Interview with The Receiving End Of Sirens frontman Brendan Brown and lead guitarist Nate Patterson

Fans in London, Ontario were treated with one hell of an amazing opportunity when scene heavyweights Saosin, Poison the Well and The Receiving End of Sirens stopped in July 13th 2007 (a Friday- spooky) for a show at an unusually small venue, considering the popularity of each of these three bands, in Call the Office. With their sophomore record The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi set to be released August 7th (enter to win a copy from PGA HERE), Brendan and Nate from The Receiving End of Sirens were kind enough to invite my girlfriend and I into their van for what turned out to be an extremely insightful interview. We did miss Poison the Well’s set, who I’m guessing absolutely destroyed the stage judging from the times I’ve caught them in the past, but it was a sacrifice easily made. Expect a review from the show shortly, and in the meantime, make sure to treat yourself to TREOS’ new record, and their last one, for that matter. (And watch for a cameo from Jeff Moreira from Poison the Well at the end of the interview).

Go ahead and introduce yourselves.
Brendan: I’m Brendan. I play bass, and sing.

Nate: I’m Nate, and I play guitar and piano.

Right on. So we’ll start out with some questions on the new CD, then move towards the live show. So… actually, no. Before all that, how did you guys swipe (former Boys Night Out drummer Brian Southall, currently guitarist and tour manager for TREOS) from Boys Night Out?
Brendan: Money, drugs, and women!

Nate: Yep, and women!

Brendan: Well, it wasn’t like we were like, “yo, quit your band and join our band.” It was… he was planning on leaving because he wanted to get more into the business side of music – tour managing, and teching, and all that stuff. So he left Boys Night Out, and started tour managing us. So, we went on tour with [Boys Night Out] in the summer, and from that tour, um, we were going on tour with Circa Survive, so he came out as our tour manager and managed that tour, and uh, we were looking for another guitar player after that tour. We knew he was a really great musician, but just didn’t even consider him for being in the band just because we thought he wanted to tour managing and stuff like that. When the tour ended, we were looking for a guitar player, and he had mentioned to us at the end, like “yo, if you guys ever need a guitar player, just give me a call.” So, we like, half jokingly, took that into mind, and then, we were doing some talking, and just decided that, like, we got along with Brian so well that it was like, “we don’t even need to audition him. Like, we know he’s a good guitar player, and we know he’s a good dude, so let’s just ask him to be in the band”, and we did, so he left. He was on tour with (Fueled By Ramen act) Panic! At the Disco, then went on tour with Alexisonfire, and he left that tour and joined our band at the beginning of this Winter on tour.

Was that the Nintendo Tour (which featured Fall Out Boy, The Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack, Boys Night Out, and Panic! At the Disco)?
Nate: They were on tour in England, doing a headline tour, like, in Europe, and he was drum teching for them. Like, he quit Boys Night Out after our last tour with them last Summer, or in May.

Brendan: So he could do some tour managing. So he tour managed us, then flew overseas to be the drum tech for Panic! At the Disco, then started doing tech work for, like, Alexisonfire….

Nate: And that’s when we called him – around October (2006).

I was actually just reading he’d be doing something with Dallas (Green, of Alexisonfire) for an upcoming Seaweed tribute.
Both: Yeah.

Awesome. I’m pretty excited to hear that. So, The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi… just the title is attention deserving. Tell us about where that came from, and anything behind it you want to share.
Brendan: Let’s see… I think it first came about… the idea for it first came about a year ago. We were planning on writing a concept-type record, based around a made-up society that was sort of in the realm of like, (George Orwell’s novel) Animal Farm, like George Orwell’s 1984, like weird conspiracy society like that, where the people of the country are unaware of the actual happenings surrounding them. And we were reading a lot of books like (Ray Bradbury’s) Fahrenheit 451, and 1984, and stuff like that, and came across this guy named Johannes Kepler, who was like an astronomical theorist from around the 1600’s, and was into not only music theory, but also astronomy and like, mathematics and all that stuff. And music theory and mathematics went hand in hand back then, because a lot of harmony and dissonance and all that were calculated through numbers, and math and stuff like that. So he came up with this theory that as the planets orbited around the sun and were in their own orbit, they each produced their own musical tones through mathematics. And so, he decided through their relations, how when they got closer to each other and farther from each other, using math and music theory which tones they produced, and together, which harmonies and discords they would create as they orbited….

I’m actually following all of this.
Nate: [laughs] Good man!

