Together since 2005, MayOrWest got their start practicing at guitarist Pete Cataldo's apartment on Hoboken's Jackson Street. The four-piece alternative punk rock band has since performed throughout Mile Square City at venues including Maxwell's and The Dubliner, the location of their first show.

"Our friend bartended there and said he could get us a gig. We only had three original songs, [so I told him] we could play a bunch of covers," Cataldo said.

The band played nearly 30 songs for three-and-a-half hours. An enjoyable experience, they've been performing and recording ever since.

I sat down with the quartet outside Hotel Victor Bar and Grill over beers as they filled me in on their lives as musicians, the inspiration behind their songs and near death van experiences traveling to gigs. Easy-going personalities coupled with a hard work ethic, MayOrWest is one Hoboken act to pay attention to.

With heavy instrumentals and melodic vocals, it is hard to place MayOrWest into one genre. While they have been compared to early Thursday, the band prides itself in being hard to define.

"One of the best reviews I've ever read on us said, 'Anytime you combine melodic vocals with breakdowns and heavy music, you're going to have a lot of haters. But at least you're doing something that's original,'" Cataldo said.

And, originality is very important for MayOrWest.

"It's nice to read a review and no one is able to compare you because you don't sound like anyone out there. That's a big compliment, but it's definitely one of our downfalls as well because we can't be marketed. The fact is, we didn't set out to do something that someone else already did," guitarist Eric Lewy said.

After releasing three EPs, the band reached out to Big Blue Meenie Studios in Jersey City last November to produce their debut full length album, We, The End. Inspired to work with the studio after watching Thursday's DVD, Kill the House Lights, the band couldn't be happier with the final product.

"Our biggest downfall with all the recording experiences before was that no one was committed to making our music any better or making us a better band. As a young band, we didn't know any better," Lewy said. "We didn't know what a difference it would make if you had producers wanting to invest their time into you and were really devoted to the project you were doing. It made a world of difference because all of a sudden they [Big Blue Meenie Studios] were part of the band and part of the process."

The 12-track album features fast-paced guitar riffs and energetic percussion interludes combined with frontman Adam Ramsden's powerful vocals and partial screaming from the band members. Produced by Tim Gilles (Taking Back Sunday, Thursday, Bouncing Souls) and Matt Menafro (Damsels, Serosia) the release is an adequate launch of MayOrWest into the music scene.

Stand-out song, "Icarus" is fueled with passionate instrumentals and storytelling. A bitter tale about bands that refuse to stand out from the crowd, the song came about after two of MayOrWest's favorite bands decided to quit the scene.

"We'd go out and play shows to 10 people and nobody even cared anymore. Everybody seems to be on board with whatever MTV or Z100 is telling them to like," Ramsden said. "The end of the song is a big group vocal of 'This place is dead,' meaning any place we play. You've killed the music scene by regurgitating and taking in whatever people tell you to listen to even though there's no passion behind it. It's some pop star singing a song somebody else wrote with half the compassion the original artist would have used."

Next track, "L.A.S.H." was inspired by months performing with bands that had little diversity. "You couldn't tell one band from the next. Nobody cared. They were like, 'What is this band doing? Done. We'll be really popular,'" Ramsden said.

While songwriting and being in a band sounds like fun, MayOrWest prove it's dangerous too. After buying a van for $500 on Craigslist, a decision they have come to regret, MayOrWest witnessed a few near death experiences. During the first gig they drove to, the van caught on fire from faulty brakes. Another time, it broke down without warning in the middle lane of traffic nearing the Holland Tunnel. With nothing but glow sticks to divert oncoming traffic from driving into them, two members of the band had to push it uphill only to be misidentified as criminals running from the police.

Van problems aside, MayOrWest can't imagine their lives without music.

"At the end of the day, we're kids that started a band not knowing a lot about being in a band or playing music," said drummer Jimmy Dowell. "But the fact that we have grown to write music that moves people in a certain way, you can't deny something like that. That in itself can drive us forever."