by Kenneth Morton

With a new album out on Geffen Records and a recent tour with The Starting Line behind them, Sound The Alarm are making a big name for themselves all across the nation. Not one to stay indoors for long, these Bangor, PA guys may be on the road once again by the time you read this. Here is a recent interview we conducted with guitarist Brian Chiusano.

Where is the band based out of and what is the music scene like there?
We're based out of Bangor, Pennsylvania. The music scene in Bangor is pretty much non-existent. In the early days of the band it was a little hard to get around to shows because they were decently long drives. To get to any sort of "scene" you'd have to drive about 45 minutes to Allentown, PA. It's a cool town, we play this venue named Crocodile Rock Cafe there and always have a blast.

What made you guys decide to go with the band name Sound The Alarm?
A few years ago we had to change our old name due to copyright laws. After much thought I came up with Sound the Alarm. I think it is just a huge sounding name. So when people hear the name, even if they haven't heard our music yet, they always tell us it sounds intriguing.

What does the CD title Stay Inside mean to you? Any story or concept behind the title?
Yeah, it has to deal with the lyrics of the title track. It's about not letting people hold you down and being able to do what you want to do. Not being afraid to "step outside" if you will. We all related with that message and wanted to make it the title of the album for those reasons.

Tell me about the first single Suffocating and where the ideas came from the lyrics?
That song was written when we were finishing up high school and trying to decide what we wanted to do with our lives. It was an incredibly stressful time that we were going though. That track helped us blow off some steam and actually helped us decide what we were going to do, and that's why we're here!

What are some of the ideas and inspirations for some of the other lyrics?
I love how all the lyrical content doesn’t have to do with girls that broke our hearts and stuff of that nature. Many different topics are covered from song to song and it’s content that we really wanted to write about...stuff that we relate to. I suggest that everyone check out the album to get a better feel for our message and what we’re doing and all about.

How did you wind up being signed to Geffen Records?
Our demo fell in the hands of our producer Howard Benson, and he wanted to work with us right away. It was awesome - we were in LA at the time it happened. He heard the tracks at noon and wanted a meeting with us in his studio at 4. It was amazing because we've all been such big fans of his work for so long. Getting to work with someone you respect that much has been a dream come true.

How much pressure do you feel being signed to a major label to perform and sell music?
There obviously is that pressure, but I think that we put the most pressure on ourselves. We're always working as hard as we can as far as writing songs and touring is concerned. With selling music, we love the record we made, so we have confidence.

What was it like working with Howard Benson and what did he contribute to the bands overall sound?
It was definitely an experience that made this band much better. Howard has a great talent as far as song structures, hooks, and lyrics are concerned. Surprisingly we only did a couple days of pre-production. He didn't find much fault at all in our song structures. It's cool because if he would like us to change something we'd discuss it, and then go home and work on it until it was right.

Prior to being signed, how much touring had you done?
We played as many shows as we possibly could in the Eastern PA area. We also hit up Jersey and New York whenever the chance came up. We even made it down the east coast and back up all in our broken ass van packing all the equipment in the back, it was awesome.

To you, what is the best and worst part about being on the road?
The best is by far getting to actually play and meet different people every night. It keeps it interesting and makes for some good times. The worst by far is not getting to shower sometimes for maybe 3 or 4 days at a time. If we don’t have anyone that invites us over for the night we typically sleep in the van.

Any unusual touring stories?
About 2 months ago I rolled my ankle in the Wal-Mart parking lot we slept at in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We were playing football and I ran over a curb, not very fun for me, but everyone else couldn't stop laughing. I played the next two shows pretty much on crutches, it was intense.

What song would a fan be very surprised to find out you currently have on your IPOD?
I think we have a lot of CD's that we always rock in the van that would surprise people. We've recently been jamming Michael Jackson #1 hits, and the Slipknot catalog. Basically you name it...we listen to it.

Who in your band is on MySpace way too much?
We all are, I mean some worse than others, but if you asked the rest of the guys, they'd probably say I was the worst. But they’re liars, so don't listen to them.

How much distribution did your EP receive and are there any plans of re-releasing it through Geffen?
Didn't get that much distro. It was is in some Best Buys and Borders I believe, but it's cool, those were the demos we recorded when we were 17. I don't believe we have any plans to re-release it.

If you weren’t in Sound The Alarm right now, what do you think you would be doing?
Honestly I think I'd be in college right now, hating what I was doing, so to have the opportunity to be doing what we are now- we're extremely grateful.

Any messages for people who might be into checking out your music?
Enjoy it, we had fun making it, so we hope you have fun listening to it. Hit us up on myspace.com/soundthealarmmusic because we run it ourselves and always respond. Come out to a show if we're in town and hang out with us! Album out July 17th!

Sound The Alarm Links

Sound The Alarm: Their Official Home Page!
Sound The Alarm on Myspace: Their Official Myspace Page!
The Highwire Daze Home Page: Return to the Main Page!

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