Into It. Over It.

Into It. Over It. is the indie rock solo project of Chicago musician Evan Thomas Weiss. It is considered one of the leading acts in the emo revival scene of the 2010s.^[2][3]

History

Evan Weiss grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Weiss' first exposure to the genre of emo was hearing the band Sunny Day Real Estate in the seventh grade while browsing a record shop. He continued his interest in music through buying Jade Tree and Polyvinyl records and going to local shows in Philadelphia. In the "fourth or fifth grade", Weiss started the band J.A.R. with school friends which eventually became The Progress, garnering modest local success. Weiss was unable to convince his bandmates to play in the band full-time and after their breakup in 2008, Weiss started a solo project under the moniker Into It Over It. Weiss first released music through two unorthodox concept projects: 52 Weeks, entailing the writing, recording and release of one song each week for a full year (later released as a compilation record); and Twelve Towns, a twelve song project initially released over six separate splits with several different bands and each song being named after a town.^[4] In 2011, Weiss released Into It Over It's first studio album, Proper on No Sleep Records, which was produced by Ed Rose. This was followed up in 2013 with Intersections, released on Triple Crown Records.

In January 2015, while on break from touring, Evan Weiss and current touring drummer Josh Sparks lived in a secluded cabin in Craftsbury, Vermont for one month to write the third Into It Over It album.^[5][6] Built for the specific purpose of allowing musicians to work in isolation, Weiss said of the location: "we were an hour from the nearest gas station, an hour from the nearest grocery store. Totally isolated, four feet of snow on the ground, negative 20 degrees outside. The whole thing was run on solar or generator power, so no phone, no Internet."^[7] He and Sparks spent 13 hours a day writing music.^[6] After completing a solo tour alongside Kevin Devine and Laura Stevenson,^[8] a stint in the UK with Modern Baseball^[9] and several Spring support dates for Minus the Bear,^[10] Weiss officially wrapped up touring for the Intersections album—which by that time had consisted of "well over 250 shows in a little over 15 countries" since 2013—to begin recording Into It Over It's third studio album with John Vanderslice.^[7] Weiss and Sparks entered Vanderslice's Tiny Telephone Studio in June to record the album entirely to tape; Weiss recalled that "we couldn't sweat the small stuff, you're not able to go in and tweak or micromanage little sections of the music. It helped me accept chaos in a way I couldn't before."^[7] Into It Over It continued to play shows into the end of 2015 after Weiss completed a tour with his side project Pet Symmetry in support of Dan Andriano in the Emergency Room and Jeff Rosenstock.^[11] Notable dates included Riot Fest Chicago,^[12][13] Weiss' solo set at The Fest,^[14][15] a tour in support of The Get Up Kids in December^[16][17] (with Weiss and Into It Over It touring member Rodrigo Palma playing bass for The Get Up Kids at one show^[18]), and The Promise Ring's New Year's Eve reunion show.^[19]

Into It Over It first revealed the upcoming release of their third album Standards through an article on SPIN,^[7] a teaser on their Facebook page,^[20] and an interview with Noisey which was accompanied by a stream of the first full song from the album, "No EQ".^[6] Standards is set for release on March 11 on Triple Crown Records, and the band will tour the US in support of the album alongside The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die from March to May.^[21]

Related acts

Weiss has been a notably active figure in underground punk and emo music as far back as 2001, and has played in numerous bands from Chicago as well as around his hometown of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He currently fronts Their / They're / There alongside Mike Kinsella of Owen and Matthew Frank of Loose Lips Sink Ships,^[22] and Pet Symmetry with Erik Czaja and Marcus Nuccio of fellow emo band Dowsing.^[23] He plays bass in the latter two bands despite having gained notoriety as a guitarist in Into It Over It, bass being the first instrument he learned and hence what he usually played in his earlier bands.^[24]

The initial members of Into It Over It's full live band also formed a separate project named Stay Ahead of the Weather^[25][26] in which members Weiss, Nick Wakim, Matt Jordan and Owen Mallon assume the same instrumental roles that they occupied for Into It Over It. They released an EP in 2010 as well as a split with The Wonder Years^[27] but despite having begun work on a full-length album, there have been no updates regarding the activities of the band since May 2013.^[28] Additionally, with Mallon's relocation to Los Angeles in early 2014^[29] and the subsequent dissolution of the rest of Into It Over It's first touring lineup, it is possible that they may have become inactive.

Weiss' first band was The Progress^[30][31][32]—initially named J.A.R.—who released a full-length album and two EPs before breaking up in 2008. The Progress have since reunited sporadically to perform one-off live shows. He was also previously a member of Damiera,^[31] and Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start,^[31][33] as well as a large number of much smaller bands from his high school years including Labour,^[34][35] Map the Growth,^[34][35] The Funeral Bird,^[35][36] Hiroshima Mon'Amour,^[34][35] Sleeper Agents,^[35] The French Connection,^[35] Emergency,^[34] and Forgive Her Choke Her.^[34]

In mid-2015, Into It Over It's current drummer Josh Sparks and Evan Weiss' Their / They're / There bandmate Matthew Frank announced that they had formed a side project called Recreational Drugs,^[37] subsequently signing to Count Your Lucky Stars Records to release their debut self-titled EP.^[38]

Members

• Evan Thomas Weiss – vocals, guitar, bass, other instruments

Touring members

• Joshua David "Josh" Sparks – drums (live, 2013^[39][40]–present; session, 2015–present)
• Josh Parks – guitar (2013^[39][40]–present)
• Rodrigo Palma – bass (2015^[41][42]–present)
• Nick Wakim – drums (live, 2012^[43]–2013; session, 2011^[44]–2013^[45])
• Matt Jordan – guitar (2012^[43]–2013)
• Owen Mallon – bass (2012^[43]–2013)
• Tim Mortensen – bass (2013^[39]–2015^[46])

Discography

References

External links

• Official website
• Into It. Over It. on Facebook