Operator Please INTERVIEW

Operator Please play yummy music - This interview took place before they signed with EMI ...

FOR THE BENEFIT OF OUR READERS, COULD YOU INTRODUCE THE BAND, AND YOUR ROLES WITHIN OPERATOR PLEASE?

Tim: I am the drummer from Operator Please. I play the role of keeping time and looking young. I have been named pre-pubesent teen, young child, 12 and much more.
Amandah: I play guitar and sing.
Ashley: Operator Please is myself; Ashley McConnell, Amandah Wlkinson, Sarah Gardiner and Tim Commanduer. I play bass and do backing vocals.

CAN YOU GIVE US A BACKGROUND CHECK ON OPERATOR PLEASE? WHEN DID THE BAND FORM? WERE YOU ALL FRIENDS BEFOREHAND, WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO FORM A BAND?

Amandah: We pretty muched formed so that we could compete in the schools' battle of the bands comp in July of 2005. There was this real thing at my school about that comp, it was pretty much just a popularity contest - Instead of people winning because the music they played sounded good, they won because of who they were "cool kids" which pissed me off. I kinda scouted around and asked if anybody wanted to play, so in the begginning it was just simply a school thing - I just asked random people that I had seen at school or knew of playing an instrument. I knew Tim cause he use to linger around the music block. I'd seen him drum for the stage band and various other bands from his grade which is two years under me. I thought he was awesome and so I asked him if he wanted to play. Then Sarah our pianist was in my actual music class, at the time she had pink hair and it was tres cool she could also do killer renditions of some Ben Folds songs so I asked her if she wanted to play. Then there was this kid Ashley I had seen him around school and thought he had cool hair and turns out he had just started playing the bass - I asked him if he was interested. He said yes. The person I probably knew the best was Steph our violin player because we had collaborated for some performances for assesment in our music class - We didn't talk that much but we worked well together so she thought it would be pretty cool to come and play.

Sarah: It's hard to give an exact time frame for when the band 'formed' because for a long time we didn't really take things seriously. But i'd say around a year ago - thats when things started fitting into place, and we saw there was alot of potential in what we were doing. We weren't friends before hand, so i guess at first it was a bit like a second job - and although its still a bit like that, now we're a family.

HOW DID YOU DECIDE UPON THE NAME OPERATOR PLEASE? IS THERE A SIGNIFICANT MEANING BEHIND IT?

Ashley: Well Amandah came to me one day with a list of names that she had wrote down that she thought sounded cool. we just picked the name from there.

Sarah: We went through two different names before coming to Operator Please. We wanted something different, that wasn't going to date or segregate us. I'm pretty sure the final two choices were Operator Please or Lycra Foxes. No prizes for guessing which one we chose.

Tim: One day, I recieved an email saying "We have changed our name from Legohead to Operator Please!"

Steph: Yeah, pretty much.

YOU'RE A RELATIVELY NEW BAND, FORMING ONLY A YEAR AGO, HOW HAVE YOU BEEN RECEIVED BY THE AUDIENCES AND CRITICS ALIKE? HAVE YOU HAD GOOD RECEPTIONS AT GIGS/SHOWS?

Sarah: I can't really tell you. People seem to like what we do, but [it's] sometimes hard to tell. Everyone reacts to music differently, I mean, it'd funny how the people who stand at the back, emotionless the whole show are sometimes the ones who come and tell us they love our sound the most. People keep booking us, so things can't be that bad!

Tim: At most of our gigs, the reaction of the crowd has been great. We have enjoyed the response of the crowd, and that is the main thing that drives us to play. When we hear the crowd roaring after a song, you just get "that feeling" and you are amped to play the best show. Some reviews have portrayted us as children playing instruments - We do appreciate the publicity though.

WHATS INFLUENCED YOU, NOT ONLY MUSICALLY, BUT ARE THERE ANY BOOKS OR FILMS THAT HAVE INSPIRED YOU AS A BAND AND AS INDIVIDUALS?

Amandah: It can be bands that we really love, television ads and jingles, random outbursts from friends and even the tiniest noises that grab your attention, some kind of riff or melody pops up.

