A Brokenstar Interview With Piebald
June 21, 2002 roughly 9pm central time
At Five Points Music Hall in Birmingham, Alabama
By Nicole Wright and Stephanie Nance, assisted by Joe Brown


click for more pictures

Nicole: State your name and claim to fame
Andrew: Claim to fame...I'm Andrew and...I play bass in Piebald!
Travis: I'm Travis and I play guitar...in this band
Andrew: What else do you do, f***er?
Travis: F***er?
Aaron: You'd think you do something else...
Travis: What do I do?
Andrew: You sing.
Travis: Oh yeah!
Aaron: That's important, right? My name is Aaron, and I play the gutter. The A**hole Inducer.

Nicole: For people who haven't experienced the Piebald before, how would you describe yourselves in five words or less?
Andrew: Handsome. Very, very good-looking? Is that five?
Steph: I think "good-looking" is hyphenated...you have one extra word.
Aaron: Handsome. Very, very good-looking...Yes.

Nicole: What about musically?
Andrew: Uh...uh...I don't know what you're talking about.
Travis: Yeah, it's just a fashion show.
Aaron: It's about me and my f***in' tight pants. And my new shoes...CLARKS!
Travis: We're goin upstairs.

[at the top of the stairs]
Aaron: Andrew, look at my a**. Is there something yellow on it?
Andrew: Yeah dude
Aaron [to us]: Don't slide down the railing! You'll get a yellow stripe on your a**.
Steph: I'll remember that... [sits on a huge blue stool] Oooh, snazzy!
Travis: You never sat on one of those before?
...meanwhile...
Andrew: You want a beer, chere?
Nicole: No thanks...
Travis: Allright -- bring it on!

Steph: I know this may be a touchy subject, but what's the deal with the bus? Have you located it?
Andrew: Oh it's dead. We came to grips with it.
Aaron: [sings] "We left it in a Carolina. Wenk Wenk"
Travis: Wenk Wenk!
Aaron: Wenk Wenk.
Steph: Wenk Wenk? Haha how do you spell that?
Aaron: Ya know, "We left it in a Carolina. Wenk Wenk."

Steph: So how do you get around these days?
Travis: We have a neeew van.
Nicole: No tour bus?
Andrew: It's a double tour bus! Twice as long as a regular tour bus...
Luke [looking up from his drumming]: A private plane?
Andrew: ...It's a limo bus.
Travis: You know the bus from the Spice Girls movie? We got that.
Andrew: I saw them live!
Aaron: It's a double-decker.
Nicole: We dressed up for that.
Steph: No that was Austin Powers!
Nicole: You looked like a hooker.
Steph: uhhh
Travis: Nah nah it's okay. They were HOT.

Nicole: Haha...Allright okay. So what's you guys' favorite place to play?
Andrew: The stage.
Nicole: Any particular...
Andrew: Oh any particular stage? Birmingham, Alabama!
Travis: Boston--Chain Reaction.
Aaron: Orange County, Cali-for-ni-A. Boston, Mass. I like to play...everywhere.
Nicole: What about New York? We know a guy who lives there who's convinced that Alabama sucks, and he lives in Niagara.
Aaron: He's hating on Alabama? You just can't do that!
Travis: Hater.

Steph: So, do y'all play a lot of video games?
Travis (pointing at Andrew): He does!
Andrew: I do!
Steph: If you were any video game character, which would you be and why?
Aaron: Super Mario. Because he's a fat Italian.
Travis: Huh huh. Fat Italian.
Aaron: He eats a lot of pizza.
[Andrew provides the theme music]
Travis: You should be Frogger.
Andrew: Yep. I'd be the frog.
Steph: I'd be Astaroth from Soul Caliber. The big scary, dead guy with the huge axe.
Andrew: Astaroth? Yeah that's good! I'd be Nightmare. I'd kick your a**.
Steph: Is that a challenge?
Luke [pauses in the middle of a phat beat]: I'd be the dude from Grand Theft Auto with the leather jacket and cargo pants. He drives fast, cool cars and gets whatever he wants.
Aaron: This is Luke by the way. [greetings all around]

Nicole: So you guys live in Boston when you're not on tour, right?
Andrew: Yep...
Aaron: NO! I don't.
Luke: I live in St. Augustine, Florida.
Aaron: And I live in Jacksonville.
Travis: They just decided that this morning.
Luke: I actually decided like two days ago. That I live in St. Augustine, Florida. I've never been there, but that's where I live.
Steph: That's the oldest settlement in America! It was on Ben Stein today.
Travis: Yes it is!
Andrew [appreciatively]: That was on today? Wow!
Aaron: It's like an oasis of cool stuff. You get off the plane and you're like, "YES."
Luke: Do they have Taco Bell?
Aaron: Yep.
Luke: Cool. We're all set.
Aaron: Taco Bell, McDonald's, Burger King...
Travis [to Joe Brown, holding the tape recorder]: How're you doing with that?
Joe: I'm doing okay.
[general laughter]

Nicole: What do you guys have on your walls?
Aaron: I don't have walls... I don't have a room.
Andrew: Wanna know what we have on the walls of our van?
Aaron: A picture of our old drummer and his fiancée.
Nicole: [singing] "Jon got married to Laura!"
Aaron: Actually, it's our other old drummer and his other fiancée.
Travis: Burn marks from the incense.
Andrew: A Recover pin. Tapestries...tie-dye.
Travis: Al...Al and Sarah.
Andrew: We should have a wall of pictures of old drummers and their fiancées.
Aaron: Yeah it'd go all around.
Travis: We should change the lyrics to [begins singing] "Alex took over for Brian from Saves the Day."
Andrew: True.
Luke: True.
Aaron: That's clever.

