The Treaty of Paris story begins at a secret show in Chicago. As a joke, guitarist Phil Kosch suggested the moniker and somehow it simply stuck. Following the secret show, the band began promoting with flyers, T-shirts and local gigs with local peers like Lucky Boys Confusion, Rise Against and The Academy Is. Sold out shows led to bigger opportunitues with bands like Unwritten Law and Sum 41, soon Treaty of Paris put out their first EP entitled "Behind Our Calm Demeanors." The EP eventually found itself infecting the ears of Jack's Mannequin / Something Corporate frontman Andrew McMahon. After recently starting the Airport Tapes and Records label, McMahon knew it was a fit. The band released their debut full-length record, "Sweet Dreams, Sucker" in September and haven't looked back since. Treaty's young rock swagger combined with their infectious poppy hooks put them along the lines of other Chicago alma mater such as Fall Out Boy and Plain White T's. Hell, just being from Chicago, a scene that seems to be breeding superstars overnight gives Treaty of Paris an edge in the music industry. Sweet Dreams, Sucker is proof that pop-punk, pop-rock or whatever we call it this week is still alive and well!

We recently had the opportunity to sit and chat with vocalist / guitarist Mike Chorvat and drummer Chris Insidioso prior to a show at Chicago's legendary club, The Metro. Mike is pretty soft spoken and speaks carefully about his band and what drives it. Chris on the other hand likeslets loose. He’s also a huge fan of Every Time I Die and has rules against drummers who play without shirts. Insidioso says Travis Barker and Tommy Lee are the only ones that can play without shirts. Everyone else, keep them on.

Popular Underground Magazine (PUM): So how long has Treat of Paris been Treaty of Paris, like since ’05?
Mike Chorvat: Yeah
Chris Insidioso: I started in the band in January of ’06.

PUM: I was reading today on your Myspace page, that the band’s name came up as a joke. Explain that to me.
Mike: Basically, we used to be a four member band and I played guitar and we decided to add a fifth member to play guitar and I would pick up singing. Phil [Kosch] joined the band and we [told Phil], “Your first mission being in this band, since we can’t come up with a name, you have to come up with one.” So a few days later, he brought back a huge list, like three pages of all these names and one of the names on the list that we just thought was totally hilarious was Treaty of Paris. We were like, “Who would name their band that?”

PUM: Did it have any meaning behind it?
Mike: What ended up happening, is we played a secret show as “Treaty of Paris,” like our first show to kind of warm up Phil. For some reason we kept going back to [the name] and at first it was a joke and now it’s the name. Chris: Now it’s kind of funny because people are like, “Wow, you have a really cool name.”

PUM: How old are all of you guys?
Mike: We’re all like in our mid 20’s.

PUM: You guys recently released a record. Tell me about that.
Chris: It’s called Sweet Dreams Sucker and it came out September 25th.

PUM: What was your goal with the record?
Mike: We wrote each song as if it was to be a single. We just want to make a record that got people’s attention. Like, “Oh wow!” We try to make our songs catchy as hell.
Chris: My favorite part of the record is like tracks six through 11. We wanted to make sure that it didn’t get old.
Mike: Yeah, because you know there are a lot of record where after the fourth song, you’re like, “Yeah, okay.”

PUM: You guys got hooked up with Andrew McMahon of Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin. How did he get in touch with you?
Chris: Well, Phil had been sending some of our music to the tour manager for Jack’s Mannequin and Andrew wanted to start up this label, Airport Tapes & Records and he didn’t have any bands yet. [The manager] was pushing us for like a year. Andrew was like, “Yeah, it’s pretty good.” I think he was looking for more Postal Service or Pretty Girls Make Graves kind of stuff. Something different than what we were doing. We released this EP, which had a song called “Elvis Lives” and it was acoustic and Andrew loved it and that is kind of what drew him to the band.
Mike: And the craziest part is he signed us without ever seeing us live!
Chris: The night he signed us, we played with him at House of Blues in Chicago. We were the first band and he never saw us. I’m sure it was freaky for him, like, “I hope this band doesn’t suck live.” It was awesome man, he played on the record. He played on “Quits,” he played on “I’ll Come Back” and sang backup vocals on a couple songs so he was really involved in the process. He was there like everyday. We’re a fan of his music and as a musician, we just became friends with him too. It’s a business, but it’s also a friendship.

