Originally published in Excommunication issue #2

In the summer of 1999, a friend who wanted to start a zine contacted me. She was going to call it The Escape Engine, and she asked me to do an interview with The Juliana Theory because they are from Greensburg, PA, which is next to my hometown of Delmont. I did the interview over the phone and sent her the interview, but it never was printed because, unfortunately, The Escape Engine never happened. I’ve been trying to find this interview for a long time, and I finally found it. This interview was done before their record Emotion Is Dead was recorded, and way before Love. So, here’s my interview with Brett Detar, singer of The Juliana Theory…four years too late!

Who’s who and who plays what?
Chad Alan plays the bass and sings backing vocals, Jeremiah Momper and Joshua Fielder play guitar, Neil Herbrank plays the drums, and I sing and do all of the other stuff.

Could you give me a short history of the band? And previous bands that you and the other members have been in?
We all basically played for fun. I played in ZAO, Chad and I played in Pensive, Neil and Josh were in a punk band called Noisome, and Jeremiah and Chad were in a small band. Everyone jammed together a few times so we decided to start a band. I had never sung in a band before, but I tried and stuck with it. We started as a small side project hoping to release a demo tape and maybe play three or four shows, but that wasn’t the case.

How did the band get together?
Chad and I had been good friends for about 13 years. Neil and Josh were good friends as well. We all met from sharing the same interest of playing music in the same area. For about three years we have all known each other.

Did music play a big part of your lives when you were younger?
I can pretty much say on behalf of all of us that music definitely played a big part of our lives when we were younger. My parents always encouraged things like piano lessons and music would always be playing in our house.

What is the story behind the name, “The Juliana Theory?”
A group of people that we worked with had been doing research in Pittsburgh. They went under the alias: The Juliana Group. They were trying to prove a theory about music, but actual musicians had to be involved to make it work. We thought that the fact of being in a band itself was great, but the fact of also helping them prove this theory was even greater.

How did your involvement with Tooth and Nail Records start?
It originally started with ZAO (a band that Brett previously played guitar in). We were playing at a festival called Cornerstone. They had a hat drawing where whatever band was picked could play on an impromptu stage. I told Brandon who is in charge of Tooth and Nail Records to come and check us out, and he liked us.

You’re releasing a split seven-inch with Inside sometime this summer. At the last show I attended, you played a song that hadn’t been released elsewhere. Would this be the song to appear on the seven inch?
The song played at that show had very recently been written. It doesn’t even have a title yet. (note: the song is now titled, “transcontinental”) The song on the seven-inch is called, “If I Told You This Was Killing Me, Would You Stop?”

Are there any specific bands that have influenced your live performance? I’ve noticed at the live shows it’s not everyone up on stage just standing and playing their instruments, it’s a performance.
Basically, any band that puts on a good show has influenced us. There are so many great bands out there that put on an entertaining show. When we are up there playing the music, it’s fun and I like to show that. If you are going to pay the five dollars for a show, then you should get your moneys worth and enjoy it.