ROCK N ROLL EXPERIENCE - T.S.I. Interview!

The beauty of being in the music business is discovering new talent, discovering an artist that few people know of around the world & breaking them! I was the first person outside of the Seattle area to interview all 4 members of Candlebox & do a feature on the band way back before their debut release had even came out!

I’d like to think I have an acute ear for bands that have potential; bands that have that certain something; bands that catch my attention & as a fan of music, bands that make me excited. T.S.I. is a New York based rock n roll monster & they have a brand new cd out that’s straighy up hard rock with balls!

This is the very first interview ANYONE has done with the band, I believe that T.S.I. are a kick ass band, they deserve your attention, the bands sound is gritty, gutter drenched guitar rock & T.S.I. are a band that deserves a break....the best way I can describe T.S.I. is like this: As a young kid, I remember when “Appetite For Destruction” by Guns N Roses came out...that record changed everything when it came out, the band was raw, raunchy, intense & T.S.I. have that same sorta energy, that same attitude & vibe, & if you listen to the current top rock bands out there, there’s no other band out there that are doing what T.S.I. are doing right now...T.S.I. are the real deal, therefore, I think they deserve your attention & it’s why I chose to do a feature on them. Here’s what Geoff, the bands singer had to say:

Rock N Roll Experience: How long has TSI been a band?

Geoff: There have been performances under the name TSI since 2004, but I consider the real start of the band once Migz joined in 2006. That was the first time we had a lineup and a direction that I was completely cool with artistically.

Rock N Roll Experience: Is TSI planning on touring any time soon?

Geoff: God willing. We need to get some more people to buy our records and come to our shows at home first.

Rock N Roll Experience: Essentially the recording of the new cd was done as a 2 man band, is that correct?

Geoff: Well, during the pre-recording process, the band kind of fell apart and Migz and I decided to not even waste our time trying to put a new lineup together until the record was finished. We paid Texas to play drums as a session musician and hired a great bass player named Fernando Rosario. Migz did all the guitars and I did all the vocals, synths and stuff. We also hired piano player Scott Treibitz for 2 songs, and a "junkyard percussionist" whose parts we ended up scrapping.

Rock N Roll Experience: Is there a permanent line up of the band currently or are you adding musicians as needed?

Geoff: Let's put it this way: After the struggles and everything we've been through with other players and all the work that has been done up to this point, Migz and I feel comfortable and justified in putting ourselves in the forefront. We have always wanted a real band in the old romantic sense of a band of 5 equal brothers, but things just haven't worked out that way for us in the past. You see so many other bands like The Cult, Nine Inch Nails, etc, where it is a band, but the band is really one or two people and whoever ends up being on stage or in the studio with them at the time. That seems to work fine for their fans, and the rule seems to be that so long as you present the band that way from the get go, people are cool with it. If you have a band with 5 guys who are always presented as equals in terms of the band's identity, and then 4 of them disappear (say Guns N' Roses) the public seems less accepting. So right now, yes we do have a real band. That band is myself, Migz, Texas Clamp (our drummer and bandmate for several years now), Kelsey Warren on bass, and Henry Glavin on rhythm guitar. They are all real bandmates, but Migz and I are the only ones with the power, right now, to break the band up - if that makes sense.

Rock N Roll Experience: When I listen to your music I hear elements of Queens of the Stoneage, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Kyuss & there's even a touch of hip hop influence...are those bands some of your influences?

Geoff: The only one of those who is a really strong influence for me is AC/DC. They are one of my favorite bands and I've taken a lot of cues from them in terms of what I push for in this band for sounds, in song arrangements, and in our performances. I listened to a little Black Sabbath, but they weren't a huge band for me. My favorite song was "Paranoid" - I like faster, more driving stuff. The slow and excessively long doom and gloom shit never really appealed to me much. I mean, I've heard most of it at least once, but I wasn't listening to it all the time. Queens of The Stonage - I had "Songs For The Deaf" - never really got into them that much either although there was one song that really grabbed me and has left a less than subtle influence on our album. Kyuss- I've never heard of - I'll check them out right after this. I do listen to hip hop but mostly older stuff - early 80's to early 90's. I liked it when the beats and tone were more aggressive, angry and rocking rather than the "chillin' by the pool or cruizin in my '64 with my bitches and money" kind of hip hop. I liked Public Enemy, NWA, Ice T, Run DMC, and Cypress Hill. We appreciate a good funky groove and will try to incorporate that as much as possible, but I'm hesitant to stray too far toward anything that sounds like rap-rock because I find most of what's been done in that genre so far - completely embarrassing and I don't want to be even remotely associated with it.

