UN: Small Town Tragedy will probably be a new name for most people. How did the band come together? Did any of you guys know each other from previous bands?

Andy: Well, We all knew each other and have been in bands before with at least 2 of the members, except for Steve (guitar). He was in a seperate band that noone was really "linked" to. We met him at a party and he liked the same type of music so we asked if he wanted to try out and the rest is history.

UN: One of the first things that made me want to find out more about the band was the band name. How exactly did you guys come up with the band name? I think it's one of the most interesting names I've heard in awhile.

Andy: When I was a teenager I wrote a screenplay (half at least) that was named "Small Town Tragedy", it was a combination of words that sounded good together. I pitched it to the guys and they all liked it. There was at one time another Small town Tragedy but they broke up. Also when I thought of it, I grew up with the show"Twin Peaks."

UN: Despite having a production I know you aren't pleased with, how has the response to your demo been so far? I don't think the production necesarily hurts the overall impact myself though.

Andy: Well, the production was probably the best we got for the money. We only spend $200 on the whole thing. Got our name out, people liked us. Just being in St. Louis, we have gotten fans. Usually here popularity of a band relies on a friendship following.

Also, we solved the problem by re-recording all the songs orignally on "theFIRSTep". It was our first recording effort, and we thought we did well. Now the songs have changed a bit, and people still dig them, so we re-recorded them.

UN: So would you say that you guys have progressed since the demo?

Andy: Definately. On the new cd, which includes the 4 songs on the first cd, there are 3 new ones. You will definately tell that there has been some difference in style. We still sound like STT, however now there is more added.

UN: Have any labels shown interest in the band yet? If I'm not mistaken the band is releasing the next cd yourselves. Any idea when it'll be out?

Andy: No labels have shown interest yet. However we didn't widely send out the last cd like we will with the new one. We wanted to make sure it fairly represented us. We are done recording, we are currently mixing. Should all be done in May and hopefully will package and release by June.

UN: Are there any labels in particular you'd be interested in being on? I'm sure interest will grow once you spread the name around more, I think you guys are one of the few new bands playing noisy hardcore that is actually original.

Andy: Well Thanks, A Label that could totally support us going on tour and actually has a good advertising rep. would be great. Our Friends in Calico System are doing pretty good and they are on Eulogy. Ferret, Deathwish, anything that would help us, feed us, promote us. We aren't picky.

UN: Speaking of touring, do you guys get the chance to play many shows? I'm not even sure where you guys are from exactly. Have you had the chance to play many out of town shows?

Andy: We play alot of shows here in St. Louis, MO, which is where we are from. We have played a couple of out of town shows. Lately we have been concentrating on the album and this summer we are looking to go out more in the midwest. The majority of us in the band work 40 hrs a week at jobs. So us getting off for a couple of weeks is tough, but it is what we wanna do.

UN: So if it came down to the band making it or your jobs, you'd go with the band?

Andy: Definately. we have such a great time when we are out on the road. We love meeting new people. We have played in front of alot of people and love it. Then we play in front of 20 people and still love it. It's something we all want. We love doing what we do, and we want to do it worry free of jobs and what not.

UN: While on the subject of touring and shows, I was curious to know how you would describe a Small Town Tragedy live performance? Can people expect a lot of flying bodies and a band going completely nuts?

Andy: Yes, we do get a little nutty on stage. Injuries do occur in the band and in the crowd. I usually hit our singer in the head everyonce and awhile with my guitar. Our last show was a broken hand, broken and bloody nose and a guy dislocated his kneecap.

UN: That's worse then some sports games! So do you consider the band as a release for agression and any other negative emotion you want to get rid of?

Andy: Yes. Which is great cause some of our release of aggression and problems becomes a positive and kids get together and have fun. However we don't want anyone to get hurt but we get wrapped up in it sometimes, we don't see anyone in the crowd. However lately the shows have been getting more violent.

UN: Do you think that's just people taking it a bit too far? There's always the odd person who thinks a mosh pit is a football field.

Andy: Well we do get Jock Moshers (who just push into people and don't care about the outcome) and one our shows got a little out of hand. He almost had to be kicked out on the venue, which is something I would of agreed with. He was wearing our shirt. "Look out for people, if they fall or get hurt help them out" is my motto.

UN: I couldn't track down any lyrics, but judging from the song names they seem rather interesting. What are the usual topics dealth with in the lyrics?

Andy: I think we are on hardcorelyrics.com and you can find the lyrics to the 4 songs on theFIRSTep. (link: http://www.hardcorelyrics.com/viewlyric.aspx?idNum=1971) A lot of the songs are about failure and some people have said that does get repetitive. However, alot of people fail more than succeed. p of a gun" is basically about guns and war. "Sins & Needles" is about drug use. We have very basic themes mainly a fascination with Failure & Guns.

UN: One song in particular has a great title, Ben Matlock Vs. Angela Lansbury. What's that one about?

Andy: We just mainly thought the name & combination was really cool. I couldn't even tell you what its about. There is a lyric "The world won't change because of me. But I won't change because of the world" It could be about individuality. Jerry, our vocalist, keeps his lyrics too himself till the song is finalized . Now that it is finalized, we will probably ask him. However there is a song named "Harold's Song" that has a interesting story behind it. I was on eBay one day and found a "haunted" painting. The title of the piece was "Stricken Life". It was a disturbing painting. Basically a self portrait but there was blood and what not on it. Harold, the artist, found out he had cancer when his wife was already suffering with a disease. Harold murdered her and committed suicide because she needed to be taken care of...but no one would be around after he would die. Well it got on eBay, the family that got the house believed the place was haunted due to the picture and they sold it but it was just such a sad & facinating story. We had to do something for it, or that's how we felt. If you look for haunted paintings on Yahoo or some search engine you might find a website dedicated to it. We might actually be able to put something on our site about it so people know what that song is about.

UN: You weren't kidding, that is quite the interesting story! Would you say that dynamics play a big part in the STT sound? Above all you are a heavy band, but you have clean parts and a lot of build ups.

Andy: Dynamics are our sidekick. We like to mix in everything we possibly can to give listeners an assault of music. Our newer stuff has those buildups & breakdowns, however we are adding some Grindy parts in there. Some people that heard the older stuff and didn't care for it, might be interested in some of our newer stuff.

UN: By grindy do you mean grindcore or slower?

Andy: Kinda along the lines of Daughters. Something like that.

UN: I think this will be the last question. What do you think makes Small Town Tragedy stand out within the scene? Would you consider the band to be original?

Andy: Originality is hard to come by nowadays. No band is totally original. Everything has been done I think. Now its all a question of fusion. I think we are original in a way. We don't sound like just 1 band. Our live performance really does the justice to our band. I think our fusion of different "core" genres make us unique. We are kind of the sampler of "Core" as someone once put it.

Small Town Tragedy Website