Brendan: [laughs] Right, so he was saying that as Venus and Earth were orbiting around the sun, their relationship was like a major to minor sixth (interval), which is like ‘mi fa mi’ in a certain mode of musical theory. So he further took that ‘mi fa mi’ major to minor sixth movement to stand for ‘misery’, like, ‘mi’ to stand for ‘misery’ and ‘fa’ to stand for ‘famine’ and ‘mi’ as ‘misery’ again. So he was saying, as the Earth was orbiting around the sun, it was actually singing ‘misery, famine, misery’, because…

That’s amazing!
Brendan: Yeah, because the place he was brought up in was kind of an impoverished area, and like, he had a lot of sadness and misery and famine in the places he was brought up, so he sort of took it that way. So, when we heard that phrase, we were just completely blown away. Like, it’s such an intense… idea. So, we took it and named the album after it, and wrote a record sort of based around that, but not so….

Nate: The songs just came about, like, kind of in relationship to the idea, and everything sort of fit really well.

Brendan: It was like we sort of took it from the very cut-and-dry meaning of misery and famine tomorrow. Like a metaphysical meaning of just how questing after pursuits of this Earth, and things that will only last this lifetime, you’re only going to find misery, because things of this Earth are never going to be anything more than just temporary happiness, and the famine aspect comes from more, like, the commentary of society as a whole, with this constant craving for more and more. Like, once you fill one certain want, or certain desire, or lust, you’re just going to want the next thing, and there’s never enough for us as humans, so that’s where the ‘mi fa mi’ idea sort of correlates to our record.

Wow. Okay, so I guess you kind of delved into this a little bit, but lyrically, how do the songs on this record differ from what you did on Between the Heart and the Synapse?
Brendan: Uhhh…. [looks at Nate]

Nate: That’s all you man. I’m sorry… [laughs]

Brendan: [laughs] I’m just trying to think. Like, I think that they’re definitely way less ambiguous. Like, on the last record I feel like there are a lot of things that were very vague. Like, I think there was a lot of good verbal illustration on the last record, but because we were with three singers, usually lyrics would start off, and then they would be passed down, from me to (singer/guitarist) Alex (Bars) to (former singer/guitarist) Casey (Crescenzo), or through the three of us and get watered down, or vaguer and vaguer because it had to be something we were all singing and feeling, so I felt that through that process they kind of became watered down and meaning was lost in that process, where anything I really wanted to say, like…. Part of it had to do with that process, part of it had to do with being young and not fully confident in myself, like, not wanting people to know what I was really singing about, so a lot of stuff became buried under metaphor, you know, allegory, and stuff like that. So I felt that this record, you know, we wrote the lyrics one song at a time and I’d go over it with Alex every time, and explain to him word for word what my sentences were about, so that he knew exactly what I was feeling, and he could feel as close as he possibly could to how I felt about (the lyrical content) of the songs. So, I feel like they’re a little less… well, a lot less ambiguous. Like, they’re pretty narrow at some parts on the record, and hopefully because of their transparency, I think that the hope is that people will be able to relate to them a little more because they’re a lot more personal, I think.

Nate: Yeah!

Brendan: So I think it’s going to be, hopefully, a more straightforward, emotional, lyrical album.

I’m excited for it!
Nate: The only thing I was going to add on, because I don’t write the lyrics, and so I’m an outside listener while being on the inside. Like, I am touched more by what is being said on this record… way more, because we’ve matured. Like, it’s almost been about three years, but like, I think it will be able to… a vast group of people, young and old, will be able to appreciate it and understand it way more than the lyrics last time. For instance, I know somebody who asked me line for line about the words to (Between the Heart and the Synapse’s) “The Rival Cycle”, and I couldn’t really describe… I had to ask [Brendan] what every sentence meant, but on this record, I can have no problem being, like ‘this is the story’, or ‘these are the points…’, you know?

Brendan: When we wrote that record, I thought it was real cool to just make it like, ‘if you want to know what that song means, you’re really going to have to work at it.’

Nate: [laughs]

Brendan: [laughs] You know, like….

I really enjoyed that about the last CD, actually…
Brendan: Yeah, I think a lot of people did. It’s still cool, and I think there are definitely, definitely still aspects like that on this record, but at least you’re given like, a head start. Like, you know what the topic’s going to be about.

Nate: Yeah.

Brendan: So you can at least sort of make sense of it. Because there are a lot of the songs on the old record that I’m sure nobody has a clue what it’s about….

I have a good time trying to look into that….
Both: Yeah!

