Straight Faced

This is a really old interview that our friend Chris conducted for his magazine (and our initial inspiration), "Punk Royale." Chris never got around to actually publishing this and recently asked if we wanted to use it. It's a great informative interview with Johnny, the singer for the SoCal hardcore band. This interview takes place around 1998, just after Straight Faced jumped from Fearless to Epitaph. Enjoy, but keep in mind that this is pretty old...

Introduce yourself. What do you do?
My name is Johnny and I do vocals in Straight Faced.

Alright, let's start out with the original history of the band. How'd you guys get started?
It's basically a typical situation, you know, we were just friends and we were bored and, you know, we're big music fans and went to shows all the time and we decided to learn how to play instruments and start a band. It was like six years ago. So like that's pretty much like the cool thing that's kept us together for so long. It's that... we didn't even know how to play instruments before this band. We totally built it from the ground up, you know, and that's one of the things that keeps us going all the time, we put so much work into it, you know?

That's cool... Next question might be kind of touchy... Are any of you guys straight edge?
No, we're not. No... It's not an issue of whether or not some guys in the band drink and some guys in the band don't drink, you know, because even if everybody didn't we still probably wouldn't be like a straight edge band just because... I mean, I have a million straight edge friends, you know, a lot of the bands I listen to are straight edge, but with this band we're doing something different. With this band we're trying to bridge all of the gaps, you know what I mean? But I have the utmost respect for straight edge.

Do you get upset when people mistake you guys for a straight edge band?
No, not at all, not at all.

I know I read an interview a while ago, it might have been in Flipside, I dunno, where people would cut the stickers in half so they would say

Totally... Let's see here... I've heard many things about Lethal Records...
Oh boy...

... and I was wondering why you guys left Lethal.
It wasn't even really a matter of leaving. I mean we for sure would have left no matter what because it wasn't even really like a real label. It was like a guy... I've said enough bad things about that guy within the last four years to where I really don't want to say anything bad about him. I feel like... when I see him now on the street or at a show we get along okay but he didn't do anything to help us. We made that record after being a band for about a year and a half, he never advertised it, he never tried to distribute it, he never helped us get on tour, we never knew what to do to get on tour, we didn't know about having a booking agent, we didn't know about... actually like getting gas money for shows. We did like the first three years of shows for free. We didn't know any better, you know? I mean, it was new to all of us. But after we got on Fearless Records, which was after Lethal, some stuff happened and he was supposed to give us a bunch of those CDs and he didn't give ‘em to us so we actually took one of the Lethal CDs and we repressed it and copied the artwork and gave it to Fearless for free and he tried to sue Fearless for that.

Really?
Yeah... It was just a joke because it's a totally independent punk rock record. You know, he probably had only sold like 2,000 of ‘em worldwide in two years, and he's trying to sue a guy who put it out so people can hear it. So we ended up having to pay him like 2,000 dollars and he dropped the lawsuit. It was just like, you know, the typical shit that goes on when you're a young band and you're struggling. It's like money is never even an option. At that point you know you're never going to see a cent from what you do and it's not why you're doing it. You actually spend a lot of money on being in a band. You know what I mean? To have somebody like that that's supposed to be on your team working against you it's a pretty bad insult, it's a pretty bad stab in the back, but it's over now. I feel like his label's done, he's doing something else. I feel like, you know... my animosity is over; it's water under the bridge.

Why did you decide to switch from Fearless to Epitaph?
That was a little bit more tricky because Fearless Records is an outstanding label. That guy... Bob Becker treats his bands so good it's like it was a super, super hard decision to make to leave. But basically the bottom line, and it's pretty obvious... Epitaph has got a lot. They have worldwide distribution and they can get the records into a lot more stores and get it places that a lot of people otherwise... Like people in the Midwest still don't even have independent punk rock records stores out there. Those kids have to go to like Tower or Wal-Mart or wherever it is to go to get records and it's a bum-out. But, it's just the way it is. Epitaph has the power to do that. Bob from Fearless actually helped us to leave. He wasn't bummed at all, he let us go. We owed him another record and he basically let us out of the contract with a handshake and a smile. I'm still really good friends with him, we still always give him songs for compilations. We're taking one of his bands on tour after this tour is over. I mean, he's a great guy, it's a great label and I hope that people that don't know about his record label will check it out and check out the bands on his label because I mean, he's for real. He's one of the few labels that are for real and honest... and I respect it.

