Music Style Old School Hardcore

Artist History Miles Between Us formed under the name "From This Day Forward" by Matt LaForge, Matt Ford, Nathan Simpson and Josh Dyck in July of 1998. We were four inexperienced and gun shy skate-punks-turned-wannabe-posi straight edge kids trying to play hardcore without a clue as to how to go about it. Between us we had been in all of one previous band- none of them hardcore; our singer had never sung; and our drummer had never drummed; our median age was exactly 18.25; and we had almost no equipment. Our first practiced occurred in the first week of August in Josh’s parents’ laundry room in Carleton Place, Ontario- a decidedly non-‘edge’, non-‘core’ white trash mecca of 7,000 about a half hour from Ottawa. We had three songs (two of which remain on our set list to this day!!) and no hope in hell of getting anywhere. Anyone in a band (especially their first) can probably attest to the palpable sense of futility and indecision that hangs over the band’s collective head during those first few weeks. We had it in spades. Practices were all about looking at the floor, playing the same few bars from Flame Still Burns time and again (ask us NOT of our twice preformed cover of that song. We don’t talk about it), arguing about asinine topics like pizza and TV, and joking about the hedonist ‘rockstar’ shit like lear jets and platinum blonde groupies that were supposedly in store for us. It sucked. The first good decision we ever made was asking our friend Adam Solomonian to join the band. Adam, like Matt F., was from one town over- an even smaller urban blip upon the eastern Ontario hinterland known as Almonte- where, for some, reason there had existed a fairly legendary all ages/indie rock scene during the mid 90s. Adam had been one of the pint-sized upstarts in Almonte’s heyday and had been a member of two pretty highly regarded bands. He, Matt L., and Nathan had joked about starting a traditional straight edge band with ‘hard breakdowns’ for a few months. However, Adam somehow found himself on the outside looking in when the band actually formed and it took some groveling to get him into the lineup. Once From This Day Forward became a four piece, things actually started to get rolling. Adam’s aptitude for songwriting breathed new life into our heretofore utterly dysfunctional creative process and his “aw shucks” sense of humour diluted what had been an unbearable atmosphere at practices. By the time school started that fall, doing the band actually became fun and interesting…. …but remained tortuously slow and inefficient. FTDF would practice regularly for another four months before we played a six-song set at our first show in late December 1998. There is no bootlegged footage of our first batch of performances and thanks be to Christ for that. To say the early shows were ugly is to kiss our ass to our face- but laugh heartily about it later amongst those who had the displeasure of being there. However, we WERE a fast, punk rock-esque straight edge band playing in a city whose biggest hardcore exports thus far (and since) were emo-rock demagogues Shotmaker and Three Penny Opera. As a result, we instantly made a name for ourselves: “That Old School Band”, which was soon to be supplanted by “The Old School Band”. There is no such thing as bad press. A few isolated strokes of good luck notwithstanding, it wasn’t until the summer of 1999 that we made our second good decision. Josh had been a willing and agreeable human subject in our little hardcore science experiment and we had managed to make it the better part of a year and actually play a decent show or two. The fact was, however, Josh didn’t care about hardcore or straight edge either,and, frankly, was probably more than a little dubious about going broke for the band. That he had recently broken the edge (all by his lonesome with a whimsical plundering of his parents liquor cabinet) and consequently deprived us of the ‘Ottawa Valley Straight Edge’ moniker we had come to adore did not help his case. We knew we eventually had to be big boys and turf the Dyck. With no shortage of hesitating, rationalizing, do-making, and around-the-bush beating we did the dirty deed and sent JD packing after one final show with him and brought in our man Howie Joyce in September of 1999. Funny thing about Howie, he was always the more obvious choice for the job all along. Unlike Josh, Howie had much greater talent on the skins and, furthermore, he actually enjoyed hardcore and wanted nothing more than to be in a band with Matt L., and Nathan- boyhood playmates/bloods and co-founders of the Carleton Place Straight Edge intelligentsia back in 1995. Like Josh, however, Howie was, as far as the edge was concerned, a fallen brother. But fate and common sense proved to be on our side when after a night of binge drinking that culminated in a three-dude streak up Carleton Place’s main street at five in the morning Howie decided to take an objective glance at what he had become. Deciding his heart truly lay with the ’88 youth crew rather than a half-cocked 1970s stoner-populated sect of pseudo-exhibitionist longhairs, Howie reclaimed the edge and was promptly hired by a thankful From This Day Forward. (an epilogue: less than a year later, his edge fully intact, Howie would revert to his post-flower child tomfoolery. The fully assembled student body was treated to an unforgettable spectacle of self-promotion/debasement at a year-end function never to be forgotten.) Once again operational and once again 100% EDGE, FTDF hit a few more peaks over the follwing twelve months. The first demo was recorded no less than one year after the band formed, a handful of out of town shows were played, and a smattering of respect was earned within the Ottawa area. We were having more fun than ever and had the confidence that comes with a solid lineup but we knew damned well we could still be doing much better. Still restless, we changed our name to Miles Between Us over the Summer of 2000 and resolved to take the foundation of near-excellence we had forged and turn it up a few notches. Four of the five members now attending school in Ottawa and living within 10 minutes of one another, MBU sequestered itself during the fall of 2000. We wrote and recorded a new demo and released it to our salivating public in the twilight of Y2K. With better songs, more experience, and a renewed enthusiasm came a new and utterly ruthless stage presence that I think took a lot of people by surprise. With more faith in ourselves than ever, Miles between Us is primed for the most rewarding year of its short history in 2001. Records, tours, crippling debt, ill-advised sex with female fans; you name it, we’re planning it! This is our time! XXX Miles Between Us Ottawa Straight Edge 2000

Group Members Matt Laforge-Vocals//Adam Solomonian-Guitar//Nathan Simpson - Guitar//Matt Ford-Bass//Howie Joyce-Drums

Instruments drums,guitars,bass,vox

Albums Split demo tape with Course Of Action,Demo 2k

Location Ottawa, ontario - Canada

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