Rock band Terrible Things will make its SLO Brewing Co. debut this Thursday night.
The recently formedband, made up of ex-members of Taking Back Sunday, Coheed and Cambria and Hot Rod Circuit, is proving to fans the end of one path is the start of another.
Lead singer and former Taking Back Sunday (TBS) member Fred Mascherino, who left TBS about three years ago, said starting this band has made him feel the happiest he has in years.
“Honestly, this has been the most fun I’ve had in a long time because we’re all on the same page,” Mascherino said. “We’ve all kind of had to take this step back and realize the reason we’re doing this is not because of the comfort or the money, but that this is what we always wanted to do.”
The idea for Terrible Things ignited within Mascherino after a streak of arson in his hometown of Coatesville, Penn.
“About two years ago, there were 49 fires in about a four month period and it was this ongoing thing where there was a fire or two every week,” Mascherino said. “It just went on and on without anyone being able to stop it. I was getting pretty upset and frustrated about it and angry too.”
So the musician inside Mascherino got to work.
“I just sort of wrote a song called ‘Steel Town’ to deal with it,” Mascherino said. “I don’t think I said it quite right so I started writing some more songs about it just for myself. After I had four or five songs, I thought this could be neat.”
After meeting Andy Jackson, a former member of Hot Rod Circuit, Mascherino found out Jackson had lost his home and belongings in a fire a few years back.
“I said, ‘Well I have this group of songs here that are about that experience and you could bring in an angle that I wouldn’t know about being a victim of the fire,’ and he was all for it and we started writing about it,” Mascherino said.
After the two started to collaborate, Mascherino contacted one of his favorite drummers Josh Eppard, a former member of Coheed and Cambria, who was in from the moment he got the call.
Terrible Things was finally born. Mascherino said the timing worked out perfectly when it came to leaving their former bands and working on side projects.
“Andy — his band Hot Rod Circuit ended three years ago and that’s about the time when Josh left Coheed and Cambria,” Mascherino said. “We all ended that around the same time. Just those two years of not being a band and doing our own thing that made us excited for doing something like this that’s more exciting.”
Terrible Things released its first self-titled album in August. Mascherio said it could be considered “straight forward rock music.” However, he said the lyrics stray away from relationships, much like the typical lyrics of Taking Back Sunday.
“We kind of went back to the things we listened to when we grew up like Led Zeppelin or Tom Petty or some of the punk stuff we were into in high school,” Mascherino said. “That helped us reinvent things.”
Mascherino said this “reinvention” has gotten mixed reviews from friends — but that’s exactly what he’s looking for.
“Even if they’re weirded out by it, we think that’s great because we’re dong something new,” Mascherino said. “It won’t be about ‘Oh this sounds like your old band’ or ‘Let’s keep talking about your old band.’”
Although the album was released in late August, the band has been on small tours since April. One of which was the Warped Tour, which Mascherino said is the hardest tour in the world.
“There’s nothing more taxing on your body as far as lack of sleep and just the heat,” he said.
However, he said he feels a closer connection with the bands on the Warped Tour that he couldn’t feel on a regular tour.
“At the end of the two months, you feel like you all went through something together and the people you’re hanging out with on that tour,” Mascherino said.
Come Thursday, the band will have about two weeks left of their tour with Mae, but will be starting up again two days after it ends. Yet, focusing on the current tour, Mascherino said he’s excited to play at a venue he’s never been to.
“It’s definitely going to be a fun show,” Mascherino said. “I really love playing new places. The worst thing is playing in New York City. They just saw David Bowie and the Kinks reunion already. So why the heck do they want to see us? So I love going off the beaten path.”
Although Terrible Things as a group has little name recognition in San Luis Obispo, hopeful attendees are aware of the musicians who make up the band.
Architecture senior Garrett Sweden, a fan of Coheed and Cambria, said he knows Eppard as a good drummer.
“He has an interesting style,” Sweden said. “He’s really cool — just a really good groove drummer. He really made Coheed and Cambria what they originally sounded like. And he’s a really good writer as a musician.”
Graphic communications junior Alyssa Habian said she knows the band will put on a good show because of the members’ histories as successful musicians.
“It’s good listening — it’s not screamo, but it’s not pop,” Habian said. “They have a mix of really good musicians.”
The show is for all-ages and doors for the all-ages show open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available in advance for $14 at Boo Boo Records, ticketweb.com or at the door for $15.