

Kat: What current bands would you like to compare yourself with?
Daryl: Our influences over the years have mostly been bands like Quicksand, Helmet, Fugazi, and more recent bands like At the Drive In. Bands that we’ve been on the road with have influenced us, everyone from Turmoil to The Deftones.

Kat: Was your music immediately recognized, and if not then how long did it take for Snapcase to gain recognition?
Daryl: We released a few demos, and we worked on opening up other bands in our home town, and eventually [we started] moving a little further out and playing shows an hour away from our hometown. We moved further and further [away]. It probably took us a couple of years, but that’s one of the things with an underground scene is you get recognized a lot quicker and you don’t have to go through management and a lot of stuff. Either way there [are] benefits to the different ways you’re going about it.

Kat: Would you prefer to stay in that underground stream or would you not mind making it big?
Daryl: I prefer to stay in the underground. To me there’s nothing like the good show in a small club where you don’t have those giant barricades and people are free to do whatever they want, go crazy.

Kat: What’s the biggest show you’ve ever played?
Daryl: Probably at some of the Warped Tour dates that we’ve been on, various festivals that we’ve played in Europe. We’ve probably played in front of somewhere between five and ten thousand people at one time.

Kat: But you prefer the smaller audiences?
Daryl: I do, yeah.

Kat: Do you get as much energy from the smaller audiences or is it just more direct?
Daryl: To me, I don’t know. I don’t really care for playing outdoors on like a Warped Tour situation. I really like playing in a packed club you know where it’s dark, and we’re hot and sweaty and all that stuff.

Kat: Didn’t you just make a music video? What was the experience of making a music video like for the band?
Daryl: We shot one last summer. Shooting a video is always kind of fun. It’s unlike anything else you end up doing with the band. Its just, it can be awkward at times but the end result is cool because you’ve already documented your music on CD but now you’ve documented visually and it’s a cool thing to do.

Kat: How many videos have you made?
Daryl: We’ve actually shot two proper videos. We’ve had videos made out of our songs where they shot live footage of us.

Kat: So you guys like shooting videos for your songs?
Daryl: Yeah, of course we’re not completely satisfied with the videos that we’ve had. We’d like to shoot maybe even another video or something really artistic.

Kat: Where do you like to see your videos played?
Daryl: To me, it’s just cool to make the video. Its up to our record label to worry about generating record sales and stuff like that. The video play is going to generate record sales. It doesn’t matter, we’ve had our videos on video compilations, [and] we’ve had them on parts of skate and snowboarding videos or shows, there [are] lots of different situations.

Kat: Would people be able to find your video on MTV2 or MuchMusic or anywhere like that?
Daryl: Yeah, I mean, probably not as much now. When the album was coming out, the video was getting more spin. Now its five or six months later, so its not getting played as much as it was. I think you can still see it on MTV2 or MuchMusic.

Kat: Are you going to make any new albums soon or are you going to keep this one and tour with it for a little while?
Daryl: Well we’ve got some leftover songs from this album, so we are talking about releasing some of the extra tracks from this album. There [are] six or seven songs and also we are working on some new material, but a new album, a complete new album, I’m not too sure about at this point.

Kat: You just got back from Europe, right? How was your tour there?
Daryl: Yeah. It was great, actually, it was probably one of our best tours ever. It was going really well, good crowd, great shows, [and] a good scene. Overall a really good tour. We actually toured Europe in two different legs. We did the first part with Time and Malta and a band called The Rise, and then we did The Hope Conspiracy.

Kat: Which half was your favorite?
Daryl: They were both good to be honest.

Kat: Do you think your band has as many fans over there as you do here in the states?
Daryl: As many? Yeah I think so; it’s pretty evenly balanced.

Kat: Are they as enthusiastic at your shows as they are over here?
Daryl: Yeah, and sometimes more. It’s hard to simply say [that either] Europe or the US would do well, and the other a little slow. Some places are a little slower than others [are]. For example, in Germany, we played almost two weeks worth of shows in Germany alone, where as a place like France or Spain we’ll only play two or three.

Kat: Are your performances as energetic from place to place?
Daryl: We try to be as consistent as possible, but it depends on the venue, the size of the stage, the sound, how tired we are, all those things factor in on a daily basis. Its not really like we have more energy playing from one place to another, a lot of it comes down the venue and the type of day we’ve had.

Kat: What was your most memorable show?
Daryl: Its kind of hard, because right now the most memorable show was from this last tour that we had just done. It was probably or last show of the tour in Greece. It shows how bad my bad my memory is, because the last show that we played was in Greece, and it was our first time there, and the people were super excited to see us. We loved playing.

Kat: Was that a big venue or a small one?
Daryl: It was a medium size, like a smaller [one]. It was pretty much sold out at like five hundred people.

Kat: Do you have any studio stories?
Daryl: Recording of this album was not as fun and easy as other albums have been. It was a lot more work, and a lot more argument, and all that kind of stuff.

Kat: Why was it harder?
Daryl: Well, number one, we were working with a different producer, and that was Brian McTurnin, and he can be very demanding as a producer. Plus, also, we were trying to do something new with this album, and we didn’t really know what this end result was going to be. As it was coming together, I think we were a bit frustrated if somebody didn’t like the way things were coming out.

Kat: Did you prefer putting all that extra work into an album to get the better sound or would you rather just do a more laid back album.
Daryl: No, I think the hard work and frustration and argument all pays off. It’s definitely worth it.

Kat: So you’re happy with the album?
Daryl: Yeah, definitely happy with the album. I mean, I’m never one hundred percent happy with an end product, but this is by far my favorite Snapcase album that we’ve made. I don’t think they’re just the new songs, but we really enjoy playing songs off of this album in a live setting. I think we get really pumped up and excited to play the new material.

Kat: Would you like to stick with this producer and do more albums with him or would you want to go back to your old style?
Daryl: I don’t know, I mean we like to keep people guessing. We like to mix things up album after album. I would honestly like to do some songs on our next release that are heavier than anything we have ever done before, and I would also like to continue doing songs that are similar to this same style that we’re doing, with maybe some slower tempos and more melodies and stuff.

Kat: What plans does Snapcase have for the near future?
Daryl: Well, we’re going to keep touring on this record. We just finished seven weeks of touring, and before that we toured the US for about six weeks. We’re going to Canada…for two weeks with Hope Falls and The Juliana Theory. We’re going to be in Japan in the beginning of April. We’re going to play a hardcore fest in April when we get back from Japan. Then there’s a big New Jersey skate fest, it’s like a three-day event, [and] we’re going to play that. Then, [we’ll] also do a week of dates with Finch.

Kat: Is it stressful hopping from each of these tours and doing different shows all around the world, and would you rather just stick on one straight tour that goes for months or do you like skipping around?
Daryl: No, I like being on the road for about three weeks and then having like two weeks home. I’m enjoying my life at home more than I used to. When we first started this band, I was like twenty years old, and now I’m thirty-one. In those days being away from home was not a big deal and I used to enjoy going and going and going all the time, and now I enjoy relaxing at home. I’m married now, so I can be home with my wife. She goes on the road with us actually a lot now. She sells our t-shirts and does other jobs for us. We also have a dog at home. I just miss having a normal life at home.