PUM: What are some of your musical inspiration, like bands you used in your music.
Chris: I know we tell a lot of people Jimmy Eat World, Weezer, Motion City Soundtrack. It’s cool because we all have such different tastes. I’m into Hot Water Music and Avail; a lot of hardcore stuff; Every Time I Die. I love the pop stuff, but I like a lot of heavy stuff too. Even stuff like Dredg, which is kind of weird experimental stuff. We always kind of draw from a lot of difference influences, which is kind of cool.
Mike: I’m into other singer-songwriter stuff like this guy from Canada named Matthew Good, Butch Walker, Jeff Buckley I really love. I also like all these pop rock bands like Motion City Soundtrack and we try to bring it all together. PUM: What about lyrically?
Chris: Mike and Dan are the songwriters and take care of the lyrics and all that business.
Mike: Life experience totally. A lot of the songs, it’s just totally that something that happened in my life. Some songs; I just like to write about certain topics or play out a story. Like make up a fictional story and have the song tell the story.

PUM: How was working with your producer, Jim Wirt?
Mike: It was like the best experience.
Chris: He produced S.C.I.E.N.C.E by Incubus, which when you were in high school it was the coolest record ever. He’s like the nicest guy in the world, but like every take, you just wanted to play as best as you could because you didn’t want to let Jim down.
Mike: And he’s like really creative about everything. He wants to make every song the best it can possibly be. His vocal ideas were great. He wasn’t like, “You guys sound like this, but I want you to sound like this.” He was like, “I like your songs, let’s make them even better.”
Chris: Preproduction was so much fun. We came in really excited and really focused. We were in there a week and we left preproduction and we were going into the studio and were really confident about the songs and really, the studio was really easy. It wasn’t a drain. We were in there for a month and a half and we record 14 songs. It was just really easy.
Mike: He was through after a week!
Chris: I was there everyday though!
Mike: I know, I’m kidding.

PUM: Is there any one thing you learned form the recording experience that you took with you?
Chris: I think the number one thing is be prepared. So many bands go into the studio and they are like, “We’ll just write there,” and all that stuff. I mean we were working with a budget so we wanted to make sure we [were ready]. I think it’s go in prepared, feel comfortable at the parts and if anything feels uncomfortable or weird, get the kinks out before you head into the studio.
Mike: The one thing that was different this time around was, we always have come to the studio prepared, we’ve always had a budget, but this time we had a little more time and got to be a little more creative in the studio. Sometimes lyrics weren’t completely done and we’d finish them on the spot. We’d come up with the melodies right there and it was cool that we were able to do that.

PUM: Are there any bands that you’ve toured with or open for that really stick out in your mind?
Chris: Motion City Soundtrack. We opened for them at Bradley University and it was like…
Mike: It was the biggest show we’ve ever played.
Chris: Yeah, and after that show, we looked it as, “This is the best show we’ve ever played.” Like collectively. I mean, we had video of it too and we just played really well. Motion City Soundtrack is pretty much all of our favorite band and to get to play with them…
Mike: It was in this field house and basically, looking out from the stage, it was like, “We’re playing in an arena.” That’s what it looked like.

PUM: How do you guys get along within the band?
Mike: We get along really well.
Chris: We get a long really well, except for Phil.
Mike: Yeah, Phil’s a dick! [Laughs]
Chris: No, no we all get along good. I met them like five years ago, but Mike, Dan and Brandon, these guys have known each other for 10 years. When I joined the band we were friends, so it was easy and I was a fan of the band so…
Mike: When you spend more time with your band members than your family, it almost becomes like a family. You have your issues here and there like you do in your family, but for the most part we get along pretty well.

PUM: What would you say the importance of Chicago is for your band? I mean, a lot of huge bands have come from Chicago.
Mike: The scene here has been the biggest part. You don’t have a scene like this everywhere. Only specific cities. Everyone really tries to help each other in the scene and that helped us a lot.
Chris: If you look at Chicago now, let’s face it; Fall Out Boy, The Academy Is, The Hush Sound, Plain White T’s, right now Chicago is doing well. In a way that can only better us too.
Mike: All of those bands opened the door for us.

PUM: What do you do when you’re not onstage, in your downtime or whatever?
Chris: Sometimes we just decide to drive overnights and just through the iPod on shuffle or something, read if we can, try to hang out with the bands. That’s always fun. If kids are hanging out we try to hang out as late as we can. It just depends on the night and how far the drive is.

PUM: What is your overall goal as a band?
Mike: Our overall goal is to get our music to as many people as we possibly can and be able to make a living off it. When we come home, we have to get normal jobs. We want to get to a point where we can make a living off it and keep making music. If people want it, we’ll give it to them.