|| The Sound Faction (dot com) ||

I'll admit to never having heard of The Status until one of the press people we work with mentioned them to us, wondering if we'd like to talk to them. Of course, then and there I took the time to check their MySpace, and when I found myself thouroughly enjoying their music, I got right back to him and told him I would love the chance to speak with the band.

I was lucky enough to get to talk to frontman Ben about their music, their new full length album, and... hugs.

"There's definitely those times in life, I guess, the harder times, when it's hard to get up and face the day, whatever you might be going through. Music's always been that thing that kept me going personally, and I know for the other guys as well."
- Ben: The Status

For our readers who don't know who you are, roll call! Can you please introduce yourself and tell us what you do for the band?

My name is Ben, and I play guitar, and sing for The Status.

So how did The Status come to be?

Basically we formed, I guess, back in 2004. Andy, the other guitar player and myself, just began writing a whole lot of songs, and were just really interested in collaborating, trying to just write good songs, really. We were just taking it as a project to write songs. We didn't really have definitive plans to start a band or play shows or anything. But as we continued to write, we definitely wanted to start doing shows, and that's when we added our drummer, and our bass player as well. I think our first show officially as The Status was in 2006. All four of us had known each other for quite awhile and most of us grew up together, and had been friends for a really long time, so that help.

Nice, so it really just started from the want to write?

Yeah, yeah. We had all been in other bands before, and it's a lot of work to be in a band, and a lot of time invested in it, so we kind of took a break after those bands split up to just focus on writing songs and just get better as song writers and players and stuff. So it really started as a project to just to kind of write some good songs and come up with some good songs.

That's cool. So what inspired you to make music, and is it the same thing that inspires you today?

That's a good question. I think for all of us, just music inspired us to make music. Just growing up and listening to out favourite artists. Whether it was like old-school music, or whatever we were listening to at the time, just getting through school and growing up with certain artists gave us passion to listen to more music and find new artists, and tell our friends about music and other artists. So that's what really gave me the passion to start writing and start playing music. And I think that the more you do it, your passions kind of change a little bit. You derive inspiration from different things and different circumstances in life, but I think it always comes back, for me, to the first time I heard Nirvana, or listened to Oasis, or I used to listen to MXPX all the time. Just old bands like that really kind of got me listening to music in the first place.

Your full length CD, So This Is Progress, has been out for about four months now, how has the reaction from the fans been so far?

It's been great! We toured with the CD out, and we've got to meet a lot of new people and I think, being our first record and stuff, we're kind of the baby band on the scene. We're spending a lot of time just trying to tour and meet up with people, but so far the reaction's been great. We've had a lot of support from the fans we already had, and the new fans have been awesome, too. We've been around the country a couple of times and each time we see old friends and fans, and then we're meeting new ones. The reaction's been great, and we're really excited about the rest of this year, and more tours coming up.

I'll admit to lurking your MySpace a bit-

(Laughs) Oh yeah?

Yeah, and I was looking at the comments you guys have from your fans, and you honestly seem to have a relationship with your fans, and that's fantastic to see. Is it hard to keep that up, or is it something that, no matter what, you're going to try and make the time for?

Yeah, I think we go in phases, we always want to keep up with our fans- One of my favourite bands growing up was Weezer, and they were real interactive on their website, had an awesome street team, and I don't know. It just always made me feel like I was a part of what they were doing, so it's definitely at the core of what we're trying to do, making sure that people feel like they're a part of what we're trying to do. By getting our music out there, we need people to believe in us, and to feel like their a part of it. Definitely on the road it's harder, because the internet is more... limited? (Laughs) and phone internet isn't always the greatest for responding to messages and comments, but it's definitely one of those important values that we instill. If we're tired in the morning before work, or have a bit of a long day on the road, we try to make sure that we keep up with people, so that they know we really appreciate them checking out our band and spreading the word.

Cool. So I know you toured cross country with Bayside, The Matches, Valencia, how was the reaction to touring with a full CD as opposed to an EP?

It was great. It's been great. With the EP, there's only a couple of songs there compared to an album. So the EP when we were doing shows, we were playing a lot of songs that weren't available to people to buy or check out online. So having the record definitely helps connecting with people, and just helping people learn our songs and stuff is huge for our live shows. So that's one of the biggest things. All the songs we play live now are on the record, and kids can always check that out at the show, and we're in stores now, too, which is awesome.

So, again, on your MySpace, you said that you're, 'on the bottom of the next level,'. What exactly do you mean by that, and what do you think that it will take for you to get to the top of that next level?

