Specials

Specials

A small chat with Ned (Title Fight)

posted by: Nico on 11 May 2011

One of the most exciting live bands, that I have seen last year was Title Fight. There was some kind of freshness and enthusiasm in their set, they kept me interested and listening more and more to their previous 7”s. I noticed I was getting more and more into this band. So when I got the opportunity to do a small email interview, I dove right in to do it.

Hi there! Who is answering these questions? What's is the weather like? And is the Susquehanna River still flowing and dividing the city of Kingston and Wilkes-Barre?

Hi my name is Ned. The weather right now is pretty dreary. It's been raining the past couple of days but today looks nicer. I hope it warms up soon. The Susquehanna is still here. We're going to try and take a trip kayaking in it this summer.



I always wondered what your musical background is. What bands did you grow up with? What bands inspired you the most? What band did you had in mind when you started Title Fight?

Our musical background varies member to member but for me bands I grew up with are bands like Minor Threat, Descendents, Blink-182 and current bands from the time like Kid Dynamite. Also, I have always been very partial to all bands from our area. Bands like Frostbite, Bedford, Cold World, etc.
Over time my taste has definitely expanded and I think it has shown in our songwriting. When we started the band we just wanted to sound like Blink-182, but as you can tell that's pretty different now.

You guys despite being in a pop punk band are also a part of the hardcore scene, the reaction at This Is Hardcore 2010 is a great example of the following you have in that scene. Also a lot of hardcore bands talk about Title Fight here in Europe. Did you feel Title Fight always has been accepted in this slightly different scene or did you have to earn your place in the scene?

Honestly it would be the other way around. We come from the hardcore scene. Our first show was with Blacklisted, Frostbite, Drugtest and Scraps and Heart Attacks. We weren't really put into the "pop punk" scene until a couple of years ago. We are all hardcore kids.



Did you yourself attend the Positive Numbers fests in Wilkes-Barre? Did that fest and all other hardcore bands that toured Wilkes-Barre/Kingston area influence Title Fight in anyway?

Yes. I was at the first Posi Numbers fest and I went to the last two. My older brother was involved in every single fest and was afraid I would get hurt in the middle years when it was at Homebase and the Firehall so he didn't let me go. I'm pretty mad about that still. That fest still has a major impact on us as people and as a band. It really made a name for our home town and brought some of the best bands ever through our town. Cro-Mags original lineup, Underdog, Killing Time, Agnostic Front, and every single important band from the era came and played. The whole time as extremely influential because we were just getting into hardcore and all those bands shaped what we liked and didn't like.

What goals did you set when you started Title Fight? What goals do you still want to achieve with Title Fight?

The only goal we ever had when we started was to put out a record and do a tour. Honestly I don't know what our goals are now. We've done so many things that I never thought we'd have the opportunity to do that I just want to do anything we have the opportunity to do. I guess a goal would be just play everywhere.

Listening to the record, I sort of have the feeling you mellowed out a bit, but most of all matured a lot within a time frame of only a few months. Can you agree with me on that or do you feel it all was a more natural process and pretty much inevitable and the change in style wasn't a rapid as some of the listeners would think after listening to the whole record and comparing it to your previous 7"s?

I'd say it was more of just a natural process. We didn't make a conscious decision to do that it just happened when we were writing these new songs. Also, at the same time, I think these songs are not really "mellow". They have slower tempos at times but they are just as aggressive as or maybe even more aggressive than any song we have ever written. We are 20 years old, we are still pissed off. We are not nearly ready to mellow out yet.



What do you think is the best song of the record, what did you enjoy the most writing and working on?

I think "Shed" might be my favorite. I don't think I can pinpoint one thing that was most fun working on because we wrote the whole thing as a cohesive thought. Every song is important and different than the next.

Reading the lyrics, I sort of get the idea the person who writes the lyrics has been hurt a lot in life. Are all the lyrics based on real life experience? Is the personal level of the lyrics ever an issue within the band?

Yes the lyrics are all based on real life experience. This record we all kind of sat down and wrote the lyrics together. The personal level has never been an issue at all. We strive to be honest and for me I am most inspired to write lyrics when I am feeling upset about something.

Another thing I noticed about the lyrics is the fact; they often deal or take place in Kingston. In what way did Kingston inspired you guys?

Kingston is a small town. There is not much to do; you need to make your own fun. We made our own fun in starting a band. This is our outlet. We don't know anything else besides living in Kingston so that's why we sing about it.

Why did you choose to work with Walter for this record? Does his work also have to do with the very light Quicksand vibe that slipped onto the record?

We chose to work with Walter because we are all very big fans of his music and writing. We wrote 85% of the record before Walter came on board so I think that was just more us bringing the influence on our own but we are definitely being inspired by many of his bands at the time of writing the record.

Will Title Fight be your top priority for 2011? Or can we expect some stuff from any related bands? (Stick Together/Disengage/Bad Seed.)

Title Fight is priority but there will still be new music from other bands at some point.



I noticed a European tour being planned for the summer. Any other exciting tours and events coming up? Would you like to tour Japan again?

We are going to be doing a lot of touring after the record comes out. I would love to tour Japan again. It is a great place with lots of great people.

Any last stuff that needs to be mentioned?

Thanks for the interview.


Interview by Nico
Pictures taken from the interwebz.

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Related bandprofile: Title Fight