UN: To start this thing off, can you introduce the members of the band and give us a brief history for Forever is Forgotten? Were any of you guys in bands before this one?

Scott: The members are CJ Krueger - Vocals he was in A Shroud Cast Over

Jim Becker - Bass, Vocals

Jerry Hauppa - Guitar and he was in a band called Invoke the Flood that had members of End This Day in it

Scott Giese (thats me) - Drums/ Band Daddy, I was in some other bands before this but nothing worth mentioning...ok I was in a band called Stinkpalm damn you..but that is all I am saying about that...

UN: How did Thorp Records come into the picture? Were there any other labels interested in you guys before the deal with Thorp came around?

Scott: We played a show here in Milwaukee that happened to be End This Day's last show (well 2nd to last show) and a guy by the name of Scott Sheridan (X-Blue Skies Burning, now has a new band called Thera) was there and he works for lumberjack with Andy King of Thorp records. He liked what he saw bought a CD and took it to Andy at work with a boombox put it on his desk and told him he had to sign us. So that is that. We had some other labels that were interested at the time. Including some talks with Eulogy, but at the time Thorp was right for us. We are done w/ that contract now and just feeling out other options at the moment.

UN: Now that the Architecture is Still Burning has been out for a little while, how has the response been so far? I’d definitely say it’s one of the best albums I’ve ever heard to combine metal and hardcore. I think it stands out like a sore thumb right now.

Scott: I think the response has been a love it or hate it. It seems that kids are into it. It is definitely not for everyone but that is why it sticks out.

UN: Do you think there has been a big progression for the band between Dying Beautiful and The Architecture is Still Burning? Do you encourage people to check out the earlier EP? Some bands are embarrassed by their early material, hopefully you guys aren’t!

Scott: Oh yeah I have seen a large progression, even since after the album has come out. Yeah we want people to check out the original EP, actually it is being re-released through Thorp it comes out on May 11th it has two live tracks and an enhanced live video of our Furnace Fest 2K3 performance. Embarrassed I wouldn't say that, I mean we don't play a couple of songs off it anymore because we feel we have stronger songs for the live show, but no we are not embarrassed about it. It is not a perfect recording but that is what I like you can listen to that, then Architecture and hear some real progression, I think the next one you will notice a lot more progression.

UN: While on the subject of your debut album, can you explain the meaning behind the album name?

Scott: Basically there are a few meanings the one I like is that this band symbolizes our passion to do what we love, the pursuit of happiness. And that happiness isn't always a fancy car ( although I love cars) or a high paying job. And sometimes it is writing music you love and driving around the country in a van making very little money living off of ramen noodles and sleeping on peoples floors. And that we all were those kids that sat in our room and put on our favorite albums that help shap who we are today. That is our structure, or architecture if you will. And even at this age ( I am 25...which in hardcore is almost dinosaur years) and despite the pressures to settle down, work a 9-5 job,grow up, be responsible this passion is still burning inside.

We also wanted to encourage kids to light buildings on fire, but the other explanation makes us sound much smarter.

UN: I read that you guys have parted ways with the singer on the debut cd. Has a replacement been found yet? How are things working out?

Scott: Yeah actually both guitar players have left the band to persue other things as well. Avenues that aren't as serious musically as FIF. But that is cool you have to do what makes you happy. As far as the new singer goes we are really happy with CJ, despite his messed up haircut now that makes him look like Bobby from King of the Hill. All of the new members are awesome and we are having a blast right now. And that is what is important.

UN: I was curious to ask how the songwriting process works within the band. There is a lot going on in the music so it must take some time to piece everything together and have everything flow. Is the entire band involved in the songwriting process?

Scott: Well as of recently Jerry has been writing the riffs and bringing them to practice, he will make me tapes that I work on in my own time and the same goes for the other guys then we bring all of our parts to practice and tell eachother they suck and mud wrestle to find out who is right. Jerry always bites my speedo off...what a dick...songs usually are not finished within a month or two lol...