What tour are you doing after this?
Well, we're going to do a coast-to-coast Canada tour and there's a band called 30footFALL, they actually used to be on Fearless, they're on Nitro now. So they're going to go with us and originally we were supposed to take Shutdown, they're from Brooklyn, they're on Victory Records. I guess they ended up... they're going to do something else, but that's what it was supposed to be. So, it's gonna' be us, 30footFALL and like a local Canadian band or whatever. But it should be fun.

That's cool... Switching subjects, what motivates your lyric writing?
Pretty much everything, you know, pretty much everything that I think personally needs to be addressed. There's not really a whole lot of politically inspired lyrics, there may be a little bit in some of the songs but mostly it's based around personal experiences and just what it is growing up, you know, where we're at and uh... the things we've gone through, the things I've seen. A lot of it sounds pretty hostile sometimes but if you actually sit down and read the words, everything I write I try to have a positive... like if I'm writing about a problem I try to offer a solution or at least maybe a possible solution to it, you know what I mean? I think there's enough negativity in punk rock and hardcore as it is and that's cool, some bands do that... I even listen to bands like that, but for us it's like if I'm on stage and I have a microphone in my hand and I'm saying something to a lot of people I want to be saying something good, I want to be saying something positive and something that I believe in, you know what I mean?

Exactly.
So, a lot of the stuff is about friendship and loyalty and betrayal and all of the stuff that we go through like when we're growing up. I mean the stuff that really counts, you know? A lot of times, I dunno, there's a lot of bands that have really candy coated messages and things that don't even really seem like they're reality to me. So I try to write about the things that really make me feel something, whether it makes me feel good or really bad or really angry or whatever, I try to get that stuff out in songs.

Hey, switching subjects again... Do you remember when you were still on Fearless and some kid made a website for you guys?
I do.

That was me!
Get outta' here! I finally get to meet you! What's up?! That was a great website.

Actually I made the website, you know, and I had a good time doing it. I did the best I could but I got too busy and eventually I had to shut it down.
Yeah, we actually have a real one, an official one now, but it's still under construction. The kid that's helping us do it at home has some images and some tour dates and stuff like that but he's like really busy too, he does like web site stuff for a living... and we've been on tour this whole time. I had like an hour and a half to sit down with him and help him out, but by the time we get done with this tour everything should be up and running. That's cool that that was you, I was always wondering because Bob from Fearless told me that it was someone that lived in Seattle.

Yeah, that was sweet because they sent me some photos, they helped me out a lot.
I'm telling you, they're a great label, great people. They really are. They've got a couple new things coming out right now... The new Lonely Kings, unbelievable record, be sure to check it out. And obviously the new At the Drive-In is unbelievable.

Oh yeah, I've been listening to that and I love it.
It's great right?! Oh man, they're a good band. I love that band.

In fact I saw them in Woodinville, Washington. I saw them over there at this place called Sorenson. They shut down, it was just a gym in a school. But At The Drive-In, they were so fucking good.
Oh, they're amazing live!

They were like jumping around and running around and bouncing off the walls and fuckin' goin' crazy!
Yeah, they're amazing live, I love that band!

Let's see here, what types of food do you eat on tour?
I try to eat as healthy as I can just because there's a lot of downtime when you're on tour, a lot of sitting in the van and, you know, playing Gameboy and reading magazines, and then you get to a club like four hours before the door opens and you load the stuff in and after that you just sit. So unless you're exercising a lot or whatever... But I try to eat just as healthy as I can. I totally shit-canned drinking sodas and all of the extra sugars and stuff like that, like I totally shit-canned that, I haven't drank any of that stuff in probably like six months just because I have a tendency to put on weight really fast and stuff like that. So, mostly I go to Taco Bell and I eat bean and cheese burritos. That's the staple of my diet! I can go anywhere and get a bean and cheese borrito and I'm alright. That's like my food...

Alright, do you have any amusing anecdotes or tour stories you could share with us?
So many but since I'm not usually the center of the story I feel afraid to say something in print about... Funny stuff happens especially on a tour like this where there's like five bands traveling across the country and everyone's really good friends. Sometimes weird stuff happens but I can't think of anything I could say that wouldn't totally embarrass somebody... and then I'd feel bad about it, so...

