PropertyOfZack had the chance to speak with our good friend, James Corbi from True Things not too long ago for a great interview. James and I discussed the band’s now-famous driveway show with Man Overboard, the new record, a new split, future touring, and a whole lot more. Read up below and enjoy!

For the record, could you state your name and role in True Things?
My name’s James Corbi, and I sing in True Things.

Last night the band was set to play a local New Jersey show with Man Overboard at a Moose Lodge, but as we know things sort of quickly changed. Can you just discuss the night for all of those who unfortunately missed it?
Well, when we first got there we found out immediately that the show got double booked by the kid who did the show at the Moose Lodge. Justin actually went right next door to this pretty big house and convinced the owner to have the show in his backyard. So, we started the show and were getting set up. But apparently the house was being rented out to a few different people, and one of the tenants had a huge problem with it. He then called the landlord and started bitching and complaining and the next thing you know, there was about eight cop cars there and we were all getting kicked out of the house. Luckily a nice girl hooked it up with her house. It took some time to actually get it going, but it did happen, and it was a great night. There’s been a lot of talk about it and we were glad to be a part of it. It was really awesome how it turned out. I think everybody’s really pumped that it went down the way it did. It made it a lot more memorable that way.

For a band that isn’t full time active at this point, are those the sort of shows that make you want to be?
We definitely would love to be a full time band, and I think it gets closer with every show we play. Me mainly, and it rubs off on everybody else. We’ve been spending a lot of time writing new songs actually. I don’t think we have shown our true potential as a band yet; I guess that’s why we haven’t gone as hard as we could with touring. We did a short tour in the winter with Light Years and Homewrecker our good friends from Ohio and have played out a bit. I’ve played acoustic stuff with Man Overboard and Balance and Composure on tours. Since I tour with  Man Overboard and Balance & Composure it takes up a lot of my time. Although, I’m always representing my band, it’s never something that’s forgotten about. I guess it’s good because we’re not overexposing it and we’re making sort of special. Everyone in the band likes how it works that way. Like when we have new shirts or stickers, it’s something special. We’re never miserable for a show, each one is something unique and we leave with something we didn’t have before.

The band released Alone In My Room, a short debut record, late last year, but how has it done among fans so far?
The reception has been really, really awesome considering that the songs were originally my acoustic songs. It was hard to transform them full band and have all the elements a good song needs. I feel like it’s kind of difficult to take a song with one guy singing and a few powerchords into a full band song; but I think we did it right. We’re really excited to release new songs.

Has it been great to make new songs as a band compared to just using your own acoustic songs?
I spent a few weeks when I got home from the last Balance tour and just kept to myself. I wrote a lot on the road. It was the first tour where I was doing a lot of writing since I was going through enough that I was motivated to actually write about it. A lot of these songs are more relevant to what was happening at that point in time rather than reflecting on what happened. We’ve worked on them as a band a lot more too. It’s kind of a struggle since Bob and Gabe are from Atlantic City which is about an hour from our practice spot; so we don’t get to practice as much as we would like to. I see Brandon almost every day though and he tells me what’s up with the new songs and if something needs to be changed.

Is it a plus for you to have been in I Call Fives and to have toured with Man Overboard and Balance & Composure?
In a sense. I have experienced the ‘giglife’ and it’s awesome to have great times with your closest friends, and I really want my band to experience it first hand. I love selling merch for my friends bands, but it would be awesome to get the chance to eventually share the stage as well. But we still have a lot of work to do before we can take that step. So yeah, It’s definitely a huge plus that I’ve had opportunity to be on the road and be involved. 

When do you want to finish recording the record?
I would love to have it done right now, but unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. We all have busy schedules and we have to get up to Doylestown where Jake’s studio is. We have all the drums and guitar done though which is huge.

Do you want to get the record out this year?
Not necessarily. We haven’t talked to anyone too seriously about it yet. Just small talk with some friends who run their own labels. I’m not sure who’s going to want to invest money, but maybe things will change in the next few months. I just like where we are right now. This band is very organic and natural. I don’t want anything to be forced with this band. I want to keep the good vibes going. I don’t want anything to be too rushed.

Are you looking to do any more touring in the fall?
We’ve been talking to a few people about it, possibly do some regional dates. We just hooked up with Hope This Helps Booking that our really good friend Jason Parent runs, and I’m sure he’s got some great things planned. I will be away with Man Overboard on the full US tour that they’re doing, so I’ll be a little busy. But touring is definitely on our agenda.

True Things have some shows in August. Are you excited for those?
Whenever we get to play with our friends, we’re always so excited. I hope we can tour full time one day soon. But we’re gonna be playing with some really great friends and some bands we haven’t had the chance to yet. We’ll have shows with Foundation, Aficionado, Washington Square Park, Model Home and Man The Change to name a few. All really great bands and awesome people. 
 
Next thing we should look out for is that split right?
Yes, we’ll be doing a split with our really good friends Lifeless. It will be a split 7” and will be released through Harvcore Records. We also have a re-release of Alone In My Room on cassette and the pre-order is up now on our Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. Not hard to find. Thank you!