Because they were so epic… like, it was epic content, but there was always something personal laced into it.
Brendan: Yeah, exactly right.

So I really enjoyed figuring that out. You were mentioning before how lyrically, songs were passed from you, to Alex, to Casey, so how did Casey’s absence this time around impact both the writing and recording of this CD, and then as a second part, how has it been playing all of the old and new songs live without that third vocalist, even though you have Brian filling in a few parts?
Brendan: You want to start taking this one?

Nate: Hmm. Dude, the transition playing without him was… scary, before we did it. And then when we did it, musically, it was awesome. Vocally, these two guys Alex and Brendan stepped it up, and what was important in the songs and needed to be heard, was heard. I honestly feel we did it without any flaws or anything like that, personally, regarding the playing, especially playing the old songs live. Writing the new songs was one of the greatest feelings that we’ve ever had as a band. And as far as feeling like we are one unit, not one person trying to dictate, or letting ego or something get into the way at all, that writing this second record without Casey was the best thing for us. Our second record with Casey would have been completely different.

Brendan: Yeah.

Nate: That’s just how I feel about it.

Brendan: Yeah, definitely. When we decided to part ways with Casey, it was kind of like, I think it was supposed to be really scary, because it was definitely putting our career as a band in jeopardy, but I think it had really gotten to the point for all of us, including him, where like, you step back and just realize we’re just a band that plays music, and I’m going to write music for the rest of my life, you know? I’d love to be doing for a job, but like, all of our personal happiness needs to come before trying to be famous in a band, or trying to make money writing music. I would rather be at home and happy hanging with these guys as friends than being on tour, and being miserable. So when he left the band, a lot of people probably thought it was like the end of our band, or that we were really scared, but I really wasn’t that scared. I was more, like…

Nate: Motivated?

Brendan: Yeah, motivated, and relieved, because if the band didn’t work, at least I knew I still had my happiness that I could still like back on, whereas before then, I really wasn’t that happy. But playing the old songs live without him did suck for awhile because, neither Alex or myself never really prided ourselves on being good singers, or knowing how to sing all that well, so like, knowing that Casey, who was definitely the most talented singer in our band, was gone that we would have to pick up those parts on top of the ones we were already singing… was sucky.

Nate: Right.

Brendan: Because man, neither of us had a range as high as he did, neither of us can scream, so it was sort of an intimidating thing, but at the same time it was fun, because it brings new life to the songs and you’re concentrating on the music again, where before it was becoming routine. And like you (Nate) were saying, writing this record I think was definitely the best thing for us. Like, it was great!

Nate: We were all happy everyday, waking up and feeling great. And I’ve heard you (Brendan) say before, like, half the battle is staying a band and being happy. Like, climbing your way to being successful and staying a band and remaining a happy unit. Like, if I woke up every morning hating everyone….

Coal Chamber…
Nate: [laughs] Yeah, I would just be thinking for myself everyday, like “okay, what’s going to benefit me on this record.” You know, something like that, when like, he’ll write a part, and I’ll be thinking, “what will benefit me as to what he’s come up with,” you know?

Okay, right on. I was just wondering what you though of the new (Casey’s current project) Dear Hunter record (Act II)?
Brendan: I haven’t listened to it all.

I haven’t heard all of it yet, either.
Brendan: Yeah, I’ve heard like three songs.

I’ve been impressed, though. I enjoy what I’ve heard.
Nate: All of us will say there is no doubt in our mind that Casey is an amazing musician, but there are also a lot of other amazing musicians and he’s not like, the end all say all.

Brendan: Oh, right, yeah.

Nate: But I appreciate what he’s doing. Like, do it, man. Just go expand the boundaries of music. So, as far as that goes, like, it’s awesome for him.

Brendan: The cool thing about The Dear Hunter is that it’s comprised of a lot of our best friends.

Nate: I went to high school with two of the kids: Erick Serna, the guitar player, and the bass player (Josh Rheault) I’ve known since I was in seventh grade.

Brendan: Like, seen every day almost, you know? But uh, yeah I haven’t heard yet. Some kid heard me say in an interview that I hadn’t heard it yet, so he brought the CD for me to a show, but I haven’t listened to it yet. I’m sure it’s good.

Guest musicians on this record – are they’re any, and if so, why? And if not, why’d you take that route? And I know this is old news, but he’s one of my favourites, so what was it like having (Circa Survive/former Saosin vocalist) Anthony (Green) out on the last record?
Nate: [laughs] Having Anthony sing was freaking crazy.