Sarah: The band is really a merging of alot of different styles - although we're on the same page with somethings, we really have opposite taste in others. Alot of people have suggested its what gives our music its unusual flavour. As an individual, as I would find it hard to speak for the rest of the band, I have been most inspired by both Ben Folds, an amazing musician who really knows how to break down boundaries when composing, and Yann Tiersen, a french film score composer who is well known for creating aural ecstasy. They pour so much emotion into what they do, that I feel like I can really connect. This is something I really want to strive for, and find very admirable.

Tim: I just basically enjoy performing, I have not really had any influences, besides when I see a DVD and see a performer on stage revving the crowd up. I want to do that.

Ashley: I guess I am influenced by current social events and perceptions. I always have an opinion on something, that's not always a good thing.

YOU HAVE A FEW SHOWS COMING UP, WHAT CAN THE CROWDS EXPECT FROM THESE DATES? HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE AN OPERATOR PLEASE SHOW, BOTH MUSICALLY AND VISUALLY?

Amandah: They can expect to see and hear 5 teenagers, 2 boys and three girls, a drum kit, a violin, a guitar, a bass, a keyboard, 2 amps, a couple leads, microphones and smiles.

Sarah: I'd say it would be a cross between trying to do one of those silly magic eye puzzles where you have to make your self go cross eyed, and rubbing your feet really fast on carpet.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE SONG TO PERFORM LIVE?

Steph: "Mr Mr Hey Mr"

Ashley: Either "Get What You Want" or "Mr Mr Hey Mr'

Sarah: I really enjoy our most recent one "Get What You Want". The keys are really a key part of that particular song, and theres really just so much great energy that comes out when we play it.

Amandah: "Two For My Seconds" That song is pretty sentimental to me. I just love performing that song!

WHAT WAS THE WRITING PROCESS LIKE FOR ON THE PROWL? WAS IT A LENGTHY PROCESS? DO YOU ALL WRITE TOGETHER, OR IS IT AN INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITY? WHAT EXPERIENCES IN PARTICULAR INSPIRED AND INFLUENCED THE SONGS ON THE EP?

Sarah: The truth is it just all kind of fell into place. I was seriously shocked when i saw our EP in the stores. It felt like we hadn't done anything out of the ordinary, yet we had something to show for it.

Amandah: To be quite honest most of the songs from On The Prowl were snapped up quite quickly. You see we had this show we were playing and we had 40 minutes to fill, so I was like shit we don't have much material anyways knowing this, songs like 'Terminal Disease' and 'Paperclips' popped up. We didn't record On the Prowl till after we had been playing for a while so we had written songs as we went along. We didn't plan to write for an EP, we had some material picked out that we wanted to record.

Ashley: Well Amandah pretty much writes all the songs the music and lyrics and comes to us and shows us and then we muck around with different parts and add bits and pieces until we form a solid piece of material.

THE AUSTRALIAN MUSIC SCENE IS A PRETTY UNKNOWN ENTITY HERE IN THE UK. THEREFORE, SPEAKING FROM FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE, WHAT ARE THE PROMINENT GENRES IN YOUR HOMETOWNS?

Amandah: In our hometown of the Gold Coast there are alot of screamo bands and hardcore, punk bands. Then you have the altertaive and experimental crowd. In reality there is a lot going on here.

IS IT DIFFICULT FOR UPCOMING BANDS IN AUSTRALIA TO BE GIVEN A CHANCE AND BREAK-THROUGH? OR HAVE YOU FOUND IT RELATIVELY EASY TO GET TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?

Amandah: It is difficult. You need to remember in order to attract attention you need to get yourself out there. Do everything you can to promote yourselves - As well as using the internet for exposure ie: Myspace - You need to do all the conventional things a band would normally do in order to stir something, like spending whole days to hand out flyers, putting up posters, sticking stickers in random places, calling places to get shows. All of these things work hand in hand, but if you stick at it, and know what you are wanting to achieve then it can be done.

YOU'RE CURRENTLY UNSIGNED, HAS THERE BEEN ANY LABEL INTEREST WITH OPERATOR PLEASE?

Ashley: Potentially

Timmy: What?

Amandah: Possibly

Sarah: If I said no, I'd be lying

Operator Please have just been confirmed for this years Carling weekend.

