Their sound is a cross between Snake River Conspiracy, Pretty Girls Make Graves and that early 90's innocence of bubblegum anger and discovery, an ideal combination that gives The Start a poppy edge while still supporting their punk and hardcore roots. It's been almost two years since the band released their debut EP, Death Via Satellite. Alas, the wait for more comes to an end on August 24th with the release of Initiation on Nitro Records. Until then, the band will remain on the road with the AKA's. We had a chance to talk with vocalist Aimee Echo during the bands recent stop in Philly on the Offspring tour.

Where does the band name come from and why did you change it from Hero?
Hero was taken so we were right back at the start.

Before the Start what did you do to make ends meet?
We were all in working bands before The Start but prior to that we all had regular odd jobs. I waited tables; I was a body piercer, just various things.

Without using the word "matured" how would you describe Death Via Satellite to the new album?
Evolved, haha. Are you searching for just one word?
No, not really. You just can't say matured because it's overused.
Well, it's definitely darker. Its more rich- definitely a denser soundscape where Death Via Satellite was more sparse. But that was mainly due to time restraints while making DVS. We're actually getting time to make a record now. We did DVS in four days with some of the stuff being written on the spot. It wasn't even intended to be a release when we made it; it was just supposed to be a record of the songs. We didn't know we were going to put it out and we did. Back then it was really just Jamie and myself doing some work.

What type of vocal warm-ups do you do before a show?
I used to do this really involved half-hour tape. I have a little bit of vocal damage from my first band… and I still continue to damage it. I don't have the presence of mind on stage so I get a little rowdy. So I went to a vocal coach named Ron Anderson, who is an absolute genius, and he rehabilitated me all the way back to healthy. But now I've lazily adapted a 5-minute version of his warm-up tapes. I don't normally do as much as I should. A voice isn't a permanent thing; you have to care for it. Every now and again someone will say that my voice has character… whatever. It just hurts.

Why did the band separate from Geffen Records?
We were never technically on Geffen Records. We were on a small label called "The Label" and we were there first band. They did distribution deals for all of their bands at different record labels- ours was a one-off through Geffen. Very few of the Geffen staff worked for us. Then Geffen decided to explore other business ventures so they ran out of cash to put in the direction of the label.

Why does the band tour with acts that are usually not compatible?
We don't really put a lot of thought into who we tour with. For one, there aren't too many bands that are similar to us. If I asked you to name five bands that we could tour with that are similar or are in our genre, you'd be hard pressed to do that. Maybe. So we kind of just go with whoever asks us. We've toured with a lot of good people, but none were very similar.

How do you feel about fan sites, especially those devoted just to you?
I think it's amazing. It's always so flattering to know that there are sites devoted not just to me but the whole band. That's always interesting and bizarre. I think it's amazing that someone would spend that time thinking about us.

Being a female in a male dominated industry, do you get odd ball fans making interesting requests?
No. The fans that we have up till now and pretty intelligent and very enjoyable to be around. We're not afraid to hang out with our fans. Well, ok- here you go. It's not odd by any means but… this belt that I'm wearing is not my belt. My belt is on some girl in Kansas City. She came up to me and said "I need something from you. Will you trade belts with me? Fortunately her belt was much cuter than mine so I said yeah! So that was odd I guess.

What do you not miss at home while on tour?
There's a lot of drama when I'm at home. I live in Los Angeles. I don't miss that- although it's fun sometimes to hear about it over the phone, but when I'm at home it's not always as fun. Other than that I like home.