Interview - Kludge 2002
Author: Arturo Perez
Date: 20th March 2002
Link: Kludge
On the evening of March 20th, I ventured into the El Rey Theater for the MTV 2 tour featuring the Apex Theory and Lostprophets. The place wasn’t packed, but the fans were all very enthusiastic about their bands, even arriving early for the opening act, Quarashi. As Lostprophets took the stage, the band rocked it up, with their incredible stage presence and catchy guitar riffs that reminisce the Calabasas sound of bands like Incubus, Hoobastank and Audiovent. The fans rocked it up as well, singing along to every song, and initiating a pretty good sized mosh pit. At the end of their exhausting show, I went up to congratulate the band for their efforts and asked to set up an interview for later time. To my surprise, the entire band was willing to do it right there on the spot, despite the fact that they had to take off on their tour bus for San Francisco a few hours later.
After picking up my recording material, we met with the band at a 24/7 restaurant nearby, and had a fun chat on their musical likes/dislikes, their upcoming album, the possibility of a new EP and much more.
What inspired you create such California-influenced music, in a time when England is full of other genres
We’ve been into metal since we were little kids. You know what I mean, from Iron Maiden, Anthrax, Metallica and everything you know and, like we hated the Britpop stuff. It pissed me off, I fucking hated it. I couldn’t stand it for so long because you know, we came and tried to show our music off and nobody would listen to us because they were into Oasis. We just grew up on like Metallica and watching American movies.
You’ve always enjoyed the American lifestyle then?
Yeah, basically, you know!
Why did you guys stay independent for so long? Was it because it was hard to grasp an audience in your area?
Yeah, we even managed ourselves and everything you know because nobody would listen to us really. You know what I mean? We were like, oh we are really good and everyone’s like…so? So everyone just went off on their own thing and Limp Bizkit got big and Linkin Park got big and everyone was like, oh! Lostprophets sound a little bit like that…
Do you guys have any new songs, considering this album is a re-release of your independent so it’s been out for a while!
Yeah, we were going to play some new songs tonight but we didn’t have much time so we just played songs off the album so we didn’t like confuse anyone you know what I mean? A few people tonight knew the words so it was cool.
Yeah, you even had a heavy mosh pit going!
Yeah it was cool man, you know what I mean? Good to see man! We just like people reacting to our music as much as we reach to them you know? It’s got to be a two way thing. If you don’t give the crowd anything to buzz off, why would you expect them to go nuts? When we play, straight off, we are all jumping around and everyone is all oh! And they want to be a part of it so…yeah, we usually get the best crowd reactions really. We like it rough.
What’s the direction of the new songs?
It’s kind of like progressing from the last album basically. We didn’t play live much when we did this album. There are certain songs we played live though, and there are bits in there that are kind of boring for us to play live so we’ve cut those sections off and just kept it interesting all the time for us. The songs are probably a little bit shorter and a little bit heavier. We’ve written a lot of songs but we don’t know which ones we want to keep. We’ll see how it goes!
You guys already recorded some of them?
One song…we did a song with this producer guy just to see what it’s like and see if we’ll use him on the next album. That was quite a catchy song though…
When are you planning to do the new album?
Maybe about a year’s time because we are brand new to a lot of people.
Is there anything to hold the old school fans off? I’m sure they won’t like the album delayed so much.
Yeah, especially in the UK, we are starting to get some stick ups from UK fans. They go “oh it’s the same album as your independent” and we go, “well yeah you know…” I think we are going to try to do an EP later in the summer…maybe and maybe not. Dreaming! Don’t quote me on it!
Ok so put it in big quotes?
Yeah, in big capital letters – THEY ARE DEFINITELY DOING… nah, it’d be cool to do a few…don’t print many and keep it kind of underground. As underground as you can keep it you know. We did a b-side the other day which turned out kind of cool! Like last show kind of cool you know?
So you are going to start playing a lot of new songs here and there?
Ah..yeah, probably not for a while though since we are doing this tour where us and Apex Theory swap over as headliners for every other night. We headlined last night but we sucked! This was a hometown show for Apex so, yeah that’s cool.
What do you think of Apex?
