Letter of Intent: A Chat with Peter Tsouras of Fairweather

Discography:

If They Move…Kill Them (Equal Vision, 2001)

Lusitania (Equal Vision, 2003)

Fairweather (Equal Vision, 2014)

Deluge EP (Equal Vision, 2022)

Coming out of Fairfax, the melodic hardcore of Fairweather came together from various other projects at the tail end of the ‘90s. Quickly earning a major reputation within the scene, the band signed with Equal Vision Records and kept up a busy schedule until the mid-2000’s. After taking a break they came back together in 2014. Now they’re reemerging once more with a new EP. Frontman Peter Tsouras took time out of his schedule to talk about the band’s history and their new music.

Pete Crigler: How did you get interested in music?

Peter Tsouras: Growing up, my mom was always listening to music in the car and in the house. She was a huge fan of old country music like Bob Wills, Marty Robbins and George Jones. Her Favorite was Cash. So by proximity, I liked that stuff. I was always a little more partial to the Outlaw Country guys she played like Cash, Waylon and Kris Kristofferson. The stories they sang about were a little more exciting to hear as a kid. Also, my mom’s brother was a touring musician who mainly played country and bluegrass so I was exposed to the musician side of music at a young age as well.  
I played some different brass instruments in elementary/middle/high school but also got an acoustic guitar somewhere around 5th grade. After a while, I made my way to 80’s MTV hair-metal in grade school like Poison, Bon Jovi, G N’ R, Skid Row etc. I was obsessed with the guitar playing. I naturally started to drift away from caring about the trumpet and started dreaming about playing guitar in a rock band. I had no clue how to play the guitar. At that time, being in a real band seemed so impossible to me. It was like you could either be me, in 5th grade drawing cassette inserts for imaginary bands I was in, or you were on MTV and playing stadiums. The gap between the two seemed literally impossible to cross. Then one day in my uncle (the bluegrass musician) was in the car with me and my mom and we were listening to “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”, and he said “You know, this opening part is just two chords. G and C.  I’ll show you.” Obviously, this blew my fucking 5th grade mind. Yada, Yada, Yada, then in 2022 I did this interview.  

Pete: Tell me about some of your early bands.

Peter T: In middle school, I was lucky enough to go down the sacred path from skateboarding to punk to hardcore. I kept playing guitar this whole time and by the time I got to high school I was writing my own songs. I had a couple good friends who played drums and we played every chance we got. I tried to do some bands off and on with different people. By this time, I had starting going to hardcore shows in DC and was fully immersed in that world. I played guitar with some older dudes in a band and we ended up playing a gig a real show at the old Club Asylum when it was on 9th St. I was in 10th grade. I think we played maybe 2 songs.  
After school when I was still maybe only 18, I was introduced to some guys who needed a new guitar player. We ended up playing in some various bands over the next 4 or 5 years. It eventually turned into a band called Wake Up Cold, and by 2001 we had done a ton of shows around east coast had released a few records.  

Pete: How did you come to end up joining the band and what were your expectations?

Peter T: Late I met Ben Green from Fairweather through a mutual friend when we were both going to art school in DC. This was maybe ’99 or ’00. He had just started the band and at this time I was still in my own band and at that point, either of us had any notion of being in the same band. FW had just put out a demo and I was a big fan of what they were doing. I think it was sometime in ’00, I was coming back from a short trip out west and had just landed in DC and had a voicemail from Ben. He was calling because their other guitar player had suddenly gotten pretty sick but they had a tour starting in about a week and would I be down to fill in on guitar for the tour. I already loved the band so this was a no brainer. I went to his house and he showed me the songs and 2 nights later we played in Philly. I did that tour. Then another one the other half of that summer. I loved it. Loved the guys. But I was assuming it was just those tours and I’d tap out. I had another year or so of classes to finish at that point. They did some more touring then I got a call saying their other guitar player was quitting and asked I wanted to join the band. Clearly the answer was yes, and we were able to work out so we played shows on long weekends and breaks, until I finished school. Then pretty much right when I graduated, it was off to the races.

Pete: What was the local scene like at the time?

Peter T: The scene was actually really exciting back then. It was small, but that made it more precious. Sure, there were sub-genres and musical styles often stuck to themselves, there was also a lot of cross pollination of bands. And lots of different types of bands would play the same shows. You could really get exposed to all sorts of stuff. There were a lot of DIY venues and small places all over the east coast. This was before the early ’00’s scramble for majors to scoop up bands. So things hadn’t gotten too weird yet.  

Pete: Were you hoping Lusitania would blow up like it did?

Peter T: It did whatever the opposite of whatever blowing up does. It got good reviews and press, but a lot of the fans were hoping for a rehash of ITMKT. They weren’t really into the brooding shoegaze-leaning album we made. We’re still very proud of Lusitania 20 years later, and we’re hearing that people have started to appreciate it more now. Which is great, but in the end, we wrote the record we wanted to at the time. So I’m happy with that.  

