States have signed with Tooth & Nail Records and will be reissuing Room To Run via the label on June 19th. The release will feature four bonus tracks. Check out the new track listing below by clicking “Read More.”

Read More

PropertyOfZack is stoked to be posting a new interview with States that reviewer Jesse Richman conducted at this year’s SXSW Festival. In the interview, Jesse and the band discuss their debut release, coming together from multiple bands, their plan for touring, new material, and much more. Check out the great interview below!

Can you give me a quick rundown of your names and what you do in the band?
Bryan: Sure, I’m Bryan and I play guitar. 
Stephen: I’m Stephen and I play guitar. 
Mindy: I’m Mindy and I sing. 
John: I’m John and I play guitar. 
Dean: Or drums… I’m Dean and I play bass.
John: Oh, I thought we were all going to say guitar. That would have been funny. Nah, I’m John and I play drums. 

So how’s the reception been to the album so far so far?
Mindy: It’s been great. We didn’t know what to expect. It’s been amazing and it’s great to see our older fans kind of carry over and support us. 
POZ: Have your old respective fan bases kind of come together on this?
Stephen: That’s one of the most nerve-wracking things about it. It’s very, very different from our previous work. I think we all were expecting the hate a little bit. And there has been. Whatever you do, you’re going to get both sides. But I think we’ve all been really pleasantly surprised with how positive the feedback has been. 

How did you guys figure out what this thing was going to sound like when you brought it together?
Mindy: It was kind of an experiment. 
John: I think it just sounded the way that it did when it came together with everyone playing what they would play. 
POZ: Was it that you came into it knowing you wanted to work with each other, but not what it was going to sound like? Did you have something in mind?
John: I think it was something like that. I think that the theme of the record, or at least the title, Room To Run, meant that we all had room to do what we wanted to do. Everyone contributed what they wanted to contribute. It’s kind of the product of that. I think that’s how it came out. I don’t think anyone really had any expectations, so it was just like “Oh, well this is what it sounds like.” So it was kind of cool. 
Mindy: Yeah. 
Dean: I think we’re still all learning and growing and figuring out what our total sound is. I think we have a piece of it, but I think we’re still going to grow and fine tune it. 
Mindy: I think that there is fun with making different songs sound different ways too. I think that’s another thing about the album is that we didn’t want it to sound just like one type of genre. 

Was that a conscious decision or was it that you started writing a song and it goes this way and the next one goes that way?
Mindy: It kind of happened that way, yeah. 
Bryan: I think all of our favorite records are ones that are really diverse song to song, where you can find a song that fits any mood. So, subconsciously at least in my mind, was that you don’t want to make the same record twice. 

So you guys both came from bands where you had the traditional label thing going on with all that support structure. Now, you’re kind of doing it on your own. How has that been so far? Is it tough finding your footing?
John: I think it’s a little tricky. There is a lot of things where you think “Well we really need to cover this. We really need to cover that. We really need to work on getting a publicist. We really need to do a lot of the things that you have built in with the label.” But it’s been fun. It’s been exciting. 

And to that end, there haven’t been a lot of tour dates yet. Is that because you are trying to navigate all yourself? 
John: I think it’s because we’re being a little selective, to be honest. I think that we are trying to find the right fit for us.
POZ: You’re not going to go out there if it’s not worth your time to do it?
Mindy: Yeah, tour to tour, it’s got to make sense.
Dean: We’re trying to do it strategically. We’ve all done a lot of touring. We’re certainly not afraid of it. But we don’t want to tour just to tour. We want to make it make sense. 

Read More