interview by: Roberto Martinelli

Breather Resist doesn’t realize it’s fat. But even if it did, it wouldn’t care. To get to San Francisco's Studio Balazo, the venue of the show featuring this four-man hardcore band from Louisville, Kentucky, the group had braved interminable miles of road, numerous van break downs, accursed veggie burgers and terrible, terrible flatulence. I was first-hand witness to at least the last one of these trials as I climbed into Breather Resist’s van and over the naked mattress that the rather well-fed guys use to catch some “z”s on.

Maelstrom: “Breather Resist”... what’s in a name?

Evan Patterson (guitar): We had been a band for a few months, and we didn’t have a name. So we thought of this one. It’s a good name. It obviously has a self-explanatory meaning. Like, resist breathing or breathe resistance.

Nick Thieneman (bass): It’s not “breathe or resist.”

Steve Sindoni (vocals): Or “brother resist.” (The rest of the band chime in).

Nick Thieneman: There’s actually another band in Kentucky that we discovered after we had established our name, called Breather Resistance. So it’s total confusion.

Evan Patterson: Yeah. They recently changed their name.

Maelstrom: Out of fear, I’d imagine.

Geoff Paton (drums): We were gonna take ‘em to court, for all their... money...

Maelstrom: Or maybe their amps, or something. (All laugh). Or maybe another mattress.

Evan Patterson: We definitely don’t need any more amps, though.

Geoff Paton: (sarcastically) Yeah, we need two walls of sound instead of one.

Maelstrom: What’s the most embarrassing story about you guys that you probably shouldn’t tell us?

Steve Sindoni: We were playing the Otto Bar, in Baltimore. This kid comes up to me after our set. He was a fairly large guy. He comes up to me and says, “Hey! You guys were AWESOME!” And I was like, “thank you.” And he goes, “Yeah! It’s just great to see fat kids in hardcore bands!” And I was like, “ohhh.” It was one of those things where you had to say, “thanks...”

And then, he goes, “because *I’m* in a hardcore band, and we’re all fat! And no one likes us because we’re fat!” And I was, like, “well, good luck with everything.” And then he lifts up his shirt and shakes his belly at me, as if it was some kind of international fat kid greeting. Like I’m in a club.

Maelstrom: You guys don’t look all that fat to me.

Steve Sindoni: Well, we’re working on it. We’re all on the double Atkins diet.

Maelstrom: How important is Converge to you and to the music that you play?

Evan Patterson: Personally, Converge has never been a huge influence. What influences me is probably the same shit that influences them (points to rest of band). Rorshack, early Today is the Day, Unsane. Jesus Lizard...

Nick Thieneman: I’ve always been a fan of Converge. Jane Doe is an amazing record.

Maelstrom: How pretty can cancer get? (The band begins to chuckle)

Evan Patterson: As far as song titles went, we were kinda in a rush (referring to Breather Resist’s “Pretty Like Cancer” song). (The band chuckles louder). We just liked the sound of it. It’s a sarcastic title for a sarcastic song.

Maelstrom: That’s it? Ohhh, man.... Make something up.

Nick Thieneman: The song’s about making it in the industry, right?

Maelstrom: “I fucked my way to the top.”

Evan Patterson: Yeah. It compares getting big to prostitution. It covers all the pros and cons about that.

Maelstrom: Ohh... a dialectic.

Evan Patterson: Sometimes, when a band gets big, you feel jealous. If it’s from an underground scene, those people from the scene automatically think, “oh, this is mine. I’ve liked this band for years. And now I’m gonna see all these people that don’t deserve to listen to them wearing their t-shirts.” But at the same time, if a band  gets offered a contract from a big label, and they don’t have to work a shit job any more, and make their money off of their music, then more power to those bands.

Geoff Paton: They’d take it.

Nick Thieneman: Take it.

Steve Sindoni: Take it.

Evan Patterson: I’d take it.

Maelstrom: What’s been the biggest hurdle for your band so far?

Nick Thieneman: Getting a stable van.

Evan Patterson: I had to get a loan for $6,000 for this one. It’s a lot for me.

Nick Thieneman: Breaking down four times in one tour and getting towed home from Charlottesville, Virginia to Louisville, Kentucky.

Maelstrom: Oh, my god! (That’s 490 miles/ 784 km)

Steve Sindoni: It was my birthday, too. I spent 13 hours in a van that was on a flatbed (truck). We had to lie down the entire time, and every time we turned, I thought I was going to die.

Maelstrom: I don’t understand. Why did you have to lie down the whole time?

Evan Patterson: Because it was illegal to be in the van because it was on top of another vehicle.

Steve Sindoni: I got home and had a veggie burger. It was the worst birthday ever.

Nick Thieneman: But the night before, that one waitress was awesome.

Evan Patterson: We hung around in Charlottesville the night before and saw “Kill Bill.”

Geoff Paton: So, it wasn’t a total loss.

Maelstrom: The beginning of your Only in the Morning CD has what sounds like a clip of applause from a stand up comedy routine.

Evan Patterson: It’s from a Sabbath live album.

Steve Sindoni: We like clapping.

Evan Patterson: I think every release that we’ll make will have clapping, until we run out of bands whose live clips of clapping we can use. And then it’ll just be the four of us going, “wooo!”

Geoff Paton: Yay.