Diana: The Cease-Fire is very new. In fact, the band formed in the summer of 2006. Can you tell us how The Cease-Fire formed and how the band views itself in terms of music genre?

Jason: We pretty much have all known each other for a while, most of us grew up in the Charleswood area of Winnipeg. The band formed after a mutual friend of ours wanted to see us all play together, so we owe some thanks to Tyler for bringing us all together.

We all knew each other or knew of each other, but he got the ball rolling. Scott (Guitar) and I Jason (Guitar, vocals) got together and wrote a couple songs. Then when things were sounding good, we got together with CJ (vocals), Alex (Bass) and Jarid (Drums) to finnish the first two songs: Reason 2 Believe and Less Then More. That’s pretty much how “The Cease-Fire” started.

As for the genre part of the question…we don’t really like to get into that to much, as we all have a lot of different influences. We all grew up listening to 90’s punk. Lagwagon, NOFX, No Use For a Name and Bad Religion come to mind. We still love those bands, and consider them a huge influence, but our sound is little heavier then those bands. We tune the guitars down to DGCFAD then often drop our D to C. Alex plays a 6 string bass and can kill with some of the low-end notes he hits. I’ve been getting into a lot of metal and heavier music. Local Winnipeg band Port Amoral is one of my favorites right now, I really like Atreyu, and I’ve always been a big fan of Iron Maiden.

Diana: There are different ways of entering the music industry. What is or are the main roads that The Cease-Fire hopes to take?

Jason: For now we just want to play a lot of local shows with bands we love. Winnipeg is full of amazing bands. Our second show we opened for High Five Drive at their CD release and those guys were awesome. Myspace.com/theceasefire has helped us a lot too. We have fans from all over the world because of the myspace site. We might do a short Canadian tour in the summer in an effort reach some new fans. Because the recording on our myspace is a DEMO only we would really like to record a professional CD before doing any touring.

Diana: Music means different things to different people. What does music mean to you?

Jason: Music for me is an amazing escape from everything else. I think I speak for the whole band when I say this. You could be having a really bad day, but if it happens to be a practice day, you forget about everything when you pick up your guitar, sit at the drums or grab that mic.

Diana: What inspires The Cease-Fire?

Jason: I think we inspire each other. If Alex plays a cool bass line or Scott plays a sweet riff, it inspires me to write something cool on top of it…which in turn inspires Jarid to play a beat, which inspires CJ to start writing lyrics and singing. We just feed off eachother.

Diana: How do you feel about being able to influence and affect others through music?

Jason: It feels great if your music affects anyone in a positive way. Nothing feels better then playing and seeing people around you having a good time. We really love playing live, all our practices are open we let our friends come watch all the time.

Diana: How do you handle stress and overwhelming emotions?

Jason: Talking to friends or family, playing music. That’s what works for me.

Diana: Greatest piece of advice anyone’s ever given you?

Jason: If you’re not happy with something…change it.

Diana: What would The Cease-Fire want to say to someone going through a hard time?

Jason: That there’s a lot of help out there if you’re willing to accept it. It could be your friends, your family, your band, or websites like this one. You need to have an open mind and be willing to get through it. Stay positive, and know that everyone goes through good times and bad.