I guess what we meant by that as just, you know, before you get signed, or put out your first record, you can grow up in the local scene, and you can do as many shows as you want, and get a fan base in your home town and stuff and that's awesome. But then when you put out your first record and it's in stores and stuff, and you're going across the country, you're pretty much a new band, so it just takes time for people to catch on and to hear about you. Obviously there's a lot of people who haven't heard to The Status yet, and that's sort of our ambition, try to get our music out to as any people as possible. It's a big task, because there's a ton of bands out there with records out that are doing shows and trying to get kids to come out and hang out at their shows. It's just kind of one of those things where we know we have to work hard and keep touring, and keep meeting people, and keep in touch, and help them push our name out there, or otherwise, a lot of people might never hear about The Status.

So the music industry is a tough one to be in, so what is it that fuels your passion for what you do?

I think it just goes back to what we were talking about earlier, just passion about music, and the way it's changed our lives individually, and as a band. There's definitely those times in life, I guess, the harder times, when it's hard to get up and face the day, whatever you might be going through. Music's always been that thing that kept me going personally, and I know for the other guys as well. As tough as it is in this industry, and with the economy and everything, at the end of the day that's kind of stuff that keeps us going. As tough as it is, It's... just the people. There's a lot of good people. There's a lot of bad people in this industry, but there's a lot of good people we've met. We've been fortunate enough to meet a lot of the good people and we work with some of the most amazing people we've ever met. The Fans on top of that, all those things help make everything worth it even when it feels like it might not be worth it.

What can we expect from The Status in the future?

We're just planning on touring a lot the rest of this year, to support our record, So This Is Progress. We're hoping to go around the country a couple more times before 2010 comes around. We've got some exciting things we're working on for the spring. Some bigger tours, we're doing some tours with our friends coming up in February / March, our friends in the band Barely Blind. We're working on a music video right now, too, so, we have a lot of stuff coming up that we'll be announcing pretty soon, so you can expect a lot this year from us.

So, at The Sound Faction, we aim to be five of the most random people you'll ever meet. With our interviews, we try to end everything with five random questions, just to end everything on a less serious note. Are you up for that?

Yeah! That's perfect.

Awesome. If you had to be an inanimate object, what would you be?

Hm... I think- would a baseball count as that?

Yes it would!

I think I would like to be a baseball.

Any particular reason as to why?

I grew up playing, and it's probably my favourite sport. I'd prefer to be a major league baseball!

That would be pretty epic!

Yeah! It'd be awesome!

What's your favourite, and least favourite, dance craze?

I don't know if I have a favourite! I think I'm just going to have to say The Macarena because... it's the dumbest dance ever that got really huge for... I don't know why!

For absolutely no reason!

Yeah. Probably, least favourite? I'd have to say... I hope no one is offended, but the Superman dance. Soulja Boy? Over the top and... bad, how many people know how to do it. I don't know how to do it.

(Laughs) Well, you can learn on YouTube!

I know, I know! I thought about it, but then every time I go out... wherever you go, the song's on, and people are doing it in like, grocery stores and stuff, and I just kind of feel like it's over the top!

(Laughs) I'd actually like to see someone break into that at a grocery store...

I've seen it happen! It's weird! (Laughs)

What's your favourite song on Guitar Hero?

I think... I'm not a huge Guitar Hero player. I watch more than I play, but... probably... I really like playing Nirvana's Heart Shaped Box, I think it was on the first Guitar Hero, and they have the solo that's not actually on the record, which I always thought was kind of cool.

Who would you want to win a date with?

That's a good question. Natalie Portman would probably be exciting, because she's beautiful and seems like she's a really cool person, at least in the movies. I don't know on a personal level, but I'd say a date with her would be pretty nice.

Awesome. Alright, last one, what's one guilty pleasure of yours?

Guilty pleasure... let's see... that's a tough one. I'm a big time sports nerd. I used to keep up with pretty much every sport, like, stats and stuff when I was younger. I'm still pretty into it, I don't do it as much obviously, because I don't have as much time to watch and keep up with things. But on my down time, I always watch whatever is on the TV (Laughs).

This is your shameless self promotion spot! If you have anything you'd like to add about... anything, this is your chance, so go ahead!

Everybody should check out The Status record, So This Is Progress, and tell at least five people. Send us a message and tell us that you did it, and we'll give you hugs!

Aw! Yay hugs! I'm going to go tell five people now! I like hugs!

I know! You've got to go tell five people and you'll redeem it soon!

Thank you again to Ben for taking the time to answer our questions! If you want to check out The Status (and you should), you can find their MySpace here.