UN: Let’s start with a little bit about Abacus. You guys definitely aren’t as heavy as many of the bands on the label, but seem to fit in perfectly. How did the bands involvement with the label come about?

Josh: Ray had emailed us back in June of 2003 saying he liked our stuff. We were on tour for most of 2003, so he and our manager stayed in touch mostly over a couple of months. We demoed some new material in the beginning of 2004 to shop around and Ray was so amped on it that he started talking serious with us, we liked we him and Abacus had to offer so we proceeded forward and here we are! The fact that Abacus wasn't genre specific to our sound I think was a big attraction to us as well, although it is appealing to be involved with labels that have a strong ties to your genre, we wanted something new and different, much like the musical direction we were headed in from our previous work.

UN: Do you think being involved with Abacus will help you guys take the band to the next level? Obviously they can give you more support then the label that released your first full-length.

Josh:: Absolutely. Everyone at Abacus believes in this band and has proven time and time again that they are willing to do anything it takes to make this band huge we couldn't be happier to know that. They have been supportive even beyond what we've expected.

Travis: I definitely think that being involved with Abacus will help our band get to the next level. Everyone over at Abacus is extremely supportive in every move we make, which will help the situation benefit both parties.

UN: Would you say it was a conscious decision to make a darker record this time around? The catchiness is still there, but it is definitely one of the most unique albums in quite sometime that could be associated with the pop/punk genre.

Josh: Well the first thing to say involving this question is this is definitely not a pop punk record. I think people are under the impression that we were a pop punk band and with the last album that came out it would be easy to think so. We are an evolving band, we started to come into our own through touring for a year and a half straight, and from taking 4 months off completely to write a record that we wanted to create. The resulting darker sounding record is not intentional, it's merely a product of how the band has progressed and adapted to our tastes and influences. You could call it a result of road experience, growing older, growing up, whatever you want to relate it to. Either way, what you are now hearing is a band that has established a signature sound.

Travis: I wouldn't say that it was a conscious decision. We did not however want to make the same album twice. We knew we wanted to grow as musicians and as a band. When we added Brian DiCosmo to the band, he helped take our band to a whole new level. So the darker, heavier sound was more of something that just evolved on its own.

UN: To my ears the new album sounds like a cross between pop/punk, and Glassjaw. Would you say that Glassjaw has been an influence at all? I’m not sure if it’s in the music, but I definitely hear it from time to time vocally.

Josh: Glassjaw is a favorite of everyone in this band so I would say their influence is most likely a part of this record. I would honestly say this is either a Post-Hardcore record, or a straight up rock record. It has the influences of pop punk most definitely, but the overall sound is a far cry from The Starting Line or New Found Glory, both of whom I am fans of, but no longer a style of music that this band has grown to create. If you really wanna hear where the influence of this record comes from you could look back to the mid-90s alternative explosion, such as Smashing Pumpkins and Hum, or to classic NYC bands like Quicksand and Orange 9MM, or to modern day hardcore/metal bands like Everytime I Die and Glassjaw. The record touches on all these different styles of music while creating a new sound for our band.

Travis: Glassjaw is definitely a huge influence for The Goodwill. Besides both bands being from the same area, everyone in The Goodwill is a huge Glassjaw fan.

UN: Right from the get go you guys were a band that got out on the road. With Insult, Injury, Etc. do you think that you guys will be on the road for an even longer amount of time? I’m sure bigger tours will present themselves now.

Josh: The plan is to be on the road even more then we had been, with a bigger label with more support this is more easily feasible. Hopefully the bigger tours fall into place for us, we're starting to see some results come in, hopefully it expands from there.

Travis:: We would love nothing more then to be on the road as much as possible. We have always been a band who has loved bringing our music to as many people as possible, and this time around we hope to bring it to an even larger amount of people.

UN: Would playing the Warped Tour again this summer be something that the band would be interested in doing? It’s pretty much the biggest tour for this style of music and every band on the tour seems to really enjoy the atmosphere of the tour.

Josh: Warped tour is a #1 priority for this band. We played 2 1/2 weeks of the tour back in 2003 on the smallest stage on the tour and it was a great learning experience as well as a unique opportunity. We hope to be a part of the tour again this year hopefully in a larger context then we have been previously.

Travis: There is NOTHING more that we would like to do this summer then to play Warped Tour.

UN: I have to ask, how exactly did your drummer break his arm? I read that it was at a party. There has to be a story there! Are broken bones common for the band?

Josh: Oh man I hope not! All I have to say involving this situation is you take for granted sometimes certain aspects of your life you assume are always part of the routine and once it's taken away it's a frightening awakening.

Travis: Ha. The story is as follows: He and his friend Eric were goofing around and wrestling. Greg fell, landed right on a bone in his arm, and cracked it right in half. Broken bones come and go in this band. Our singer, Brian, broke a bone in his foot about a year and a half ago when he tried to do a karate kick into the air. He landed on it weird, broke it, and finished up 2 more weeks on tour with a broken foot!

UN: With a new amazing album, and a supportive label, The Goodwill is definitely poised to become a bigger name within the scene. Are you guys ready to make this full time and take the band as far as you can? Are you guys concerned at all about success or do you just want to get your music out there and if people like it they like it?

Josh: We were doing this full time on the last label we were on so we're definitely ready to bring that part of our lives back again. We love playing music and want to take this as far as possible, and then we still will want to take it further. We are extremely dedicated to what we do and want to get our music out to the masses however possible. As long as people want to see this band and support us, we couldn't ask for anything more.

Travis: We just want to get our music out to as many people as possible. This is why we're doing this. We are more then ready to rock out. Let's see how far we can take this!