What about this... I notice, especially today, with the touring bands, that a lot of young girls come up to you guys... I don't know about you personally but The U.S. Bombs... Some punk chick just comes up to one of the guys and starts whispering to him and he was like ‘If you were eighteen we could talk' but she was only sixteen... So do you get a lot of that or what?
Yeah, you know, it happens, I'm sure it happens at certain shows. I mean, for me personally playing this music and doing this all year round, for me it's like... it's totally about the music and it's totally about the people that come and it's not about where's the beer and where's the chicks. For me it's way more than that and besides that, I have a girlfriend at home. It's just like, that stuff, if it does happen then just respectfully and tactfully say thank you very much, I'm flattered and uh... I'm not into that. You know what I mean? I mean, for me I'm 27 years old. I'm, in some cases, twice as old as the kids who come to our shows. You know what I mean? Plus I have a six year old son and I can only imagine... just being in a band for five years and being on the road and all that... he ain't going to any shows until he's like sixteen years old! You know, it flips me out. I mean I'm no pillar of morals and I'm not even trying to come off like that, but it's like I know what's right and what's wrong, you know. Everyone's business is their own business.

Speaking of your son, last time I saw H20 here there was a young kid over there selling t-shirts and I was wondering if that was Toby's son.
Oh no, he doesn't have a son... not yet!

Really... because there was a kid there about this tall and he sold me a t-shirt!
I don't know about that, but I don't think they have a kid. It was probably just one of his friends or something.

I know you've had some line-up changes and I was just wondering why these changes occurred.
Well this is what happened recently... our bass player, Kevin from Boston, who was with us for the last record and basically for the last two and a half or three years, he's been in bands since he was like fifteen years old. He was in Eye For An Eye in Boston and he was in 454 [something I couldn't understand on the tape]... I mean the guy's been in bands forever and it just got to a point where he had to move on to other things, got married and he's a union electrician and he actually is really good at that and he makes a pretty good living doing that so he left and it wasn't like quitting, you know what I mean. He contributed a lot to our band and he basically said look, this is what's going on with me, I'll do anything I can to help, I'll teach the new bass player all of the stuff, I'll play all the shows at home, I just can' t go on tour anymore. It's a totally respectable decision, it's hard to do this... and he's been doing it twice as long as I have so I can only imagine. So, we moved our guitar player over to bass and then he got this weird stomach intestine virus or something like that, so we had to cancel our last tour, we had to cancel like six shows including Seattle and Portland, the whole west coast. That's the third time that's happened to him so he decided to kind of ring it up for a little while until maybe he gets it taken care of, so we got Jeff. He's our new bass player and he's been with us for about four months now. Maybe Ray comes back and plays guitar, it's up to him. I mean we're not looking for a new guitarist but if Ray wants to come back and play second guitar then the door's open. The guy's one of my best friends and I'm more concerned with his health and him being okay then keeping him out here and having him miserable, you know what I mean?

Do you know what stomach deal that was, I mean, was it sal monella or... ?
I don't know what it was. It was something that's been with him for like a year and it happens a lot. Like his health deteriorates when we're on the road, he loses a lot of weight. He's the best kid in the world, he's one of my best friends, I love the guy you know. I just, I want him to be okay. He just needs to take care of his stuff, you know, and it'll be all good. I just talked to him before we left for like the first time in weeks and it was good, it was good to hear from him.

When can we look forward to a new Straight Faced album?
We're supposed to be making it right when we get done with this. Our last show on this is October 26th in Vancouver, wait... September 26th in Vancouver.

Vancouver, Washington or Canada?
Canada. Yeah... so, there is a chance that we might get a support slot on a tour that's coming up that we're really keeping our fingers crossed for but as the days go on it's looking like the possibility is a little bit darker every day, so I should find out this week. So, if we don't get that then we'll probably start recording before the year is over. If we finish it before December it should be out early next year.

I suppose you don't have a title yet or anything like that?
No, I guess there are some things that we've been throwing around but... We wanna' take our time and just make an outstanding record, take a lot of time to finish writing songs and make sure everything works, get everything on tape first. We weren't really rushed with our last one but we kinda' were. We kind of were just because we got the deal with Epitaph and we really needed to be out on tour and we really needed to get this record out and when you're making a record you have X amount of dollars you can spend on it and every second you spend in one of those studios costs you an unbelievable amount of money. I mean, to me five dollars is an unbelievable amount of money but it's just like every second you're in there, so a lot of times you let stuff go, you know, that's good enough let's go on...