UN: Is it important for you guys to appeal to more then one type of music fan? I’m not saying that it’s intentional within the writing, but it has to be nice when your music can be appreciated my many different people. I could see death metal fans getting into it just as easily as hardcore fans.

Scott: It is important to us to appeal to ourselves. We all have such diverse musical interests we want to touch on as much as we can that we like. Which causes disagreements at time cause Jerry hates hardcore pretty much and jim, cj, and my self love it...hence the mud wrestling...Jerry has sharp teeth, I think it is because he used to live in the wilderness and chew bark off trees to survive.

UN: Looking at the bands website it seems like when you guys tour you play as many shows as humanly possible. It looked like you guys play almost every night in January. Is it important to play as many shows as you can? I’d assume that if you are out on the road you’d rather be playing then take nights off.

Scott: Yeah since we aren't paying the bills with this band we all have jobs and stuff w/ rent to pay and what not so when we tour we want to make the most of it.

UN: Do you find that you guys get compared to the standard bands any band that has discordant riffs and technicality gets compared to? I’m sure you’ve been compared to Dillinger Escape Plan so many times it makes your head hurt when you hear it. I’d say you guys definitely break the mold for crazy hardcore though, and are doing something all your own.

Scott: I think the DEP is pretty constant there are a ton of bands that get that hurled at them. I guess there could be worse bands to get compared to. You know like Ion Dissonance..ha ha j/k

UN: Do you guys ever worry that by playing music with so many parts that people might just not get it? I’m sure you must see people at shows just scratching their heads thinking something along the lines of “this doesn’t sound like my radio.” I know you play music for yourselves first and foremost, but is that something you guys ever think about?

Scott: Actually it is funny you mention that in our home town last year at this time we just started playing again after writing like 4 new songs and we played them all at a local fest. Usually we get a really good response at home, this was the crowds first time hearing any of our new stuff and they kind of just sat there and were like huh? So we expect it when new songs come out. That is good though, we don't want our stuff to be easily digestible, that most likely means we aren't doing anything new.

There are times when we realize we need to chill out to let the song breathe other wise it is gonna go way over kids heads when we write it. I mean there are the tech heads out there who we probably can't play techy enough for. But I just try to put it into terms of what I like, then push it one step further to see if I really like it.

UN: Do you think it’s important for both the music and the lyrics to convey emotion? Obviously you guys are a very heavy band, but you have the slower sections as well. It does a lot to make songs stand out when you have a strong sense of dynamics. Are the dynamics intentional or do you guys just like mixing things up within the songs?

Scott: Yes I think that lyrics are almost more important than the music, for me if I don't really care for the music at first but the lyrics touch me eventually I learn to like the music. This band was started as an emotional outlet, and it is very important to us for our songs to be passionate about them lyrically and musically. I want it to touch kids ( not like Michael Jackson does)

I think that the dynamics we use help to balance out our sound, and make it well rounded. And there are times we just want to fuck with kids. Our ultimate goal is to write a mosh part that confuses kids so much that they just fall down...

UN: That’s all of the questions from me. Let’s end this with this, what do you think makes you guys stand out amongst the seemingly endless stream of metal core bands these days?

Scott: What makes us stand out? You know I wish I could tell you, If I knew I would bottle it, sell it and buy all the useless crap I could get my hands on. I think most of all we play music we want to hear and will continue to do that. Who knows people may hate what we put out next, but if we do our best for ourselves and try as hard as we can there is no need for regret.

Lastly I wanted to thank you for this interview and apologize for it taking so long. This has been one of the best interviews question wise that we have done. So thank you for that. Other than that we leave for tour on April 8th in Canada with Ion Dissonance. More info here www.foreverisforgotten.com Please check out our MP3's at http://www.pahardcore.com/bands/bands.cfm?id=4286

Also please check out Cause For Revelation our old singers new band..and thanks to Kathi at Superscript Media for being extra yello!..ha ha...thanks again.