One Million Reasons Why You Need to Listen to One Win Choice

Written by Susannah Caviness Thursday, 12 March 2009 12:30

News - Interviews

The only good experiences I’ve had with New Jersey is the music. One Win Choice just made it 100x better with their new EP titled Define/Redefine. Consisting of 5 equally powerful songs, these guys are a reminder of what hardcore punk is meant to be like. Each track serves it up with commanding guitars that punch you where it counts, and Dan’s in-your-face vocals encourage everyone to sing along with fists in the air. For me, the lyrics are especially striking, and they hit home.

It’s hard to describe these songs, they’re just something you have to experience to understand. I feel like there are few bands who have such a unique and fresh perspective on what they do, and One Win Choice definitely takes that to a different level.

I had the chance to throw some questions at Dan (who sings, and writes the lyrics and a good amount of the excellent music), Justin (the lead guitarist) and I really hope you check them out and support them on their upcoming tour(s). You can buy their EP, and previous releases, via Jump Start Records, and lurk their MySpace!!

 

In 2008 you had some member changes. Who's in One Win Choice now?

Dan: In the past year our original drummer and my brother, Jon had to step down because of family and financial responsibilites which made him unable to spend a lot of time on the road away from home. We asked our friend Justin Phillips if he was interested in filling in for a 3 week tour just over a year ago and everything really clicked with him on the drums. He picked up the songs really quickly and brought on a new intensity to the band that we could all notice and feel. It was as natural a transition as we could ask for and he's been playing with us ever since.

Our other departure was by our second guitarist and lifelong friend Jack Fusco, who decided to join Newark, DE's the Casting Out. Jack had been playing with us for years and it clearly was a blow that we didn't really see coming. However, Jack had been unable to come out on tour with us a couple times due to his job so we were looking for a fill-in guitar player for our fall tours. At the same time, he was offered a position in the Casting Out, who were about to head over to Europe. Ultimately, he choose to join the Casting Out full time and it would have been impossible to keep up a touring schedule with both bands.

Our mutual friend Mike Ellis filled in for us at first in September and it was basically the same experience we had earlier in the year. He's a solid guitarist and a great guy so it was an easy decision for us to make.

 

How did it affect you guys?

Dan: The first noticeable change was the loss of having the company of my brother and one of my best friends around all the time; either on the road or simply just all hanging out together at practice. It sucks that both member changes took place, but it definitely is hard to have five people who are all willing and able to travel the country and devote large amounts of time to a band at the same exact time in their lives. Luckily, we currently have that right now and all of us get along awesomely.

As a band, the chemistry of playing live was one of the first things that needed to come together. However, since both spots were taken up by talented guys it didn't take us too long to get acclimated to each other. Also, we had done a couple tours playing as a four piece with Justin on drums so having Ellis step up to guitar was a considerably easy transition.

As for our sound, the core of the writing process remains exactly the same, which is nice. Any variances in our music are coming from our shifting influences, direction, and experience; not from altering our lineup.

 

Dan: The lyrics themselves draw a lot of influence from our experiences personally and what we see going on around us; whether it is an event on a national scale, the actions of our friends and family members, or the people we meet in the punk and hardcore scene. Without a doubt, we are trying to create a sense of positivity, urgency, and real substance with each song, while still fitting into a theme for the record itself. There is definitely a prevalent concept or main idea behind each song, however I like when people take what they can from our lyrics and artwork on the record, interpreting and finding meanings on their own. For example, "Under Quarantine" is written as an evaluation and reaction to the current inequities of our public education system as I have seen, experienced, and researched. This isn't to say that someone else listening to that song wouldn't find totally different meaning in its words, and that's awesome too.

 

Dan: Maybe not completely intentional, but definitely something that is in the back of my mind when I'm writing. When we are arranging the songs, we are clearly trying to create a flow that blends the music and lyrics in a poetic style.

Dan: There's definitely a long list of authors who we could cite as being extremely influential to our general worldview and songwriting. Zinn, Loewen, Chomsky, Kozol, to name a few (nonfiction) for me. Currently, I am in the middle of the Autobiography of Malcolm X, which is an unbelievably powerful book. It is told from a perspective and experience that is drastically different than my own background. It's challenging and fun to both agree and disagree with literature; to wrestle over the ideas that are being presented in it.

 Justin: One book that I often find myself rereading and highlighting is "Cosmic Banditos" by AC Weisbecker. It's a book that mixes intelligence, humor, quantum mechanics, and drug smuggling all into one. Everytime I read it, I find some sort of thought I missed or something I didn't fully understand before. Its a book that just keeps me thinking and keeps me questioning rational thought and "normal life." It's so easy to get wrapped up in the problems of our world and easy to forget many natural thoughts we as humans would, or should, have. Sometimes while reading that book I can't help wanting to grab my surfboard, drive somewhere into Central America, and just live the rest of my life in a shack and forget about the everyday bullshit we all have to deal with.

Since your 2007 release, Never Suspend Disbelief, you've been busy on the road touring. What's been the best experience so far as a band?

Justin: We've had many great experiences out on the road, but one that really sticks out in my mind was the tour we did with Astpai from Austria in Spring '08. We had done a good amount of touring by ourselves and with other bands at that point, but we never met a group of people we got along with so well until Astpai. Over the few weeks we spent crammed into one van with them we developed a relationship I really appreciate and that probably changed my life forever. To meet 5 guys from the other side of the globe who are so similar in thought was truly astonishing and amazing. I can't wait to tour with them in Europe this May.

