Way, way back when I first moved into my own apartment, I used to order a bunch of records every month from Sentient Distribution in Germany. He had lots of good records and sometimes merch, zines and demos. One particular month he'd gotten a couple of new demos in and some merch. One band particularly caught my attention. Today I can't recall what the description said but the band was, obviously, The First Step. At this time my only cassette player was in the kitchen so me and my room mate always listened to demos while preparing dinner and although I haven't listened to the actual tape demo in years I'm pretty sure that during that period of time it got played enough for a lifetime. You can say it was love at first sight. The music, the message and the dream of once stage diving to this band.
LUND, SWEDEN - 2008
I did Send In The Clones during this time and TFS was sure a band I wanted featured in it. I got in touch with Aaron and we did a really cool interview. For me, TFS was definitely more than "just a band". They represented good music, good lyrics and a good attitude in a way which I hadn't seen in a current band at that point. When they announced that they'd be touring Europe with Damage Control, I couldn't believe it. Summer came and everyone I knew was stoked to see The First Step play at a skate park in Trollhättan. We rented a van and the "Stockholm Hardcore crew" drove to the west coast and then up to Norway to see them again. At the norwegian show Stephen said he wanted to do an interview as well as they all really enjoyed SITC and so we did. I did (pretty much) the same interview with Stephen as I did with Aaron and while people thought I was narrow minded and boring for interviewing the same band twice, I knew this band had more to say than any other band.
Let's fast forward, let's forget about the breaking up and focus on what's important. TFS had recorded an LP. With Walter Schreifels. (Pause, and think about it. It's just huge.) But the record never came out, everyone was waiting and going sort of "crazy but not insane" while doing so. Enter my friend Cesco Willemse. As he, at the time, was the riff guru of A Step Apart whom had played their first shows with TFS he had gotten his hands on an unmixed version of the LP. He wasn't too keen on sending it to me unless Aaron or Stephen said it was OK. Hence, I asked Aaron and he was totally cool with it as long as I didn't pass it on. And if waiting for the LP was hard, then keeping it to yourself after hearing the first track was even harder. It was my Everest. I knew the LP would be amazing, everyone knew that. But after hearing "Time to understand" I really understood what people meant by being "blown away". I mean, not blown away as you are when you're 15 and hear YOT for the first time, but being blown away by a hardcore band when hardcore and punk rock is all you've been listening to for the past 5+ years, that's different. The band always represented a positive force of change in hardcore and with all their releases I feel they moved mountains. With their live sets, they moved more than that.
For Effort Fanzine #2 I did a 26 pages long interview with Stephen, covering most things TFS. Two hours on the phone with Stephen, while he was driving to see Aaron for the last time in a long, long time, was however not close to enough. There were so many things I simply forgot to ask, didn't have time to ask and didn't think of asking. I have no doubt I can ask Stephen questions about TFS for another two hours, and he can give me stories and memories that would make each and everyone of us respect and love the band even more.
I honestly doubt I'll ever experience a band like TFS again, not that there aren't any good bands out there but it takes "a time and a place" and for me, personally, TFS came into my life at the exact right point. And for that I am forever grateful. Be excellent to each other!
LUND, SWEDEN - 2008
I did Send In The Clones during this time and TFS was sure a band I wanted featured in it. I got in touch with Aaron and we did a really cool interview. For me, TFS was definitely more than "just a band". They represented good music, good lyrics and a good attitude in a way which I hadn't seen in a current band at that point. When they announced that they'd be touring Europe with Damage Control, I couldn't believe it. Summer came and everyone I knew was stoked to see The First Step play at a skate park in Trollhättan. We rented a van and the "Stockholm Hardcore crew" drove to the west coast and then up to Norway to see them again. At the norwegian show Stephen said he wanted to do an interview as well as they all really enjoyed SITC and so we did. I did (pretty much) the same interview with Stephen as I did with Aaron and while people thought I was narrow minded and boring for interviewing the same band twice, I knew this band had more to say than any other band.
Let's fast forward, let's forget about the breaking up and focus on what's important. TFS had recorded an LP. With Walter Schreifels. (Pause, and think about it. It's just huge.) But the record never came out, everyone was waiting and going sort of "crazy but not insane" while doing so. Enter my friend Cesco Willemse. As he, at the time, was the riff guru of A Step Apart whom had played their first shows with TFS he had gotten his hands on an unmixed version of the LP. He wasn't too keen on sending it to me unless Aaron or Stephen said it was OK. Hence, I asked Aaron and he was totally cool with it as long as I didn't pass it on. And if waiting for the LP was hard, then keeping it to yourself after hearing the first track was even harder. It was my Everest. I knew the LP would be amazing, everyone knew that. But after hearing "Time to understand" I really understood what people meant by being "blown away". I mean, not blown away as you are when you're 15 and hear YOT for the first time, but being blown away by a hardcore band when hardcore and punk rock is all you've been listening to for the past 5+ years, that's different. The band always represented a positive force of change in hardcore and with all their releases I feel they moved mountains. With their live sets, they moved more than that.
For Effort Fanzine #2 I did a 26 pages long interview with Stephen, covering most things TFS. Two hours on the phone with Stephen, while he was driving to see Aaron for the last time in a long, long time, was however not close to enough. There were so many things I simply forgot to ask, didn't have time to ask and didn't think of asking. I have no doubt I can ask Stephen questions about TFS for another two hours, and he can give me stories and memories that would make each and everyone of us respect and love the band even more.
I honestly doubt I'll ever experience a band like TFS again, not that there aren't any good bands out there but it takes "a time and a place" and for me, personally, TFS came into my life at the exact right point. And for that I am forever grateful. Be excellent to each other!