Rock N Roll Experience: Vocally, is it hard to sing the way you sing?

Geoff - Well it is physically very demanding if that's what you mean. If the question is, have I mastered some challenging and rare skill - the answer is clearly no. My approach vocally, has been to give one hundred and ten percent of the guts, passion and energy that I can (or at least make it sound as if I am). The hardest, wildest sound I can possibly come up with. Guts, emotion, and character - not technique or a great "set of pipes" is what always impressed me. Springsteen, Bon Scott, Brian Johnson, Wilson Pickett, (Illusion era) Axl Rose, John Fogherty,Trent Resnor, Kurt Cobain, latter day Mike Ness, early John Lydon, Billy Idol, etc. I really prefer the voices to be rougher and have some problems because to me it seems more real and urgent then some guy who works day and night to perfect his "wailing". Bruce Dickenson, Ronnie James Dio - I never gave a shit about singing like that. I also obviously have a weakness for the high pitched raspy thing. I do vocal training to improve my pitch, strength and endurance, but I'm not going for being a polished slick singer in the traditional sense. Over the years I have gotten better at staying on pitch and producing a better sound more easily, but the idea has always been to sound out of control - like I'm raging with everything I've got. My natural voice - the voice that is completely effortless, doesn't really have much range, and really suited more to Sinatra style crooning. The short answer is - Pavarotti's singing is technically difficult - mine is just hard physical exertion and it hurts a little bit.

Rock N Roll Experience: Lyrically, there's a lot of anger & aggression in the songs, are you an angry person?

Geoff: Yes and no. Definitely not aggressive. I am a very easily agitated, judgmental person. Nearly everyone, and everything annoys me. While I can be negative and complain too much, mainly in the privacy of my own home and with those who are closest to me, I'm not out trying to yell and scream or fight with people all the time. I've heard of other people who are in angry bands and how surprised their fans are when the meet them - at how friendly and mild mannered they are. I would hope that is the case with me. I've been an asshole at times, particularly when I was younger, and I've bared the brunt of others' asshole behavior more than I would like as well. I have pent up tension, for past offenses by others that I never checked. I have a lot of frustration with my life and the fact that I'm not where I wanted to be at this point. I have a lot of excessive guilt for my own misbehavior toward others. I have a lot of contempt for the stupidity and evil going on in the world around me.

That's where the music comes in. The reason for me making music, so far, has always been as a way to vent my frustration and anger at myself and the rest of the world in a semi-socially acceptable, and almost cathartic and healthy way. I don't want to fight with people. I don't want to be an angry individual. I try to wrap up that entire side of my personality and save it for musical expression as much as possible. I can't tell you how good it feels to get up and throw an absolute psychotic temper tantrum in front a room full of people - without being arrested or turning them away. That's what a TSI show is for me. It feels good not only because I am saying what I want to say, exactly the way I want to say it - but I'm also just physically letting so much out - screaming my head off about my problems for an hour straight. That's some seriously good fucking therapy. After a good show, I'm happy and as easygoing as Ghandi for 2 or 3 days.

Now, being in the band in general is very stressful, and there is a lot of disappointment and conflict involved - particularly right now when we are still struggling so hard just to be noticed. I couldn't say right now whether the band, and choosing to operate in an environment based on negative energy, is making me an angrier or happier person overall. When it works, the highs are so high - that's why you do it, but it grinds on you.

