ION INDIE MAGAZINE December 2015, Volume 19 | Page 43

“When we went back to get another trailer to pick up our gear, which was still lying on the
highway,” begins Perna, “and there was no snow. “I’m like, we just got into a major accident
in a snowstorm…the highway was shut down!”
“It was Narnia,” laughs McDonald.
“It was like I drove into Hoth, battled Imperial walkers, and Chewie and I got back and fistbumped each other like, ‘We made it, buddy!” Perna laughs with the band members in
unison, evoking an enjoyable Star Wars reference.
The band can laugh about the accident now, but it could have been much more serious.
“The trailer hit the side of the truck, then hit the roof,” Boniewicz said in his recollection of
that night. “The trailer went one way and we went the other. The trailer ended up on the right
side of the road in the middle of the road, and we ended up on the left side of the road facing
oncoming traffic. When the trailer detached, it kind of flung everything. We were lucky,
because if the trailer hadn’t detached, we would have rolled with it.”
Boniewicz notes the irony of that night’s freak snow events in text messages he was sending
and receiving.
“Yeah, word got around fast,” admits Boniewicz of friends hearing about the accident.
“Legitimately five minutes before we wrecked, my mom sent a message saying to be careful.
I turned my phone back on and it was like, ‘Hey, we just wrecked (laughs). My phone really
started ringing then because I was sending messages that night to people in the area like,
‘Hey, can somebody come get us off the side of the road.”
The Scranton musical community immediately pulled together to help the band get back on
its feet, organizing a benefit back in April at popular Scranton club, The V Spot--one of Behind
The Grey’s frequent haunts.
“It was such a great night, knowing you had all this support,” Perna said of the benefit show.
“It was so weird for a band like us that does benefits for other people, to sit in the audience
and go, ‘What do we do?’ It was awkward to have people do this stuff for you and you go, ‘Are
you sure I can’t help? I’d play, but I don’t have equipment anymore (laughs).’”
So, did this life-threatening event bring the band closer together beyond the borders of
playing music together?
“I’m not going to say the accident brought us closer, but it’s part of our history,” McDonald
honestly offers. “We’re closer for a lot of reasons. We’ve had great conversations with each
other, separately, and we’ve been through a lot in general together. We have a lot of respect
for each other. We were talking about Eric doing vocals before; everyone does what they do,
and we don’t lack for anything. That’s what makes our sound.”
Perna suggests a quote from Sevendust drummer Morgan Rose, that reflects how each of the
members of Behind The Grey feel about their collective relationship.
“You know what you have, and you protect what you have,” he quotes. “If we get into an
argument or a fight about scheduling, or whatever, we try to protect the band as an entity
and continue on--we make sure our bond stays tight.”