I started out when I was about 12, playing drums. My dad's friend had a drum set, and every time I went over there, I was attracted to it. I'd been listening to rock 'n' roll since I could remember - reading the magazines. It just seemed like a glamourous life, and I wanted to be a part of it. I started singing when I was about 15. I'd been playing drums in a band in this band with some friends from my high school, and the singer was terrible. I wanted to sing backup on a song, and he said, "You play drums; you can't sing." I got pissed off and sold my drum set. I actually traded it for a delay and a microphone. I plugged it into my stereo at home and just started singing to tapes - Black Sabbath and whatever else.

I have two sisters, a brother, and my parents. They weren't very musical. My mom kind of was. She used to sing. I'd say my first influence would be Black Sabbath, then Ozzy, then Ian Gillan with Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. The first record I ever picked up was Black Sabbath. It was either my mom's or my dad's album! I just picked it out of their collection.

I was in a band before, when I was 15, for two years. We were a glam band. Then I couldn't afford to buy makeup. At the time that was the thing. Poison had just come out, and a lot of bands like that were coming out. I was kind of into that. It originally started out with me and a bunch of friends. It was a glam band that played Slayer and Armoured Saint covers, kind of a glam/thrash band. Now most of the bands I listen to are from Seattle or the old stuff. I like a lot of different stuff - Ministry, Lords of the New Church, Skinny Puppy.

As far as the Seattle scene, there's always been great bands - great metal bands, great alternative bands - as long as I can remember. The reason being is that I don't think people are too worried about who they impress, really. Everyone just likes to play music. They don't do it with a gimmick. Other places, where there's so many bands to compete with, sometimes you have to have a gimmick to outdo the other bands. It's not like that in Seattle. There are not as many bands as there are in L.A. or New York. It's a lot smaller. There's a big difference. A lot of power-pop comes out of L.A., a lot of speed metal comes out of New York, and then a lot of the stuff we're doing is coming out of Seattle.

There were a lot of drugs. We kinda just passed the time that way. For a couple of years we were all doin' anything we could get our hands on. I think we just got tired of living like that. Andrew Wood's death changed things, maybe, for a few weeks. I probably got even heavier into drugs after that happened.

One of the first bands to break out of Seattle was Heart. After Heart I'd say Queensryche. Then probably Soundgarden. Mother Love Bone pretty much broke the ice in this genre, I guess. We played the Seattle scene for a couple years. There's three places to play, and we just kind of played 'em each a couple of times a month. We did that for two years, played these three bars over and over and over.

It wasn't competitive at all. We all (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mother Love Bone, etc...) went and saw each other's bands and jammed together. It's just that type of scene; it's more supportive. All the bands come out to see all the other bands. We're all friends, so there's really no need for competition. Everyone has their own sound and their own style, so there's really not anything to compete with.

I think we've been successful because people are starting to accept this style of music. A lot of bands broke the ice - Faith No More, Jane's Addiction. It's not grunge, it's just not your typical band - eight rock songs, two ballad albums. There's a lot of experimentation, doing different stuff and not really worrying about sticking to one theme or one way of writing. I'm more concerned with writing good music and putting out good music.

I don't really like doing videos, but you kind of have to today. We really like the finished products, we just don't like the making of the video - singing the same song over and over and over for 24 hours. It's cool to be able to take some of our ideas - how we picture the song to be portrayed in the video - and see that come through. That's what's cool.

We've been out on tour in support of Facelift for 17 months. At this point we're exhausted. We're all pretty tired. The road's very grueling. It's not what I thought it was. Well, actually, it is what I thought it was going to be, but I just don't take part in it the way I used to - the bimbos, the free beers, free drugs, and all that. That's still there if you want it, but I don't really seek that out anymore. I concentrate on singing the songs, then I don't do much else but stay in my hotel room.

Originally with Facelift, I figured we could sell 100 000 albums. That was pretty much our goal. We thought that would be pretty cool. Maybe 200 000. We didn't think it would sell as well as it did.

We're getting ready to do our second album, and we're looking at some studios in California. Not in Los Angeles. I don't like that town. Too decadent, and it's slimy. I kinda attract people that I don't want to attract - drug fiends, scenesters - and it freaks me out. We're thinking of somewhere in Sausalito.

We recorded the EP - it's called Sap - in two days. Four songs. It'll be released about the time we'll be going into the studio. It's lighter material. It was actually a dream that Sean, our drummer, had that we did this EP of mellow acoustic songs and called it Sap. He woke up, told us what he dreamed, and we said it sounded like a good idea.

Miscellaneous | Core | Who is Demri Parrott?