Their new single, 'Just A Song About Ping Pong' is available NOW in the UK, you can listen to it at www.myspace.com/operatorplease

Stacy Clark INTERVIEW

I conducted this interview aagggeeeesssss ago, so bear in mind the Warped Tour spoken about was last years, 2006!

STACY, GROWING UP, WHICH BANDS/ARTISTS INFLUENCED YOU AND INSPIRED YOU TO TAKE UP SONGWRITING? Although Sarah McLaughlin and Tori Amos influenced me to learn the guitar and piano; it was life's experiences that made me a songwriter. I wrote about my life to deal with the things I had to go through. Music was just the best awy to express myself.

WAS MUSIC A PROMINENT PART OF YOUR CHILDHOOD? Yes. I was involved with many musicals, choirs, and band. My grandfather and mother used to play polka music on the accordion when we where younger and we'd all dance around the room, it was a great time.

WHATS THE MUSIC-SCENE LIKE IN BUFFALO, NY? Buffalo's music scene is very supportive, nurturing and unique. I was blessed with many opportunities to work with great songwriters and musicians at a young age.

WITH BEING A FEMALE PERFORMER COMES THE OBVIOUS COMPARISONS WITH THE LIKES OF AVRIL LAVIGNE AND KELLY CLARKSON, IS THIS SOMETHING YOURE COMFORTABLE WITH? Every artist wants to be an individual. However, it's in people's tendencies to compare you to either the most popular or their favorite artist. I think my music is completely different then Avril or Kelly's because I am a songwriter more then a vocalist. However, to compare me to either is a compliment.

CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE MUSIC SAVES LIVES PROGRAM? AND WHY IT IS SO PERSONAL TO YOU? Music Saves Lives is a program my manager Russel Hornbeek and I started to eliminate blood concerns and help fight cancer. It is close to my heart because when I was 17 I almost died from a blood platelet disorder. The normal human has between 100,000 – 300,000 platelets. Under 30,000 you are bleeding to death. I had 1,000. It was a miracle that I survived and I feel an immediate need to raise the awareness of the need for blood. Music Saves Lives does exactly that to my generation.

YOU'RE PERFORMING AT THIS YEARS WARPED TOUR FESTIVAL, ARE YOU EXCITED/NERVOUS? I am very excited and glad to be a part of the Vans Warped Tour.

HAD YOU ATTENDED WARPED IN THE PAST, AS A FAN? I have attended many Vans Warped Tours. Ironically, one year I actually had to leave the Vans Warped Tour to get a bone marrow test to see if I had cancer. Thank God the results came back negative. It is because of the generosity of Kevin and the Vans Warped Tour that MSL can be a success.

HOW HAS THE NEW EP BEEN RECEIVED BY AUDIENCES AND FANS ALIKE? My EP Unusual is getting received well. I am very happy musically with its outcome. It is always nice to receive compliments on things you pour your heart into.

IS IT FAIR TO SAY YOU'RE A PASSIONATE CHRISTIAN? DO YOU STRIVE PURPOSELY TO INCORPORATE RELIGION INTO YOUR MUSIC? OR ARE YOU HAPPIER TO KEEP THAT SIDE PRIVATE? Yes, It depends what I am feeling at the time of the songs composition. Although I chose Christianity, my intentions are never to disrespect other cultures or religions. I just want to share the joy that I know. It's so much more then just a comfort to fall back on. I have no problem talking about God and how awesome God is and has been in my life.

WHICH BANDS/ARTISTS ARE YOU LISTENING TO AT THE MOMENT? Sufjan Stevens, Jacks Mannequin, Mew, Copeland, Mae, The Down to Earth Approach, Slow Coming Day.

ARE YOU A FAN OF KT TUNSTALL, BJORK, BETH ORTON, NERINA PALLOT AND SIMILAR STRONG SOLO FEMALE ARTISTS? Fellow Buffalonian Ani DiFranco is my favorite female role model. She defines strength through her independance and philanthropy work. Sarah McLaughlin is also brilliant. The Lilith Fair and money donated to local charities in each location of her tour was inspiring. I do also enjoy the artists you mentioned. I saw KT perform in La Jolla, California and she was incredible. Other great female artists I enjoy: Libby Kirkpatrick, Imogen Heap, Jewel and Poe.

