Shoutmouth Spotlight: The Spill Canvas

Welcome to Shoutmouth Spotlight, a new-ish feature where we'll be focusing on artists who are grinding their way up in the world. Hopefully we'll be able to turn you onto some new names while also taking a look at what, exactly, it takes to make it in the often-insane game that is the contemporary American music industry. In the immortal words of Jay-Z, "you can't knock the hustle."

Today we speak with Nick Thomas, lead singer and songwriter for The Spill Canvas. Hailing from Sioux Falls, South Dakota Thomas and his bandmates released two albums independently on 111 Records before catching the ear of Sire last year. The group put out a five-song, Fleetwood Mac-covering EP, Denial Feels So Good, earlier in '07 and will take the stage for every stop on the Warped Tour this summer.

Here's Nick on why Warped by van can be taxing, his eclectic taste in music and why South Dakota isn't exactly the ideal place to start a rock group.

Shoutmouth: Are you from Sioux Falls originally?
Nick Thomas: Yes, I am from Sioux Falls. Born and raised. I grew up there. I lived in Minnesota for a bit, but I've lived here basically my whole life.

Shoutmouth: Is there much of a scene there? It doesn't seem like South Dakota would be the best place in the world to get your start as a band.
Nick Thomas: There are bands that are based out of here locally that are trying to do stuff, it's just really difficult because we don't have a venue to play. It's really difficult to get a show when all the venues that you have are VFW halls to rent out. The local scene is always just kind of on the edge of dying out. It's so remote. It's not the most ideal place to start a band, obviously. Then again, if you look at it from a different angle, it's kind of cool to have the uniqueness of being from where we're from.

Shoutmouth: How did you personally get your start in music?
Nick Thomas: I just started playing solo acoustic when I was about 15. I actually went and recorded this seven-song disc and I spent a couple of months in this local studio and I didn't know anything about recording, I didn't know anything about writing songs. I just had written, what I thought would be good songs: a very grassroots kind of thing. From there I went through a bunch of the random local bands. I ended up doing Spill Canvas in between all these bands and it ended up with me just wanting to do Spill Canvas more than any of these other bands. I just kind of kept doing that until I could find the musicians that I wanted and it just kind of went from there.

Shoutmouth: Did you guys have much of a following at home? I noticed in the liner notes to the Denial Feels So Good EP that you were really appreciative of your fans.
Nick Thomas: We always had people that loved what we were doing, but it was very small for such a long time - it was just a small group of people locally. That's really what makes a band survive, loyalty and music appreciation and fans alike that kind of keep that band moving and going through the stages of their careers. We're grateful to them, because you can lose them very quickly, so the people that do stay around, and stuck around since day one - it's hard for them to go unnoticed. We wouldn't really be anywhere [without them]. You kind of have to show them that they play such a big part in it.

Shoutmouth: Your songwriting is pretty personal. I was listening to the EP and "Appreciation and the Bomb" is obviously pretty confessional, do you relate to your fans through that at all?
Nick Thomas: It's weird, because I'll write those lyrics and the songs will come out and they're very candid. It's just laid out completely. There's direct call outs of people. It's cool in a way, but the at the same time it's really scary. It just feels good though. It feels right. That's kind of always been our motto and my motto: to be as honest as possible, even if it's a little uncomfortable. Honesty is just always going to be something that people can appreciate and relate to and respect. It's all about being as brutally honest as possible and that's just kind of what happens -- especially in that song. Honesty is our policy. We try anyway, but if you try, that's what counts.

Shoutmouth: You guys recently signed to Sire?
Nick Thomas: The Sire deal is very new. We were dealing with 111 Records, which was the first label that Spill Canvas ever really did work with. That started in 2004, basically up until now. It was a long route because 111 was coming from nothing also. It was just an idea and a concept. They grew with us at the same time and that was cool. We enjoyed that indie feel, but nowadays, everything is different. That whole indie/major thing is starting to get a little blurry and every label is different in its own right. We're really happy about it though; Sire's been a great, great thing for us.

Shoutmouth: You've been working on a new album for them?
Nick Thomas: We just actually spent about the last three months in L.A. recording the next record. We got done about three weeks ago. We're just starting to get mixes in and go through them and it's awesome. We're so excited. It's kind of hard because we know we have to wait a while now, once it's recorded and everything's ready to go. It's just the normal length of time that it takes to get everything done, but it's going to be fun. It gets more and more exciting as time goes on. We're just really excited.

Shoutmouth: What's the sound on the new album like?
Nick Thomas: It's definitely hard to say. I know every artist, the typical answer is, "oh it's so different." It is different. We tried to cross as many boundaries as we could as a rock band, just as band in general. We wrote around 30-something songs and it was hard to weed those out and pick the best ones. We just really wanted to push the envelope in the most original way that we could. What came out was pretty sweet so we're pretty pumped to see if people will like it.

Shoutmouth: What are your influences?
Nick Thomas: As a band our influences range so wide, it's almost like, "no way, you guys don't really listen to all that stuff." It's almost extreme. When were writing those songs and writing a lot of the current stuff, I was listening to everything from Van Morrison to Killswitch Engage and I love metal so much and I'm a huge underground hip hop fan. It's so wide and that's just me let alone the band. Our guitarist is a huge Pink Floyd fan and he loves bluegrass. I just love music. If it's good, it's good.

Shoutmouth: How did you guys decide to cover "Gold Dust Woman?"
Nick Thomas: We're huge Fleetwood Mac fans and we went through a couple of songs by them actually. ["Gold Dust Woman"] seemed like the best area for us to go because the verses for that song are a little different than what we normally do and then when the chorus breaks in, it's a little more Spill Canvas-y. We thought we could show our ying-yang kind of side of growing up, because that song has just kind of a mature feel to it. It's so fun to play live.

Shoutmouth: Speaking of live shows, you guys are doing the Warped Tour this summer right?
Nick Thomas: That's correct. We're doing the entire thing.

Shoutmouth: Have you done it before?
Nick Thomas: We've done it two years previous, we've just never done the full thing and this year we are doing the entire tour. Last year we did a couple select weeks here and there and basically got a taste for it, but we did it in a van. Any band that does any Warped in a van, it's just so difficult, just because the schedule is so rigorous and you have to drive yourself and it's so hot. It's so hard. This year, luckily, we're going to rock the bus and kind of be able to enjoy it. We're pretty pumped.

Shoutmouth: Anybody on the bill you're looking forward to seeing or hanging out with?
Nick Thomas: We've got so many friends that we've made over the last few years that'll be back and that's going to be awesome. I really, really want to watch Killswitch everyday, just because they're one of my favorite bands of all time. I love the musicianship of that band.

Shoutmouth: What's the timetable look like for the release on the new album?
Nick Thomas: I would say September-ish.

Shoutmouth: Does it have a name yet?
Nick Thomas: Not yet. We're just now getting into that. We're throwing a bunch of ideas around, so we'll see very soon.