 

Justin: Our days are very different on and off the road. On tour we spend most of our time driving, trying to find a place to go until the show, figuring out where we can cook dinner, where we are going to spend the night after the show. At home, three of us are teachers (four if you include our roadie Rob), so we spend most of our time in a shirt and tie trying to tell teenagers not to do things we would be doing if we weren't home (i.e. inappropriate jokes, profanity, wearing a hat inside the building, those sorts of things). Our new drummer and guitar player live out in Pennsylvania and work jobs. Their town is pretty lame and we've never spent any more time there than we've had to, so besides that I'm not sure what they do when they aren't in New Jersey with us or on tour.

 

Justin: As I mention a little later, "Never Suspend Disbelief" was the first recording we did that was done somewhere besides our practice space. We went from handling everything ourselves to having "Never Suspend Disbelief" be produced by Josh Latshaw (boysetsfire) and engineered by Nick Rotundo, whose worked with bands we've always looked up to such as boysetsfire, Paint It Black, None More Black, etc. For the 7" we tried to scale things down a little bit. Due to our recent touring schedule and the resources we had available at the time, we needed to find a studio closer to home and that would work within our budget. Also, since it was our first 7" we wanted it to sound as natural and close to our live sound as possible. We decided to work with Mike Rummel at Below Sea Level based on the sound of his other recordings and suggestions from mutual friends who had worked with him in the past. Ultimately, we spent about one weekend recording the 7" and a few more nights mixing it. Everything felt very relaxed and comfortable, and it was a cool way to complete the project.

 

Justin: It was actually a coincidence in a way. We had decided to try and find a new label to put out our full length and had made up a bunch of press kits to send out. We put together a list of labels we thought might be into releasing the record for us and Jump Start was pretty high up on that list. We played with Giving Chase one night at a basement show and about a week or so later Jump Start got in touch with us about releasing our next record. We still have most of the demos and press kits laying around somewhere since we never got to send any out.

 

Justin: DIY was something we seemed to learn early on in our band history. A friend of ours used to throw shows in his living room in Ortley Beach, NJ when we were in high school, and I remember being blown away by the amount of people that would show up, how much fun the experience was, and the bands that were willing to play in his living room. This was an amazing concept to us. We began to put on our own shows at anyones house whose parents were willing to let us take over their basement or living room for the night. We also started recording all of our own demos and EPs, building our own websites, and doing a lot of our own art work. We eventually built a 300 square foot shed in Dans backyard after we got tired of watching all the firehalls and VFWs stop allowing shows and began booking our own tours. Everything just seemed to make more sense when we did it on our own. Actually, the first recording ever done somewhere besides our practice space was "Never Suspend Disbelief."

 

Dan: Hmm, tough question! There are certain songs that we love to play live that really pump up our own energy levels. The first three tracks are songs we now always play out, but I couldn't really decide on a personal favorite.

Justin: I think I would have to say my favorite song on the album is "Where My Allegiance Lies." I really like the lyrics in the song and the way the vocals fit in with the music. We haven't played it out at all yet, so its a song I'm still excited about since it still has that "new song" feel to it. I'm hoping its one that we get to do again on the next full length becuase I feel it has some real potential that we might not have gotten out of it on "Define/Redefine."

Justin: The Fest 7 is unquestionably one of the best times we've had out on tour. We had been touring regularly at that point for about a year and a half, and it was amazing to see so many of the awesome people we met all around the country in one place. Bands we played with, promoters we became friends with, or just random people from shows we've met, were all hanging out together and singing along to the same bands as us. It was a feeling and level of community and family that we had never experienced before.

Dan: As far as specific bands, we really dug seeing Jena Berlin, The Riot Before, Broadway Calls, The Menzingers and Polar Bear Club. For me, it was sweet to see Ann Beretta play again and to see Less Than Jake in their hometown, one of the bands that got my brother and I into punk rock back in middle school.

 

Dan: I'm not sure if we really have a stance on the entire downloading issue. We know at this point that it is not going to go away and it is a beast that independent bands are going to be fighting with forever. I do feel, however, that illegal downloading has hurt indie record labels and bands moreso than major labels and bands. For example, Jump Start isn't a humongous enterprise, so every little bit that flows into the bands and the label itself is going to allow Jump Start to help its current bands and new ones that they might take on.

 

Dan: For me, it would certainly be my up and coming career as a teacher. As Justin said earlier, four of us are certified teachers, one in elementary education and three of us in secondary social studies. As of now, I am not looking to start a full time job or get tied down, but I know that I want to eventually be in the classroom fulltime. I love history, politics, and presenting new concepts and ideas to students. It's a profession where people can make a difference; something that is a priority for me.

Justin: I would have to agree with Dan that teaching, and education as a whole, is something very important to me. I remember having a difficult time as a kid in the public school system with both academics and bullies. It's something I still think about and something that I would like to change in as many people's lives as possible. Having a teacher to trust and look up to made a world of difference for my education in the public school system, and its something I want to give back to others. Although I don't get to see the same kids every day I teach, I still try to help them out however I can and try to be a positive influence both socially and academically.

 

Dan: Overall, I'd love others to see the awareness that we are constantly acting, reacting, challenging, and changing each other. That we, even as individuals, have the power to do that and with increasingly positive means, we can help to change our surroundings.

 

 

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