In early 2005 I discovered FOR THE MATHEMATICS, a five-piece sassy rock/post-hardcore band out of Ottawa. I picked up 'The New Science' and jammed it incessantly. Then my girlfriend at the time (now wife) and made the 4-hour trek to see them play, where they killed it. I rabidly picked up the next EP demo and a year later 'We Impend' was released on Year Of The Sun Records. Two years after that they broke up and Robb's next band Higher Rites released an album with some leftover/reworked FTM jams. In the 16 years that have followed I have never stopped jamming these two EPs, for they are fucking incredible. After a few years of chasing the band around I finally was able to sit down with vocalist/guitarist Robb and bassist Albert to discuss the band's history and possible future, as well as: Zaphod Beeblebrox & the Ottawa scene, an avalanche of compliments, Robb's writing framework, the
Faraday to
For The Mathematics bridge, factors of influence/discovery, music bombardment, restraining the unrestrainable, low budget music videos, FTM keggers & the 5-minute keyboardist, ravenous youth & the East Coast, too many drummers, Alberto leaving the band, doing their 'In Utero', being in a Horse The Band pit during "Cutsman", the 20th anniversary, etc. Bands played in this podcast:
Girl Arm,
Horseboy,
Nation Of Language,
Self,
Sufjan Stevens, and
Tropical Fuck Storm. Listen to podcast #142 which is
available to stream and/or download for free via this link.
Some additional band member information! Clay was in
Jetplanes of Abraham for a while before
Higher Rites. Robb was in the band for about 5 minutes but was testing out a draft of '
We Impend' on them and realized it needed to go to
For The Mathematics. They were pretty popular in town for a while before breaking up. Liam was in
The Balconies for a good while. These guys were on Warner, and probably the biggest band that members have been affiliated with in some capacity. James (FTM drummer #2) and Robb are in
The Pale Light right now. Their second album '
Leviathan' sounds closer to
For The Mathematics than their first, '
Future Eaters'.
FOR THE MATHEMATICS
1 I Don't Know If You Know How Awesome You Were and the Full Body Blush
~no music
2 Low Budget Music Videos are the Best
3 Four Drummers and Picking Up the Pieces
4 East Coast Old Man Energy
SUFJAN STEVENS "Jacksonville (live at Austin City Limits)" (
Albert) [
official music video]
HORSEBOY "Vicious Mockery" (
Dave)
~Dave
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