6/17/2005

Miss Missy: First of all, thank you for taking the time to do this interview with me and ALLALOM! Let’s dive right into the questions - Can you give me a little bit of your bio and how you got into music?

Jeremy Edwardson: Scott and I both grew up in Redding California, both playing in different bands…and I met John Schofield, the bass player, and Jonathon Young, the guitarist in that same town. We were all going to college and then we all kinda disbanded with our other bands and I asked Jonathon if he would join us and go up to seattle and that’s where we met Steven Tracey the other guitar player he started with Myriad, and I think our first show was Nov. 17th of 2001….Anything to add to that?”

[He says as he nudges his fellow band mate. Scott laughs.]

Scott Davis: No, I think that pretty much sums it up.

MM: So why did you guys move from Cali to Seattle?

JE: The band I used play for toured a lot through Seattle and up into Canada. Every time I came through, a couple of guys that are now in Myriad, and myself really, really dug on this city and it just felt like a great place to write and create music…just seeing the history of the music was amazing, and we just thought ‘We gotta move up here… its very green and mossy and refreshing.’

MM: Where did you guys get your name from?

JE: Myriad means ‘many.’ The bass player, John and I, were supposed to be studying in college, and we were (instead) running down different words that we really, really, like and myriad was one of those words that came up, and we decided to call (ourselves) “The Myriad” to make it more…more…

SD: Epic!.

JE: … Something that is “bigger” than the band.

MM: Would you be so kind as to tell me a little bit about your new album?

JE: The Record is called “You Can’t Trust A Ladder.” It was produced by Aaron Marsh (of Copeland fame). It’s the first project where we looked outside the band. Me and a couple of the other guys are engineers, so we’ve always just done our own stuff. So this was the first time that we had someone else come inside and really help capture a collective sound on the record.

MM: You guys have you guys done other albums before this?

Scott Davis: We did (some) EP’s and it was kind of when we were figuring out our sound a little, the last EP was almost spot on to what we sound like now…we kind of found our sound, because we were developing it over time-some of our EP’s were kinda scatter brained, I guess you could say.

MM: What would you say your sound is now?

SD: It is very…it sounds a lot more like what’s coming out in Europe-it is very European influenced.

MM: If your fans were asking you to describe the album, what would you say?

S: It’s intense. (The songs are) definitely intense. (They) are written from the heart. Very vulnerable songs, the lyrics that are written are from the depths of our souls-not to sound really cheesy, but in reality these songs were written off of many things-like disappointment, heartbreak and hope. There’s a lot of a lot of redemption in our records. Maybe people can find a hope through what we’re talking about. Find a message that represents them.

MM: How did you guys come about getting a record deal with Floodgate Records?  

JE: We played a festival in Illinois in… Turns to Scott and asks “was it 2004?”

SD: Yeah, it was 2004.

JE: …July of 2004, a pretty big festival called ‘Corner Stone Festival’ and Tim Taber, president of Floodgate Records, was attending the festival, he saw our set and really liked it. We started communicating through email and he flew up to Seattle…

[Jeremy pauses before adding] We played a really awkward showcase, just him and us in a room…

SD: Weird.

JE: …And afterwards he offered us a deal and said ‘I want to sign you.’ He’s just a really great guy, his vision for the label for our band-what he wanted to see happen just kind of aligned with our vision. It seemed like a great fit. We knew it was the right thing to do so we signed this November (2004).

MM: How’s the transition been going from an independent band to a major record label band?  

JE: (We’re) Rockstars! Actually, it is still very indie. We’re able to do it full time. Its low budge, and we’re on the road just kinda in the grime, but we’re having a good time. ….A lot of doors have opened up for us since we signed, but its still so independent it still feels like what we’re [wanting to do], but now we get to share it with a lot more people.

MM: Can you guys take me a little bit through your song writing process?

JM: Yeah! Pretty much the whole band write, and we all bring different ideas. It starts out maybe just a guitar or bass riff, and usually we just kinda of work out a melody…Even if somebody brings a song that is completed, its put up on the chopping block for everyone to just put in their two cents-lyrics are changed, chord structures.

JE: We really try to make The Myriad more of a collective thing that, it helps to kind of create the sound of the band, it creates the sound. Everybody kind of creates the lyrics.

MM: What has your silliest or weirdest story since you’ve been on tour been?

SD: [With a big smile] You wanna tell um, Wyoming?

JM: Oh the trailer?

SD: Yeah, well most stories involve John Schofield-our bass player, he’s the funniest guy in the world he does some pretty crazy stuff, but we won’t mention those things.

MM: We’ll keep it PG, shall we?

SD: Yeah we’ll keep the integrity of our band. I wouldn’t call it a funnier one; it was one of the wilder things that has happened. We were on our way out on this last tour in March and it was about 4:30 in the morning. Jeremy and I were in the back sleeping-we have a bed that we put in the back there. John Schofield our bass player was driving, Jonathon (Young, guitar and keys) was in the front, and Stephen was on the bench seats. We’re driving along one morning in Wyoming, and all of the sudden I wake up to spinning-our van spinning down the high way we hit black ice on a bridge and it sent our van spinning around. Our trailer (of equipment) was on the back, and eventually as we were spinning. The wheel caught in the ground and dug and flipped off of our van. I thought we were flipping because I heard this big pop like our van had gone sideways, but it was really the trailer that flipped of our van…

(Scott Pauses, considers his words, laughs, and adds) Not like flipped off our van as in ‘see you later…’ I’m just kidding! Anyway it came off of the van and busted the top off. Crazy thing about it-its just weird-all of our gear was fine, I mean, we were going 65 mph and all our gear was miraculously fine. By God’s grace, we didn’t have the money to pay for all of that stuff. We hadn’t even played our first show yet…we were heading to our first show. We powered through, got a u-haul for a day and got a new trailer.

MM: What are your hopes for the next couple of years as a band?

JE: I just really just hope for more of the same… just to keep making new friends and get our music out there and impact people with our music.

SD: Yeah that sums up what we’re about. We do a good job of that musically, and as friends. It is important that we continue to grow. We don’t want to be one of those bands that write “You Can’t Trust a Ladder” three times. We always want to be evolving and creating new sounds and doing new things with our music.

MM: And lastly, what is something that you would like people to know?

JE: That no matter how big we get, we always want to be the same guys, be grounded. Our faith is definitely something that grounds us, centers us, you know and we always hope that people will feel free to come and hang out with us, and be friend with us. There’s so many bands out there that want to you know make the money, make the music, and then go home.

We really care about our fans and we really care about the people we make friend with. We want people to know they can come and hang out with us. For everybody reading this interview, when you see us playing in your home town you’ll have a cool time rocking out with the myriad, but really we hope people come prepared to make friends and stick around that’s our favorite thing when we’re on the road.

SD: Hopefully you’ll leave with something more than just a rock show.


To hear more from this enjoyable, intense and talented band, please check them out online at themyriad.net