Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.

Brian LaClair - Vocals and Guitar
Brad Yandow - Vocals and Guitar
Quintin Cardinal - Bass
Mark Weber - Drums (and sometimes vocals, if you’re careful you should be able to catch him in all the songs on the album singing bass harmonies in spots) 

For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Better Things? How long has the band been around?

Mark and I (Brian) had a project in high school which essentially evolved into this band. We experimented with a lot of different sounds and different members which all shaped us in some way (there was even the weird point where we kind of had a trombone player and were considered ska). At that same time, Mark was in a band with Brad called One Man Empire (which was ironically female fronted). They totally ripped, and it was one of those bands that you aspired to be as good as. As high school ended, Mark and I kept doing more and more with our project.

Our original guitar player left and Mark convinced both Brad and I that we should be in a band together. I think him coming into the band was the big turning point for us creatively and how we are sonically, really just the missing puzzle piece. When Quintin joined, it was a very similar thing, where something had always been missing and Quintin provided that to us emotionally and also as an exceptionally good bass player. We are a band together, but first and foremost we are all very close friends who care for each other unconditionally. For all intents and purposes, Better Things has been around for about 2 years. If you dive deeper, the roots for the project go back to our freshman year of highschool in 2008-09. 

What's the origin of that name and have you changed the band's name before?

The name originally came from The Swellers song “Better Things”, but the reason we really chose it was because it summarizes our thoughts on not just what we strive for as a band but also as people. Always moving forward whether it be in an emotional or real-life sense. 

Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?

It’s a pretty collective effort. On this album specifically, Mark and Brad wrote about 85% of the songs, and then I wrote the rest (two of them). We generally bring in a song structure or lyrics into a practice with a basic idea of what we want. We then work as a collective and add our own personal touches to the mix and adapt it. The theme of this album is definitely stories of failed relationships. It was written over the course of 6-8 months, and looking back (these songs are well over a year old now) we’ve grown up a lot emotionally. There are exceptions to that theme but this album is mostly a snapshot of that period where we were adjusting to adulthood from our teenage years.

What bands are currently inspiring the music that you're making?

This is a tough question, haha. Better Things is a genre melting pot of sorts. I’d say at the time we were writing the album we all had the same favorites we do now… Bayside, Less Than Jake, Limp Bizkit. Brad definitely brings the “weird” into the mix and always has interesting listening suggestions. For me, currently, and during the production of the album it would have to be Sunny Day Real Estate, The Beach Boys, and everything in-between.

Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?

I think the first band that really caught my attention and kicked me into drive was Bon Jovi. For Brad it was AC/DC. As I hit 8th grade I discovered alternative music and started listening to our local station 99.9 The Buzz a lot (they were the ones playing Green Day, Blink, Yellowcard… you know the one). During high school you probably could find Mark, Brad, and I all together at a Sick Puppies concert fawning over them as musicians and wanting to do what they did. 

What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, ect.

You’ll find me holding my water bottle in one hand and a beer in the other, and about
5 minutes before we go on doing some weird form of “stretching” and singing scales because I forgot to do it earlier. Brad is probably off in the corner doing stretches for about 15 minutes (he has much more discipline than me in this regard). 

What has been the biggest highlight of the band's career so far?

It’s hard to choose. We’ve been so fortunate to do some amazing things. We’ve opened for Bad Religion, The Offspring, Pentimento, Hawthorne Heights, New Politics, and so many more. We’ve also toured a large portion of the country, and continue to expand the list of places we’ve had the opportunity to play. 

If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?

Probably like Linkin Park or something because that would be rad as all hell. 

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Thank you for having us! Our album Getting Worse is out on August 19th. Anyone who's interested can pre-order it at http://betterthings.bandcamp.com/ or catch it pretty much anywhere online starting on the 19th! Hope you all love it.