Well the record turned out great.
Thank you very much, I appreciate that. I'm really happy with it too, but there's just things we could change, there's songs where I could have sang way better, but I just don't want to be in that position again, I want to feel just one hundred percent about everything that comes out on the new one. So, we're going to really take our time and I'm really excited about it.

It should be good, I noticed that each record gets better and better.
Thank you, I appreciate that.

Each record gets just that much better. I mean, I liked the first one and...
There are actually people who think it's the other way around.

Really?
Yeah, it trips me out just because... Well, the reason it trips me out most is like I said, when we started we didn't even know how to play. So it's like with every record obviously we have more years of playing together under our belts, so to me obviously I think every record progressively is getting better just because we're getting better at playing music, you know what I mean? So, a lot times kids will go like, yeah ,your new record is okay but your first record was the shit. I'm just like, our first record? God, we couldn't even play whole songs back then! I mean, it took us like two-hour s to record drums and bass for a song just because we couldn't even barely get through ‘em! I remember singing on that record was the biggest nightmare in the world. It's like I didn't even know what I was doing. I had no clue, but whatever, you know? Everyone likes different stuff so...

I noticed sometimes when you sing it sounds like you're straining your voice so much. Like on Convictions... you sing and it sounds like you're straining it a whole lot. Do you ever have throat problems or... ?
That's what I always have this for... (pulls something out of his pocket).

What's that?
Singer Saving Grace, it's like a tree bark extract. It tastes horrifying, it's almost the worst tasting thing I've ever tasted in my life but it really, really helps your throat. And I drink a lot of herbal tea, you know, to help my throat muscles because I do. I mean, some people can pull it off, scream at the top of their lungs every night and never have any throat problems but I'm not really that good at it, I don't really have any singing techniques or anything, I've never had any kind of like... the only things I've learned are from my friends that are in other bands that can sing really good, like Toby and Rusty and those guys from H20, they sing so good, you know what I mean? I've never really been good at that and I use my throat a lot when you're really supposed to be using your diaphragm and all that stuff. So, a lot of times I do throw my voice. It hasn't happened this whole tour but I've been taking care of it, you know?

I especially noticed it when you were singing with Strung Out, for some reason. You just looked like arghhhh... !
I probably lost my voice, I mean that was like two years ago and I would lose my voice every tour back then for sure. But, you know, I can't stand it when that happens so I've really been trying to take care of it and stay on top of stuff. (He sprays the tree bark extract towards his throat). God that tastes terrible! (Laughing). It tastes so bad! It tastes like ass, I swear! (Laughing)! They actually have these other flavors like my girlfriend bought me this box of all assorted flavors like honey and lemon, mints and all that, and all is is like honey, lemon, ASS!, mint, ASS! It still tastes totally horrible but I kind of the the weird aftertaste.

Where do you even get that?
You get it at health food stores... any health food store or vitamin store usually has it. It saves my life, it saves my life. The kid from the Dropkick Murphy's turned me on to it... that guy, Al.

I fucking love the Dropkick Murhphys. Al Barr, he was in the Bruisers. I love the Bruisers.
How good was that band!? God they were good. We got to go to Europe with them this year and it was outstanding. Al Barr is one of the nicest guys I've ever met, I love that guy!

How old is that dude?
I have no idea.

I actually saw a Dropkick Murphy's video and he looked much younger than I suspected.
Yeah, I don't know how old any of them are. I just assumed that everybody is as old as me, but you know, most people aren't!

How did you hook up a song on that skateboarding Playstation game?
You know what, we didn't even do that, it was like an Epitaph thing. They called us and they're like, do you guys wanna' have a song on a Playstation game, and we were like yeah sure. Considering I probably spend like ten hours on my Playstation every week. It's embarrassing enough as it is, you know?

That's like this guy here! (Pointing at Eric). He works at Blockbuster so he gets free game rentals!
Oh, get outta' here, that's what I'm all about! I never buy those things, I always go to Blockbuster and rent ‘em. It's like, you can finish most of those games in like two or three days so it's a waste to spend thirty bucks, I'd rather just spend five bucks...

Yeah, he has a CD burner and we copy the games.
Beautiful! Beautiful! That's what I'm talking about! It's expensive man. It's like a ninety-eight cent piece of plastic and they somehow justify selling ‘em for forty bucks.

