Riddlin' Kids

Riddlin' Kids Interview

Aug.1, 2001

by Cynthia Ruiz

This interview was conducted behind Bogart's in Cincinnati. Mark was missing in action. Everyone should check out riddlinkids.net.

Cynthia: What are your names and what do you play?

Clint: My name is Clint and I play guitar and sing.

Dustin: I'm Dustin, I play left-handed guitar and sing back-ups.

Dave: I'm Dave, I'm the drummer and I give everybody shit.

Cynthia: And there is just three of you guys?

Dave: There's four of us. Mark is missing in action. He's our bass player...and he's gay.

Cynthia: So how long have you guys been a band?

Clint : Roughly about three years, me and Dustin, we started the band like way back when under another name and then we changed the name and we went through some band members and we finally got Dave about two and a half years ago and then we got Mark a little over a year ago and now we're like the solid line up and now we're out to conquer the world.

Cynthia: And you guys are from Austin, TX?

Clint: Yeah.

Cynthia: How'd you come up with your band name?

Clint: We wanted to be a band that jumps around and goes crazy on stage and we thought what better then Ritilin Kids, you know like somebody who needs ritilin. Then we had to change the name because we didn't want to get sued. (lots of sarcasm here) So we're not talking about ritilin, the drug. We're talking about riddles. You know, we're just gonna make that clear. We're talking about riddles. We're not talking about the drug, even though we go crazy on stage and we can probably use some ritilin, we don't mean the drug at all. We're just talking about riddles. OK, I think I made my point.

Cynthia:What are some of your musical influences?

Dustin: Well definitely Goldfinger is an influence for me. And the Decendents and a lot of classic rock and stuff like that. I'm really into Rush also and stuff like that.

Dave: Metallica, Slayer....

Dustin: Yeah, everything from Slayer to Sinead O'Connor I guess.

Clint: REM, They Might Be Giants, Face to Face, The Misfits, Circle Jerks, NOFX, everybody that's badass. Wayne Newton and then some other things that are lame probably.

Cynthia: So what CD is in your CD player right now?

Dustin: Right now, I have the new Living End and I might have Midtown. And sitting in my CD player at home is this all girl band from Dallas called Same Day Service that's really awesome.

Cynthia: Cool. I like girl bands.

Dave: Elevator music.

Cynthia: Do you have an album out?

Clint: We have an EP that just came out that we're selling on the road. Its available at the shows or you can go to our website and there's a link to our record label's site, which is awarerecords.com.

Cynthia: What is your website?

Clint: Its riddlinkids.net. Or you can go to.com and it gives you a link to .net. We basically run the riddlinkids.net and our record label runs the .com.

Dave: We do have a finished record but its not gonna come out until late January or early Febuary of next year.

Cynthia: Crap, I don't have a weird question to ask. I already used all my weird questions on the other bands I interviewed.

Dustin: What would be a weird question that you asked another band?

Cynthia: Well, I asked Reel Big Fish....You know the M&M commercials.....& "What is it about the green ones?".......Do you like green M&M's?

Clint: Yeah, I love green M&M's.

Dustin: I only like brown M&M's.

Cynthia: Is it because she's a girl and she gets naked on TV?

Clint: No, its just because I like green M&M's.

Dave: We have a green van.

Clint: I'm wearing green shorts right now.

Dave: Dustin has green teeth.

Dustin: I don't like M&M's. I'm more of a Skittles guy.

Cynthia: Do you like green Skittles?

Dustin: No, I like M&M's actually. I was lying.

Cynthia: The guy from RBF went nuts when I asked this question.

Clint: He went nuts, so he likes peanut M&M's right?

Cynthia: He was like "It is a M&M. It doesn't have a vagina". He hates the green M&M's. He said it's not a real person because she doesn't have a vagina.

Clint: When I was in junior high, me and all my friends that sat at the nerd table, we all would buy a bag of M&M's every day...

Cynthia: You sat at the nerd table?

Clint: Yeah, well not the super nerd table, just the semi-nerd table.

Cynthia: Oh, in the middle?

Clint: We liked Dungeons and Dragons...