Rock N Roll Experience: What is your stance on drug use...there's a reference or 2 to drug use in your music & I was just curious if you condone drug use.

Geoff: Ahh - there's the question. This is the one I feel is the most important whenever someone asks it.

I personally am pretty liberal with my views on drug use - and we should call alcohol a drug because it is. My view is that the purpose of recreational drug use is to have fun. If you're doing it because you really enjoy it then more power to you. If you are drinking or taking drugs because you are trying to escape something that you aren't strong enough to deal with, because your are trying to fit in with some societal expectation, you are physically addicted, and/or it is no loner fun and is causing more problems for your life than the benefits it brings - then I am 100% against drug or alcohol use in those cases.

The primary message or theme behind most of what TSI stands for is "Think for yourself". Bad things happen when we unquestioningly accept the choices of others. Don't let society tell you that all drugs and alcohol are completely evil and that you should be ashamed for using them. At the same time, don't ruin your life trying to be a hard-partying jackass because another element of society tried to tell you how cool it was. I have been in danger at times of falling into the latter problem.

I spent my childhood in the 80's as a hard rock fan. The cliché', retarded, bullshit image of "Sex, Drugs,N', Rock N' Roll" was being pushed harder then, than perhaps any other time in pop history. That pop cultural image of what is cool and fun and successful, is very impressionable to a young man of 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 - which is when I really started getting into that music. At 12 I was smoking pot because I liked Cypress Hill. At 13, we were getting throwing-up-wasted on any alcohol we could steal, smoking cigarettes, and thinking the whole thing was fucking hilarious because that's what rockstars did. At 16 I had an honest to god ambition to get on heroin as soon as I was out on my own, and be dead by the age of 21 to be cool like Sid Vicious.

I don't blame the artists I was listening to. There is a time and place for gritty and real. I was probably too young, stupid and immature to be listening to that stuff, if I was going to really allow it to think for me.

The fall down drunk, drugging party guy thing continued through college and and I didn't really realize that a lot of people were looking at me with annoyance and disgust, rather than humor and awe until I was about 25. I felt like I'd been sold a lie, everyone else was growing up, and I was having a hard time stopping.

That's what "Make it Mine" is about - probably one of the songs you're referring to. I was living my life as an out of control, drunken, oversexed, selfish, embarrassing, retard. I still love sex, and enjoy drugs and alcohol, but in controllable, non dangerous situations. Waking up hungover in the middle of god-knows-where-Brooklyn with some scary ass girl you don't even recognize - no condoms to be found, just because you think it's funny and cool and you're so "Rock N' Roll" is fucking bullshit. I wasn't doing it for me - I was playing into a dumb image perpetuated by typically dumb people. That's what "Make It Mine" is really about - my frustrations and brutal confessions at becoming a miserable, boring, pathetic poseur because I was too stupid not to think for myself and buying into the rock n' roll cliches. Yes, it's a little tongue in cheek, and I'm having a little fun with the song making fun of myself, but for those fans who are like "fuck yeah - massive cocaine crashes and herpes!" - the joke is on them.

The other song you are probably talking about is "Mess" - that is the first TSI song ever-written. At that time, I didn't really have much of a band and I was using the extra time to fully dive into my poseur/alcoholic/druggie/sex fiend lifestyle. At that time I still thought the whole thing was a little funny, but wasn't completely happy with myself for it even then, and I was once again making a joke and picking on myself a little bit. There's nothing wrong with a good sleazy sex/booze song now and then, but I really don't find it very interesting anymore from most bands. At least, in TSI, we are approaching it with a really creepy and dark/macabre sense of humor. That's kind of how I look at it - The Cramps are cool and some of Eminem's drug songs were cool because they are presenting the light and dark side together, in a tongue-in-cheek way. The party boy-pro sex/drugs/rock n' roll hair metal thing is stupid, boring, and completely unimaginative at this point.

My bottom line is - if you like drinking and drugs and you are handling it and not fucking up your life - great have fun. The last thing I want is to be responsible for some kid who listens to our record, looks up to us and ends up having a lot of problems in his life because he's trying to emulate something that we've put out there.

