IE: You guys have stressed that this is a long hiatus and not a breakup. When you say long hiatus what have you guys discussed amongst the other band members in regards to how long you think it will be?

Jared: We all talked about it and pretty much decided that we wanted to take some time off but not have the band end. Not in a selfish way but more of a we have the balls to take a break without breaking up like every other band does kinda way. Long enough to do stuff on our own and not have to worry about stuff with the band coming up. Why can't a band not take time and not feel the need to stop doing it all together. What exactly is the point in that? It needed to be a set amount of time so that there wasn't any confusion as to when we were gonna play again. We decided that from when we played This Is Hardcore in Philly this past August that it would be no sooner than two years. So summer 2015 tentatively. From there we do whatever feels good.

IE: How did the idea for some time off come about?

Jared: We had been touring a lot for like five years. Sometimes for the majority of the year. A month of US touring into a month of Europe, straight to some other tour. It wears on you. Basically went around the earth twice and back in support of two LP's. We got to the point where it was either take another step in the direction of making the band your full time job for the next two years aka writing another record and hitting the road, or taking a lengthy break.

IE: Was there a band meeting at a practice/rehearsal or was it on the road when you guys first kicked around this idea?

Jared: Justice Facebook chatted me in the middle of the night. I said watch this and started a group text right then and I'm pretty sure within five minutes it was done and everyone was with it. No big deal.

IE: How did everyone react to the decision?

Jared: It sorta feels crazy to put something to bed like that but like we said, it’s not over. Just taking a serious step back. We decided with a lot of tours and trips planned still so when we were back on the road everything was way more fun and you weren't just like "oh great we are on tour again" you actually felt like you were on the road with your friends and you needed to not take it for granted.

IE: What does each member of TUI do now? Can you go over each member’s other projects and what those bands have coming up?

Jared: Well, Justice went from living in Richmond to Atlanta and has started his new band called Angel Dust who just had a record come out on React! and they are currently on a US tour with Twitching Tongues, Downpresser, and Turnstile. I think they are probably going to be touring a fair amount. They rock.

Brad lives in DC still and has a real job and I think will probably end up in a new band eventually.

Sam moved to LA to focus on graphic design and his other band Diamond Youth. They are pretty consistent and have a new EP coming out I think.

Brendan lives in Burtonsville MD and plays in Diamond Youth as well as sing in probably the biggest band in hardcore right now Turnstile. They are pretty busy doing stuff. They just flew to the UK for ONE show and are going all over the place. I think it’s safe to say that if they do a full length it will be one of the most anticipated in a long time.

I live in Richmond Virginia still. Just trying to be normal. Down To Nothing just had our LP come out on Revelation Records and it’s called "Life On The James". We're going to be doing some stuff off of that. East and West coast, Europe, UK, Australia, Japan. That's all in the works. I also run a small record label called Solid Bond that I'm going to be focusing more of my time on. I've done three seven inches for three awesome Richmond bands so far. I'm definitely going to start some new projects eventually also. 

IE: You guys made the hiatus announcement a few months back and since have played a lot of shows all over which is the norm for TUI. What kind of feedback have you been getting from the fans when you visit different areas?

Jared: People sorta didn't know what to think. Like really confused. Especially our friends’ bands. Then I think they thought about it and were like "That's a pretty cool idea". It worked out well though. We played a lot of our biggest spots after we started telling people that so if you don't check the internet then you heard it right from us at one of our shows. It definitely made all of our shows over the past six months really mean something though. I enjoyed playing more and I think people enjoyed seeing us more too.

IE: Were there already new TUI songs written that will just have to now wait for this hiatus to end?

Jared: There are songs that didn't make it onto “Big Kiss Goodnight” that I think one day will see the light of day. You'd have to ask Sam. That's more his department. He is garage band master and I'm willing to bet that If you checked his hard drive right now you'd find more than a couple of ASS BEATINGS. We've talked about the possibility of writing and recording new music. It was too much to commit to before taking a two year break but it’s definitely more on the probably gonna happen side of things than not. We'll probably do another LP at some point…but really who the fuck knows. 

IE: What do you think you are going to miss most about Trapped Under Ice during your time away from playing together?

Jared: We all had our own relationships with each other in the band. If I wanted ice cream (cough every day of the week cough) then I'd ask Brendan. Justice is really good for talking about music and stories. Brad is sorta our Buddha and we'd go to him for spiritual advice. He'd often possess the answers we were all looking for. Sam holds a lot of perspective on things like female relationships, movies, and music. Most of the time we were together we would just talk about stuff like who is going to spike a pillow case full of cats off of a parking garage for the lowest amount of money (hypothetically, of course). And girls. Some of the stuff we have all seen together is so crazy I can't even begin to tell you. So we all share a common bond for sure. I text with all of them or see them on almost a daily basis. The long and short of it is this. Traveling with your friends and being reckless. We only did whatever we wanted to do and we always brought our best friends along. It’s our friends booking us, our friends releasing our records. It's DEEP bro. On top of that just getting to play music. It's the greatest thing in the world.

IE: That’s about it. Best of luck with Down To Nothing and to the rest of the members of TUI. Is there anything else you wanted to add?

Jared: See you when we see you. Start a band. Go on tour with your friends until you can't anymore. Thanks for the interview!!