ARE YOU PROUD OF YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS SO FAR? Of course. I never thought I'd get this far and I don't take anything for granted. You always have to appreciate what you've worked towards and achieved. There is always room for personal, spiritual and musical growth; but also I have learned to be content with what you have.

WHAT DO YOU STILL HOPE TO ACHIEVE? I have many ideals and things I am working towards. It's through chaos that I attribute the most creatively. I want to continue impacting the world in a positive way through non-profit work such as Music Saves Lives and reach people emotionally through my music. I want to encourage people to pursue their dreams and something to believe in, even if it is in themselves. Life is too short to not stand for something.

You can download Stacy's EP, Unusual via ITUNES or order a hard-copy at www.cdbaby.com

Keep up to date with gig information and listen to tracks from the EP at www.myspace.com/ilovestacyclark

Sleeping At Last INTERVIEW

Sleeping at Last make me happy ... I hope this interview with singer/guitarist, Ryan makes you happy also ...

FOR THE BENEFIT OF THOSE UNFAMILIAR WITH SLEEPING AT LAST, COULD YOU INTRODUCE THE BAND? Sure! My name is Ryan, I sing, play Guitar and Piano - My brother, Chad plays the Drums and our friend Dan plays Bass and Keyboards.

WHEN YOU [CHAD AND RYAN] WERE GROWING UP WAS FORMING A BAND SOMETHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO DO? DID YOU GROW UP IN A MUSICAL HOUSEHOLD? WHICH BANDS INFLUENCED YOU AND INSPIRED YOU TO FORM A BAND? Chad and I found our passion for music at different times. I became really interested in being in a band when I was about 13 years old and started playing guitar and soon after that, gave singing a shot. Within the first couple of years, I fell in love with songwriting, and a little while after I started playing music, my brother took up the drums. We didn't really grow up in a musical household, but we did grow up with a lot of support for whatever we chose to do, whether it was hockey (my brother originally wanted to be a hockey player - but fell in love with drums instead) or an animator (which is what I wanted to do) or being in a band. Our parents have always gone out of their way to support us. As for which bands influenced us early on - Sunny Day Real Estate, Radiohead, U2, etc.

YOU PLAYED THIS YEARS CORNERSTONE FESTIVAL, DID IT ALL GO WELL? HOW DID THE AUDIENCES REACT TO THE SONGS FROM THE NEW ALBUM? DID YOU GET A CHANCE TO SEE ANY OF THE OTHER PERFORMANCES, WHICH BANDS WERE YOU MOST IMPRESSED BY? It was a lot of fun - thanks for asking! This was our 5th Cornerstone and it's always a good opportunity, and this year, we were especially excited because we had just released our new record, Keep No Score. The audience was extremely kind and encouraging towards our new songs, thankfully! We had fun, as for bands we got to catch, Anathallo are great, The Myriad always plays well, a band called Edison Glass played great. We didn't get to catch a lot, but those bands played awesome.

KEEP NO SCORE WAS RELEASED LAST MONTH, HOW IS THE ALBUM DIFFERENT TO YOUR PREVIOUS RELEASE GHOSTS? HOW DO YOU FEEL YOU'VE PROGRESSED MUSICALLY? Well, we couldn't have had more fun making this new record, which resulted in, Ii believe, our most sincere and intimate record yet. Another big difference is that there's a lot of strings on this record, We decided early on that we wanted strings to play a large part of Keep No Score and they became more of a main instrument this time around. As for how we feel we've musically progressed, I think that we're just more comfortable than ever before, with our abilities to express what we're trying to express, musically and lyrically.

WHICH DO YOU FEEL ARE THE STAND OUT TRACKS ON THIS NEW RECORD? WHICH SONGS ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF? I'm not sure, but I guess at the moment, 'Dreamlife' and maybe 'Umbrellas', I don't know, it's cliche to say they're "all our children" and we can't choose, but it's true, I'm proud of each of them for different reasons.

