On Thursday, Headbangers Ball Blog will debut the new video by experimental Indianapolis hardcore band Gwen Stacy for the song "The Fear in Your Eyes." The track is from the Christian group's new album The Life I Know, which came out February 5.
Gwen Stacy are currently on the road with Still Remains, Catherine and Secret and Whisper. On April 25 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the band will continue their tour with The Devil Wears Prada, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster and Whitechapel. Dates are scheduled through May 13 in Kettering, Ohio. Then in June, Gwen Stacy will be out with Poison the Well and Duck Duck Goose.
Now check out this interview with the band from January, which ran on MTVnews.com's Metal File:
It should come as little surprise that the dudes in experimental Christian metalcore quartet Gwen Stacy loved reading Spider-Man comics when they were kids (well, drummer T.J. Sego considers himself more an X-Men guy, but we digress).
After all, the band takes its name from the classic Spidey series. Gwen Stacy was Peter Parker's first love, and she was killed off by the Green Goblin in a 1973 edition of "The Amazing Spider-Man," thus opening the doors to Petey's heart for the arrival of his chief love interest, Mary Jane Watson. All right — that's enough geeking out for one day.
It should, however, come as something of a shock to learn that the folks over at Marvel Comics, home to the beloved web-head, haven't pursued any legal action against the Indiana rockers for copyright infringement. In fact, Marvel actually supports the band's usage of the Gwen Stacy moniker, according to the band.
"We were actually worried about them coming after us," Sego, who has been battling a wicked case of tendonitis in both his wrists these last three months, said. "They contacted us about it one time, and we thought it was going to be a negative thing — but they were pretty excited about it. There was some unofficial talk of them doing some stuff with us — what, I'm not sure — but nothing ever happened with that."
Gwen Stacy, who've been around since 2004, self-released an EP, ... I Believe in Humility , in 2005 and had been an unsigned act before Ferret -- which released The Life I Know -- came calling.
"We had a few labels that were feeling us out and wanted to know where we were as far as other labels [went], but there's always just a lot of talk — just talk and talk and talk," the drummer explained. "It took a lot of patience on our part, but Ferret was our label of choice. We had a very small list of labels we were willing to work with, and Ferret was at the top for all four of us."
Sego said he's anxious about the impending release of the band's first LP, but that the guys aren't letting those nerves get to them.
"I'd be lying if I said we weren't nervous at all, but it isn't getting any of us," he said. "I think good music speaks for itself, and we worked our butts off on this album. We're proud as we can be of it, and we think it's a great album. I don't see how a kid could listen to it and not like it. But if it flops and doesn't sell, I'll still be proud of it. I poured my heart and soul into it — all of us did.
"It's a really, really passionate album," Sego continued. "There are entire songs in there that just flat-out explain my life. This album is our hearts on tape. ... We love to play and hang with our fans, and we love our Lord and Savior, and that's basically what the album is all about."
Gwen Stacy's members are devout Christians, but they're not preachy, Sego said.
"We believe in Jesus with all our hearts, and we take that very seriously," he said. "We don't throw it around lightly. The Bible says to love the Lord and Savior with all your heart, and to love your neighbors — that's our stance. We love people, and we love our fans, and there's nothing we wouldn't do for any of them.
"We've taken some fire for being Christians, and it's to be expected," he continued. "We don't mind. We have a little 15-second thing that we throw into our set each night, which lets kids know our stance — that we play because we love Jesus. But we're not about to judge them if they don't believe the same thing. We make sure that kids know that we're not there to ... ram our beliefs down their throats. ... We have our beliefs, and anyone who wants to know about them, we are more than prepared to share what we believe, but we won't look down at them if they don't."
Sego takes pride in the fact that his band — and no one else — crafted the album's tracks, something he says many bands in the genre don't do.
"The album is written by us," he said. "A lot of bands are going into the studio with three or four songs, expecting the producer to help them do their job and finish the rest of the album. We were very much an independent band through this entire process. For me, I couldn't go out there and play someone else's songs. For it to not be legitimate, that's the ultimate scam. I would rather write crap and write it myself than have something great that someone else did for me."
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