Pentimento is a four-piece punk rock outfit from Buffalo, NY that strives to create a sound focused on the raw emotion of the punk scene that birthed them. Pentimento entered the studio early this year to record their newest EP, Wrecked. Panic Records will be releasing Wrecked on CD and Digital formats on July 19th, 2011 with the vinyl version to follow shortly after.
For Fans Of: Polar Bear Club, Make Do And Mend, Title Fight
Responses From: Mike Hansen

How did the band come together? How have you grown since you guys started?
The band got together in July of 2010, after a few conversations between the 4 of us that dealt with feeling empty or unsatisfied with the situations we were in musically at the time. We’ve all been friends for years, and played in bands independently of each other, which is what brought us together in the first place. But we were all simply at the point where we began to realize that if punk-rock was something we wanted to pursue, then we had to go after it with everything we had. We were all sick of being involved in bands that were dead ends. Whether we could chalk it up to poor work ethic from other members, poor communication between members, or just poor attitudes in general, something was always in the way of pushing on to the next level throughout our past projects. Our main focus was to inspire the change that we needed to have in order to achieve that sense of true comfort and contentment within a band. I think the way that we’ve grown as a band is relative to how those ideas have stuck with us as individuals as well as a group. We’ve all done our best to maintain a positive attitude and maintain a strong sense of what it means to “try”. As if we weren’t close friends before Pentimento, the experience of being involved with a healthy sense of what it takes to keep a band afloat, and working diligently together to communicate, help, and create, has strengthened our relationships on so many levels. We continue to learn about one another as people and as musicians and I think that helps us keep our heads above water. Everyone is so ready and excited to try and make this work. That alone helps us grow every day. 
 
What do you have to offer that other bands don’t? What sets you apart from a lot of the other newer bands out there today?
We would just hope that what sets us a part from other bands is the feeling that the listener gets when they decide to put our record on, or come to see us at a show. It’s fair to say that we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel with the style of music we play, but what we are doing comes straight from the heart. I know that it sounds cliche’ to say that, but it’s something we strive to do through every measure of every song. We’re all really big on the “vibe” or “mood” of things, and we do what we can to communicate that and blend the barriers between the experience you get from watching a band live, and listening to their recordings. Our focus is on relating to people on a very humanistic level. The idea behind relating and resonating with other people through music is something that has always been inspiring to me and everyone else in Pentimento. We’ve tried our best to get a handle on how to do that so that the people that are kind enough to check us out or support us get the feeling that we are being genuine and sincere in what we’re doing, which hopefully sets us apart from other bands that are coming up alongside us these days. 
 
How is the live show compared to the general sound of material that’s been released?
Again, we do everything we can to ensure that those experiences are one in the same. Live, we take the necessary steps to make sure that we’re playing or singing every note, harmony, etc. that is featured on the recordings because we want it to be a fulfilling instance for the listener. We take our time at practice to work those things out so that (hopefully) the listener won’t be disappointed when they see us live. Likewise, while in the studio, we don’t use any sort of pitch correction, auto-tune, guitar manipulation, drum tigers, hit replacement, etc. Everything that you hear is 100% Pentimento, with as little studio-magic as possible. We’re paying close attention to perpetuating a certain energy so that the feeling you get from our music is the same through and through, and the gap between live sound/recordings is as small as possible. I personally can’t stand seeing bands who have these great recordings with awesome parts that seem crucial when you’re listening to their records, and then live, it’s a total let down because none of those parts that you enjoyed on the record are performed live. 
 
More times than not, influences tend to bleed through. What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
This is a tough one to answer without sounding like 99% of bands that have ever been interviewed ever. But regardless, our answer is that the range of influences we have is more broad than I know how to explain. Our roots come from bands like NOFX, Small Brown Bike, Hot Water Music, Saves The Day, Jimmy Eat World, Face to Face, AFI, The Bouncing Souls, Taking Back Sunday, and so many more. There is a constant, ever-changing wheel of bands and people that inspire and influence us though. Current bands like Make Do and Mend, Polar Bear Club, or Tigers Jaw seem to get included in our “For Fans Of” attributes, which is great because we all love those bands and have no shame when people make those comparisons. But we also draw a lot from different genres. Acts like Michael Jackson or Prince (as silly as it may sound) have shaped our music in certain ways. Maybe not when it comes to how we play our instruments, or what comes out of them, but maybe how we approach musical ideas or structure. There’s something to appreciate about every type of music, and we like to keep an open mind to that. 
 
What would you say the band has already accomplished and what do you have your eyes set on next?
As for now, we’ve been fortunate enough to become a part of the Panic Records family, which is a huge accomplishment in our eyes. None of us have ever been in a band that was on a record label before, so for this to happen is truly a dream come true. Beyond that, we’ve begun to branch out and really start sharing our music with people through the use of touring and DIY ethics, as well as utilizing newer ways to present the band like social networking, message boards, or the internet in general. That is also something we would consider a huge accomplishment. To know that there’s other people that give a shit about our music the way that we do is more than we could ever ask for. Even if we don’t sell one record, we could still walk away feeling happy about the experience because of all the incredible people that take the time to let us know how our music makes them feel, or what it does for them personally. As far as the future, we hope to continue to tour and push the band to the best of our ability. We’re looking forward to releasing a full-length on Panic Records within the next year, and doing what we can to put ourselves out there to hopefully land a support slot on some tours with more established bands to continue to network with people and other bands alike. 
 
Thus far, what’s a favorite memory or something quirky that’s taken place with the band (in-studio, onstage, or elsewhere)?
On our most recent tour, we had the pleasure of staying with the Pagano family of Scotia, NY. Since we released our demo back in November of 2010, we’d been on their radar, and had a relationship over the internet in the form of twitter, Facebook, etc. They’d always done things to support us like suggesting us to others, re-posting things we’d put on our Facebook or twitter pages, but we didn’t realize how incredible it actually was to know them until very recently. Back in May, a couple of them came to see us in NYC while they were on their way home from a music video shoot with Man Overboard. As if that wasn’t amazing enough, they took us in while we were on the road this past June, and treated us like family. I don’t just mean that they gave us a place to stay, or fed us, but I mean truly made us feel like we were a part of something bigger. Their entire family, Madison, Carlye, Alyssa, Brandon, Momma Pagano, and of course, Vito, is beautiful in every sense of the word, and we couldn’t be more happy or more proud to call them our family. The way we feel about that family and spending time with them, having their support at our shows, and even just knowing they exist is beyond words.
 
Is there anything in particular that you’d like people to take away from listening to your music?
Particularly speaking, that’s a tough call to make. I don’t think there’s any-one-thing we’d want people to get from us, because everything we’re about is up to the listener to interoperate. Our hope is just that whoever is listening to our music is taking SOMETHING away from it. The ultimate goal with what we’re doing is to inspire any sort of feeling, or thought, or idea, or anything at all. So in particular, there isn’t a specific thing. We would like it to be as personal of an experience for you as it is for us. What we do is a direct reflection of our thoughts and feelings and who we are as people, and we want more than anything for that to shine through. It is an attempt at putting ourselves out there for you to get to know us as people, and we want to know you, too. If our music means anything at all to someone, then that’s exactly what we’d like people to take away from listening to our music.