SOME BANDS, WHEN WRITING NEW MATERIAL STEER CLEAR OF LISTENING TO ANY MUSIC TO ENSURE THEY PRODUCE A TRULY ORIGINAL AND UNIQUE RECORD, IS THIS SOMETHING YOU'VE PUT INTO PRACTISE? DO YOU CHANGE YOUR LISTENING PATTERNS WHEN YOU'RE WRITING NEW SONGS? That's a good question! Well, for the last year or so, i've been on this sort of musical diet [haha] I sort of got burned out of music in general and noticed that the only music that really resonates with me, tended to be older jazz singers, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, etc. So I haven't really been listening to much outside of music from around them. While we were recording, I think because of time in general, we didn't listen to anything, When we had a break, we wanted to hear quietness, But each of us are very conscious of what goes into our heads throughout recording and writing process.

IS WRITING SONGS A COLLECTIVE OR INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITY WITH SLEEPING AT LAST? I write the songs on my own and when I feel like the bone structure is there and ready, we all sit down and start shaping it and adding weight to it together. Sometimes i'll have a pretty clear idea as to what needs to be done for the song, and other times the foundation is there and we explore ways to built it up.

YOU HAVE AN OBVIOUS PASSION FOR YOUR FAITH, YET UNLIKE A LOT OF "CHRISTIAN-ROCK" ARTISTS YOU DONT SEEM TO FOCUS ON CHRISTIANITY IN ALL OF YOUR SONGS, WAS THIS A CONSCIOUS DECISION ON BEHALF OF THE BAND TO KEEP YOUR FAITH SEPERATE FROM YOUR MUSIC? From when we started we decided that we wanted to write about things that matter to us, an audio autobiography, [haha] and faith is a big part of our lives, so it naturally comes through in the songs, and that's what we've always strived for, to be honest and open about who we are, and to let that be displayed naturally in our music. We've always intended our music to be for anyone who cares to listen, whatever they believe in and whoever they are.

YOU'VE TOURED EXTENSIVELY WITHIN THE USA, HAVE YOU EVER VISITED EUROPEAN SHORES? IS THIS SOMETHING YOU PLAN ON DOING IN THE FUTURE? We cannot wait to tour in Europe and that is definitely a goal that we are so anxious to reach. We did have the wonderful opportunity to live in London for a month and a half, a few years ago during the mixing of our last record Ghosts, Alan Moulder mixed it and we were blessed enough to have our first visit to London. It was amazing and we can't wait to come back to Europe to explore, hopefully in the near future, as soon as we get the chance, we'll be jumping on it!

WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE SONG TO PERFORM LIVE? That changes all the time, but 'Envelopes' is currently lots of fun to play, but they're all fun to play.

THE MUSIC SCENE TODAY IS VERY PETTY, AND ARTISTS ARE LOVED AND LOATHED ON A REGULAR BASIS BY FANS AND AUDIENCES ALIKE, HOW THEN DO YOU GO ABOUT ACHIEVING LONGEVITY? It's very true, being in music [or entertainment in general] is so competitive and so petty, like you said, and it's easy to get caught up in all of that, but i think in the last few years we've been realizing that unless our music is personal and honest, it's not worth making. As long as we're enjoying what we're doing and believe in what we're putting out, we're really happy.

WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU'VE ACHIEVED AS A BAND? WHAT DO YOU STILL HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH? We're really blessed and thankful to be able to do this with our lives, we love it. We hope to continue to make music that means something to us for as long as we can, and we hope that somehow, whomever listens will be able to find hope and understanding in our songs.

They have beautiful, soaring, relaxing, sweeping melodies ...

Listen to them at www.myspace.com/sleepingatlast

The Riverclub INTERVIEW

I had the oppurtunity to interview The Riverclub recently, namely Alex aka Keys/Guitar guy, here's what he had to say ...

FOR THE UNINFORMED, COULD YOU PLEASE INTRODUCE THE RIVERCLUB? Hey, we are The Riverclub. My name is Alex and I play Guitar and Keys, Christian plays the Bass, Dan Q sings and plays Keys, Glen shreds the Guitar and Dan O keeps the beat with his hands and his feet.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE RIVERCLUB SOUND TO SOMEONE WHO HADNT HEARD YOU BEFORE? We sound like all your favourite CDs playing at the same time.

