They And The Children

Our final LP, HOME, is available for mailorder!



Order Home @ REVHQ.com



Order direct from Kill Normal



They And The Children began conceptually in late 2002. Ryan and I had been playing in the improvised grind joke outfit known as Nailgun The Kitten To The Wall. As Nailgun's demise became more apparent, Ryan and I began talking about forming a more-focused project. Soon enough, Sean and Ross became involved in the project, leaving the discovery of a bass player as the final hurdle.

While Ryan, Ross and Sean began writing the songs that would grace our 3-song practice tape (2 of the 3 would eventually be on our demo), I stumbled across a phrase in my copy of Plato's The Republic while studying for a Political Science exam ("the amusements in which our women and children take part must be better regulated; because once they and the children become disorderly, it becomes impossible to produce serious citizens with a respect for order.") Rather quickly, the band had a name, a handful of songs, and our first scheduled show. However, we were still without a bass player.

As our first show neared, our friend Mike volunteered to play bass for our debut performance: a show I booked at the UConn Student Union in March of 2003. After that show, we were back to searching for a bass player. Soon afterward, Ross said that Chris would be interested in playing bass. With that, the line up was established and TATC began practicing and writing at a fevered pace.

May of 2003 brought about the recording of the band's demo at Dead Air Studios and an opening slot at Friendlyfest 3. A steady stream of performances followed suit and in the Fall of 2003, we recorded two songs with Dan at Youniversal Studios in West Haven CT for our first 7" (which would eventually be released on Debue Records), thus beginning a relationship that would endure throughout the rest of the band's existence.

After much delay, those two songs would eventually be released in the Fall of 2004. By that point, we were already writing what would become the Thoughts On Becoming A Ghost EP (released on Tor Johnson/Shock Value Records in Summer of 2005). We continued to play extensively in the northeast and, during the late Summer/early Fall of '05, finally bought a van, making the commute to said shows all the more reasonable.

This time period also began our collective friendship with Daniel Striped Tiger. After playing a show together at Hampshire College in Amherst, we decided to do a split 7", which was released in January of 2006 on Shock Value Records, just in time for our first tour (a 2 week trek up and down the east coast with, conveniently enough, Daniel Striped Tiger).

Several weeks after the tour, Ross decided to part ways with the group. It was decided that we would stay as a 4 piece and continue on, reworking older material to fit the adjusted lineup and writing new material at the same time.

During the second half of 2006, we recorded a track for a split 7" with our friends from Philadelphia, Towers (also released on Shock Value Records). 2006 also began the band's close friendship with fellow Connecticution-ers Call It Arson, which culminated in a 2 week tour of the midwest in the Summer of 2007.

Upon returning from that tour, Connecticut label Kill Normal Records agreed to release Home, our full length record that had been in the works for nearly 2 years. The record was released in May of 2008, just in time for our final tour, a week-long stint with CT pop-punkers, Dead Uncles.

They And The Children called it a day in early September 2008. After 5 years, it was time to move on to other things. While I can only account for my own experiences, it was a damn fun time. Thank you to everyone who ever helped us out with a place to play, said hello, played shows with us, and basically helped us in any way.

Most of our recordings are still available from the labels linked above. If you can't find them, please get in touch with me and I'll help you out if possible.

Thanks again,

Brian