Steph: At Brokenstar.com we have this thing that the staff members do called the Stereo. We list four or five bands that we're listening to at the time. What would be on your Stereo?
Travis: Four or five bands? Or four or five CD's?
Steph and Nicole: Either.
Travis: Okay I'll go with CD's.
Rolling Stones "Exile on Main Street"
Muddy Waters "Folk Singer"
The Byrds "5D"
Andrew W.K. "I Get Wet"
[There were two more, but they were indecipherable]

Nicole: Okay this is a really random question, and it's mostly for our personal knowledge, but when I say the word "trifle," what does it mean to you?
Travis: Chocolate!
Aaron: I think of like...a whole lot of stuff.
Steph: How would you use it in a sentence?
Aaron: "I have a trifle of guitars." Well I don't, but I want one.
Andrew: Isn't it a dessert that involves layers?
Travis: That's a truffle!
Steph: No I know what you're talking about. I've had one! It's got kiwi in it.
Travis: But there is such thing as a chocolate trifle. My mom's made one before.
Aaron: MAN that stuff rules!
Travis: It's got chocolate cake, whipped cream, then chocolate cake cut up, and chocolate pudding with Heath bars crunched up and put up there, then another layer of chocolate cake cut up. OH MAN! I wish my mom would make some and send it to me in Alabama. [we're all slobbering at this point]

Steph: Y'all have been together since high school, right?
Travis: Y'all??
Steph: I'm sorry!
Aaron: You're from Alabama! We totally understand!
Travis: Yeah. Totally acceptable.
Steph: Haha okay I'll start over. You guys have been together since high school, so I'm sure you know each other pretty well. What are some little idiosyncrasies and quirks that get on your nerves about the other guys?
Travis: Aaron gets really angry sometimes. Wanna show them how you get really angry?
Aaron: RAAAAAAUUUGHH! SO F***ING ANGRY! [everybody laughs]
Nicole [reading Aaron's shirt]: "Just because I'm moody, doesn't mean you're not irritating." Haha
Aaron [seriously]: No, that's a joke.
Nicole [baffled]: Oh.
Travis: We all have little things I'm sure. Sometimes.
Aaron: But we don't talk about them to other people though.
Travis: It's none of yo business. Pshaw
Andrew: Travis wears glasses. I hate them. They make him look like Buddy Holly. Or Rivers Cuomo.
Aaron: I have this problem where I get really stressed sometimes and it annoys my friends. See, I said something about myself, now you go. What's your problem?
Andrew: Uh I get really stressed sometimes and it annoys my friends. And Travis doesn't talk about his problems and pretends that everything's fine and it annoys his friends.
Travis [to Luke]: What's your problem, personally?
Aaron [mockingly]: "I'm waaay too handsome! It's very good to hang out with the ordinary people!" [everybody laughs]
Luke [same voice]: Sometimes my cuticles don't grow the way they're supposed to... [everybody laughs...again]

Steph: Do you ever get nervous before shows? If you do, what do you do to relax?
Aaron: I get really angry and go GRRRRR.
Travis: He did it today. He got really angry before the show. I was like, "Aaron, are you really angry?" And he was like, "GRRRR-No, not really." We don't really get nervous anymore. There was a time when that happened...
Aaron: We might get really antsy and anxious to go on, because we want to do it. Because we're all secure in our abilities...Even though I shouldn't be. I played like an a**hole.
Andrew: "I played like an a**hole..." That's weird! I've never seen an a**hole play guitar before. Sounds cool.
Travis: Next question!

Nicole: Okay. You have 30 seconds. Inspire me.
[Andrew offers his Corona]
Aaron: Look at the cracks on the sidewalk, man! Grass green, man!
Travis: Grass is green.
Aaron: Blue skies, brother!
Andrew: Travis-catch phrase.
Aaron: Diggity-diggity do.
Travis: Do.
Aaron: What.
Travis: What.
Both: ...Makes you feel good!
Travis: Do what makes you feel good.
Luke: Words to live by.

Steph: Well that's it.
Aaron: That's it? I want to keep doing it! I'm really into it right now! I know there are questions on there that you didn't ask.

Nicole [loudly]: Okay if you were a type of candy, what would you be? Stephanie didn't like this question...
Andrew: Sour Patch Kid.
Travis: I think I'd be a peanut M & M. Just one though.
Luke: What about caramel M & M's?
Travis: Caramel M & M's kick. Butt.
Andrew: Almond M & M's. All M & M's are good.
Travis: I like the M & M's with things in the middle. Not just the plain chocolate.
Andrew [stops to listen to Glassjaw]: I love this song!
Travis: It's a good song. Glassjaw is inspiring.

Steph: Where are you going tomorrow?
Travis: Ar-Kansas!
Aaron: I thought we were in Little Rock tonight. All day I thought that...
Travis: No that's why she said Alabama, and I said Birmingham onstage.
Andrew [to Aaron]: That's why you drove to Birmingham.
Aaron: Huhuhuh
Andrew: Way to go, buddy.

Nicole: Do you mind if we take some pictures?
Travis: No!
Andrew: Yes.
Steph: Huh?

THE END

left to right: nicole, andrew, stephanie, travis, aaron, and luke

Special thanks to Aaron at Big Wheel, Jen at Black and White PR, and Ryan, the super cool tour manager, for making this possible.