A Thorn For Every Heart

		A THORN FOR EVERY HEART by Christine Natanael
		LINKS: athornforeveryheart.com
Oft described as full of androgynous, timorous, and vacuous youth bloated with a misplaced sense of entitlement, narcissistic personality disorders, and their parent’s disposable income, emo has become the whipping boy du jour of the rock genre. The description is even more entertaining when it’s leveled by someone whose musical and stylistic preference is obviously one of a genre and/or era past its prime (insert poignant glam/hair metal, new metal, grunge, jam band, whatever image you prefer here…) It’s just the way things are. Can’t be changed. But for all the bile thrown in its general direction, emo is the sound that resonates best for those in some circles and, just as rap did in the early days, it refuses to just shut up and go away, much to the chagrin of its detractors. One of the most interesting of the plethora, A Thorn For Every Heart, came screaming out of Chino Hills, California in 2004 with their full length debut on Kickball Records titled Things Aren’t So Beautiful Now. To those not paying attention, it sounded much like the other bands lumped into the same category. But oh, how wrong, how very wrong, for it was something much more ambitious. Their debut, a much more fleshed out version of their debut EP, Silence Is Golden, contained within it the songs "Things Aren't So Beautiful Now, Parts 1 & 2," which are about a larger-than-life movie star dealing with infidelity and fame—like an mini emo version of Pink Floyd’s The Wall or Queensryche’s Operation: Mindcrime condensed to within two songs, minus the visuals. They showed ambition, cohesion, and promise for a band so young. Now, in 2006, the band is busy working on the follow up, which will be titled It’s Hard To Move You, and is tentatively scheduled for a January 2007 release. I got a chance to send some email questions to guitarist Phil Nguyen, which he graciously answered, even as they are preparing to return to the studio on July 18th, (strangely enough, both my birthday and Phil's...so Happy Birthday, Phil!,) to record more tracks.
CHRISTINE NATNAEL: How close did you actually come to almost having the name Summer So Bleak instead of A Thorn For Every Heart? Was it a heated discussion, or a unanimous and obvious decision to all of you? PHILLIP NGUYEN: From what I remember, I don't even remember ever really wanting to name the band Summer So Bleak. We all collectively thought of a few names, and we all voted and liked A Thorn For Every Heart the best. CN: How was working with Shawn Sullivan as opposed to working with your new producer Matt Squire? How did you come to choose Matt instead of going with Shawn again? PN: Both producers were great. We learned a whole lot from both of them. They both have their own style, and they both do things differently. For the first album, Shawn was perfect, and he knew exactly what we were going for. We went with Matt for the second album because we wanted something different then what we had on our first album. We loved what he was doing and we loved his vision.
CN: I see you were going to use Brett Dinovo from A Static Lullaby for drum tracking but switched to Matt Thornsen from Downtown Singapore. Was this your idea or your producer’s, and why did Brett drop out? PN: What it all came down to was that Brett was starting school again, and it conflicted with his schedule. So we asked Squire if he knew anybody, and he had Thornsen come in and do it. He did a perfect job. CN: Did you get a chance to write anything while you were doing the Warped Tour last year, or was it one non-stop party??? PN: We jammed out a few things, not really writing anything, just coming up with ideas. For us, its really hard to write when you're in such a cramped area. Doing half of the Warped Tour in a van isn't the perfect situation for writing music. Staying cool and getting out of the sun was more of a priority. CN: Tell me about driving in the snow in the Rockies. How scared were you, and did you learn your lesson to bring chains and snow tires for the future??? PN: Driving in the Rockies is probably one of the scariest things we have done on tour. It’s totally unpredictable. We got stuck on I-70 in Colorado in mid-April going out to the first Bamboozle Festival. We were stuck on the side of the mountain for 17 hours. We would drive 1 mile then have to pull over because it was snowing so hard that it covered the road. Then we would wait for the snow plow truck to come by and shovel it to the side, drive another mile then have to pull over again because it was so icy. We learned our lesson and bought chains for our winter 2006 tour. CN: How long did it take your merch guy to forgive you after you guys ran over his foot with your trailer while he was taking a crap in the middle of the desert? Has he exacted any revenge on you guys for that incident??? PN: He was pretty pissed off about it for 1 week or so. After that, he found it really funny. To this day, he hasn't done anything back to me. I'm not doubting that he won't get me back, but whatever he does, I deserve it. HAHA CN: How did you decide to cover The Smashing Pumpkins “Jelly Belly,” and Oingo Boingo’s “Dead Man’s Party”? PN: When they asked us to do a cover for Punk Goes 80's we all knew what we wanted to do. Personally, Oingo Boingo was one of my favorite bands growing up. I had older sisters who were totally into them, that turned me onto them. When we were asked to do the Smashing Pumpkins tribute album, we weren't sure what song we wanted to do. All we knew was that we didn't want to do a song that was a single. We were all pretty big fans of SP. Once we all heard "Jelly Belly," we all knew we wanted to do that song. Hopefully we didn't hack it up to bad. HAHA.
