INTERVIEW:

Interview Short: Philadelphia's Jena Berlin recently teamed up with Jump Start Records, who will be releasing the post-hardcore outfit's sophomore record, Quo Vadimus, this August. Kill The Noise caught up with vocalist Jon Loudon and drummer Jeff Meyers to find out more.

How would you describe Jena Berlin 's sound?

Jon: Somewhere between Small Brown Bike, Fugazi, and At The Drive In.

Where does the name Jena Berlin come from?

Jon: Jena and Berlin were two cities in Germany where Karl Marx went to college. We like to think that punk rock at its roots is a lot like the ideas behind communism. Its a shame most people assume its a girl's name or something like that, but we've found its a good jumping point to start conversations with people at shows. Its lead to some really interesting discussions.

You just recorded your sophomore full-length, Quo Vadimus, how does it differ from the previous record?

Jon: Quo Vadimus is a bit more consistent over all musically. Its one of those things where our band is growing up on record. I feel like we were all little kids when we started and now we're out getting our footing in the real world.

Jeff: With the first record Passion Waits... we didn't really know what we were going for. We just sort of wrote songs that came to us. After playing a ton of shows and figuring out how each other works, we figured out the more intense songs on that record fit our personalities better. Quo Vadimus has songs that we enjoy playing live. Playing live is the best part about being in a band anyway!

The new record will be released by Jump Start Records, how did you come to be on there?

Jon: Jeremy Myers at Jump Start has been incredibly supportive of our band for a long time. He was the one that really had our back when we wanted to make a new record. It's nice to have someone like that in Philly. There's not that many labels like that locally.

What does Quo Vadimus mean?

Jon: Quo Vadimus means "Where are we going?" in Latin. Its actually from a Sports Night episode, haha. The idea behind it isn't so much about the destination, but the process of getting there and of being resilient in the face of whatever comes your way. We're all in a transitional part of our lives and that made the most sense.

Jeff: The "we" part of the question is the best part because it can mean so many different things. "we" could represent your relationships, your country/government, your friendships etc. Besides our interpretation of it, it can mean something else to another person.

How's the scene in Philadelphia ?

Jon: The scene here is really wonderful if you're going to shows. There's endless amounts of incredible bands playing here all the time (sometimes all in the same night). The kids in the scene are generally very supportive. It is, however, rather difficult for us since we're not strictly a hardcore or indie rock band. It's a strange thing for us.

Jeff: There are a ton of bands from the Philadelphia area. A lot of bands move here too because it is a great scene. It's really hard to make your claim as a band to care about. You sort of have to prove yourself. It doesn't really bother me though because it just makes more motivated to touring and playing elsewhere. We have our friends that support us all the time in Philly and that's all I can ask for.

What's next for the band?

Jon: Once the record comes out in the US in august, we'll be touring throughout the fall and winter. We're working out the details of getting the record out in Europe around that time as well. Pretty much we just tour from here until we run out of money, haha. We're also writing new material that we're pretty excited about.

Jeff: We definitely don't want to take another 2 years to release our next cd so we're going to keep writing. Maybe an ep, maybe another full length. Who knows? We just don't want to stop creating.

Jena Berlin's Quo Vadimus is out August 14th on Jump Start Records.
Links: myspace.com/jenaberlin / jumpstartrecords.com
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