You gotta' go to pawn shops, they sell them for cheap.
Yeah, there's a cool place by my house, I don't need a plugin, I forget the name of the place anyway, but... the whole place is used Playstation, Nintendo, whatever and they have unbelievable prices. Used ones are just as good as the new ones right, as long as it's got the instruction book.

Yeah, I buy flicks all the time and... used ones, previously views, it doesn't fucking matter.
Oh yeah, that's the ticket. You can spend seven dollars on a movie, you know, a great movie... get the whole Robert DeNiro collection...

Yeah, I got Taxi Driver for five bucks at a pawnshop.
I bought Ronin used, I bought Heat used, they're just killer movies.

I love all of the Mafia flicks like Goodfellas... Casino...
Oh yeah, those are my favorite movies! ... And DeNiro's in all of ‘em, he's the man! I love DeNiro.

Do you guys still have regular jobs or are you able to just do the band for now?
Yeah, it kinda' like it's one way or another, you know, if you have a lot of tours then you can't have a job and it's such because there's not too many jobs you can get when you're home that are willing to except the fact that, okay in two months I'm going to be outta' here.

Yeah, you'd be gone most of the year...
So then you have to be a big, fat liar and just be like, yeah I'm down to be here every day at six in the morning, I swear I'll be loyal... So it's just like delivering pizzas or working at a gas station or budgeting your money right and trying to, you know... It's hard, you know, it's hard, it takes a lot of money to be on the road, it's expensive to drive from city to city. This tour, this one tour we've gone coast to coast, this is going to be our third time. We started off doing some Warped Tour shows and that was months ago, I can't even remember when that was. Then after that we did like a week of shows with Agnostic Front and Blood For Blood, and then we went down to Florida when Punk-o-Rama started with 7 Seconds and H20. They took us all the way across the South like back home to L.A. which I got to sit at home for like two days, and we had shows those days. So, I was home collectively for like 20 hours. Now we're out here, going all the way back out to the east coast, into Canada, and then coast to coast Canada. So it takes a lot of money to do that, you know?

And if you make any money at your shows, merchandise, the fuckin' door, anything, it goes right back into the gas, food, whatever, right?
It basically does, yeah. Especially on merchandise, a lot of times you know you'll see a whole bunch of people will buy t-shirts and whatever else you're selling but that stuff is expensive for us to buy, you know what I mean? And we don't even really make that much money... Like a t-shirt for ten dollars, usually a t-shirt will cost a band something live five dollars and fifty cents or six dollars, so you're not even making five dollars on a t-shirt. I mean, other stuff is so expensive like jackets and basketball jerseys and sweatshirts and all that. It's like super expensive, it's almost... Technically it's really not even worth having it just because it takes up a lot of room and it's expensive but we like to have that stuff anyway just because we'd rather have people... you know, we try to sell everything for as cheap as we can and you know, we're pretty much accustomed to the fact that we're not going to make a bunch of money off of doing this, and if that was our primary motivation we would've stopped a long time ago because we've been doing this forever and I just... I can't see myself doing anything else, this is what I do, it's what I love.

What do you like to do in your spare time other than play in the band?
Well, like I said before, I have a six-year-old son so I like to hang out with him. That's pretty much like hanging out with your friends anyway ‘cuz we just sit down and play Playstation.

Does he listen to any punk or hardcore?
He does, he does! He likes a lot of music and he likes... It's taken him about this long to actually realize that I'm in a band and that's what I do, ya' know? I've never taken him to a show just because I have issues about that, like people bringing young kids to shows, I'm really not into that. I mean, I don't want to judge anybody but for me a six year old kid has no fuckin' place in a smoke-filled room with loud music that's gonna' blow his ears out and people spilling drinks all over him and everything. You know what I'm saying... I've seen it happen a million times before and to me it's a huge turnoff and so... But yeah, he does listen to... I don't know if he likes my band or not. He says he does because I'm in it but you know, I think he likes more melodic stuff like... most kids do, you know what I mean? He likes Bad Religion and Pennywise and Down By Law and stuff like that, ya' know... Green Day!