My message is: think for yourself, do drugs and drink because you enjoy them, so long as you're in control and being safe. Don't do them because society makes you feel like you have to, in order to be "cool" - as you get older, it doesn't seem so "cool" anymore for most people, and often times don't you don't know that you're not in control until it's too late. Know the risks and accept the responsibilities. If it's not worth it to you - don't do it.

Rock N Roll Experience: What does the name TSI mean to you & who came up with the band name?

Geoff: TSI stands for "The Situationist International" - an obviously shitty band name. I stole it as a joke from a so called rebellious organization that seemed very pretentious while reading about them in the equally pretentious book "Lipstick Traces". At the time I was reading the book, I had thought about stealing the name for a band. I didn't have a band yet and went to ask how to play at CBGB's. The guy at CB's just said "what's the band name - I'll sign you up for an audition" The name just kind of slipped out and we've never bothered to change it.

I know very little about the real "Situationist International" but from the little I do know, I don't care to know any more. I like the idea of a "smarter rebellion or smarter bunch of troublemakers". I also like the idea of offending some pompous, self-infatuated coffeehouse or library based revolutionaries by stealing their name for our big dumb rock band.

The name is now officially though, just "T.S.I." nobody knows what "The Situationist International" is, nobody can remember it, or spell it, and nobody cares.

Rock N Roll Experience: Does New York inspire your music at all?

Geoff: Absolutely! This town is definitely making me an angrier person. It's tough here! Everywhere you go someone is trying to cut ahead of you, someone is trying to mistreat you, or they're just plain acting crazy. You're paying way too much for everything - why because you're one of the goddamn idiots that bought into the lie that New York is so cool that it's worth it. If you're filthy rich, New York is probably the best place on Earth. The rest of us, scraping by to live here, are all just suckers. -and we're getting pushed out anyway. In another 10 or 15 years, you will probably have to be a millionaire just to live anywhere in Manhattan. I don't know even know what fucking "New York" Jay-Z and Alicia Keys are singing about. -must be the rich person's New York. It doesn't "inspire me" in any positive way, it doesn't make me feel "brand new". The New York I know is a cold, hard, cramped, dog eat dog place and I'm not even talking about the ghettos or poor neighborhoods. Being middle class here is a daily struggle and you're surrounded by a high stress environment. But - if you've got the money for it, you can buy literally anything you want, within minutes, all on this one tiny island. That's the good thing I can say about it. - and it has made me a little tougher.

Rock N Roll Experience: What's it like to be the only other man in rock n' roll besides Geoff Tate (Queensryche) to have the name Geoff? (sorry, I had to ask that one! lol)

Geoff: Wow. Am I really the only other one? I can't be. Geoffrey is the English spelling. I was named after Geoffrey Chaucer. I like it. How many "Jeffs" are there who's name carries as much class and distinction as the author Geoffrey Chaucer? Just Google it and see what comes up for "Geoff" vs. What comes up for "Jeff". The "Geoffs" on the whole are just classier, and the giraffe doesn't even make the top 10. What do you get for "Jeff"? - "Jeff Bridges"? - "Jeffrey Dahmer"? - no thanks.

Still, I get bothered about it a lot more than I can understand. There is never any shortage of people who think they're the first ones to ever call me "ghee off" or "jee off". It's actually a pretty common name. I think it's more of a reflection on the person who finds it so interesting than anything else.

By the way I am totally joking back with you. I'm not offended or being defensive at all.

Rock N Roll Experience: What made you want to play hard rock music?

Geoff: I was always attracted to rebellion, and troublemakers. Rock N' Roll musician was the most acceptable and rewarding occupation for those types of people. I also, like anyone else, wanted to feel like my life was special - that somehow I was going to live a life that was a little more fun and exciting than that of your average Joe. I was pretty much hung up on rock n' roll and music from a very early age. Once I realized how badly I sucked at sports, the obsession got worse. It also became a place, like I said earlier, for me to vent rage and frustration.