Pete: What caused the band to initially split up and how did Olympia come to be?                                  

Peter T: By late 2003, the band was split with what we wanted to do. Trying to promote Lusitania had been a hard slog and everyone was pretty bunt out. We were on the road around 10 months out of the year and that can take a toll on you. Especially when it doesn’t seem like it starts to get any easier. Some of the guys wanted to take a break. Some of us didn’t. We didn’t think it was worth it to try to push anyone in a direction they weren’t comfortable with. So we decided to end the band.  

Shortly after I started writing songs with our drummer Shane, and he and I went on to jump right into Olympia. We made a record and toured for a few years after that.  

Pete: How did the reunion come about and were you pleased with how the album turned out?

Peter T: By the time we decided to do the reunion, we were still all very much involved in each other’s lives and musical projects. Sometime in the late ’00’s early ’10’s, Ben Green did a solo album under the name SEAS, and FW ended up basically being his back-up band. I think one time SEAS was warming up and ran through some FW songs for fun and I think that got the idea of playing again as FW came about.  In the beginning we had no intentions of doing a “reunion” or even playing under the name “Fairweather”. What we really missed was writing music together and I think at first, we decided to write a new record (band name TBD). From there, the idea of doing a show with some old songs felt more fun. We put some feelers out, and realized that there was actually an interest in us doing a reunion. So we did it. And then went back to focusing on a new record. Kept the name. Released a new record. Played some shows. No pressure. We love how the album turned out. With Lusitania, we took so much time recording and getting the right guitar sounds and experimenting. With the S/T record, we wanted to make stripped down and straight forward punk/hardcore/rock record. We wanted it to sound like we sound as band playing live. I think the finished product backs that up.

Pete: What is the current status of Fairweather?

Peter T: We actually just finished a new record. It feels like a ton of music but it’s technically only 4 songs. We had been working on it slowly over the course of three or four years. Everyone lives in different places. Some people got married. Some people had kids. We didn’t force it. We were almost done before the pandemic hit. We’re done now and will soon figure out what to do with it. Whatever we decide to do with this new record, the plan is to do some shows in 2022.

Pete: Tell me about how Be Well came to be and what’s next for the band.

Peter T: The idea for the band had been kicking around with Brian McTernan (singer) and Mike Schleibaum (guitar) for a year or two before I came on board. I was playing bass in another band with Mike Schleibaum and he mentioned he and Brian we were working on a new project and they needed another guitar player. I’ve always been a fan of the music Brian has made over the years and when Mike played me some demos, I was all in. I was able to bring Shane from Fairweather on board to play drums so for me it was such a great fit. It’s great because everyone is super positive and having a new band is really exciting. Fairweather seems to move a glacial pace sometimes, so being able to spend time with great friends and play music more regularly really scratches that itch. Also, Be Well is much more of a hardcore band, so I get to sort of use a different musical muscle and mindset.  

Pete: What else are you currently up to?

Peter T: I work in a museum in Washington DC. I handle all the artwork and fabricate and install the exhibits. I’ve been working in museums and doing carpentry for a couple decades now and I really enjoy it. Work in general sucks, but I like what I do. I’m lucky to have a day job where I get to work with my hands and don’t want to blow my brains out at the end of the day.  

Pete: What are the other guys in Fairweather doing?

Peter T: Ben Green owns and runs a recording studio in DC called Ivakota. He recorded the self titled record at his previous studio, but he recorded and produced the new EP at Ivakota. It’s an amazing space. Everyone should go there to record.  
Jay lives in Houston. The one in Texas. He works from home and also records music from time to time. I think he has a picket fence but I don’t know for sure. And that’s a compliment.  
Ben Murphy is a video editor at Discovery. He’s won awards for video editing. So I’m apparently he’s good at his job.  
Shane lives in Richmond and runs a bar. He’s also in Be Well, and another band called Beggars. He’s in two bands with me, so that can’t be easy. Bless his heart.  
Nick lives in Leesburg and is project manager overseeing facets of big construction projects. He also builds and rides motorcycles.

Pete: What has it meant being a musician from Virginia?

Peter T: I got to grow up 20 minutes from Washington DC. There is so much art and music happening there all the time, it’s almost impossible to not rub off on you. I was lucky enough to be going to shows in the early 90’s in DC when the hardcore scene was small and special. I feel like I’ll have the mentality of a hardcore kid for the rest of my life in whatever musical project I happen to be doing. I moved to DC proper when I was 21. I’ll be 45 in February. I feel as connected to DC as I do to Alexandria, Va. To people from out of town, I’m a DC native. To DC natives I’m from Va. I’m happy with that.  

Pete: What do you hope your musical legacy will be?

Peter T: Just knowing that there could be one person out there who’s heard my music, and that it might have a positive impact on them somehow, the way I know that bands have been for me over years, is as good a legacy that anyone could ever hope to have.