Where do you see Straight Faced in the future?
Hopefully, basically right here. You know, I mean where we're at, just going on tour with our friends' bands and like new bands or whatever and just playing as many shows as we can, we've been lagging you know, it's like, to me it's ridiculous that we were here two years ago, it's taken us two years to get here and it's like, we're on the same coast, you know what I mean? So, it's obviously been a problem in the past with working and all that stuff but I feel like we've got a really tight family helping us now, it's a really good team, good booking, good label, you know, a lot of people are on our side and I feel like the only thing that's going to be different is that our touring is going to be a lot more relentless, you know? I mean, that's where we want to be. Tonight's show was unbelievable, I had so much fun tonight. Seattle's fuckin' great...

I was really excited to come to this show because I love every band but three of my favorites are on this tour here, you guys, H20 and U.S. Bombs.
Yeah... H20 is amazing. H20 is an amazing band. I love ‘em.

How often do you see fights at shows?
It depends on where we are. On tour really not that much just because, well... maybe a couple of times on this tour but it hasn't been anything major, like I remember in Dallas there was a fight... It was just silliness between a bunch of kids that don't get along who were at the same show. Southern California has its spell like sometimes. Like lately I haven't seen any major incidents happen but sometimes like... sometimes every show there's fights. Not necessarily our shows but everyone's shows. Like Alanis Morrisette could play in L.A. and there'd be fights. You know what I mean? Just because it's a pretty tense place and I don't mean to take nothing away from it you know, some of the best kid sin the world are in Southern California, some of my best friends in the world are there... But it tends to be ... There's some egos down there, you know , but... I think that as far as our shows go, it's pretty counterproductive for people who know us to fight at our shows because they know that we'll stop playing, you know, or shut the whole show down and make everybody basically, you know, bum out on whoever it is that's causing the disturbance and if it happens again we'll leave and the club can refund their money and they can choke on it because they can't provide enough security to stop fights from happening. And that's just how it is, I'm not into that, you know, it's just like... I feel like we gotta' deal with shit like that pretty much from ninety percent of our lives, whether at school or at work or walking down the street or whatever. Where we live sometimes people look at us like we're pieces of shit just because we're tattooed or in a hardcore band and you know, whatever, it's just the stuff you deal with when you're growing up. I don't feel like when we're at shows when we're all together we need to deal with that shit here too. To me that's ridiculous. I mean, it's the shit like that that draws us to this in the first place. You know, it's like fuck, whatever, you know... I didn't have any friends when I was in school or I'm alienated or I'm picked on, nobody understands my ideas, nobody wants to listen to a fuckin' thing I have to say so we ended up here. You shouldn't feel threatened when you're inside a fucking show.

It should be all about community and unity.
Absolutely, and you should feel like in any way you're safe, you should be safe here. So, to me, it appalls me and like I said, we stop when it happens and this summer's been really good. Like I said, maybe two fights in you know sixty shows so far, so...

Those are all of the questions I have. Do you have any other comments or anything else to say? Can ya' bring up any stories?
I wish I could, ya' know? You know what I should do... Next times something really cool happens I should just write it down and stick it in my pocket so... You know, that's a pretty standard interview question and I never have any. So much funny stuff happens and when it comes down to me being on the spot and I try to remember something I always forget. You know what I mean? I can't think of anything good. Get Duane Peters from the U.S. Bombs in here, he'll tell you some stories!

Wasn't that guy a pro skateboarder?
Absolutely.

For God's sake, I remember that guy from when I was younger.
Absolutely, and he still rips too! Make no mistake about it, he still rips. He's still really good.

The fist time I saw ‘em was on the Jim Bruer show! How's they hook up with that? Did they know Jim Bruer or...?
That's right, that was cool! I don't know how that happened. All I remember is everybody in my city was talking about it and I turned on the T.V. and I was just like this is not true and then I saw it and I was like well... it is true... with my foot in my mouth and everything. But I thought it was cool, yeah it was cool, it was really cool. But... I guess whatever, you know, I'll say what I always say... Especially here tonight in Seattle this is awesome, you guys have a really healthy, awesome scene and I think if anything at all is important, I don't know how it is here for other shows and stuff like that, but just, you know, I always urge people to support he local bands in your scene and it's like, you don't need a bunch of national acts that are really big to fill a room like this when there's this many kids to go to a show, you know what I'm saying? In a lot of cities that's how it is and I just think the local bands, the bands that are in your city, the bands that are working really hard... I mean that's like the backbone of your scene right there, you know what I mean? That's the future of your scene right there and I just think that people should go out of there way to check it out and support it always.

Thanks a lot for doing the interview.
Absolutely, it was really cool to meet you guys, thanks for your time.

BW