My Compatriots

Jonathan Caro - Vox & Guitar
Interviewed by: Sam Westre

Refreshing and honest songwriting would describe My Compatriots. Get comfortable in your seat and listen. Starting in early 2006, My Compatriots had grown from a simple home recording project to a full breathing vibrant entity. Recently releasing their debut album called "Waiting for Monuments to Pass" My Compatriots sound reflects a variety of notable influences while still establishing originality. Jonathan Caro and company deliver to you an unforgetable album filled with brilliant guitar work and lyrics that are sung read right out of Jon's personal journal. Featuring members of Stairwell, Plankeye, Fanmail and Slow Coming Day, My Compatriots are less fixaded on following the latest musical trends but focused on writing great music they enjoy listening too and whoever else digs it. This is a lineup of seasoned musicians with a fresh new perspective and inspiration, My Compatriots is ready and eager to share their music to the world with utmost sincerity and passion.

My Compatriots is:
Brian Mayfield
Ryan Macintosh
Scott Siletta
Heather Patton
Jonathan Caro.

You guys have played in some pretty successful bands in the past. How does it feel starting over with this new project?

Well, .it is so refreshing to rebuild something from scratch from a new perspective that has been building up through the many years of playing and performing music. From the past trials and tribulations that we have experienced in other projects from before, we tend to steer clear of the bumps and bruises this time around with My Compatriots. However there will be tests and challenges that we will face in the future but we will face them with the respect of the individual with the constant awareness that we are in My Compatriots for
the love and appreciation of music. We have left the whole concept and pressures of making it big and traded it for something that we feel has a longer and lasting effect on our lives. In the previous bands that we played in before it felt like a maze where we crashed into many walls that did not permit us to go in directions that we felt naturally drawn too. With my compatriots the barbed wire is cut and now it's a free wide open range.

Are you trying things in this band that you didn't have a chance to try in your previous bands? Anything that you're doing differently this time around?

Yeah.... and that's being ourselves in the band instead of trying to live up to people's expectations. My Compatriots is more laid back than previous projects from before, we are musicians that love playing music with each other as great friends for fun
and if it takes us somewhere cool, if it doesn't, cool. Although when we recorded and perform we want to represent ourselves the best we can but this time
around, we are confident we can do it without ringing each other's necks 24/7.

So the album is called Waiting for monuments to pass. Tell me a little bit about how this album came about.

I wanted to get back into music and so I returned to some songs that I have been working on over the years and ultimately I wanted to take it a step future by putting those songs into a full album, so I re-worked some of the songs and starting tracking. Eventually more musicians were needed to complete the album and this is where My Compatriots stepped in.

The album waiting for monuments to pass is about reaching a realization about life and what is done is done, it's time to make new changes. It's about reclaiming life and inspiration while making a positive mark for those who come in contact with us in
our daily lives. While working on the album waiting for monuments to pass we appreciated that fact that it had a diversity of songs instead of only focusing on one sound throughout the whole entire album. Making this album was a great experience.

How did you guys all end up coming together as a band? Had our previous bands played shows together in the past?

It all started as a little recording project that eventually wanted to leave the confines of a bedroom into the wider space of planet earth. In the early stages of making the album I was patiently looking for people to play with, I didn't want to just grab someone from an add, I wanted to make sure who ever hopped on with me had the same approach to music as I do. In time I ran into Ryan McIntosh at a store where I was shopping at and he recognized me from a band I left years ago but unfortunately the Jerk that I am didn't recognize him. Participating in a mutual hobby of plastic shooting firearms Ryan and I eventually would also realize another hobby that we shared that we were most passionate about above all and that was music. A scheduled jam session was set and with a previous band mate Brian Mayfield, Ryan MacIntosh and I started working on some songs. From there Ryan re-connected me with a very good friend of mine that I lost contact with and that is Scott Silletta who played in a band that I admired and played with a long time ago and I was thrilled to hear that Scott was interested in playing with us. From that point My
Compatriots was in full swing with the addition of the talents of Mayfield, MacIntosh, and Silletta. With this Reunion of friends the album Waiting for monuments to pass was completed. Although with our hearts and minds revitalized and inspired with a new approach in how we do music, we were proud of the results of the album Waiting for monuments to pass, but we were concerned how My Compatriots will translate the music live? We came up with a solutionto our playing live question and that was the addition
of Heather Patton. Truly talented, Heather Patton is ready to make her own mark amongst the boys and no doubt her musical talent will translate well in the studio as well as playing live.

Download MP3: My Compatriots - Signing The Peace Accords

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For more info, show updates and music
check out My Compatriots on Myspace.com
www.myspace.com/mycompatriots