I just can’t get enough of that guy.
Brendan: Yeah, he’s crazy cool. I love that voice. On this record, there are no guests.

Okay.
Brendan: We sort of felt like we did that with the first record, so it was sort of like, on the first record we were really young, it was like a conduit for us just to meet dudes we like. It didn’t even really happen though. Like, the thing with Anthony happened because (Circa Survive) were recording their first album like three miles away from us, and we just ended up hanging out with those dudes like, every night. In fact, I think he brought it up. He’s like “yo, you should let me sing on part of your record,” and we were like “hell, yeah!” [laughs]

Nate: Like, “oh my Goood!” [laughs]

Brendan: I love that dude’s voice, and it was awesome. And we’ve become really good friends with those guys. They’re kind of like our kindred spirits as far as musically. I think Circa Survive are some of the closest to us with what we’re trying to do with music and stuff like that.

Oh, absolutely.
Brendan: So it was rad having Anthony on the record. I love his voice, and he definitely hit notes that none of us could ever hit, so…

Nate: I didn’t even know he could go there….

I missed this tour (pointing to a lanyard from the Circa Survive/TREOS/Days Away tour between the front seats of the van).
Brendan: Ohh, man!

Nate: Ohh, dude!

I can’t believe it. I did catch you guys with Boys Night Out in Kitchener last summer, though. I think all the openers were local bands. Machete Avenue, and Rosesdead…
Nate: Rosesdead! Yeah, dude, the guitar player for that band is the merch dude for Poison the Well right now.

I say the dreads. It makes sense now…
Both: [laughs]

Nate: He’s a nice guy.

Brendan: Cole’s here too.

Nate: Cole’s the bass player for Rosesdead.

This is probably your third time back in Canada. What do you think of it up here, and how has your general reception been?
Nate: We always say we love Canada.

Brendan: Yeah.

Nate: I don’t want this to sound wrong… Canada just feels like a vacation. Like, everything is safe, cool, people are nice…

Brendan: It’s a pretty relaxed pace of life…

Nate: Yeah, relaxed, so far so good. Like people have been responsive.

Brendan: Tonight, we showed up after the doors had opened, so like, he had no warm up or nothing.

Yeah, we actually got a parking ticket inside during sound check.
Both: Aww!

Yeah, $40 to the city of London, but after seeing that set it was worth it. Not even a whiner anymore.
Brendan: The border screwed us. It was freaking…

Yeah, that’s what Brian was saying. That sucks. This tour, you’re on the road with Saosin and Poison the Well. How has it been so far, and how did you get added to this bill? And what do you think of the dynamics between bands? Because it’s definitely a diverse bill, one of the most anticipated for the summer for me.
Nate: Dude, Saosin, we’ve known them since uhh, we played this Alternative Press (magazine) anniversary back in the day.

Brendan: Is that when we first met them?

Nate: So they’ve been cool to us, and super nice to us on this tour. And Poison the Well, they’re like, legends, pretty much.

Brendan: How did we get the tour, though? We have the same booking agent as Saosin, and I guess Saosin likes out band a lot, so, it’s pretty sweet.

We were talking about Anthony before… what do you think of the new Circa (Survive) record (titled On Letting Go)?
Brendan: I dig it.

I’ve been loving it.
Nate: Yeah, me too!

Brendan: Yeah it’s a pretty sweet record!

Nate: [singing in high falsetto] “This building smells so familiar…” (from On Letting Go’s “The Greatest Lie”) [all laughs]

Brendan: His melody is just, like… they could play anything, and his melodies would just soar. The music is great, though.

Nate: They’re loading the trailer, in case you guys are wondering why we’re bouncing all over the place. [laughs]

Brendan: Yeah, I friggin’ love it. It’s one of the only records I’ve bought in the last few years. Pearl Jam! We have Pearl Jam in here….

What else have you guys been listening too lately? I guess this is the first ‘name-drop’ question, but you always have to have them, but, what would were you listening to around the time of recording this new album that you would say had some kind of influence on this new CD.
Brendan: I know what Nate’s going to say.

Nate: I know what you’re (Brenden) going to say. You say the first half I’ll say the second…

Brendan: [laughs] Talk.

Nate: Talk.

Brendan: Talk, Talk.

Nate: Talk, Talk.

Brendan: A lot of Talk, Talk.

Nate: That’s the name of the band. [laughs] It’s one specific record, called Laughing Stock.

