Part of Jul 2010 by
Fred Mascherino of Terrible Things

Interview with Fred Mascherino of Terrible Things

The one thing I have learned over the last few years about bands is that no matter what level of success they have, whether its playing to an empty plate of nachos every night or 10,000 screaming fans, most bands fall to crap at some point.  It might be a total break up or just a player or 2 moving on to something else.  Terrible Things which is the new indie rock supergroup is made up of members from some of the biggest names of the Vans Warped Tour type set.

Now if I may play an indie rock shell game with you to track the formation of  Terrible Things:  Singer/guitarist Fred Mascherino was in Taking Back Sunday, left them for a solo deal called The Color Fred then formed Initials which became Terrible Things.  Drummer Josh Eppard left Coheed and Cambria for a solo project called Weerd Science and another project called Mours then joined forces with Fred Mascherino in Initials which became Terrible Things.  Guitarist Andy Jackson was in the emo band Hot Rod Circuit but they broke up and Mr Jackson formed Death in The Park but then co-formed Initials with the other mentioned gentlemen which became Terrible Things.  So why did Initials become Terrible Things after only a few months?  Because bassist Steve Lucarelli left the band.

Terrible Things

Terrible Things

I recently interviewed Fred Mascherino about Terrible Things.

a2:  How did Terrible Things come about?

Fred Mascherino: Terrible Things started when I was on an acoustic tour with my solo stuff The Color Fred and I ran into Andy Jackson when I was down in Alabama because we were playing the same circuit and we just started talking about doing a band.  He like my guitar playing and I have always liked his singing so the day I got home from that tour I called him and he came up to Phili and we tried out a few drummers and bass players and wound up finding Josh Eppard who was one of my favorite drummers.  So now were Terrible Things and were 3 dudes that are having a great time and were very excited about everything.

a2: So where did the band name come from?

Fred Mascherino: Our name comes from one of our songs which the chorus is, “Were doing terrible things.”  We wrote an album that has like a dark tone to it that deals with a lot of dark subjects like fear, anger, and sadness so the band name seemed appropriate for the songs we were about to start playing.

a2: Where are you pulling the influences from for these songs?

Fred Mascherino: Its actually a concept record.  The back drop of the album is my hometown Coatesville, Pennsylvania which had a huge series of arsons last year.  We had 46 fires.  46 fires and just one of those fires involved 15 row houses.  It was really scary because nobody knew who was doing it and every time they arrested someone and we thought it was over the fires would keep happening.   I have lived in this town my whole life, my brother was living in Coatesville during the fires, and it just really scared everyone.  So we wrote songs about not being able to sleep at night, living in terror, but we took a fictional tone to it as well.   So its not death metal subject matter but its serious.  Its over now so we have found finality at the end.  The song “Revolution” is about that.    The lyrics go “This is not a Revolution” and its just about the town wanting better from life.

a2: The new album comes out in August, what are the tour plans for that?

Fred Mascherino: Were on tour with the Offspring and then heading out on Warped.  Were definitely going to be on tour the week that the album comes out but we havent chosen what we are doing yet.  We will be on tour absolutely for the rest of the year.  Were kind of an old school band in that the main thing we want is to have people come to our shows.  We know that the internet is the new venue and where everyone is pushing themselves but we want you to come out and see us and meet us face to face.  Were one of the bands that feels that we dont want you to be let down at a concert.

a2:  What else should people know about Terrible Things?

Fred Mascherino: Weve all been other big bands in the past and some people may think this might just be like a project but this is absolutely our priority and the band we all want to be in for the next 10 years.  We hope that people will come along for the ride and join us.   We promise we wont let anyone down.  (Laughter.)

a2:  Now the music media are calling you a supergroup.  How do you feel about that?

Fred Mascherino: Were not going to believe that at all.  Were just 3 dudes.  Our band is going to be judged by our music and not by our resume.  You can call us that after you hear the record.   (Laughter.)

The new Terrible Things single “Revolution” is on iTunes and they will be playing every date on the Vans Warped Tour.

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