The Minneapolis based band Throw The Fight has seen their popularity and profile grow as dramatically as a shotgun blast over the past year. Their meteoric rise started with the national release of their stellar full-length album, What Doesn’t Kill Us, on Bullet Tooth Records. The success of the album landed them a sweet spot opening for Nonpoint, putting them in front of a much broader audience, which brought major attention to the masses that this band could rock!
Powering up the momentum, Throw The Fight released a new four-song EP entitled The Vault on March 19th, which has been charting ever since. Now, they are throwing things into overdrive with their High Octane Tour kicking off this weekend. Put all of these factors together, and you have the perfect makings of huge things happening for the quintet consisting of James Clark (vocals), Jonathan Sutton (guitar/vocals), Kyle Glidden (bass/vocals) along with brothers Ryan Baustert (guitar) and Jeff Baustert (drums).
RockRevolt™Magazine talked with guitarist Ryan Baustert to find out what the boys of TTF have cooking up for 2013.
Interview with Ryan Baustert:
Rick/RR: Ryan, thank you for checking in with RockRevolt. It’s great to catch up again!
Ryan rockin’ the riffs with TTF!Ryan/TTF: No problem, Rick! Thanks so much. Always great to talk to you and RockRevolt.
Rick/RR: I will say, since our conversation last summer, you guys have been one busy group. You released your national debut for Bullet Tooth Records in late June, toured almost non-stop and now have put out a fantastic four-song EP, The Vault. Let’s talk about the The Vault first. Give us the details on that project as well as why you chose to release those particular songs.
Ryan/TTF: Well, we were able to record around 16 tracks over the last year and a half; too many for one album. So we decided to hold some back so that we could release an EP after What Doesn’t Kill Us came out. The tracks on The Vault were actually recorded prior to tracking our last record.
Rick/RR: Your full-length album, What Doesn’t Kill Us, is currently available at all the major digital outlets as well as national stores such as Best Buy, Hot Topic. Where can fans get the new EP, The Vault?
Ryan/TTF: It is available at a lot of the same places like iTunes and Amazon as well as all of the digital stores. The big-box stores don’t really carry EP’s, so it’s not at Best Buy or Hot Topic. Of course we’ll have it available at all of our shows.
LISTEN TO The Vault on SPOTIFY HERE
Rick/RR: You’ve released the single/video for “Not So Hollywood” and “Lights Out for Summer.” With the new EP out now, do you still plan to continue to push the full-length album? It’s such a solid offering that certainly has some legs left on it for sure
Watch “Not So Hollywood”
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Ryan/TTF: Yes, we’re still firing on all cylinders with What Doesn’t Kill Us. We’re still touring on the release and plan on putting out another single from it, as well. Of course, we’ll be performing songs from The Vault as well at our shows.
![Throw_The_Fight_-_What_Doesn't_Kill_Us_-_Artwork[1]](http://www.rockrevoltmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Throw_The_Fight_-_What_Doesnt_Kill_Us_-_Artwork1-300x300.jpg)
LISTEN TO What Doesn’t Kill Us on SPOTIFY HERE.
Rick/RR: Whether it is the full-length or the EP; what I dig about your music is you just write solid, catchy, fist pumping, positive rock songs with strong melodies. Sometimes people forget that you don’t have to recreate the wheel to make great music.
Ryan/TTF: I appreciate it. That’s been our mindset and goal with songwriting from day one. We’ve always said that we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel and we just want to write strong, hooky, hard rock tunes. When we’re writing, we try to keep in mind what is best for the song as a whole. It’s never been about how fast we can shred a guitar solo. We’re not that band.
Watch “Lights Out For Summer”
Rick/RR: I can say from being at a show of yours last summer that fans seemed to really take to your material in the live setting, even though it was new to several fans. I’m sure that is gratifying to see that.
James hitting a high note with his lethal pipes!Ryan/TTF: Definitely. When we play a show, we want people who have never seen us before to leave the venue saying, “Ok, those dudes are legit and the band is the real deal.”
Rick/RR: You had the opportunity to provide tour support for Nonpoint in the Fall of 2012 into the beginning of 2013. Did the material win over the fans at those shows in the same manner it has at your headlining shows and do you think that was a big catalyst for TTF as a whole?
Ryan/TTF: That tour was amazing for us and really helped put us in front of a larger audience. Honestly, we didn’t think we were going to go over well at first. Nonpoint is one of those bands that have a die-hard fan base. We ended up seeing a lot of the same people who would come out to multiple shows and drive up to eight hours to see those guys. So we weren’t sure if people would really care about the supporting acts that much or if the music would transition that well. Fortunately for us, we were wrong. Nonpoint and their crew were really cool to us and the crowds at every date were amazing. Now we’ve got people that we met at those shows that are driving three and four hours to catch TTF dates and we’ve gotten to know a lot of them on a more personal level, which is awesome. That’s what it’s all about.
Rick/RR: Absolutely! I know you guys have some big stuff going on for this year. What does TFF have brewing so far for Spring/Summer?
Ryan/TTF: Oh man…we are kicking off our High Octane Tour this weekend on Saturday, April 13th with 3 Years Hollow and we are PUMPED UP! They are such a great band and we are going to be hitting the road with a mighty vengeance.
Watch the Just Released “HIGH OCTANE TOUR PROMO VIDEO!
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Then, we’re playing on April 27th and a just added date of May 11th (Sticks & Stones Fest) with Bobaflex and we have quite a few shows with The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, which is amazing! We really can’t wait to hit the road and see everybody! We’re going to be putting up regular Instagram pics from the whole tour, so follow along with us on this journey. It’s going to be a blast!
We also recently worked with our good friend, Mr. Olympia 2011/2012 Phillip Heath, playing some music on his new DVD which will be out exclusively with Bullet Tooth soon called “Operation Sandow.”
CLICK HERE FOR ALL TOUR DATES & TICKET INFORMATION
Rick/RR: Wow, you guys have crazy busy and you’re getting ready to be a whole lot busier! As a music fan yourself, what bands or songs do you find yourself listening to when you get the chance?
Ryan/TTF: Right now I have the new Eye Empire and Love & Death albums on repeat pretty much on a daily basis. I’m still into the latest Papa Roach record, too. What It Is To Burn by Finch is still my go-to, favorite album of all time, though.
Rick/RR: Excellent. I really hate when this happens and time runs out because I have a lot more to ask you, but I know you’re getting ready for the tour. What is the one question you wish someone would ask you in an interview, but never gets covered?
Ryan/TTF: I’m surprised that nobody ever asks us what our tattoos mean. Or if we got good grades in college. Or what our favorite beer is. You know, the important stuff! (Laughs)
Rick/RR: Oh, I’ll be asking those questions and more next time for sure! Thanks for the update on Throw The Fight. We look forward to catching up with you guys on the road again this year.
Ryan/TTF: Sounds great! Thanks so much!
By: Rick Lindner, Journalist – RockRevolt™Magazine
CONNECT WITH THROW THE FIGHT :
Official Website: http://throwthefight.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThrowTheFight
Twitter: https://twitter.com/throwthefightmn
iTunes: http://itunes.com/throwthefight
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/throwthefightmusic
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/throwthefightmn