Cynthia: Oh yeah, thats nerdy.

(laughter)

Clint: I quit the band. But umm...we would all pour our M&M's on the table and everybody had a color and my color was green. I got all the green M&M's and the guy that got brown and red, he always got screwed. He never had as many M &M's for some reason. But there was always a shitload of green ones so I always liked that.

Cynthia: Yeah, I know there's always been a lot of green ones.

Dustin: What's another weird question you could ask us?

Cynthia: I have no idea. Well I asked Home Grown what is the craziest thing they would do for a free Yoohoo.

Dave: A free what?

Cynthia: See, no one seems to know what Yoohoo is. I drink it like every day.

Dustin: I love Yoohoo.

Dave: Look at this. (while pointing to the Yoohoo sticker on their van)

Cynthia: Oh! You know what it is! Home Grown did not know what Yoohoo was. And then they realized what it was and were like....one of them was like "I'm lactose intolerant" and "I hate Yoohoo" so that question didn't go too good with them.

Dustin:Yoohoo's made with water, not milk.

Dave:Yeah Home Grown!

Clint: I drank one the other day. I thought a Yahoo was a weird sex thing like a Dirty Sanchez or a Hot Carl.

Cynthia: Yeah, thats what people think.

Clint: That'd be like scratching your nuts and wiping it on somebody's face. Thats a Yahoo from now on.

Dave: Yoohoo.

Cynthia: Yahoo.

Dave: Yoohoo.

Clint: Yahoo.

Dustin: A Yahoo is when you go in the liquor store and run out with a case of beer.

Clint: Yeah, or when you win the lottery and you're like "Yoohoo!"

(laughter)

Cynthia: OK, were you done with your nerd table story?

Clint: Yeah, that was it. You said green M&M's and I was like yeah, I know a lot about green M&M's.

Dave: Such a propelling story...anti-climatic.

Cynthia: Oh, OK. What is your favorite city to play shows in? Is this your first tour? How long have you been touring?

Clint: This is actually only our first date.

Dustin: Minneapolis is our favorite.

Clint: Minneapolis is our favorite. We hope you don't tell the locals. We don't want to get stoned or anything like that. Stoned, I don't mean marijuana, I mean rocks.

Dave:We like every town but we kinda get the same reaction because we're new and nobody knows who we are or how to react, but then after its over, everybody's really receptive.

Clint: For some reason, in Minneapolis though, the kids went off. We thought they knew who we were and owned our CD. They just like went off. It was pretty cool.

Dave: I thought we were Goldfinger for a minute.

Clint: Yeah, for five minutes, we thought we were as cool as Goldfinger.

Dustin: Then I looked down and realized I can't play guitar all that great and I knew I was Dustin.

Clint: And then we saw Goldfinger and then we knew why we weren't Goldfinger and they're Goldfinger. We're just the Riddlin' Kids.

Cynthia: But you're touring with Goldfinger and thats good.

Clint: Yeah.

Dustin: God bless them for letting us.

Dave: Until August 12th. It ends in Los Angeles.

Cynthia: Weren't you guys supposed to play here with Zebrahead?

Clint: Yeah, we went into the studio to record.

Dustin: We absolutely love Zebrahead.

Cynthia: Oh, the band that opened for them sucked so bad so I wish you guys would've played instead.

Dustin: Yeah, we definitely wanna throw props to Zebrahead. They were so cool to us.

Clint: I'm wearing their shirt now.

Dustin: Definitely favorite band ever.

Dave: Personally, they're nice guys but Justin's gay.

Cynthia: I've seen them a couple times. I like them, but they're really sexist and I don't like that.

Dustin: Yeah, they do objectify women. We don't have too much of that going on.

Cynthia: The first time I saw them, it wasn't that bad because they had a guy girl up there and they did the strip tease thing. This time they just had a girl flash her boobs for a shirt. And then they were talking shit about Blink-182. If I wanted to see tits, I would go see Blink-182. OK, well I'm about to run out of tape in a few minutes but umm....What are some ways you make touring fun?

Dave: We eat Taco Bell and roll up the windows and see how far we can drive.

