EastScene

The guys from Treaty Of Paris were lucky enough to open for Jack’s Mannequin on the Hammers and Strings tour. EastScene was lucky enough to have a chat with drummer Chris Insidioso and guitarist Dan Wade after their set. The quintet played an acoustic set, and were eager for the response they were going to get from the fans. Prior to the interview, it was clear that they were devoted to this band and put in everything they can to keep it going.

CAITLIN: How did you guys meet Andrew (McMahon)?

TREATY: Well, back in the day when myspace allowed you to chose who you wanted to be in your “top 8″, we started noticing that bands that we were fans of, had interesting people in their “top 8″. So, our guitar player, Phil, had this very ingenious idea: he went to all his favorite bands, bands that were in the same genre as us, such as Jack’s Mannequin, and he emailed everyone in their “top 8″. One of those people happened to be Casper, who is the tour manager of this tour and he works very closely with Andrew. He got back to Phil shortly after and said that he really liked our demos and our sound and that he would keep us on his radar. We kept in touch with him for about a year, and the whole time he was trying to convince Andrew to check our band out because he had been talking about starting a label. Finally when things got in motion, we had just released an acoustic EP, we recorded it on our own and released it on Itunes on our own, and we sent it to Casper because he was one of our contacts. He gave it to Andrew and was like, “You need to listen to this NOW!”. So Andrew put on the acoustic demo and he heard it and was like, “You were right Casper, this sounds really good, I really like this band.” So that started our relationship with Andrew, and… here we are.

CAITLIN: Was it a big deal for you guys to get signed to his record label?

TREATY: Yeah, we went from like, January 2007 to March 2007, being a band that had different labels looking at us and smaller labels that didn’t really have a lot of money, so it was a lot to take in. We had our heart set on Andrew, but he hadn’t really made us an offer yet. So, finally he made us an offer in early 2007. By mid-March, we had officially signed a contract, we had management and we had a booking agent. And this was coming after going our whole lives doing it ourselves and not having anything. So we went from literally having nothing to having all these things that bands like thrive to have and want to have within a really short time space. It was pretty overwhelming, but it’s great.

CAITLIN: Chicago has a pretty solid music scene, was it hard to get out there and get heard? Was it hard to get fans and to get people to come see shows, cause there’s a lot of big bands that hail from Chicago.

TREATY: It was super competitive but we worked really hard. We’re lucky to have a guy like Phil, who’s in our band, he booked for a club in Chicago, so with his knowledge of promoting shows and kind of knowing what to do to make a band successful, so having him as kind of our business guy has been really helpful. There’s a ton of venues in Chicago and there’s a lot of bands, and you make friends. You get out there, and you play as much as you can, and eventually if you work hard enough and your songs are good enough, it’ll pay off.

CAITLIN: You guys played Bamboozle over the summer, what was it like to share the stage with such big bands? Was that a really big deal for you guys?

TREATY: It was really frustrating because we had to miss Jimmy Eat World, because they played at the same time we did! We played right between Jimmy Eat World and Paramore. But what was really cool about it was that it was raining and it was really cold, we went on stage and had a few hundred kids come out and brave the weather and ditch the big bands to come see us on our small, little stage. It was just a really big deal to play Bamboozle. We’ve been fortunate enough to play it two years in a row and both years it’s been amazing.

CAITLIN: Who are bands that you guys would love to play with, like anybody in the world.

TREATY: Well, bands that we’re big fans of, or like big arena tours? Anything? Like Foo Fighters would be incredible, Jimmy Eat World or Motion City Sountrack, Weezer. We’re on tour with Jack’s right now, that’s a really big deal for us. We were fortunate enough to play a few shows with Motion City, and we’re on this tour. And you know, bands that are kind of in this genre. A little pop-y, and little punk-y, but also a little sophisticated. It seems like the fans of those bands seem to respond really positively, to our band.

CAITLIN: What does it feel like to play sold out shows? There’s a lot on this tour that are sold out. How does that feel to know that you’re playing in front of a sold out crowd?