	CN: You had only been together roughly 3 months or so at the time you made the debut album, How have you grown as musicians since then? PN: We were a band roughly 5-6 months when we got signed. We recorded our first album about 8-9 months of being a band. Half of those songs were recorded 3 months of being a band. We didn't really have a certain style. Our songs were kinda everywhere. In the past 2 years, and its still changing everyday, we have more of a steady style. Its more focused. Of course we've grown as musicians. We all listen to different styles of music and we try to incorporate in our songs. You'll see what Imean when the second album comes out. CN: How many songs have you finished so far for the new disc, besides the track titled “Worthless,” which is up on MySpace? PN: We recorded a total of 12 songs in our first session. We're not done. We're going to go back and record some more songs. Maybe about 3 more. We want to put about 11-12 songs on the new record.
CN: Tell me the story that led to the actual acquisition of the tattoo Kelvin has on his wrist that the new album, It’s Hard To Move You was named for. PN: The saying "Its hard to move you" comes from our song “Summer So Bleak.” What he means by it is that there are times when you're playing a show, and some kids are too cool for school. Its like we're on stage giving it our all and the kids just stand there with their arms crossed, looking around seeing how others are reacting to the music. So that's how that saying came about. CN: So do you feel that you are quickly discovering the old Spinal Tap spontaneously combusting drummer syndrome to be true even in your genre? Tell me about your drummer problems and about the guy who’s filling the stool now. PN: For us, having a permanent drummer is a weird thing. Our first drummer, we had some personal and personality differences, same with our second official drummer. We've had over 6 different drummers play with us since. Tyler is our new drummer. We made it official about 2 months ago. He has been playing with us for about 8 months now. We like him. He's a keeper. CN: Tell me about yourself as a young child and the neighborhood where you grew up. PN: I grew up in Chino Hills. I've lived there for about 18 years. That's where I first met Kelvin. We've known each other since the first grade. We were always friends. Our group of friends were always the ones that were causing trouble in one way or another. But we are the way we are because of Chino Hills. I love it there. CN: What do you recall being the earliest form of music that captured your attention and spurred your imagination as a child? What was it and how old were you? PN: I grew up with older sisters who were really into glam rock. My first band I fell in love with was Poison. I remember my sisters buying the cassette tapes, and I would steal them and listen to them while they were in school. It’s funny being 6-7 years old and rocking out to Poison. CN: What is the typical day for ATFEH at home, and on the road? What kind of leisure activities or hobbies do you enjoy outside of music? PN: When we're at home, we all like to spend time with our families and friends. On the road, we all enjoy a good movie or some video games. But when I have time to myself at home, I love working on cars and customizing them. That takes up a lot of my time. CN: If you had the chance to sit down and interview anyone in the world, who would you choose and why? PN: If I had a chance to interview anybody in the world, it would have to be The Beatles. I know that half of them have passed away, but I would love to talk to them. They're one of my favorite bands. They totally influence me musically, and I know that they would have so many interesting things to say. CN: Did you study music in school? PN: I took guitar class in high school. That's where I actually met Jeff and Justin. I don't remember it teaching me much, but it was fun. CN: Which of your musical influences would you most like to meet (or have met if they are deceased) and why? PN: I would love to meet Journey, Queen, The Beatles, Reel Big Fish, Weezer, Guns’N’Roses, and Poison. They are the reason why I started playing guitar or music. I would just want to thank them for doing what they did.
CN: Name the country which fascinates you most, but you have yet to visit. Explain why. PN: I really would love to visit Japan. I just heard when bands go over there, it’s off the hook. Kids out there are nuts. So many people have told me that. I heard it’s a super rad country, and I love sushi. CN: How was your experience playing the Bamboozle Festival here in New Jersey recently??? PN: The Bamboozle was amazing--so many kids out there supporting. Everybody running the show was amazing. It ran so smoothly. the only bad thing about it was that this year, we flew out for the show and left our van and trailer at my house. Somebody knew that we weren't home, and they stole our trailer. Luckily only 2 guitars and merch got stolen.
CN: If you had the chance to collaborate with anyone on a song and record it, who would that be? PN: Steve Perry of Journey would be amazing to do a song with. That guy can fucking sing. CN: What would be your ultimate fantasy tour to be a part of (as in what bands would you want to play with if you could play with any in the world from any time period) , and why? PN: It have to be a Journey and Queen Tour. It would just be amazing. Enough said.....