Angele Lalonde writes "Sadly as previously announced, Boston's hardcore's 'Reach The Sky' have parked the van and called it quits as of February 9th. A mutual decision between all members, they're leaving this industry with absolutely no regrets and lots of friends, officially this is RTS's last interview so take it in while you still can…"
Click READ MORE to see Ian and company's final thoughts on the band.
Angie- Well I actually just found out this is your last tour?
Ian- Yes it is…
A- So this is it for Reach The Sky?
Ian- Yep, this is it, we didnât even want to announce it as a last tour but the news kind of just got out there, so we had to announce it, we were just going to tour and then quietly break up but the news got out.
A- Why?
Ian- Because weâre like old dudes and we need to get back to working and just being normal guysâ¦
A- You really honestly feel like that?
Ian- Yes, absolutely, you know weâve been around for 6yrs. Punk and hardcore is like a two or three year period in most peopleâs lives. This is not like Dave Matthews Band where people listen to him in High School and they can follow it all the way up until theyâre a yuppie and still relate. With punk, thatâs what makes it so important because itâs a quick period in someoneâs life. Yes there are things from it that you will carry forever but as in going to shows regularly and being dead on about it (hardcore) its usually a brief thing for people. We did it full time for six years, we went everywhere all over the world, we did more than we expected to. I mean I donât leave with any regrets at all, itâs just we did it to the fullest of our abilities. Our bass player is getting married all the other guys are moving in with their girlfriends and Iâm getting a real job. We got to get back to work my bank account needs helpâ¦
A- Are you scared to go back?
Ian- No, actually Iâve already started working because we were home for a little bit. When I got this job offer that I simply couldnât pass up, I told everyone. I had to take the job. I told everybody and they were bummed but they understood. We're all friends still and we can understand each other pretty well. I mean we have a whole other record basically written, we wrote it because we planned on recording it, but never did. We tossed around the idea of recording it and going back on the road but what more are we going to really do or accomplish, I guess. Like okay we can do it and then it will come out and hopefully people will like it but weâre just going to do the same thing as we did, weâre not going to turn into some superstar buzz band. Hell, I donât think weâd even want thatâ¦
A- Will you ever release that album?
Ian- No, no not at all, whatâs the purpose I mean I donât want to⦠I want to be remembered for our live show. The records will do whatever to the listener. But the live stuff, that's important, thatâs the immediacy of punk rock, when you listen to a record it does whatever it does, you know what I mean, but when you go to a show thatâs what makes it real and honest, itâs just everybody here feeling the same things. I donât want to sound corny or cliché but ultimately thatâs what the connection is, thatâs why I fell in love with it, itâs because of what happens on that stage, from any band. Thatâs the part we want to be remembered for, the records will be around forever, but not the passion from a live show. So thatâs why we wonât do another record and put it out and not tour on it. Its not right, for us.
A- Is everyone else pursuing different careers too?
Ian- (points to Brendan) Heâs getting married. Itâs just weâve gotten to this point in our lives, you know what I mean, I donât want to wear out our welcome either. Some people will always say we shouldnât have broken up butâ¦
A- Up here you guys are the Boston hardcoreâsâ¦
Ian- I think thatâs because we came here once we had a good time and weâll never forgot it. A lot of tours bypass it because Ottawaâs not a huge city, but play Toronto and Montrealâ¦
A- Yes, every timeâ¦
Ian- But Ottawaâs just always shown us a lot of love and weâve just always had a lot of fun here so we came back and weâre still having a lot of fun. Ultimately, again thatâs whatâs important to us: the shows and the people. whatever I donât give a shit about records sales or any of that, thatâs bullshit. I didnât get into hardcore so I could say âI sold this muchâ I got into it to be like I went to a town I never would have gone to in my entire life and I met these people who I care about forever and have connected with. Thatâs the reality of it. Itâs not because of some fucking cornball dude whoâs like yeah, I came to Ottawa and I sold 40 t-shirts! Seriously, who gives a fuck! Who really cares about that shit? I would rather be like I came to Ottawa and I have about 10 to 15 friends that I will never forget places I could go there on a vacation for instance and I would run into people I know, thatâs the reality and thatâs what makes it work and thatâs what makes it hard about breaking up tooâ¦
A- Was this all a mutual decision between you guys?
