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Interview with July's Victim - Tony Konecne of Jimi Pig


1. Tony ...Who is Jimi Pig ?
Who is in the band ?
How did the name come up?

Jimi Pig is a hard rock band from Des Moines. Our members are Mike Maly on drums, Gene and Dustin Waage on lead and rhythm guitars, Chris Chandler on bass and me on vocals. We used to be called Burnt, but that name sucked worse than Jimi Pig so we changed it. Long story short, we used to use an amp that some guy named Jimmy had owned. He wrote Jimmy's Pig on the front but the "s" had worn off. It just stuck.

2. How long have you been singing ( in and out of) a band?
What bands have you been in ?

I have been singing since I was old enough to move. I started vocal training in school around 7th grade. I have been in two bands, the Pig and a cover band in college called Mr. Salty. Chicks dug us!
Interviews :
This Months Victim

Tony Konecne

Lead Singer for Jimi Pig



3. What is Jimi Pig Up too ..plans to do more recording, tours?

We spend a lot of time writing and practicing...two to three times a week. Hopefully our first full length disc will be done in the next two months or so.

We plan to tour Europe and Heather Locklear.


Tony And Heather


4. Who are your influnces musicially ...why I know you like (southgang / M3 Butch Walker) have you meet him?


Butch and Marvy are more inspirations than influences, and yes, I met him in Atlanta. My influences are many. For Jimi Pig you see mostly Godsmack, Tool, Metallica, System of a Down and Puddle of Mudd.

5. Who are your favorite song writers , what makes them unique to you or inspires you ?

My favortie song writers are Rob Thomas,
Ed Roland, Angie Aparo, Chris Hester, Ed Kowalczyk, Billy Joel, Adam Duritz, Jim Croce, and David Gray.

The second part of that question is harder to answer, I like them all for different reasons. I want to touch people like those artists have touched me. Um, you know what I mean!

6. 4th of July ... Pig Roast ..or Hamburger and Hot Dogs ..had to ask ?

Pig roast of course!



 
7. Whats the best and worse thing about
the Des Moines Music scence ?

 Easy. The best thing is the music and bands. The worst thing is that there is so little media support for us. If we could get that attention, Des Moines would blow up.

8. Whats your take on the talk about making Des Moines the next Ausitn TX ?

Screw Austin, Texas. Des Moines is going to blow them away! Seriously.

9.Do you think the city is wise to invest in the music scence to try and attract young people to Des Moines ?

Absolutely.


 

10. Who on the local side of things to you think is ready to tear it up - local bands you like?

I like a ton of bands in this town.
Too many to really mention. Calous, On a Pale Horse, The Cassandra Disease, Inner Element, Cruciful, The Rude, just for starters.

As far as bands that are ready to go? I'd say all of those bands could definitely break into the national scene and be quite successful with some kind of label support. I think that "Labels" as we know them are done for though. That can be a good and bad thing.

11. We noticed you had Matt (from Cassandra Disease) on stage for a ripp it up vocal duo .. how did that come about ?

Lemmons came over to band practice one night to help us on a song that he would be recording for us, "Plastic Savior". As the night wore on, he ended up on the back up mic singing the screaming parts. It was fun and he sound like a bad mofo on it so we just added it to the set that way. He also has a pretty big hand in our song "Self".

12. What have been your favorite and wrost gigs to date ?

Worst gig ever was St Patty's Day 2004 at Bennigan's (yes the restaurant). We set up and did sound check and artifacts started falling off of the walls. Incidentally there were a lot of artifacts sitting at the bar that got up and left. It was a joke. We ran our own sound for the first time, we had no monitors...a joke.

We have played a lot of great gigs. I think my favorite so far is Jason Boggs birthday bash at Hull Avenue Tavern. We played with Devil With Cheese and Calous and the place was so packed! I bet there was 200 to 250 people in there. It was awesome. It was the first time I ever blacked out on stage. It was so hot!



13. Have you ever meet any ture rockstars?
Whats the last concert you we're at? last movie you saw?

I have met a few people who have made it. Janie Lane when I was 19. All the guys in Collective Soul. Butch Walker. Rob Thomas had a beer with me an a couple of my friends at a bar in Atlanta one night. Adam Duritz, um...thats about it. The last concert that I was at was Music Midtown in Atlanta last year. Last movie was Star Wars Episode III.

14. Tell us one short thing about each band member they don't want us to know?

Gene and Dustin were conjoined at birth. They had to be seperated at the penis. One of them is a chick. I won't say which one.

Chandlers middle name is Stephanie, uh Mike has a fetish for angel food cake. He easts at least one whole angel food cake per day. I am Mormon.


15. Who do you like to listen to that they would all give you crap for liking ?

Sarah McClaughlin,
Poe
and Allanin Morrisette ROCK!
Mike - Drums

Chandler - Bass


16. If you could combine any living band members in the world to come up an act that you could write and sing for (besides your current band .. no disrespect intended) Who would be in your band?

I'd kick Ed Roland out of Collective Soul and take his place. Sorry Ed.

17. If you could meet one musician dead or alive who would it be ? Why?

I actually did get to meet a hero. When I went through my first divorce in a three part series, I hit my rock bottom. I listened to a lot of music at that time and MB20's Yourself or Someone Like You had just come out.

I played the shit out of that CD. I swore if I ever met Rob Thomas I would thank him for saving my life, which he did. I met him at the Cotton Club in Atlanta at a mutual acquaintance's CD release party less than a year later. He was really cool.




18. Whats on the table for gigs and promotions?
( besides the Locklear tour)

We have a few gigs coming up. The Roadhouse Battle, July 23rd. Some in August. www.myspace.com/jimipig has our schedule.

We are getting ready to take a little break.

We have been working very hard since December so we are going to step back a little bit and catch our breath. Take car of family affairs and such.

19. Is the half naked set a new requirement by management (Raz & gang)?

The half-naked set was a one time semi-sexual treat brought to you by Jaegermeister.
20. Anything you would like to Add or Plug??

Just the battle. Come support us at the battle! And thanks for supporting local musicians!
I also like to thank HOB (Nancy,JC,Jerry) RH69 (Randy), The Hull Ave, Raz, Spazz, Candyazz and all the DSM Locals Bands we played with Josh OAPH, Matt TCD, Taco (SoulSick), Joey (Calous) and the rest of you. - also like to thank you for all you do for the local music scene, stars4iowa kick ass!!!

Bands Links : http://www.myspace.com/jimipig
Jimi Pig home Page: http://www.jimipig.net/

THANK YOU TONY ... Tell Heather hi ... You Rock !!!