Sybris

(Indie Rock) Chicago, IL

Interview by JSohn

October 2009

Q. Who are you and what do you do in the band?

A. Phil, I play guitar.

Q. So how is the world of Sybris turning these days?

A. It keeps spinning in what appears to be a random pattern of mishaps and

lucky breaks.

Q. I saw where you are opening up for Brand New on part of their much anticipated fall tour. First, the dumb question... Are you excited? And secondly the other dumb question. How did you land the gig?

A. We're all psyched of course, who wouldn't be? I've seen some great shows at some of these venues, bands like Sonic Youth, The Pixies and the Flaming Lips so I couldn't be more excited. We've played with Brand New and Manchester Orchestra both a couple of different times, so we must have made a good impression. It's a bit of a mystery.

Q. I read the blog where you parted ways with a trusty member of the band, your van... How hard was it to lose such a valuable member and do you think Laser Van's replacement will bring something new and fresh to the band?

A. Hah! It is actually rough to part ways. I'm the same way with sneakers, I wear them till the sole falls off and their filled with holes. I must have abandonment issues or something. The replacement will be a rental 15 passenger, so it will bring more room and a merch person in it and hopefully less repair headaches.

Q. I read on Wikipedia, which is not a credible source according to my writing composition teacher, that Sybris comes from a purposeful misspelling of the Greek city Sybaris. Can you either confirm or deny that statement?

A. That's one of the ones out there. Sybris was a totally hedonistic Greek city state where it was said the slaves lived better than the citizens of neighboring cities. Clearly their neighbors didn't like that so they changed the flow of several rivers and flooded the whole city, burying it under 20 feet of mud. So you can see it's a pretty good analogy for our band.

Q. How did the band come together? Just mutual friends? Is it a spin off of other Chicago area bands in some way?

A. Prepare to be confused. Eric (drums) and Shawn (bass) played together in a noize rock shock band called Kelly 18. When they broke up Shawn and I started playing in a epic art movie band called C#3 (Combo Number 3). When that ended Shawn and I wanted to put away all the movie projectors and fog machines so we started Sybris. I met Angela at an open mic and it just fit perfectly. To cap it off, several years ago our first drummer left so we brought Eric in.

Q. In the video for "Oh Man!" I saw a nice Shellac poster. Steve Albini has done some amazing work in his day, both as a music producer and musician. Have you ever gotten o perform with Shellac, or even work with Albini in any way?

A. No and no. An unnamed band member did take off all of his clothes at a Shellac show once.

Q. Is there a follow up to "Into The Tress" in the works?

A. There is. We just finished off some demos and we're back writing some more. We'll have some split 7" coming out before the record.

Q. Who are some bands that we might not have heard of, but we need to check out? I always find at least one band I love when asking this question of people, so I have to ask.

A. Angela and her roommate always have these great old songs that I've never heard of like Summer Romance by Carol King, Bad Education by Blue Orchids or Nowhere Girl by B Movie.

Q. Which song off of "Into The Trees" would you say best represents the band and the sound and style as a whole?

A. Probably Gin Divides Us. Everything about it is really us, if you know what I mean. Originally we wanted the end of the song to sound like this old Crest toothpaste cartoon commercial where the 'Cavity Creeps' attach a giant teeth fortress while chanting "We Make Holes in Teeth". So we named the song as a play on words (gingivitis) and because it's true, gin is not good for Sybris. Here's the commercial - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8Y_vEKbZhU

Q. Ok last one... Is there anything you would like to add? The floor is open, say whatever you want.

A. If you like us, play our music for someone. Remember, sharing is caring.