Ian- Actually no I pulled the plug, Iâll say it, but I mean I got this job offer I simply canât⦠I didnât even say like âwhat do you guys thinkâ I just said I canât do it anymore, I got a job offer, I canât do it. Weâre all friends so no one was like you fucking asshole they were like I understand our drummer was like itâs about time, not in the sense he couldnât wait for it to be over, we all knew at some point something like this was going to happen.
A- Does Victory know and are they okay about this?
Ian- Tony was like that sucks but they understand. I mean heâs not happy, heâs like I love this band and I donât want to see you guys go butâ¦
A- Brendan, do you have anything planned?
B- Yes, Monday Iâm going to be trying to get some shit-ass part-time job…
A- Is anyone else going to be joining or pursuing any other bands?
Bob- Weâre doing what you call âentertaining all optionsâ
Ian- Weâre pursuing getting out of this bullshit, to settle some debts, we owe a lot of moneyâ¦
A- Could anyone expect to see Reach The Sky again in the future?
Ian- Yeah, I mean everybody will probably⦠I wouldnât be surprised if dudes resurfaced in other bands but I mean this band playing again? No itâs done on the 9th of February. Itâs been like, six years! We played 647 shows. I read a thing on this band Obituary, a death metal band I loved growing up, and in ten years they played 500 shows. Hell, they are legendary too. We did it for six and played six-hundred-and-fifty. We just non-stop went out there, we were on the road for two-and-a-half years we got home and we had a four or five month break. Finally dudes just were like, doing the same things that you do everyday we were finally getting the chance to do. Simple crap that people who are home all the time take for granted. Now I actually kind of like being at home, I like the thought of knowing that when my friends come to town Iâm going to actually be there, you know shit comes up, you know someone graduates or gets married youâre actually going to be there⦠Can you imagine not seeing your family for six years, your parents, your brothers, birthdays your own birthdays just never being around. Because you go out and do what youâre doing, everybody elseâs lives move on, itâs almost a selfish way of living to expect to go out there and do what youâre doing and have everybody else fit kind of mold. I mean thereâs so many people in my life that I care about that I donât see on a regular basis or even ever, because⦠Iâm not home, donât expect me to be home. We did what we did and I have no regrets, absolutely none. I mean there are things business wise and career wise we probably could have done better but ultimately⦠I mean the things that I miss for the shows and for the places we went that I donât have any regrets about. I was psyched when we put out a demo and when our friends liked our demo I was excited, I could have walked away from it then and been like thatâs all I want, not to mention selling records all over the world, not to mention going to Japan, Swedenâ¦
Brendan- oh Swedenâ¦
Bob- All I remember in Sweden is people booing us off the stageâ¦
Brendan- We played for like 3000 people and by the end of our third song there was like 300 (laughing)
A- Is there anything youâd want to say to your fansâ¦?
Ian- We donât have "fans". We play shows for hardcore and punk rock kids, the same as us. I see interviews on punknews, you can put this in the interview. I see interviews on there with fucking bands, where bands are actually like we have so many "fans". Get the fuck out of here! Where people are like yeah weâre all about our fans we do this for our fans, get the fuck out of here and get over yourself, youâre in a fucking punk rock band, not fucking Van Halen. Youâre a punk rock kid just like anyone else. There was an interview or a review or something on punknews.org where this reviewer was saying it was so cool that band âXâ was walking around talking to their fans. I mean seriously how lame is that shit. Youâre a punk rock kid or a hard core kid, the bands are fucking punk rock kids or hardcore kids. Nobody is different or better than one another. I hate that vibe from bands. No one should be a fucking fan of some punk band. You can be a fan of Eminem⦠you know what I mean, when you go to a punk show youâre just the same as the dudes on stage. Thatâs the corniest shit when bands try to pull that crap. Fans! Get over yourselves. All you fake punk bands go kill that fan bullshit.
A- So kill the fan bullshit and I guess this is itâ¦
Ian- Yep, you got the last interview, well so far unless something happens later on, but I donât see that happeningâ¦