September 23rd, 2008 
James Shotwell In anticipation for their new album Intervals, all of us at UTG have been going crazy about See You Next Tuesday. Last week found us reviewing the new album and this week we’re diving a bit deeper into the life of SYNT and the mind of their vocalist, Fox. This interview is the result of compiled emails between Fox and UTG JP, but stay tuned because there will be even more fun times with the band before the album is released on 10-14-08.
JP: The release of Intervals was delayed for a few weeks, was there any specific reason or did the album just need more refining?
F: Honestly I’m not sure of the exact reason why the album got pushed back. We were having some trouble meeting deadlines with artwork and lyrics so that could be why. But it gave us and Ferret more time to promote it which is a definite plus!.
JP: We spoke with Joey from The Banner and he claimed you had the sickest live show and we’d have to agree, any future plans to tour with The Banner again?
F: I love him! And thank you very much! We try to make our live show as fun as possible! I hope we get to do another tour with The Banner, such awesome dudes and their new album is fantastic! But nothing is set up as of now.
JP: You guys are a band that always seems to have loads of new merch each time you tour, who does your designs and how much input do you have on what goes on your merch?
F: Haha yeah we don’t like keeping the same design around for very long. Sometimes we give input to artists and sometimes we just them do their thing. We get Chad Lenjer of Discordant Art to do a lot of our stuff. He is a good dude. He also did the artwork for Intervals. But we go through a number of other artists also like Blairkills and B-Boy Illustration. Plus Travis has his own design company and I do illustration and Drew is pretty handy with Photoshop so collectivly we do designs as well. We just signed an endorsment with Rocket Clothing so we are hoping to collaborate on a shirt with them also..
JP: What exactly is the recording process like for SYNT?
F: Well for me it was sitting on a couch playing Need For Speed until it was time for me to do vocals haha. But seriously we take it in steps. Drums then guitar then bass then vocals. Then we went back and refined what we thought should be refined. We wanted the album to have more of a live sound so we left some minor mistakes here and there alone cause sh*t happens live. Also Drew and Trav are doing backing vocals so we had fun playing with that. Then after we got everything how we wanted we got to experiment a bit. We played around with recording feedback and did this drum circle thing and played around with a mandalin. We were going to have Joe play his tuba but he b**ched out. We also had our friend Nate Johnson come in and throw some guest vocals down. Anyways we mixed for a few days after that and put it in Scott Hull’s hands to play with after that.
JP: Can you tell me anything about the album title or album art? What, if any, is the theme of the album?
F: Well the album is themed around the concept of time and how things change. Hence, “Intervals”. All the song titles have something to do with time in general. No more joke titles with this album. I think we are going to loose fans just based on that haha but I could give a sh*t less. The artwork also has the theme through out it. Chad did a great job! It shows a boy growing into an old man, which we refer to as Old Man Time, and he made the cover.
JP: What can you tell me about SYNT’s new sound?
F: Its darker. More mature. Still fast and crazy but a different approach. We like the direction we are
heading. We also have acouple jams on there that are kinda like Paraphilla and Pogonotraphy from Parasite. Just kinda slow but heavy. Its definatly a lot different then Parasite.
JP: You guys got rid of a lot of the joke aspects, like the song titles. Can we expect a much more mature SYNT??
F: Haha I think I already pretty much answered that. When I joined the band all the titles for Parasite were set in stone and have nothing to do with the lyrics and that bugged the sh*t out of me. So this time around I asked the guys if I could get a little serious with them and they thought it was a good idea since we wanted to make a themed album. However we have been thinking of funny titles for new songs. “That dude from Metal Injection hates us” I think would be a good one haha.
JP: What can I expect from the new album?
F: A new SYNT. Louder, heavier and more pissed. No lame breakdowns to mosh to. More music to punch your grandma in the face while shotgunning a beer. Hopefully lots of stage dives off couches on little sisters while listening to it. And us touring a sh*t ton yet again to pay off our massive amount of debt haha.
JP: What are your tour plans when you get back from foreign lands? Can you tell us anything about your plans for a US tour?
F: Well we are going to be doing a short headling run with Iwrestledabearonce for the cd release and then we might be hitting the road with White Chapel in December for acouple weeks. But that isn’t set in stone yet so don’t quote me.
JP: Did you record any B-sides for this release?
F: Nope. No B-sides. We actully visited the Ferret office right after recording and Carl asked us about that. We didn’t even think about it. Maybe next album. I wanted to record a couple covers or do a split sometime in the near future though.
JP: Do you have any totally amazing tour stories or antics you can share with us?
F: Haha. Lets just say we do a lot of stupid sh*t. I got hit by a truck once because Andy was chasing me trying to tickle me… just stupid sh*t like that here and there. I’m sure ill get arrested within the next year for some stupid drunk stunt I pull.
JP: Who would accompany you on your dream tour?
F: Wow it would have to be a traveling fest haha. So many bands I would love to tour with! Poison The Well, Converge, Dillinger, Blood Has Been Shed, Premontions Of War, Scarlet, Trap Them, Spitfire, Cursed, Graf Orlock, Ed Gein… I could go on and on. Plus not to mention the bands we have already toured with such as Tony Danza, Despised Icon, The Acacia Strain, I Hate Sally, FASSW, The Banner… some of those bands aren’t even together anymore. But yeah pretty much any of them.
JP: What were you all doing before SYNT?
F: I don’t know what the other guys did except be bums. I was/still am in a band called Flesh And Blood Robot. I started tattooing about 2 years before I joined the band and I do that full time when I’m home now.
JP: It’s back to school time, what would your perfect college party entail?
F: Beer. Beards. No shirts. Pants optional. Naked chicks. The slappy game. Sandwiches and pizza. Sh*tty rap music. Beer. Naked chicks. Beards. Cool dudes. Beards. Beer.
JP: We don’t believe in final questions at UTG. We simply ask that you make a closing statement of your own to go out on. Talk about anything/anyone/or anyplace. It’s all up to you:
F: Gee wiz. Um, stop making shows a place to hang out with your friends outside. Start coming to shows to have fun, enjoy the music and party. Shows are starting to become lame because everyone stands in a corner affraid to rage. F*** what your friends think. You paid money to have fun, so f***ing do it. Oh and our merch guy, his name is Kooter, has the clap and is having a kid soon.
*Written By: James Shotwell*
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