Spitalfield

Members:

Mark Rose
(vocals/lyrics),
J.D. Romero
(drums),
T.J. Milici
(bass)

Album:

Better Than Knowing Where You Are

Past Albums:

Stop Doing Bad Things and Remember Right Now.

You'll Like 'Em If You Like:

New Found Glory, The Starting Line, Hawthorne Heights, Armor for Sleep, The Early November, and Taking Back Sunday.

Spitalfield on Spitalfield in Five Words or Less:

Fanny pack collectors and distributors.

OK, so Spitalfield isn't exactly a new band, but eight years after their first release, they're totally ripe to takeover the pop-punk scene. (Better late than never, eh?) The Chicago-based rock group's latest release, Better Than Knowing Where You Are, is their fiercest effort yet. Vocalist/guitarist, Mark Rose gives us some insight on life on the road, creepy fan interactions, and how the heck they chose their name.

Your name sounds really close to Spitalfields, England where serial killer Jack the Ripper was from. Kinda grim! Why'd you choose that name for the band?
The name came to us in 1998 when we first started. [Founding member] Blake Croson came up with the name. If anyone was to put some research and time into it, it's kind of dark and gloomy and kind of different [since] we're a pop-rock band. We thought it was kind of a cool idea. It's unique, and no one else has it [so] we never get mistaken for another band.

Have you ever been to Spitalfields?
We played in London a couple of times, [but] we didn't go there. It's partially because on our touring schedule in Europe -- we've yet to go on a tour where we had leisure time where we were able to branch out and have a day off. We're always [following] a tour itinerary; we're coming from somewhere and leaving that night. We'd like to go there. We get people who take the Jack the Ripper tour and send us photos.

Do you guys have any creepy Jack the Ripper-obsessed fans?
There's someone on MySpace who created a profile of themselves [that isn't] really them, but they have really strange interactions with our band on MySpace. It's really weird because this person doesn't really exist, and I know this person is actually making this their alter ego. It's really creepy [and] really strange. There are a lot of interesting characters we meet, traveling as much as we do and going back to the same cities as much as we do. It's a fine line between what would be a super fan that we really appreciate and [people who take] that next step where it becomes creepy.