Rock N Roll Experience: Is Rock N Roll your career or do you & the other band members have day jobs?

Geoff: We have day jobs, but we're hoping that will change someday.

Rock N Roll Experience: Has the band played with any national acts & if so, which ones?

Geoff: Not yet.

Rock N Roll Experience: Musically, TSI has balls & not too many bands have balls these days....where does that energy come from?

Geoff: -real genuine frustration and the smarts to be able to turn that into something. The problem with most rock bands is that they are missing the key ingredient - they have nothing that they are trying to say or express - no real artistic motivation. They grab a formula from somebody else and regurgitate it badly. Or they get hung up on the wrong details. I'm not saying we aren't borrowing heavily from a lot of other bands, but at least we know enough about music and what we're doing to be able to borrow things from all over and put them together, rather than just flat out copying one band or narrow genre. We're guilty of plenty of imitation ourselves and there's still more to be weeded out, but the spiritual motivation is real. We really are doing this because we have something inside us that we want to get out and say, we did even before we really knew what that was. It wasn't like "lets comb our hair like this, and buy this equipment, and practice our chops really hard, and go make a bunch of money and oh yeah.. we need some songs." You see a lot of bands do that. We are trying to make our artistic statement about the world first and foremost. We're just playing what we want to play. There's a lot in the world that pisses us off and we're trying to attack that, or make an empowering sound to fight it, before we're thinking about a paint by numbers formula for success in "The Industry".

I've learned that the only way to be great is to be yourself as much as possible. If you're an unoriginal, contrived imitation, you're fucked from the get go. You may sell some records to some stupid people, but who gives a shit.

Rock N Roll Experience: I love the energy on the new cd, they come off with the same energy a demo would have, how did you keep the energy from demo to cd?

Geoff: I'm not sure. Our producer Joe Hogan probably had a lot to do with that. He's used to recording some pretty stripped down, raw rock bands. We tracked the drums and bass together, live as a band, sometimes without a click track. The drum and bass tracks that were used were basically intended to be "demo" tracks, but because of money and because they came out so well, we used them as the finals. I know for the energy on my side of things, my attitude was to just go in the studio and really "get after it". The studio can be a very disarming place - it's quiet, peaceful, there are only a few people around. You don't have all the stimulation that you do at a live show. It can make you too calm and lazy. We would turn down the lights, I'd have a few beers, close my eyes, pretend I was at a show and just really fucking go for it. Joe also didn't let us excessively go back in and clean up stuff or punch in, so maybe some mistakes and flaws are also adding to that energy.

Rock N Roll Experience: What current bands would you like to tour with?

Geoff: Rob Zombie

Rock N Roll Experience: I think TSI would be a great opener for Rob Zombie, you guys share a mutual energy & the new Zombie material has a more organic feel, very much like your stuff does, do you agree with that?

Geoff: No bullshit, it's hilarious that you would say this. Rob Zombie is the only person I've ever ever thought of who would be a great fit for us. At least on the big time scale right now. I want to be associated with bands who have some real artistry behind what they do - not cookie cutter industry machines. I also don't want to tour with anyone too similar to us in style either - then it becomes too much of a critical comparison in the audience's mind. I love Rob Zombie's music, movies and artwork. I always have. He's one of the few big dogs going around right now that I'm even remotely interested in as a fan of hard rock music. I think we have a couple steps on the ladder, still to go before we're opening for Rob Zombie though.

Rock N Roll Experience: How did the music video shoot go? Geoff: It's actually February 22nd. We'll let you know. Or actually, you should be able to see for yourself shortly afterward.

Rock N Roll Experience: Is there anything else you'd like to say? Geoff: I think I have said too much already! Sorry if this comes off as self indulgent or egotistical to anyone! I know I hate reading interviews like that. This was my first written interview ever. Thanks for popping my cherry!

I’d like to thank Geoff for taking the time to answer a few questions & for giving us the first official T.S.I. interview! For more info on this amazing band check out their myspace at www.myspace.com/tsiband or check out their website at www.tsiband.com for tour dates, merch & more info on the band!