Dustin: Basically a lot of dick and fart jokes. We're really immature.

Dave: There's a lot of farting.

Clint: Dave usually wins, but today, I won the whole tour so far.

Dave I had to open every window in the van and stick my head out the window while I was driving. It might look cute, but it's really dangerous.

Dustin: What we do is make fun of people. When we're downtown and somebody's walking by, we do madlibs, we say what they're supposed to be saying. Like if somebody's driving by in a car, we try to make up a story for them.

Dave: We also get drunk and tear up restaurants. I got drunk in Minneapolis and tore up a restaurant.

Clint: He got mad because the bartender was like "Here. Try this, try this" and then she charged him for whole bunch of beers. And he had given her a band shirt and she was like giving him all this beer. Well, she wasn't giving it to him, she was charging him for it and didn't tell him. And so he got mad and raked the bar off with his hand and then went outside and grabbed a flower pot and threw it in the street. And then we went to the hotel.

Dustin: Dave kinda blacked out from all he drank. He was operating off like three hours of sleep.

Dave: I drank like twenty-five beers.

Dustin: Yeah, drank like twenty-five beers and didn't eat anything so he was like fucking on the moon.

Dave: Then I went swimming and got kicked out of there.

Clint: So the moral of the story is I worked at K-mart when I was 18 and it really sucked. That's what Dustin says.

Dustin: Yeah, that's my story.

Clint: I washed dishes for 6 years.

Dustin: We delivered pizza for like six years, Clint and Dustin did that.

Dave: Mark our bass player has never had a job in his life, for the record.

Dustin: Wrong. He worked at Domino's for two days.

Dave: And he worked at Hot Topic for about 35 minutes.

Dustin: And he worked at a pizza place for about 8 hours. We've all been pizza guys basically.

Clint: And we don't get rowdy and destroy bars all the time. Its only when they don't tell us and charge us for a bunch of beer.

Cynthia: Yeah, that's rude.

Clint: We're pretty nice to people. That's like giving you a T-shirt or a CD and then taking money out of your pocket.

Cynthia: Do you guys do any cover songs?

Clint: Yes we do "The End of the World" by REM.

Dave: We used to do a Nirvana song too, "Territorial Pissings". We haven't played that in a while though.

Cynthia: Would you guys ever do an N'Sync song?

Dave: Sure if you gave me enough money.

Dustin: Yeah, if you paid us before and after.

Dave: I'd do it anyway. I'd do it naked.

Dustin: We'd do Britney Spears. Its not because I think she's attractive because I think she's not.

Dave: I would cover it. It would be better than most covers. Anybody can cover like a Bad Religion song, but who can cover a Britney Spears song?

Dustin: I want to cover the Descendents so bad.

Dave: Yeah, but they're so good with their instruments that we can't figure out the music. Its too hard.

Cynthia: What do you guys do as hobbies?

Dave: Masturbating.

Dustin: Violently.

Dave: I travel.

Cynthia: To where?

Dave: Europe, Czech Republic. Kick back, drink beer.

Clint: I don't know. I never had a hobby. I just used to work all the time. Now I ride bikes a little bit. I got a BMX cruiser.

Dustin: We like to cliff-dive a little bit. We go to the lake and cliff-dive. Pretty much we're just musical dorks. We play as much as we possibly can. We don't know anything else. Its the only point of reference we have to relate to anybody.

Clint:For the last four or five years, at least for me I know, I haven't had any kind of life except for working full time and when I didn't work, I was doing band stuff. If I wasn't working, it was because there was a show or practice or something. Before work, if there was time, we'd practice or make phone calls to try and promote the band. Since the band started, I haven't had a hobby. The band's been my hobby. Now its our job, but its not like a job. Its like we got away with something. We're out doing what we would do anyway even if we were working and now we're sitting backstage and hanging out with cute girls and watching the best live bands ever play and its like awesome. So we ride in our van and make fart jokes and talk about each other's moms and laugh at people that look dumb on the street and its cool.

Dave:There's really not much else to do when you're driving like 22 hours.

Dustin: Except forget things and then drive back for it.

