The well of rock dried up years ago; we just didn’t know any better. But a band of Tennessee youth have seemingly found the oasis. Maybe it’s their fan base that can get a hold of the band’s lead singer at any time (he posts his digits on MySpace) for feedback. Or perhaps it’s the spot on licks and in your face whaling solos that keep you coming back for more. Whatever the case may be - these guys are what rock should have been for the past decade. We Were The States combine their southern style sleaze with hard hitting edgy guitars that would make anyone believe once again. With their debut Believe The Thieves - they’ve done just that. On a rooftop in Austin on the eve of their arguably imperative SXSW performance, we talk with guitarist Jay Stoyanov about his crazy work ethic as a band, their influences and why the hell he gives all his fans his phone number.

Pensatos: How’s SXSW been so far for you?
Jay Stoyanov: Well, we’re sitting on a rooftop in Austin having a beer. It really doesn’t get any better than this.

Talk to me about Believe The Theives.
We started mastering that album over a year ago - remastering, dubbing, and so-on for so long up until November of last year. It’s one of those things where we worked in a glass jar for so long that you don’t realize when people start talking about it or that the word is even out yet. So it’s crazy when that happens. It makes it all worthwhile.

The MC came on stage and said, “Everybody! We Are The States.” And we’re sitting back stage thinking, “Oh god, that sounded cheesy.”

How does a Tennessee band of guys like yourself churn out a punk rock outfit in the south?
We’re all kinda from different parts but we met at music school actually.

Think you can drop out now that you have this album?
We’re all graduating in the Fall or this year. Jason still works at Blockbuster so I’m sure he’s ready to get the hell outta there.

How many times can you hear someone argue about a fucking late fee before you wanna choke them, right?
[laughs] Yeah. He loves movies but I think he’d rather just own them than try to sell them to soccer moms. But as far as our sound goes we had a couple of bands we liked. It’s hard to say how we came into this sound. The punk rock thing came naturally when we tried to be as raw as possible. We just didn’t’ want to be sappy is all.

My whole thing about being a big band and becoming disconnected isn’t for us. I don’t want it to stop when they buy the record and that’s the only contact we have with our fans.

I’d say you have the punch of The Strokes but the Southern draw of Kings of Leon…
Yeah, we listened to a lot of the same bands they listen to but then we thought about what we wanted out of our audience. I would have to say Nashville’s The Features is definitely a directive of what we do.

Why did you guys change your name from The States to We Were The States?
We actually got a hate letter from a band in Massachusetts one time - kind of tongue and cheek - saying to stop using their name “you cock suckers” or something like that. But there was a band in Brooklyn as well who had the name that was very similar to our sound; so we changed it. We wanted people to know who we were so it just became We ARE the States - We Are was really small but The States was in big letters. But then we decided that just sounded cliché. We played a show once where the MC came on stage and said, “Everybody! We Are The States.” And we’re sitting back stage thinking, “Oh god, that sounded cheesy.” So we had to change our name as soon as possible.

Plus, how many more bands do we really need with the word ‘The’ before it? But you brought up a good point when those bands contacted you originally: you post your phone number on your website and the band’s mySpace page asking for fans to call you. You are aware there are a shit ton of crazy folk out there on mySpace, don’t you?
I put it up there because my whole thing about being a big band and becoming disconnected isn’t for us. I don’t want it to stop when they buy the record and that’s the only contact we have with our fans. Interactivity and community is so important to us. When Mike Jones put out his first album, The Wrath of Mike Jones, he put his number on the actual album. And he said you can call him. We wanted people to call us if they are listening to the record and say, “Hey, we’re kickin back listening to your record drinking a few bears and we like it.” I just can’t wait to see the late night calls we get. I want to meet our fans and get to know them. We’ll talk about the Pixies for an hour if you want.

Jason still works at Blockbuster so I’m sure he’s ready to get the hell outta there.

Talk to me about recording the first studio album and hitting the road now.
With the road idea, we’re talking it slow. We’re more of weekend warriors with shows. We’re not ready to throw caution to the wind and throw all our eggs in one basket. But we are ready to record the next record now so we’ll be starting that shortly.

Being relatively new outside of the Midwest, do you feel like you are trying to prove something on stage every night?
If there’s 10 people at a dive bar in Oxford, Mississippi or 100 people with David Fricke in the audience at SXSW - either way we try to be as good, professional and appealing as we can be. I guess I’m kinda hard on the band about keeping that mentality but I think they are starting to believe. We always try to be on top of our game at all times. Even when we get drunk.

+ review: We Were The States - Believe The Thieves
+ video: We Were The States ‘Up Your Sleeve’