YOU HAVE QUITE AN EXTENSIVE TOUR OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND COMING UP, WITH ALLISTER, THE AQUABATS AND FAILSAFE. WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS TOUR? YOU'RE COVERING QUITE A BROAD AREA, HAVE YOU PLAYED ANY OF THESE CITIES/TOWNS BEFORE? I'm super excited about the tour, the venues are the best we've played and its a cool line up, hopefully it should be ace. We are close to the Failsafe boys so it should be cool to hang out. To be honest i don't really know what towns we are playing, i don't drive so i just get in the van and go to sleep.

WHAT CAN THE AUDIENCES LOOK FORWARD TO ON THE TOUR FROM YOU GUYS? HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE A TRC SHOW BOTH MUSICALLY AND VISUALLY? They should expect a fun show, we get told we are energetic but we just throw our shit around a lot. Its just an alcohol fueled fun packed set, we just try to give off a fun vibe so hopefully people get in to it. I think musically we might sound a bit harder live than on record. A lot of people say we sound bigger live than a lot of other bands.

HOW AND WHEN DID YOU SIGN TO BRAVESTAR? We signed about two years ago, Nav heard us on the net and snapped us up. Nav is the owner and a super nice guy - He's single too boys so dont be shy! Then we recorded a few demos and it went from there.

WHAT INFLUENCES YOU AS A BAND BOTH MUSICALLY AND NON-MUSICALLY? I can only really speak for myself on this one but for me the live show energy comes from my home town. I grew up in Canterbury which is full of hardcore bands so i would go see them kicking off and i guess that influenced me. Musically I grew up listening to the beatles from my mum and classical from my dad so I like a whole bunch of stuff, from hardcore to indie - just anything thats catchy.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH JASON PERRY ON YOUR DEBUT EP? HOW DID HE END UP WORKING AS PRODUCER ON THE RECORD? I am a huge fan of A so it was ace, they were one of my favourite bands when i was younger. He really brought out the best in us too, he did a lot of pre-production with us and we are still bearing all that in mind whilst writing the album. It came about from just asking him and he was free and liked the stuff. The whole experience was amazing.

WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS ON THE CURRENT MUSIC SCENE? WHICH BANDS/ARTISTS ARE YOUR CURRENT FAVOURITES? For me I'm a bit dubious about the scene, It seems quite competitive with people almost trying to play bands off against each other. But It means a lot of kids come out to shows and thats the best thing ever. I really like a lot of bands so I couldnt pick favourites but a good way to gauge the whole bands views from month to month is to look at our top 8 on myspace.

WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU'VE ACHIEVED SO FAR AS A BAND? AND WHAT DO YOU STILL HOPE TO ACHIEVE IN THE FUTURE? I think we achieved a lot, we recorded a CD with one of my heroes and it's out nationwide in every good shop. It's out in Japan too which is brilliant, and we play a lot of shows which is the best bit. I just hope everyone comes out to see us on tour and can give us their opinion on our new stuff. Then I hope we just get to play more and more shows to more and more people.

The Riverclub are currently booking dates for summer tour!

Keep an eye out for gigs in your area and listen to tracks at www.myspace.com/theriverclub

Dead Poetic INTERVIEW

I interviewed Brandon from Dead Poetic around the time Vices was set for a release, so a fair few months back now! It went a little something like this ...

FOR THE BENEFIT OF THOSE UNEDUCATED WHEN IT COMES TO DEAD POETIC COULD YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELVES: We are Dead Poetic - your new favorite band. Brandon sings, Zach plays guitar, Jesse Plays drums, John plays bass, and Dusty plays guitar.

HOW DID THE TOUR GO WITH THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH AND FAR-LESS? The tour was cool. Far-Less have been good friends of ours for a while, so we always get along real well with them. The tour was just what we needed, as far as playing some new material, and seeing how it translated live. We're playing quite a few new songs now, so it was a big relief when they flowed well live.

