That's just one of the colorful analogies the band likes to throw around when explaining the compelling inter-band relationships that helped shape the songs found on their forthcoming EP, Dying With A Smile. Still Remains is stepping into the future of heavy music, moving confidently ahead on the long road of self-promotion in the independent music scene and closer toward the spotlight of unsigned talent.

A United Plan
Forming from the ashes of two recently defunct Grand Rapids post-hardcore bands - Shades of Amber and Unition - Still Remains takes the burgeoning and experimental hardcore sounds of the earlier two bands to the next logical step in refinement and calculation. With a sound often compared to modern emotional hardcore bands such as Poison the Well and Hopesfall, Still Remains has an exceptionally rare chance to claim a position worthy of the same praise that these bands are incurring from even the mainstream media, without the stigma of sounding obviously defined through the comparison. In short, their sound is simply what great hardcore should sound like: progressive, intense and, as the original founders of the genre had intended, proudly supporting their own beliefs and ethics.

Harmony vs. Chaos
SR declares two-fold, frontal assault on hardcore's musical second cousin, guitar-driven metal, as they inject this thrashy genre with clean and ultra-melodic breakdowns that sparkle with haunting illumination against the walls of distortion that surround them. Even more impressive than the moments of sonorously layered harmonies that vocalist T.J. Miller uses to balance his most guttural screams, is the tasteful presence of keyboards in Dying With A Smile's most captivating track (courtesy of a guest reappearance from ex-Shades drummer Zach Roth), which indispensably allows the song to soar emotively into heart-wrenching heights uncharted by even the most creditable emo bands.

When asked about the marriage of these externally conflicting themes, Willey pointed to early fascinations with experi-metal cult favs, Faith No More. "I remember the first time I heard one of their earlier albums, The Real Thing... I think that was the first time something that was both heavy and ambient really hit home for me."

Guitarist Jordan Whelan confirmed The Cure as a large influence on his melodic side, in edition to the metallic brutality of Christian hardcore heroes Zao and Darkest Hour. Guitarist Jordan Gilliam cited affinity for Smashing Pumpkins. Miller has an intriguing mutual allegiance to various hardcore screamers and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder alike. Drummer Cameron MacIntosh can most often be found listening to ambient soundscape artists such as Sigur Ros and Portishead, as opposed to the heavier metalers that his phenomenally tight and bombastic drumming would seem more likely cultivated from.

Bringing It All Together
There is also something to be said for the band's ability to process all these differences into one unit. "We have a great sense of unity," said Whelan. "Tight friendships really smooth out the communication."