Introduced by Monk
The name Knelt Before may be so new on the scene that their Facebook page was only set up in July and has just three followers. But, we at ÜRHQ have a feeling that is about to change, and drastically, with the self-styled PMA hardcore quartet’s just released debut album, ‘Be Nice’. Being the nice people that we are, we caught up with straight edge frontman (and firefighter by day) Mark Johnston to find out a bit more about the West Coast band, why they believe “curse words are the worst words”, the power of positivity and what they plan for the future.
I started out by asking how he, guitarist Don Rossington and Derek Woodward and drummer Shannon Eoif (they don’t yet have as permanent bassist) came together out of the ashes of previous bands such as Second Coming, LoveHateHero, What Lies Within and Divide The Day:
Don and I met through a website in the States called Craigslist. I made a post about starting a positive hardcore project influenced by pop punk. I got the weirdest responses from people that were just really far off from what I was looking for in people and in music. Don, however, was exactly what I was looking for – another positive-minded straight edge guy that wasn’t a jerk about it. We tried out people and no one really seemed to work out. Eventually, my friend Shannon was closing out her time with her band, Tall Dark Whimsy, and I got her to come on board. Through Shannon, we met Derek, and we all went to work making music. Nothing too crazy.
Personally, as a historian, I have an interest in etymology, so I feel have to ask about where the band name came from and if it has any special significance…
The name came from the idea that we are not defined by our past. We may have “knelt before” (you can apply that to following rules, following trends, following ideals) but we can choose not to kneel again. The name is a reminder to remember where you came from, but not to let it define who you are or where you’re going.
Music is categorized into various genres and sub-genres. How would you define your sound? What individual and collective influences do you draw on for your sound?
Pop Punk Positive Mental Attitude Hardcore. We play a little bit of hardcore mixed with some singing and pop punk style here and there. We are big on not cussing, and keeping the content positive. There’s enough of that nonsense in the world. We don’t want to add to it.
As far as defining a sound – I love bands like Blur that don’t really have a defined sound, but you know it’s them. I really doubt we will ever have that, but I just admire that so much. Wish I could see them next year.
We are big fans of late ’90s/early’ 00s hardcore and emotional hardcore (Dag Nasty, Ignite, By A Thread, Life of Agony), but cannot deny how big of an influence the melodic punk bands like No Use For A Name, Ten Foot Pole, Big Wig, Bad Religion had on us . Not to be confined to that, we really just want to make music that we enjoy playing and listening to. We pull from so many different wells that the next record may take us in a totally different direction.
We just love music and love being positive – whatever that ends up sounding like is what we sound like. Shannon love bands like Muse and Hum, but she’s also a big Brandi Carlile fan. Derek likes Veil of Maya, Fit For An Autopsy and Arch Enemy. Hopefully, as we progress, there will be smatterings of ALL of our various influences. I definitely want everyone to feel represented well in this.
You’ve just released your first album… can you tell us a bit about it?
The album is called ‘Be Nice’ and we just released it at the end of October. We started writing it in January and doing pre production. I am lucky that I have a good home studio and all of the instruments so we didn’t have to do a lot of crazy organizing to get ideas jotted down, or create demoes. I got hurt while firefighting in February (jumped out of a second story window) and that put a bit of a halt on everything for a very short while, but I was at least able to do a lot of writing and get some scratch tracks and vocals done.
The bulk of the recording was mid-June through late July. Through a mutual friend, we hooked up with Joel Otte at Studiotte in Michigan, USA to do our mixing and mastering. Joel really got our music and did a fantastic job creating a finished product that we were proud of. That pretty much brings us up to date.
Are there any particular lyrical themes/personal issues you are addressing in the song(s)? Are there any particular issues/subjects that are important to you that you like/wish to address in your material?
First and foremost – positive messages. Even when the lyrics get a tad dark or angry, it is in the spirit of the positive message that the song is promoting. We don’t have any cussing in the songs either. My purpose in doing this is to create something that my son can listen to and take something from. Really, this album is a conversation from a parent to their child about all of the things that they had to deal with, and that they have endured by maintaining a positive outlook on everything.
There are songs on the album that tackle how we perceive ourselves and our accomplishments, there are songs about how much I hate my boss (he has since left the company), there are songs about getting out of toxic relationships, and there’s a song about how proud I am of my son and how much I love and support him. Our songs are about life, but not from a defeatist perspective. Yes, bad stuff happens and life is hard; but, instead of complaining, do something to improve it. That’s why I’m a firefighter and Don’s a teacher. Be the change.
As I intimated above, I could only find a minimal internet presence for the band. With that in mind, how important is social media in getting your music out there? Do you think it is useful for bands like yourself who maybe don’t have that big “corporate machine” behind them and dominating traditional media outlets?
Traditional grassroots/word-of-mouth promotion is dead. Back in the day you could play shows, build a street team, get a following, get signed, tour, etc… I don’t know how anyone could survive using that formula today. We have a modest following on social media – those that we are in contact with are the most amazing people, and we absolutely love getting to meet and interact with people that feel so strongly and positively about what we are doing. But they are in Arizona (US), New Jersey and New York (US), Hamburg (GE), Osaka (JPN), Melbourne (AUS), etc… so, unless we jump right into a world tour, the people that support us aren’t going to get to see us live for a while.
