Feature by Drew - February, 2005
She Walks In Beauty has been playing for a little while now and honing their sound, which is wonderfully displayed on their new EP, ...And Oceans To Boil. The band has played with the likes of Stretch Arm Strong, Through The Eyes of The Dead, Circle Takes The Square, and Beloved. With a wild stage show, great songs, and a hard work ethic, She Walks In Beauty is fast becoming a musical force to be reckoned with. Do yourself a favor and give these guys a listen, or see them live if possible.
Drew: I know you guys have been through some lineup changes, can you tell me the current lineup, and how it's felt having several different members?
Chris: Well, we lost our last drummer Chris Carroll because we really weren't organized well at the time, and he had an opportunity to play with someone else. He was given a good opportunity, and he took it. Troy, our old guitarist, left because of a lack of communication and a lack of fun he was having. There are no hard feelings at all in either of these situations, as all past band mates are some of our closest friends. Troy and Chris still come to our shows and sing along and have a good time, and it's cool to have them support something they helped build up. Now we had no drummer for a while, so we kind of took a break and Chris wrote some with Andy Peterson, who is our new guitarist. Andy has been my best friend since I moved to Columbia, so he fit in really well with all of us, and he's a solid addition to our band. We were still on the lookout for a drummer when Johnny came into my work and talked to me about playing in a band. To make a long story short, we tried him out once and started writing that practice. He's sick, and even helps with guitar parts as well. He has become family to us, and is a wonderful dude. So now we are complete again, and the music is a lot more metal influenced. We are still melodic, but its more technical, its more chaotic, and its got a heavier feel to it. We just decided we were not playing to our potential, and decided to go "balls to the wall." Using that equation, we concocted what is now our new EP, Feast Your Ears on the Music That Brings Kings to Their Knees, and Oceans to Boil.
Drew: She Walks In Beauty is an interesting name, did you get it from the poem of the same name?
Chris: Actually, we did. We are all very fond of the poem, as well as the fact that learned people actually realize it's more than just some silly name we made up ourselves. The poem is beautiful, and so are we. It goes hand in hand. Except, we're bros. Yeah.
Drew: Now that we're caught up on the current status of SWIB, what are the future plans for the band?
Chris: Well, we are trying to get signed, and have actually had some offers. We are kind of shopping for a label, as well as booking our summer tour. The tour will consist of us, A Closing Skyline (www.myspace.com/aclosingskyline), and 88 MPH. Some of our good friends. It's going to be amazing, and we will be hitting the whole east coast. We are already writing for our full length as well, and we will probably record that before school starts back at the end of summer.
Drew: I know you guys have played alongside several big guns in the metal and hardcore world, how has it been sharing the stage with bands you look up to?
Chris: It's been really awesome, considering we play with bands that we listened to before we were in bands, or bands that we are really into. It's inspiring to even play with them, and even more awesome when they like what you are doing as a band. They support you just as much as you support them, and it's always nice to have bands you like enjoy what you play as well. We've met lots of nice bros, and it's been a blast.
Drew: Didn't you guys play Scott Dempsey's last show with Stretch Arm Strong? How amazing was that?
Chris: We definitely played two of his last shows, and they were more than awesome. Stretch Armstrong has been a huge influence on me not only in the musical area of my life but in the spiritual. I got into Stretch Armstrong right before Rituals of Life came out, and have always loved that band. They are amazing guys, and are all about helping out smaller bands from Columbia. They have been kind of like our big brothers, so when they asked us to play those last shows, we couldn't say no. We would have been missing out on friends, exposure, and hardcore history. Scott Dempsey was an original member of Stretch, and Stretch is an amazing hardcore band. I probably would have quit my job to play those shows.
Drew: SWIB seems to cover a lot of ground, from old school to hardcore to chaos metal. In the same song there will be an old school chant with a chaos guitar lead, how do you manage to pull all your influences together like that and come out with such a great end product?
Chris: We try and write stuff that we will enjoy playing, rather than what people want to hear. If we write something that we are stoked on, then we keep it. We write parts, and play them through a few times. If we aren't stoked as hell after a few times through, then we usually don't keep it, or change it up if we can. It's all collective. Jake likes pretty, melodic stuff. Chris Huebner likes chaotic stuff. Andy Sass likes breakdowns. Johnny likes sludge and tech metal, and I like old school hardcore and sludgy breakdowns. We all love sing-alongs, so it mixes well. We all bring what we write or ideas to the table, and it merges. We compromise slot on parts, and change it to fit all of our expectations.
Drew: Being that I've hung out with you guys, I know you're not the type to sit around and do nothing. Are there any crazy stories regarding band members that you would like to share?
Chris: Well let's just say we enjoy anything funny, nudity, pranks, and all things amazing. Including videotaping spitting in people's faces.
Drew: What do you think of the current popularity of the metal and hardcore scenes?
Chris: It's good for the bands. It's kind of depressing to see kids that aren't really into the music wearing bands' shirts they aren't into, but on the other hand its good for the bands cause its publicity. It has positive and negative aspects.
Drew: If you could play one show with 5 other bands, alive or not, how would that go?
Chris: It would go awesome, because we would play with:
1. Hope Conspiracy
2. Johnny Cash
3. 7 Angels 7 Plagues
4. Terror
5. Psyopus
Drew: Do you guys have any weird rituals or anything like that that you do before shows or recording or practicing?
Chris: We usually just hang out. Before shows, we like to eat chocolate chip cookies, drink water, get hit on by hot girls, and other cool things that dudes do before they rock out.
Drew: Any last words/comments/self-promotion?
Chris: We are getting a new website soon, so for now just check out our unmastered songs on Myspace (www.myspace.com/shewalksinbeauty). Add us as your friend, comment, download the songs, whatever you want. If you book shows and want us to play, email me. Also, check out the new
Burns Out Bright record when it comes out, 'cause it's going to be amazing. Oh yeah, and S.M.O.!
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