TREATY: It’s amazing. We kind of knew coming into this that most of the shows would be sold out, because Jack’s would normally play like two to three thousand seat venues. We played some of those with them before and it was insane. So, we knew that the venues that were like 500-800 seat capacity were going to be crazy. The kids have been super responsive, we’re making a lot of new fans. It’s cool being in a small venue and having that intimacy of a hungry crowd. Everyone’s close together, it’s small, and intimate, and again, to most of these guys, we’re new to them. So it’s really exciting to get the response that we’ve been getting, espcially a night like tonight, being in Canada, where we haven’t played a lot.

CAITLIN: So the response from fans have been pretty good on this tour?

TREATY: Yeah, we’ve been very fortunate that the crowds have been receiving us very well.

CAITLIN: Did you guys ever picture yourselves being where you are today?

TREATY: We played locally for a long time, Dan was in bands before, I was in other bands and I was excited to do shows some of the shows that we were doing at the time. And at the time, I never thought that I would be on tour with Jack’s Mannequin, touring nationally. I look back to the beginning of this year, like we’ve been on tour for seven or eight months total, it’s been full. It’s crazy, it’s been the busiest year that we’ve ever had. And to answer your question, no. It’s a dream come true to go on tour, play in front of sold out crowds, and we’re having the greatest time ever, so it’s awesome.

CAITLIN: Was there any huge obstacles you guys had to go through as a band to get where you are?

TREATY: Yeah, in May of this year we lost our bass player. He was the original bass player of this band and when we first started Treaty Of Paris, he was in the band, then he quit for nine months. We got a new bass player, that didn’t work out, so the original guy came back, we kind of coaxed him into coming back and we were very happy with that. Then we did some touring in the spring, and by the end of the spring tour, he realized that this lifestyle was not for him. So he left and we were sort of, you know as they say, up shits creek without a paddle. So yeah, we had some huge obstacles to overcome, we had to find a new bassist. We were lucky enough that our newest member, Nick, he’s very talented and he’s young so he’s very hungry for the same kind of success that we want too.

CAITLIN: Was there ever any time where you guys personally wanted to just call it quits? Has it ever crossed your mind that you just didn’t want to do this anymore?

TREATY: No, not in this band at all. I think that especially the last year and a half or so, since we got signed to Andrew’s label, we’ve all been pretty optimistic. You know, sure there were times where we didn’t know what was going to happen, or when we were really going to like breakthrough, and do this as a career. It’s a process, you have to stay positive. You don’t sleep well, you get sick, as we are right now, it’s a struggle. But, it’s really fun and you’re with your best friends and it’s a blast.

CAITLIN: So I guess that it’s a little easier being out on the road with your best friends, cause I guess it can be hard to be away from home and from your family and stuff like that, right?

TREATY: Yeah, it’s definitely easier to travel with people you’re personally close with. There’s a lot of moments, like this year especially, I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving in the US. It’s like a big family celebration and I used to always not really care, and in recent years, I’ve grown to appreciate it more. This year especially, because we’ve been gone for so much of the year, I’m looking forward to seeing my family so much. I never thought I would be looking forward to hanging out with my parents so much in my life. It’s weird, you travel so much and you’re away from home so much, the things that you miss kind of surprise you. But what’s cool is that we’re all really good friends and we sort of get each other through the rougher times on the road.

CAITLIN: Did you guys take time aside from the road to go and vote?

TREATY: I voted early! Basically we left for tour October 14th, and polls opened October 13th, so I voted on the 13th.

CAITLIN: What’s the most rewarding thing about being in this band?

TREATY: For me, it’s just getting up there playing everyday and doing something that we love so much and getting the reaction. Seeing people sing back our songs, is the #1 coolest thing… ever. Aside from getting the money, being able to survive a little bit and getting us from here to there, but, to look out to see people singing your songs really is the most rewarding feeling about being in a band for me. For me, like tonight, the crowd was really, really into the show, they were really receptive, very apprieciative. It makes you think about all the bad shows you played, the times you played in front of five people, and all those horror stories, and you think like, “Wow, this is why I’m in a band. This makes it worth it.” But beyond that, the most rewarding thing for me is that we’re doing this and that we’re basically carving out this life for ourselves. I never thought in my life that I would be playing a show in a really cool venue in Montreal, Quebec. And… here we are!