It’s great having a widespread following, but it is also really tough logistically. I would like to say that we make a million Tik Toks and post daily to maintain a large following, but we’ve got families and responsibilities that limit us and our ability to create enough of an online presence to become successful. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised, but I am pretty realistic with my input/output expectations.
Is it more important than, say, streaming outlets especially given the fact that the financial returns for streaming can mean a band doing a lot of work for relatively little reward – i.e. you earn very small percentage returns, with the services themselves taking large chunks of your potential income. Is it worth the effort, or is it a fact of the business that you just have to accept?
This is an age-old debate. Bands made equally poor returns on CD sales. They made a bit more per unit, but their sales base was a FRACTION of what it is now. When I was in LoveHateHero, we actually had negotiated a decent royalty rate, but to get sales we had to do personal selling via social media, walking around malls, taking out ads, etc…
Now, with an oversaturated market, with bands that do not promote on their own and expect to make a million dollars for a song that a small number of people enjoy, you can’t expect any kind of returns.
We are just happy that people enjoy our music. We don’t care how much we make off of it. It would be fantastic to get on a bunch of festivals and pop around the world for those, but we are thankful for anything we get. We are in it for the experiences and friendships, not the money.
Do you think that things like social media platforms, streaming services, etc., have made it easier for fans to discover new bands, or has it led to an even more competitive marketplace in which you need that vital USP in order to get attention?
It is so hard to really gauge how successful social media is versus the old ways. It is absolutely fantastic that recording equipment has come down so much in price, and it is awesome that social media allows for bands to spread their music. But that means you have to listen to bands that are at every stage of development, promoting every potentially damaging message they want on an open forum.
In days past, bands had to put songs together, practice them, do pre-production, work with a producer, and then record them. We could definitely be lumped in with this, but nowadays people can record and post anything that comes to mind. Hate speech, negative messages, or just plain bad music can be posted just as easily.
So there is a lot more to have to sift through which makes it difficult. Someone could have awesome logos, be the best looking group, and make atrocious music. On the flip side, it is most definitely a way for bands that would never have received exposure to get exposure. I’m sure it’s helped amazing musicians escape poverty, abuse, and all kinds of stuff that they would have been trapped in had it not been for social media. It’s hard to say. I’m just here for the nachos.
Even though life has returned back to normality (for the meantime anyway), do you think the option of things such as lives streams, which really took off during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, will continue to be used by bands, especially to reach into territories where they may not be able to play, or afford to go to?
Again it all boils down to access. Years ago Horse the Band embarked on a worldwide tour by maxing out every credit card they could get their grubby little hands on, and literally touring the entire globe. Now you can just livestream to the same audience for just about nothing. That is amazing. People in places that you’d never imagine travelling to can see and hear your band.
However, you can not deny that being at a concert in person is a completely different experience. There is a spirituality in gathering with other people and experiencing a band. You watch a livestream concert and you see and hear the band, but you don’t feel the energy and heat, the bodies shoving into each other, the random elbow. I got a black eye at a Far concert from a microphone to the face 10 years ago and it was the most memorable experience since.
I prefer going to shows, but the convenience of a live streamed concert is nice. However, you gotta have a gimmick if I’m gonna pay-per-view your concert. It had better be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles “Coming Out of Their Shell Tour” calibre. That’s why HeavySaurus (or Hevisaurus as they were originally known in Finland) still rakes it in.
So, what is next for the band? What is the plan for, say, 2023 in terms of getting out there and bringing your music to new and expanding audiences?
We all have families and jobs so touring is difficult. Not out of the question, just difficult. I usually spend my summers also fighting wildfires so that takes up a bit of time. Honestly, we would just love to play festivals and one-offs. But to do that, we need to get more popular. So – the plan is promotion, shows, and eventually festivals/touring. We also have a split coming out with a German band called A.X.I.D.S. (they’re wonderful – check them out) but with production delays and all that nonsense who knows when it’ll be released. Then we will start the next album. We already have another 15 songs ready to go, so who knows!
OK, now a bit of fun, and a couple of quickfire “out there” questions to give us a wee bit of an insight into your personalities:
- Ice cream: vanilla or strawberry? Vanilla Almond.
- Gravy or curry sauce on your chips? Malt vinegar. I haven’t had curry sauce on chips yet.
- Salted or sweet popcorn? Salted – or salted caramel!
- Buckfast or Iron Bru? Iron Bru in a bottle. Can’t do it often, but it is a tasty treat here and there. That and Ribena.
- Smarties or M&Ms? Smarties. Can’t eat M&Ms. Would still prefer Smarties.
- And the big one: pineapple on pizza? Absolutely. Pineapple on pizza is the Italian version of sweet and sour sauce.
Final question: now that live gigs are fully up and running again, we’ll give you your choice of any three other bands (signed or otherwise) you would choose to play with on a bill and where would that gig be?
Blur, Watain, and Lizzo at the Leeds festival. Haha.
Such a hard question. I miss playing giant festivals with all manner of bands, but I REALLY miss playing small intimate shows where you really connect with people. I have never been a frontman before, so I would definitely need to get my sea legs before aspiring to do any huge festivals. But my three bands would be Field Day, New Found Glory, and Shadows (JPN) at the Roundhouse in Camden. Amazing bands, awesome venue, someone book it…
Hear, hear say we.
- ‘Be Nice’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
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