Jason and I had been in a band, Can I Say, for a few years and we knew it was fizzling out. So in late 2006, we started tossing around the idea of starting something new. There wasn’t a whole lot of direction at the start. I wanted to try doing vocals in a band again since it had been a few years, and Jason wanted to get back on bass. Outside of a Shai Hulud show, we got to talking to our longtime friend Jp about it, and he expressed interest in playing guitar for the band. I knew I wanted this guy Kellen (previously the guitar player in Where Eagles Dare) to join and play second guitar, and I courted our friend Ian (from And the Hero Fails) as well; Ian couldn’t commit at the time and Kellen was unsure but down to give it a try. I set about finding a drummer (never an easy task in AZ) but actually got really lucky and found Matt right off the bat. This lineup jammed and wrote some songs for about 3 months until Kellen parted ways. Ian was able to come in at that point and well, here we are!

Yes and yes. The cover art is comprised of maps of Phoenix; in a literal sense, we wanted to put Phoenix on the map, to show people unaware of our scene what it’s all about. I’ve been to a lot of different scenes around the country and in my opinion, there is nothing out there quite like what we have here at home. We’re all very proud of that, and even more so, to be a part of it. All of us have been in previous bands here as well; speaking from personal experience, it has been incredibly hard to get heard outside of Arizona. Find Your Way Out can, in another literal sense, mean getting out of Arizona and establishing yourself elsewhere, both of which we hope to do in the near future. I have to say though that when I was writing these songs, Find Your Way Out had a much different meaning to me. Every song is about feeling trapped; whether it’s by the greater society around us or by personal feelings of frustration, despair, or hatred – there are times we all need a way out. That’s what this EP was all about for me – finding a way through my problems; more importantly though, I hope other people can find their own personal meanings in the songs.

Coming of age during the Bush Administration has had an incredibly formative impact on how I view politics, our government, and authority in general. I don’t think I need to go into much detail about how much of a complete failure this President has been (as it’s overwhelmingly obvious). We’ve all witnessed this incompetence and disregard for public opinion firsthand and to be honest, there are much scarier things going on here than failure (fucking Free Masons!). I got to thinking about how Bush and his administration made me feel one day, and the immediate result was such an overwhelming sense of hatred and contempt, I felt blinded and stifled. I couldn’t even really form a cohesive thought, there was only anger. Exit Strategy was the result of trying to capture that feeling as simply and effectively as possible in lyrical form.

As long as people feel at odds with the status quo of our society and band together to find a way of expressing that, in the process creating a community, hardcore will be relevant. Hardcore is an answer to a problem that most people never even bother to ask. To be honest, I can’t image a circumstance or time when hardcore won’t be relevant; now as for whether or not is has become watered down or less politically/socially aware…well that is a different issue altogether. There is without a doubt a lack of revolutionary consciousness in todays hardcore. Bands with a message (other than eating pizza and hanging out bro!) are few and far between; I agree whole-heartedly with critics in this respect. However, I don’t see that as taking away from the overall relevance of hardcore as a subculture. Bands of both types need to exist, but I’d really like to see more of a balance… and less Nikes.

We’ve actually only played one out of state show to date, but it was awesome! Our friends in Countdown to Life decided to call it quits and were kind enough to have us play their last show. It was in late July in Longview, Washington which is about an hour north of Portland. Even though Longview was a pretty small town, the show was really awesome. Himsa headlined (those dudes always kill it) and the crowd was super excited about everything. Not to mention, it wasn’t 120 degrees onstage. Sweet!

Without a doubt. I’m finishing up college at the moment, and we’re all in the process of preparing to become a full-time touring band. I graduate in May, and by then, we hope to have everything in order to hit to road. We couldn’t be more excited! Till then, we’ll probably be playing some weekend warrior shows along the west coast to get a foothold, so keep an eye out!

I’m a full time student; Jason works as a corporate scumbag at GoDaddy.com; Matt tints cars; Ian fixes cars, and Jp does graphic design work. Other than that, we hang out, eat burritos, argue about everything constantly (especially burritos and music), and go on sweet adventures as often as possible.

Being from Phoenix, I can only really talk about this scene as opposed to the others in Arizona, but please note: they too do exist and have wonderful bands to offer! So check them out!

I would describe it as fun, supportive, and diverse. I’ve talked to so many people from out of state who still think Phoenix (and Arizona more broadly) is little more than a dusty cowboy town; an even greater number have absolutely no idea that our hardcore scene exists. Just because we aren’t one of the historical breeding grounds for successful hardcore bands doesn’t mean we don’t have something worthwhile to offer. At the same time, a lot of out of state friends who have come down for shows have told me how blown away they were by our scene. It feels really tight-knit; we are in every sense of the word a community - truly. For the most part, everyone knows each other and is respectful. I absolutely cherish that feeling of walking into a show full of people and feeling at home; it’s unlike anything else in the world. As for things I would change… in the last few years we’ve had some rough times and hit some bad spots. But for the most part that’s all taken care of now; the bad apples are out and as Erin would say “the fun is back.” Honestly it almost seems like there are two hardcore scenes here now; one that revolves (revolved?) around Metal Devastation 2 and ours. It’s somewhat unfortunate that this division exists, but in the long run, I think it’s better for everyone because the two sides don’t really see eye to eye on much. Co-existence seems to be working fine.

Haha we are many things, but a straight edge band is certainly not one of them. Only Jason and myself are; Ian deals meth in schoolyards and Matt and Jp lick toad, so it definitely stays interesting. Everyone in the band comes from a very different background and as a result, there is no single ideology that RWTH can promote as its own. However, there are commonalities that overlap and things that we all believe in. Put simply, we feel that there's a lot of false passion and misdirected hate and bitterness out there - in music, in art, in people themselves. If we have a particular message it’s that you should become familiar and comfortable with these “negative” feelings because they are every much as part a life as the “positive” ones; then, you should find an outlet, a way out of sorts, to release it all. Something constructive, communicative and as powerful as the emotions themselves; perhaps something that looks a lot like contributing to the hardcore scene.

We are indeed! We all enjoy a good book and are avid readers when time permits. I’m going to let everyone answer this question for themselves though.

Drew:
Currently reading: Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto by Vine Deloria Jr.
Must Reads: Endgame by Derrick Jensen, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Matt:
Currently reading: Halo 3 by XBOX 360
Must Reads: Halo 2 by XBOX, Halo by XBOX

Jp:
Currently reading: This is going to sound completely stereotypical but I’m honestly reading Run with the Hunted again and Our Band Could Be Your Life.
Must Reads: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris, Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski, and The Average American Male by Chad Kultgen

Jason:
Currently reading: Good Omens by Neil Gaimon
Must Reads: Animal Liberation by Peter Singer, Days of Love, Nights of War by Crimethinc, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and A Language Older Than Words by Derrick Jensen

Ian:
Currently reading: Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac
Must Reads: The Story of B by Daniel Quinn, Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo, and On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Don’t taze me bro!