Thoughts In Reverse

We have teamed up with PledgeMusic.com to bring to you pre-order bundles for our EP "Sightings" Available 8/21/12! Get access to exclusive merch, tour footage and cool perks when you get any of the exclusive bundles. A portion of proceeds goes to charity! - NME.com

Thoughts In Reverse is a compelling entity from Syracuse, NY who are ready to take on the nation with their massive assault to the senses. The collective’s debut EP Sightings is a dynamic effort, six dazzling cuts of ferocious metalcore that is sure to pummel all whom encounter it’s punishing refrains. Sightings was produced by none other than Mike Hatalak from It Dies Today, a veteran of the NY state music scene who has definitely brought on the very best from Thoughts In Reverse. Here is a recent interview we conducted with two of the Thought members to find out more about this band on the rise, more than ready to break on through into the big leagues. The sonic sightings shall now commence…
Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Thoughts In Reverse, and how long the band has been together.
Brian Magee: My name is Brian Magee. I yell things into a microphone and freak out on stage and I have been in TIR for a year and a half now.
Kory Stuhlerk: Hey there! My name is Kory, I play drums for Thoughts in Reverse, and started the band in 2010!
Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like there?
BM: We are proudly from Syracuse, NY. The local music scene here has been beyond supportive of us. It’s pretty amazing to me how many people there are here that genuinely care about this scene. One of my good friends runs SyracuseShows.com, which is the promotor here that brings in a lot of hardcore/metal acts, and I have seen this guy lose ungodly amounts of money over the last 10 years yet he still books shows because this is his home and he loves music. And as far as bands go, there’s a ton of bands that are up and coming around Syracuse right now. Check out All The Kings Horses, From This Day Forth, and The Storm. All of them make me proud to be an active musician in the Syracuse Hardcore/Metal scene.
Is there any story or concept behind the EP title Sightings?
KS: The basic idea and concepts were to believe or not believe in how things are. Sometimes you walk among your best friends, and they feel like total strangers. Sometimes you see things happen, but choose not to be part of the problem. Sometimes you believe in things there aren’t proof or answers for. Sometimes, seeing is believing. All these super cliche’ and basic ideas contribute to the central theme, but if you think about it, it affects us almost every single day. We’re all big supernatural buffs so it was kind of a natural fit for us to incorporate that in, along the time we had new members in the band and a new direction.
Please select two songs from the new EP and what inspired the lyrics.
BM: Okay, first I’ll explain DeMolay since no one ever really asks about that song. DeMolay is actually about crusades and the Knights Templar. I don’t normally write about that kind of stuff but the band wanted to challenge me because they didn’t want every song to be about the same old stuff bands write about. So I decided to sort of write this one from Jacques DeMolay’s point of view, as if he were giving a speech to pump his men up for battle. It ended up being one of my favorite songs on the record. Second song is Skywalker, the last track on the EP. Skywalker is a super personal song for me because it is about my father who bailed on me and my mom when I was born. He passed away the week of my 22nd birthday so the first and last time I saw him, he was in a coffin. Him not being a part of my life really effected the person I am today. I felt like I deserved to have closure and I got it when I wrote Skywalker.
KS: The single we released for the EP, “Dead Poet” is actually written about our original vocalist we let go, before getting current vocalist Brian Magee. It’s just a song about the whole situation and what it meant and why things happened the way we did. Also, probably the most meaningful and popular song on the EP, “Skywalker“, is actually about Brian’s father, whom he never knew, and the first time meeting him was at his funeral. It’s become a staple for us because of how incredibly powerful and heartful and emotional the lyrics are. He does more than just preach about abandonment, he identifies why he is the way he is, and how he coped with it, and the anger, then eventual revelation, he felt about the situation.
What was it like working with Mike Hatalak from It Dies Today and what were his overall contributions to the project?
BM: Working with Mike was awesome for me because we are both around the same age and grew up upstate NY hardcore scenes, so we had a lot of common ground. He pretty much knew exactly what I wanted to do vocally and was extremely easy to work with, which lead to us really being able to make this recording come out how we wanted it. The dude is like the white version of Prince.
KS: It was awesome! I was a HUGE It Dies Today fan, so it was definitely awesome! He had a huge influence on us as musicians, and his input in the EP was great. He has an awesome ear for not only engineering, - HighWire Daze

1. Which ONE member of the band can I attribute all of these quotes to?
Kory Stuhler, Drums

What is your Facebook page URL and your Twitter ID?
Facebook- www.facebook.com/thoughtsinreverseband
Twitter- www.twitter.com/tir315

What is the name of your latest release (EP, LP, single, etc.)? Our latest EP is called *Sightings*.

Exactly when (year) and how did this band come together? We formed the band in the beginning of 2010. I wanted to start a band, was lucky enough to meet my guitarist Scott at a movie theater (of all places), my bassist Jon in a college music course, and our other guitarist Nick and vocalist Brian, just from going to shows. After their bands broke up, we were lucky enough to snag them. The interesting thing is we all came from very different musical backgrounds, but somehow managed to be a really good and eclectic fit!

WHY did this band come together? We honestly came together because we love music. Music all helped us in one way or another in our lives, and we genuinely love it for what it is. I think most people tend not to realize just how much hard work, disappointment, and frustration comes with being in a band. You see such cutthroat tactics and cynicism with some bands, and their only intention is to get fame, egos or sleep with groupies. But we all genuinely love the lifestyle of being musicians in a touring band. Nothing beats going on stage and seeing kids sing our lyrics and being able to write music that actually means something to us is the best feeling in the world. Any stress that comes with it is just a small price to pay for getting to tour the country and perform and write with your best friends.

How did you get from the earliest days to where you are now? Early on, we used the internet constantly to promote and push our songs. We developed enough of a little buzz to play some bigger local shows. We drew really well, so the opportunities kept coming, and we kept growing.

Then our hometown shows started selling out. After the hype built up, we started getting offers from agents or managers to go out and do tours. We also started headlining over national tour packages in our hometown, with bands like Our Last Night, Vanna, Texas in July, Glass Cloud, The Plot In You,The Air I Breathe and more. We've done pretty consistent touring and shows. - AltPress