WHAT SORT OF RECEPTION DID THE NEW MATERIAL GET FROM THE CROWDS? Oddly enough, the new songs got a great reception from the crowds. I think there are something about these new songs that can stick in your head right away, and is much easier to grasp from the first listen. We've been getting great feedback about the new songs, and I think our old fans are excited to see that these new songs flow well with the old.

THE SUMMER DEATHRIDE TOUR BEGINS NEXT WEEK WITH SULLIVAN AND SHOWBREAD, HAVE YOU PLAYED WITH THESE BANDS BEFORE? IS THIS A HEADLINE TOUR FOR YOU? Yeah, we'll be headlining the tour. We've known Showbread for a long time, but have never done a proper tour with them. Both them and Sullivan have been touring their butts off, so we're expecting everyone on the tour to draw their fair share of kids. It should be a real good time.

YOU SEEMED TO MELLOW A LITTLE FROM FOUR WALL BLACKMAIL TO NEW MEDICINES, WITH NEW MEDICINES HAVING A MUCH MORE MELODIC TOUCH TO IT, AND FROM THE TASTERS IVE HEARD YOU SEEM TO HAVE GONE BACK TO PRODUCING MUCH HEAVIER MUSIC WITH VICES, WOULD THAT BE A FAIR ASSUMPTION? Yeah, the music is much more heavy than New Medicines. A lot of people don't understand that the new record can have no screaming, but be a heavier record than any we've done. Vices sort of takes the rawness that Four Wall Blackmail had, the melody that New Medicines had, and points our band in a whole new direction. I think we're finding our nuche more and more with each record.

WERE YOU EVER TEMPTED TO DELIVER SOMETHING TOTALLY OUT OF THE ORDINARY, SOME REALLY UNEXPECTED? As artists, I think we always want to be unpredictable. Not that we go out of our way to do the unexpected, but we're never hesitant about doing something we've never done. The type of band we are, I think we'll continue to switch it up, in order to keep ourselves satisfied with the music we're creating. Doing the same thing twice is lame and uninteresting, and for the artists themselves - usually proves to leave them with a lack of achievement.

WILL YOU BE TOURING CONSTANTLY UP UNTIL THE RELEASE OF VICES? We will be on the road as much as we can until the release. After the release, we'll be hitting the road even harder. We just want to be sure we're doing smart, worrthwhile tours. We want to strategically hit a broad range of demographics with this record. Therefore, we'll keep looking for interesting tours that will allow us to appeal to a fanbase we haven't hit yet, all while staying loyal to the existing fans that have been so loyal to us.

ARE YOU PLANNING ON VISITING EUROPE TO SUPPORT THE NEW ALBUM? Yes, definitely. We had a great time in Europe when touring New Medicines, and we cannot wait to get back. We have plenty of places on the globe that we want to hit.

HOW LONG DID YOU ACTUALLY SPEND IN THE STUDIO RECORDING VICES? HOW MUCH NEW MATERIAL HAD YOU WRITTEN? WAS IT DIFFICULT CHOOSING THE TRACKS FOR VICES? We spent a week in Sacramento, CA and then a month in Seattle, WA recording Vices. We went into the studio with about 11-12 songs written, with the intention of writing a few more. We ended up with 14 tracks on the new album, so choosing tracks for the record basically meant "Put all these songs on the record." We didn't really have any full songs that didn't make the record. There we're a couple demos songs that we opted to cut, but all in all, we put every song that we prepared onto the record.

DO YOU WRITE TOGETHER OR SEPERATLEY? Our writing style is a collaborative effort. These songs are all written by all five of us. It's definitely important to us to make sure every member of the band takes ownership in these songs, and gets to be satisfied with what they are doing with their respective parts. Many bands have a one writer that comes in and says, "Okay, this is the song, this is what you play..." We definitely are not that type of band. These songs are what naturally happens when our combination of guys write songs together.

DID YOU HAVE A LENGTHY BREAK BETWEEN TOURING IN SUPPORT OF NEW MEDICINES AND WRITING MATERIAL FOR VICES OR WAS IT CONSTANT WORK, WORK WORK? Writing for Vices began in April of 2005. We were still touring New Medicines that following summer, so writing and touring have overlapped a bit. During 2004, we met once a month to write songs. While all living in different parts of the country, it allows that one week each month to be an extremely productive one.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE SONG TO PERFORM LIVE? I would have to say 'Narcotic', one of the songs from the new record. There is something about that song that we all love, and we've been nailing it live. I really love playing a lot of these new songs, but the old ones are cool too. They're all a lot of fun, and I know that there's none that I really hate playing.

