5 Questions with Ed from Reverse the Curse

If you read my piece last week about Get Better Fest in Keene, then you already know how I feel about Reverse the Curse. They put on such an excellent show; equal parts pounding riffage and soothing crooning. I picked up their record, Hither & Yon, as well and that things just rips. Reverse the Curse blend together the meaty guitars of the grunge era with some seriously soulful vocals and some neat clever hooks to make a tidy little rock n' roll package that you seriously need to investigate. Grab Hither & Yon, out now on Paper + Plastick Records, and get on board with Reverse the Curse. If this is just the beginning for these guys, I can't wait to see what they put out next. Thanks to Ed for answering my questions.

1.)Please state your name, your role in the band, and give us a brief history ofReverse the Curse.

Ed Starcher. I do vocals and guitar. We come from a farm town in Hiram, Ohio. 

2.) You guys partnered up with Paper + Plastick for the release of Hither & Yon, how did that deal come about?

We were asked to open for Less Than Jake and Vinnie, who owns Paper+Plastick, is the drummer of Less Than Jake. He heard the record and liked it, so he asked us to play that show. We started talking that night about him putting out the record, both sides were into it, and we did.

Do you have any plans to release anything further with that label?

Yeah. We are pretty deep into our next record now, and it seems fitting to put it out with Paper+Plastick again. I enjoy the support and encouragement we receive from them.  

3.) What influences did you have growing up that had an effect on Reverse the Curse? Was their a specific album or show that made this band possible?

Well we started really young. We were 12 when we started playing music together. Green Day was the first band we all really loved. Through that, the branches started to grow, but in the beginning it was pretty normal stuff.  I think the main reason we started to play was mostly because there was nothing else to do in Hiram. The local music scene in Ohio is really amazing, and that is absolutely noteworthy of anything we have done. Small Brown Bike was another band that blew our minds collectively around the age of 16.

4.)Lyrically, "Hither & Yon" is a pretty intense record. What was going on in your life that shaped those songs?

It was a pretty strange time for me. I experienced a long line of continuous deaths. Family and friends. The whole of the record is about death, but not all of it is intended to be dark or a bummer, there were beautiful things that happened through it all. It wasn't intentional to write the record that way; it just worked its way out.

5.) You guys are out on tour right now, but are you writing new stuff? What comes next for Reverse the Curse in 2012?

Yes, we are writing new stuff. We are more than half way done with our next record. 2012 will see us touring more and recording a new record, ho