Starting as a post-hardcore band in 1995, Codeseven released five albums before breaking up a decade later. After playing a reunion show last month in their hometown Greensboro, NC, the band got an offer to tour from their friends in Circa Survive. That tour, which also features Dredg and Animals as Leaders, kicks off on October 15. We caught up with Eric Weyer to explain what led to their reunion, what fans can expect from the tour, and his thoughts on how the industry’s changed since they first broke up.
What was the spark behind you guys getting back together again?
Around New Years Eve, we were all just hanging out and we thought it would be fun to play some of these songs again. We kind of ended abruptly in Rhode Island on tour and we never really did a last show or anything. So it just started with that seven months ago and we’re finally getting around to doing it.
What was the main reason you guys broke up?
Financial, like most bands. If you’re out on the road, you’re trying to gain exposure. All labels and management want you to be on the road as much as possible because it’s better that your name is constantly seen, but at the same time when you’re doing support tours you’re not making a lot. It’s just one of those things, it’s grueling and it takes a toll on everybody after you do it for a while. It was just time.
What made you guys decide to make it official and not just go “Hey, we’re back! Here’s a show”?
Originally it was just going to be like “Well let’s just play a show. Let’s get back together and start playing again. Just spill it out,” because we miss it. We’ve done a few other bands, but we missed the songs and we did this for ten years. It’s a huge part of our lives. So we just, well actually Brendan from Circa Survive called and he had heard a rumor about us possibly getting back together and playing a show and stuff, and that just kind of lead into him asking if we would be interested in doing a tour with Circa Survive. They’re great people, we’ve known them since This Day Forward and it just sounded like too much fun not o do. We’re trying to do this for fun and just have a really good time, not get too into the business aspects of it, and if it gets too much after the tour, just take a break and calm down. Having fun is what it’s all about right now.
Are you playing any new music at all?
No. We’re learning songs that we haven’t played in over a decade, and our drummer Matt lives in Athens, GA now and we’re in Winston-Salem, North Carolina so it’s about a six hour drive. So we really only have enough time just try to figure out how to play the old stuff right now.
Do you have any plans to eventually record new music?
The plan is, yeah, I think after this tour. I don’t see us doing any more touring for a while after this. If the tour goes great then I think we’re all pretty stoked to start writing and see if we can find a cohesive idea behind what the next album should be like. I mean, all things are pointing to that direction. There’s no guarantee of course, but that’s what we feel like would be the next step if it goes great.
It will be really interesting considering how different each Codeseven album was, not to mention the fact that there was seven years in between.
Yeah, we’ve been talking about what direction. Do we want to lose all the fans we just got from Dancing Echoes and just piss everybody else off again? We probably will do that to be honest with you, but we’ve talked about how to keep it moving forward and being creative and not holding ourselves back as always, and stuff like that. So it may be metal, may be a grind record. Who knows? It’s whatever we feel like at the time.
That’s awesome! Do you feel like the band has picked up new fans since you guys broke up?
It’s hard to say. I’m not really sure what really has happened, or any talk about us has been going on since we broke up. It’s just kind of revisiting stuff now. So I don’t know who remembers us or anything like that. I’m just crossing my fingers that there’re going to be a few kids every night on this tour coming up.
Do you feel that the new technology like Facebook and Twitter that wasn’t around when you were a band before has helped?
It’s different. Yeah, it’s totally different. It’s great. When you’re doing a show, especially a reunion show which the first one’s in a couple of weeks, we used to go blotter our entire town and the city and the cities over, and go to every school and put flyers up. I mean you couldn’t miss them. My grandpa knew when we were playing a club (laughing). You just couldn’t miss it. Now you don’t really have to do that. You can just go on the internet and create a viral attack. It’s pretty neat.
Are there any other ways you feel like things have changed since the band was around?
Well obviously the music industry is changing. It’s a positive and a negative. You don’t have that same feeling when you go buy CDs. You’d find your independent store either in, for us it was Greensboro, the next city over, and you’d make a road trip once a week and they had what you were looking for. You bought it, helped the bands, helped independent labels. And now it’s just, you know I download everything, I don’t buy anything! It’s just too convenient. It’s there. I downloaded all of our Codeseven stuff recently just to learn all the songs. It’s just too convenient, but it hurts the bands, it hurts the labels most, I guess. They’re the ones that pay for the recordings and stuff, but then again that’s changed a lot as well. We have our own studio because technology has caught up and we can afford to get a small studio that’s reasonably priced. It’s all changed.
I actually don’t know how to bring this question up because I was talking to a friend of mine in the office here, and he was like “I don’t know why, but whenever I hear The Fray, I think of Codeseven.”
(Laughing) Well I could see that. There’s a few songs on the last album we put out that has a pop sensitivity to it, especially a song called “Roped and Tied.” (Laughing) I could probably agree with that. I don’t like The Fray personally, but I could see where that could put in context with our music.
Well maybe you’ll be the next Fray. (Laughing) You might have a “How To Save A Life” in you yet!
(Laughing) You never know! We can write some pop songs I can tell you that. (Laughing)
Tour Dates (With Circa Survive, Dredg, Animals As Leaders)
10/15 Hartford, CT @ The Webster
10/16 Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony
10/17 Towson, MD @ The Recher Theatre
10/19 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
10/20 Charleston, SC @ The Music Farm
10/21 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
10/22 Lake Buena Vista, FL @ House Of Blues
10/23 Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
10/26 New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
10/27 Houston, TX @ House Of Blues
10/29 San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit
10/30 San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit
10/31 Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues
11/4 Anaheim, CA @ House Of Blues
11/5 San Diego, CA @ House Of Blues
11/6 Hollywood, CA @ Avalon
11/7 San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom
11/9 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
11/10 Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
11/12 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
11/13 Denver, CO @ The Summit Music Hall
11/14 Kansas City, MO @ The Beaumont Club
11/17 Minneapolis, MN @ Cabooze On The West Bank
11/18 Milwaukee, WI @ The Eagles Club
11/19 Chicago, IL @ House Of Blues
11/20 Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall
11/21 Cleveland, OH @ House Of Blues
11/23 Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Chance
11/24 Boston, MA @ House Of Blues
11/26 Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre Of Living Arts
11/27 New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
11/28 New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