Oh, I get it know.
Brendan: [laughs] Talk, talk, talk.

Nate: [laughs] Yeah.

I thought you were saying ‘talk’ to get each other to say the band’s name… [all laughs]
Brendan: Talk Talk is like an 80’s Euro-pop band, and their label put out a “Best Of…” record without their consent, and so they were pissed, and decided to write this sprawling, like, weird epic ambient record, and put it out to piss of the label.

Nate: There’s like, nothing to it. There’s just so much space, but the chord structures and the song structures… just everything, is like, perfect.

Brendan: That, and Radiohead. Lots of Radiohead. I got, like 240 Radiohead b-sides from some kid.

It seems like everybody brings you guys gifts. Sorry I didn’t bring shit with me. We were going to grab some beers for everyone for the van, but our car got ticketed so we had to park it over at the mall.
Both: Aww.

Brendan: [laughs] It’s cool. What else… a lot of Nine Inch Nails inspired the record. I was listening to a ton of Peter Gabriel. Pedro the Lion. Always Pedro the Lion….

Nate: I’m into anything live… live groove. I don’t want to use the word ‘hip hop’ And have you think, like, P. Diddy. I’m talking about, Erykha Badu, like, Mos Def.

I know exactly what you mean. Like, I’m really into that stuff, not like the gangster stuff like 50 Cent and that, but Kweli and…
Nate: Yeah, real hip hop, man. Intelligent…

Conscious hip hop.
Nate: Thank you! Yeah, that’s the… conscious hip hop.

Brendan: We listen to a lot of DJ Shadow.

Nice! That’s got to be good driving music.
Both: [laughs]

So, I guess we’ll do one more. After this tour, what do you guys have planned? The record comes out in August. Oh, yeah, you have a headlined tour lined up with…
Brendan: Emanuel, Hopesfall, Envy and the Coast and…

Nate: Goodbye Tomorrow!

Brendan: Goodbye Tomorrow.

What do you think of Hopesfall’s new CD (Magnetic North)?
Nate: I haven’t listened to it yet.

Oh, man, get a hold of it.
Nate: Are any of the old members in there?

I know Jay’s still there, and I think one of the guitarists is still there…
Nate: Is it Josh?

Brendan: The guitar dude with beard is still there.

Nate: Josh?

Brendan: Hmm, he’s like, one of the originals.

Nate: Really? Yeah…

Brendan: Him and the singer are the only ones left, I think…

Nate: Oh dude! I’ve got to text him (Josh). Oh, wait. I can’t. We’re in Canada. [laughs]

Brendan: We wanted Hopesfall, because after The Satellite Years, we like, owe it to them.

Ed’s note: The band has since gone through more line-up changes.

I feel it (The Satellite Years) didn’t really get the recognition it deserved. It’s like a landmark record in this scene. Yours (Between the Heart and the Synapse) is definitely up there, too, despite being so new.
Brendan: I hope the next record does the same thing.

Nate: Dude, that’s a nice thing to say, what you just said. Thank you!

No problem. We should wrap it up. That’s going to be a lot for me to print, especially that Talk Talk part – typing ‘talk’ so many times back and forth will look funny on the page… [all laughs]

But, anything you guys wanted to say to end off on?
Brendan: No, you asked some really good questions.

Blank Canvas…
Brendan: Buy the new record August 7th!

That was a given – I would’ve put that in the intro, anyways. Oh, wait, one more. The new Boys Night Out CD – I just bought it the other day, what do you think?
Brendan: I think it’s their catchiest thing to date. I listened to Trainwreck a lot because I though it was so cool, but (vocalist) Conor (Lovat-Fraser’s) hooks are so much better on this new one.

Nate: But Brian was the best drummer… [laughs] (Poison the Well is just exiting the venue after their set) I love Poison the Well, by the way.

Oh we missed them! Oh well, it was worth it. Let’s end it on that note. Poison the Well is done, and so are we. We’ll go in and watch Saosin together.
Nate: Done deal, man. Thank you!

Ed’s note: We’re now outside of the van meeting up with the rest of TREOS and Jeff from Poison the Well.

What did you think of The Receiving End of Sirens tonight?
Jeff: They were awesome! They’re very beautiful dudes.

How did your set go, by the way? We missed it talking with these (TREOS) boys.
Jeff: It was good. The crowd here was awesome. They’re always awesome.

We just wanted to sneak that into the interview because [my girlfriend’s] brother is a huge fan from back home.
Jeff: Sweet. Thank him!  [ END ]