HOW DO YOU FEEL YOU'VE PROGRESSED MUSICALLY SINCE NEW MEDICINES? There have been alot of changes in the band since we wrote New Medicines. The biggest and most obvious change is bringing on three new members. The progression from New Medicines to Vices is huge, I think, and we are all a little more focused with the direction we want this band to go. There are no heavy creative differences with us now, and we are all on the same page musically with what we want to do. I think we all have a great deal of pride when hearing how well this new record turned out. We're much more mature musicians this time around. By that, I mean that we're all comfortable in what we're creating, and have honestly got to a point where we feel this will be our finest album, regardless of album sales. We did what we wanted to do, and know feel like we've created a record that is still going to be a solid rock album that we can listen to when we're 50, and still dig it.

VICES HAS A VERY DARK FEEL TO IT, COVERING SOME DEEP SUBJECTS, WERE ALL THE TRACKS BASED ON PERSONAL EXPERIENCES? All of our lyrics are extremely personal. But while being personal, they still may be a bit cryptic. This helps the listener to make that song wrk for them, and to mold the song in what they want it to mean. The album is simply honest, and maybe my reality is a little 'darker' than most, but this is just me being true to myself. If people interpret my honesty as dark, that's fine. But maybe truth is just a scary thing for most people.

NOW YOU HAVE A STURDY BACK CATALOGE OF RELEASES, WHICH ALBUM ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF? We're proud of what New Medicines did for us, and proud of the respect that it received. But, we will always be most proud of the newest thing we're working on. We're always trying to top ourselves, and we've always succeeded in that (so far). After a record has been out for a while, we starting thinking about what we wish we would have done, or where we want to go with the new one, etc. So I think after you get to do new things with an album, that becomes your favorite.

THE MUSIC SCENE TODAY IS VERY PETTY, BANDS ARE PICKED UP AND DROPPED BY FANS ON A REGULAR BASIS, HOW THEN DO YOU LOOK AT ACHIEVING LONGEVITY IN TODAYS MUSICAL CLIMATE? By staying true to ourselves. The kids buying records cannot dictate your career. Everyone has ADD - no one stays dedicated to a band like they used to. They download the new song, and they are through with you. All we can do as musicians is to constantly make music that we are proud of - so proud of that we can still love our music, even if it fails on a sale point of view. The minute you do a record that you know you only did to please people, is the minute that it stopped being art. It became something commercial that was created with a financial agenda. We just want to write good music, and stay satisfied with ourselves because we continue to write good music.

HAVE YOU HAD ANY CRAZY FAN EXPERIENCES? ANY WEIRD GIFTS? Yes, too many to recall. Fans say some whacked-out crap sometimes. We actually had a girl in Rochester, NY who said some of the most raw stuff I had ever heard a female say. She told me that based on watching me live, she knew exactly how I ... Well, yeah. We've heard some pretty crazy crap. None of the gifts have been too weird, none that I can remember anyway.

DID YOU EVER ENVISAGE BEING AS POPULAR AS YOU ARE TODAY WHEN YOU FIRST GOT TOGETHER, NOT ONLY IN THE USA BUT ALSO IN OTHER COUNTRIES? We want to be the biggest band in the world. So we feel very blessed that our name has spread so well. While we are very flattered and thankful for what's happened so far, we still have a long way to go before reaching our goal.

WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU'VE ACHIEVED SO FAR AS A BAND? WHAT DO YOU STILL HOPE TO ACHIEVE? I feel like with New Medicines, we wrote one of the best albums of an entire genre. While I hate Screamo, and everything it is, New Medicines stood out as being one of the most solid albums of that whole genre. We don't want to rewrite New Medicines, but instead, we want Vices to be part of the movement that weans these kids off the horrible music that's out now, and taking them back into a era of good, solid rock and roll. We hope Vices can be part of the spark that gets things good again.

'Vices' Is available through the usual outlets online NOW!

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