Project 86 - The beginnings
Having formed in June of 1996, Project 86 was voted into HM readers' top five favorite indie bands for ‘97, and at Tomfest of that year, they showed up with 10,000 flyers, creating the biggest buzz of the festival. Not long after that, the band found itself with the opportunity to sign a deal with Tooth & Nail's Christian market stepchild, BEC Recordings. With the ambition and enthusiasm that Project 86 has for getting their music and message out to as many people as possible, they chose to sign with the EMI-distributed label. It's not surprising that the band quickly got label attention, because upon hearing the Bryan Carlstrom-produced debut record, the listener is confronted with some of the most harsh rap-core ever made.
Here's the original transcript of the Project 86 interview, in which Brian McGovern chatted with front man Andrew Schwab:
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Tell me about the beginnings of the band.
"We got started in June of 1996. We've been around for about two years now. Myself and Alex (the drummer) had a long-time dream or idea to do something that would just be real powerful for kids, and reach a lot of people. We kind of came together then, and the other guys got in the band after that. Randy was there from the beginning, and Steve, who's in the band right now, is actually our third bass player, because our first two left to do other things. He came in the band last August."
You seem to have already made a name for yourselves as an indie band before being signed to BEC. In fact, you were among the top five indie bands in our readers' poll last year. How is life different for you now that you've got a record deal?
"It just seems like there's a lot more work to be done. When you're an indie band, and you're kind of doing it as a side thing, you kind of play shows as they come up. You're not really pushing things that much. There's not tons and tons of work to be done. But now that there's a nationally distributed record out, and we've set goals for ourselves, it's a full-time job. We work all the time, and we have to rely on the Lord, like, for everything. And it's just, like, everything is happening... more. A lot more work, and a lot more excitement, and a lot more of a roller coaster ride, I guess."
This might be kind of a common question, but why the name "Project 86?"
"Actually, 86 is kind of the root for the name. The generation before us kind of used that phrase to describe when they would kick something out, give it a boot, get rid of it. The phrase '86,' you know, we were kind of throwing around the idea of just throwing a number in the name, and Project 86 is like the whole idea of being rejected, or separate, or not going along with the group."
Where do you draw your musical influences from?
"We all have a wide variety of listening. I'm really into hip-hop, and the other guys in the band are really into the heavier stuff. We all kind of come together on, just, the bands that we like. We're into, like, Sepultura, and the Deftones are a real good band that we like. There's no single band that we pull from. There's a big variety of bands that we listen to. I'd say that our main influences for me, are like East Coast hip-hop, and then, like, whatever stompy, heavy music we listen to."
In the Christian market there are bands that everybody knows that are in the same genre, as far as the whole rap-core thing. Like, POD and EDL are the two big ones that people think of when they think of this style. How do you feel about being compared to these two bands?
"Well, POD is probably the band that we respect the most out of the whole world of Christian bands that are out there, and they're very good friends of ours. Sonny's actually even on the CD, so being compared to a band like POD is cool with us, because we really respect what they're doing. And EDL is friends of ours as well, although our focus is a little bit different than theirs, just in terms of stylistically. So I find that there's more comparisons to POD, because we're a little more similar to them. But it's cool. Those are good bands that have been around for a while, and they're friends of our, so there's nothing wrong with that."
Yeah, that's cool. Well, what would be a good spiritual description of Project 86?
"Project 86 is a little bit different than what you would call the normal Christian band, because we're a little bit hesitant to just put the brand 'Christian band' on us, because of the concern about a lot of the bands in the industry saying, 'We're a Christian band' to sell records, because it's easier to make it in the Christian industry. We don't want to do that. One thing we do want to do is we want to be ourselves. And who we are is completely devoted to Jesus. Spiritually speaking, we are definitely doing this for the ministry. It's not like we're doing this to be famous, or anything like that, but we're coming at it with more of a creative outlet lyrically. I don't always come out and say specifically what I'm talking about. I try to put it in more creative ways so the listener has to look deeper into it. But the biggest part of our ministry is the level of emotion and seriousness we put forth when we play live. We want to cut to the heart of the individual, and answer questions about the soul, and why we're alive."
Tell me about all the touring you guys have got lined up in the future.
"Well, this summer, we're gonna be playing major festivals and picking up dates with Value Pac, The Dingees, and other bands like Slick Shoes and POD. In the general market, we're gonna be doing a few dates in California, just different club dates and stuff. We're working with some promoters in Orange County that are gonna get us some different shows with some of the California bands in the secular market. And then in the fall, we're probably going to be going out with Ghoti Hook in September, and October and November hasn't been booked yet. We're looking into possible tours with Insyderz or Living Sacrifice, and even a Five Iron Frenzy tour in the Spring of next year, but it's all talk so far."
That's cool that you can be considered for different varieties, because a lot of bands that would be booked with Living Sacrifice wouldn't necessarily get booked with Insyderz, and vice versa.
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