Select Start
The Forgotten War
Words: James Ferreira


Spearheading a renaissance of the local independent punk scene in Tampa is hard work; it’s nice to see that it’s finally beginning to pay off.  Select Start has been bringing something very exciting to the table here in the bay area for years now, and are generating steam at alarming rate.  They have recently begun to branch, out trying to play more shows statewide and hopefully build on what has become a solid and loyal fan base here at home.  Recent (by recent, I mean the past ten years) trends in the pop-punk scene nationally and statewide have given me a reason to try and see how many nails I could hammer into my skull before I bled to death, but for some reason, Select Start has broken out of the formulaic patterns that the scene has taken over the past decade and remind me a great deal of the punk bands I listened to when I was younger. 

I asked the guys how Select Start was formed and they replied, “Select Start, (stealing our name from the two middle buttons of a Nintendo controller), started around the end of 2002.  We were a three piece with the original line up of Patrick Guyer (drums), Adam Loper (bass), and Joe Guerra (guitar and vocals).  At this point, we played pretty straight-forward pop punk in the vein of New Found Glory and early Impossibles (ex-Fueled by Ramen).  Around 2004, we added Matt Reisinger (synth, sequencing, and guitar) to the lineup when we were looking to record our first EP un-cleverly entitled Extended Play.  Matt ended up producing it and joining the band after playing a show with us at USF where he was only supposed to play one song on a synthesizer.  After the show we asked him to join the band full time.  Since then he has been the constant butt-of-jokes being the new guy, even though he’s been in the band for over 2 years now.  The only point of us playing in the band, during the early stages, was to have fun and that is pretty much still our focus. We don’t make huge unreachable goals with the band. We take it in steps.”

Fun is quite the understatement, their lives shows are truly something to behold.  I’ve been lucky enough to catch them a couple of times, and they have really opened my eyes to the potential that this town’s scene is filled with.  I asked them how they feel about the scene they are helping to create here and how it differs from places they’ve played across the state.  “The fan reaction in Tampa is wonderful.  It took us, literally, three years to get the response we’re getting now.  Tampa was hard for bands that weren’t metal when we started.  But, now it is a lot easier for bands to make a name here. Thanks to myspace, as well as big and indie labels moving down here, Tampa is getting noticed.  As for outside of Tampa; we have only recently begun playing outside of our city.  In 2005, we played two dates on the Vans Warped tour in Jacksonville and Tampa and we loved it.  But because we’re hell bent on getting noticed in Tampa, the outside crowds haven’t been there yet.  If we play in Dade City we get a huge draw, but other than that Florida is pretty slim in the fan department outside of our home. We are currently changing that.”
With the punch that their live show brings, it shouldn’t be too difficult of a challenge, but they will always remember what the scene at home has been like as they state, “It’s been hard. There’s no other way to describe it.  Would we rather be anywhere else?  No, the one thing about Tampa is that it harbors big music: Underoath, Anberlin, From First to Last, etc.  But most of the bigger bands just up and leave. Suddenly, Anberlin is from Orlando and FFTL is from Los Angeles. Not too many of them stick around.  We love or hometown.  If we ever became one of those “bigger” bands you would still find us hanging out at Busch Gardens or Tampa Lanes.”

Select Start released their first full-length album, Giving Up On Thinking Clearly, this past June to much fanfare.  When questioned about reactions to their debut both personally and from a fan stand point they explained, “We are super proud of the record.  We sat on the fully produced CD for almost a year before releasing it though.  So the songs are old in our minds, but new to the ears of everyone else.  On stage, we already play two songs that aren’t on the CD, which is technically a band ‘no-no’.  But hell, no one seems to mind.  We want to release new material because we feel like the new jams are going to knock some socks off.  But for now we are thinking realistically.  We have a new record out and we are promoting it like crazy.  It has some small concept around it. I (Joe) write a lot of the songs and around the time we were writing GUOTC, I was going through the ‘I’m only gonna be twenty something for so long’ phase in my life.  I wanted to just have fun before I have to be responsible and all that lame shit.  So, Care A Little For Caroline, She’s Not A Hottie Hotty, Never Stop Moving, Call It A Truce, What ever Happened to the High Five?, are all about the good and bad of focusing on just having fun and dealing with meeting members of the opposite sex and the lighter side of it.  The newer songs we have in the works are more about the darker side of that lifestyle.  Scandalous!  From fans, we have gotten a good response.  Obviously, no one tends to tell us to our face that we suck ass (and I’m sure some will sometime), but as of yet we have only heard good things.  More touring will tell.  If kids buy the CD, I guess they heard something they liked.  It’s still a young record. We write the songs we love.  So the fact that people dig the tunes is amazing.  Without the kids listening we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.  Why would Reax want to interview a band that’s shitty, Like Tears in the Sahara?  Band trash talk moves magazines right?
Well here’s a little dirt: Drew Demelas of T.I.T.S. has candles and dream-catchers all over his room and a bright pink flamingo as a light by his computer (laughs). We seriously love those boys.”

Select Start has just recently signed with the Boston based label All About Records, the ex-home of such artists as Tokyo Rose, A Wilhelm Scream, and Ruiner.  Please check them out at "http://www.selectstartrock.com" www.selectstartrock.com