What happens when John (vocals), Kevin (guitar), Clair and Josh pile into an ATM on a rainy
September 15, 2002 at Skatefest? Something like this...
Josh: Do you think it’s a hinderance being from Jersey? Just with all of the bands that have come out of Jersey, even though you don’t sound like most of them.
Kevin: I think geography is fairly irrelovant. I think it’s to our advantage- we’re right inbetween New York City and Philadelphia. If where you’re from has an effect on your music or the way you play, I don’t see a hinderance. And we don’t really identify with a lot of the newer bands from there any way.
John: I don’t know any of them. We spend so much time on the road. We don’t play in our state anymore really. We’ve definitely seen the way a lot of older bands have had an influence over bands right now. But, then... poo poo pee pee, you know?
Kevin: Yeah, I agree.
Josh: Do you think it’s beneficial now to be a band too that doesn’t have the sort of high pitched poppy vocals?
Kevin: We don’t really care about what other bands are doing.
John: There’s a certain sound and style that can appeal to a certain strata of kids, you know. A lot of the bands doing that now, it’s hard to even respect them because bands like NOFX did that ten years ago. I have a hard time finding anything new or interesting in a band if they’re doing that. If something becomes some influenced by something else that it becomes a copy of it, it just becomes that. They’re going to change. In a couple of years it’ll be something different. Again, there’s always the issue that we’re musicians and we’ve been doing this for a while. And we’re doing what we want to do. We’re not saying it’s dictated by my physics really, as much as my sort of physical capabilities. I stopped sounding like Ian McKaye and Ray Cappa when I was a junior in high school. I started singing like myself, like the way I felt that I should sing, at that point, which a lot of people it takes them a little bit longer. They develop it after a while when their influences start to bore them. Some people latch onto those influences longer than others. When I started singing, I didn’t have that many influences. I had like, Pearl Jam and Minor Threat, stuff like that. They didn’t mix together too well. Then they kind of shut off and I was left with what I could do.
(someone comes in)
Josh: This is a private conversation!
(he doesn’t care)
Kevin: He’s getting money. He doesn’t care. Don’t you see his turtle shirt hanging out? We’re gonna ruin his night.
(he still doesn’t care)
Josh: I heard this rumor Doghouse is going bankrupt.
Kevin: I don’t know where they pulled that out of... It’s pretty much the opposite of that.
John: They just signed a cash cow band, basically.
Josh: The All-American Rejects.
Kevin: And they’re already signed to Dreamworks.
John: They have their college educations and all, so they know what they’re doing. They put some money in us and it’s starting to come back to them. They sign like, Japanese bands and stuff like that, but what no one realizes is while they go unnoticed here they’re selling huge in Japan. Same thing for the band from Sweden. What are they called?
Kevin: Manowar. They’re pretty smart Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
(yes, that kid is still in here)
John: They’re pretty smart with their money. They’re doing a great job.
Kevin: He said from day one he wouldn’t sign a band that he wasn’t behind. Any time you ask him... And you see a lot of labels with bands that they’re not really behind but that’s the thing and they know they’re gonna make money on them. Doghouse is just trying to do the best they can though and we can’t say anything bad about them.
John: Yeah. It’s a funny rumor though.
Kevin: I’m not really worried about it.
John: And if they did go bankrupt, we’d probably already have done our last record and been out of the contract anyway. It’s not something that will happen in a day. And I’m sure in the end he’ll be buying us all gold teeth.
Kevin: They’re for our bass player though.
Josh: They actually had a Doghouse table here- it was here all weekend- and on Friday I was looking at it and told them they should have had your CD out since you were playing and all, and they’re like, “Oh yeah, good idea” and put it out.
Kevin: Things you don’t tell the band because then they get angry, but thank you.
Josh: Do you guys ever envision yourselves doing something bigger than Doghouse in the future? I don’t know, I think you have a good radio quality.
Kevin: We don’t rule anything out. We take everything day by day. What’s important for us is we have a record out that we see ourselves pushing for a little while. Then we’ll see where that goes.
John: We’re just doing the best job that we can and in the end, of course, we’ve written some fantastic stuff. We just love writing songs and being able to play them for people, to just express ourselves. A lot of people go to bigger labels at the wrong time, as a band, and they suffer for it. So we just don’t want to do it at the wrong time. The best thing to do is just take it one day at a time and obviously we need to make the right decisions because we love doing music. It would really suck to fuck it up and end up raking leaves for a living.
Kevin: We wouldn’t even get a “where are they now” on a t.v. show. It’d be a “where were they then”.
Josh: So you actually have a song called Boxcutter. Do you think that a lot of music right now and just the world in general is- I don’t want to say fashion, but- image?
Kevin: Yes.
John: One of the guitarists in my old bands got this email interview and every question was just the opening for the most hysterical answer in the world. And I wrote this whole thing- the funniest thing I ever wrote in my life and the greatest interview ever. But I fucked it up somehow and it didn’t get to him, so Anthony my guitarist, he answered it. And his answers were just like “Yes” , “No”, “I don’t know what you mean”. Like peanut butter and jelly. But, we’re talking about fashion and when it comes to situations like this one today it becomes obvious that there’s a lot of people and this is their place to socialize. They’re not there for the music, the music is their background to their place to socialize. And to a lot of people, that’s what it is. And a lot of songs are just meant to be played in the background. To be a musician, it’s to come and play the music. In our lives, we don’t notice that because we’re fucking messes and we’re deep in our music. It’s really hard when you see people who don’t care when you’re really creating something new or trying at least. It’s the difference between putting this together the right way or making it sound like a band you used to like. At times, I’ll find it to be unnerving. What we take from other people with style and how it’s spread out with the haircut where the front’s combed down and the back’s puffed up... the neck tattoos... Just like, that’s that guy. And then this guy has the bandana and jeans rolled up. There’s the guy with the 12 o’clock shadow. Everyone just has these little faces and it feels strange because at one time it was about originality and being yourself, you know, but I feel originality comes from the things you do, not what you look like. Looking a certain way makes people feel like they’re doing something, I suppose, but it’s just a style. It’s the cool thing to do, to make yourself feeling like you’re doing something when it’s really just style. Everyone’s gonna fade away and do something else. Something like this, I mean, when I was younger it was more like a movement. We played music and shared ideas and... political thought... social thoughts. It was like a group of people that had fun and did things. And things have gotten much bigger in the sense that it has kind of come apart in quite a part. And it’s like the Warriors, where you have the gangs.
Kevin: Like the pop punk kids. The hardcore kids.
John: It feels cheapened.
Kevin: There are people who play this music and just that, and it shouldn’t really be made an issue but it is because certain people thrive upon it. The bottom line is, fuck all that, let’s hear your band. That’s what important. And if you’re not in a band be someone who’s contributing and not one of these paper thin people.
John: In the end, if these people are all so hard on the image and what it means, it really cheapens them more than it cheapens the music. It just makes them a superficial piece of shit and I find it hard to take them seriously. In the end the people of substance are going to rise above the rest. And there are a good majority of good people out there, people of substance. But you just don’t see them as much because they’re subdued because they don’t have that look.
the Official Break site
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