Dave: We get stupid little toys and play with them at the gas station.

Dustin: We like to watch a lot of movies.

Clint: I saw Blink-182 on MTV and they were like "Yeah, its the greatest job in the world. I hang out with my friends and I get paid for it." Its true. To be in a band and not have to worry about your bills and be touring and get away with doing that. Its fucking cool. Because you go around traveling meeting cool kids everywhere and you just hang out.

Cynthia: Yeah, thats the same with me. What I'm doing now, I want to get paid for.

Clint: Yeah, totally.

Dave: You can.

Cynthia: I'm working on it.

Dave: You've seen "Almost Famous" haven't you?

Cynthia: No.

Dave: Its about a kid who becomes a journalist and gets on the road with a rock band.

Dustin: Its a true story too. You need to see that movie.

Clint: That goes for anything you want to do. Acting, be in a band, writing, whatever. If you decide you want to do it, and do nothing but bust ass on it, you will eventually do it. You just gotta keep trying and get good at it.

Cynthia: What would you guys be doing if you weren't in the band?

Clint: If I weren't in this band, I would be starting another band.

Cynthia: You can't see yourself doing anything not music related?

Dave: I would be looking for a nice shotgun.

Dustin: Yeah, theres nothing else. Theres nothing else but music. Maybe stand-up comedy but they would throw stuff at me. I'm not funny, I wouldn't have any marketable skill.

Clint: Maybe traveling but I'd get bored with that eventually. I don't think anything besides music. Anything else would suck. Maybe not being in a band but discovering new music or writing music for other people.

Dave: I think doing what you're doing would be fun.

Clint: Yeah, doing what you're doing would be really cool, but actually performing for a bunch of kids that love and they don't know you and making them love you. After you play a show and you got kids coming up to you telling you that you're the greatest, thats fucking really cool. And I don't think anybody's said we're the greatest, but kids giving us bracelets and giving us shit, that's cool.

Dave: If somebody wants you to sign something, that's really cool.

Cynthia: So you haven't gotten to the point where you're tired of that?

Clint: No.

Dustin: I hope I never get tired of it.

Dave: Me too. If you get tired of it, its time for you to quit.

Cynthia: Thats cool because a lot of bands don't do autographs or think its stupid or whatever.

Dustin: I think its terrible to get tired of that. If you're not gracious to the people that are putting food on your table, which are the people that buy tickets and buy CD's and stuff, you have pretty much lost sight of what you are doing in the first place.

Clint: That just means you're doing it because its your job.

Cynthia: Its the rock and roll syndrome. Don't get it.

Clint: It becomes your job to go up there and play. If you're not trying to get kids to like your band and like your music and meet kids, then its a job.

Cynthia: Closing comments? Any bands you want to plug?

Clint: Theres a good band called Cruiserweight from Austin. Anybody who doesn't know who Midtown is should do themselves a favor and go to the record story and buy a Midtown record because they rule. And Zebrahead rules. And Mark isn't here to say anything, so I'll just speak for him and say uh....I don't know what to say.

Dave: That's probably what he would say.

Dustin: Check out cruiserweight.com and check out rubberhed.com, really good Texas bands to check out. dynamiteboy.com. I guess I just hope we never get the rock and roll syndrome and we just keep rocking and everything works out cool.

Dave: They pretty much said everything but Zepplin rules.

Dustin: And I have worms.

Clint: So the moral of the story is I worked at K-mart when I was 18 and it really sucked.

Extra added bonus tidbit from Clint: We don't wreck dressing rooms. We clean the dressing room. Actually Dustin does most of the cleaning. Instead of wrecking the dressing room....thats been done. Everybody trashes their dressing room. We clean it immaculately and leave a loving note. That's how we leave our mark. Then next time we come back, they'll give us more stuff. And the cops won't shoot us. If we're the sweet guys that leave loving notes and clean our dressing room immaculately, they'll treat us like kings when we come back. Even though we're magots and we don't deserve any special treatment, they'll treat us like super nice guys. Because we are. We're wonderful.

Riddlin' Kids
Aware Records
NCA