Cool. Kind of like Mr. Bungle meets Alien Ant Farm…kind of the way they move on stage. They have that geeky movement kind of thing.
I kind of like Alien Ant Farm, I saw them live!
In England?
I saw them with Papa Roach in New York last year, but Snapcase killed the two bands. They killed them!
What bands do you like from the UK that you see rising up?
There’s a band called This Girl…they rock, and Douglas is really good. And bands like Vex Red…they are cool. There’s plenty of cool bands I forgot about as well, you know what I mean? So anyone I left out! Sorry.
What about Hell is for Heroes?
I haven’t heard much so far, but I don’t know…maybe they are good. I’ve heard one song and it didn’t really do much for me. You know, it’s like…they used to be in this pop/punk band and all of the sudden they want the Refused producer to do their album, and it’s like, oh, get a fucking life!
Yeah, I see those guys in Sunset quite a lot now
Eh! We got offered to move over here last year and we didn’t want to do it because we don’t want to fucking lose sight of where we come from really.
But you are going to hit the North American market pretty heavy now right?
Who knows. We are going to try our best, and just tour it.
What’s the message that your music brings to people?
Basically, we try to keep it positive instead of like the singer from Staind who walks all around depressed you know. It’s like, fuck off! Shut up! You know what I mean? It’s like, enjoy yourself and go on stage and get everyone excited…positivity really. We just try to promote our vibe. A lot of bands are stupid, you know what I mean, a lot of metal bands. It’s kind of biased to say you like them even though you like them. We want it to be cool to like us. Not ashamed to be in a heavy band. Like I say, I really like Slipknot, and someone says “Oh those guys in masks?! Oh my God, you like those?”
Yeah the good thing is you guys have indie credibility. Everyone used to like Limp Bizkit, but now they are the most hated band.
Yeah yeah, same with Linkin Park you know. It’s like, you liked Linkin Park last year so why don’t you like them now you know?
The hardcore fans are always like, “my band’s changing and I don’t like them anymore!” I used to be the same way with bands when I was a kid you know. I used to love the Deftones and as soon as everyone else liked the Deftones, I was like, I don’t like them anymore. You know what I mean, and move on.
It’s like Glassjaw. I love Glassjaw and now everyone seems to be wearing Glassjaw t-shirts!
Author: Arturo Perez
Date: 20th March 2002
Link: Kludge
On the evening of March 20th, I ventured into the El Rey Theater for the MTV 2 tour featuring the Apex Theory and Lostprophets. The place wasn’t packed, but the fans were all very enthusiastic about their bands, even arriving early for the opening act, Quarashi. As Lostprophets took the stage, the band rocked it up, with their incredible stage presence and catchy guitar riffs that reminisce the Calabasas sound of bands like Incubus, Hoobastank and Audiovent. The fans rocked it up as well, singing along to every song, and initiating a pretty good sized mosh pit. At the end of their exhausting show, I went up to congratulate the band for their efforts and asked to set up an interview for later time. To my surprise, the entire band was willing to do it right there on the spot, despite the fact that they had to take off on their tour bus for San Francisco a few hours later.
After picking up my recording material, we met with the band at a 24/7 restaurant nearby, and had a fun chat on their musical likes/dislikes, their upcoming album, the possibility of a new EP and much more.
What inspired you create such California-influenced music, in a time when England is full of other genres
We’ve been into metal since we were little kids. You know what I mean, from Iron Maiden, Anthrax, Metallica and everything you know and, like we hated the Britpop stuff. It pissed me off, I fucking hated it. I couldn’t stand it for so long because you know, we came and tried to show our music off and nobody would listen to us because they were into Oasis. We just grew up on like Metallica and watching American movies.
You’ve always enjoyed the American lifestyle then?
Yeah, basically, you know!
Why did you guys stay independent for so long? Was it because it was hard to grasp an audience in your area?
Yeah, we even managed ourselves and everything you know because nobody would listen to us really. You know what I mean? We were like, oh we are really good and everyone’s like…so? So everyone just went off on their own thing and Limp Bizkit got big and Linkin Park got big and everyone was like, oh! Lostprophets sound a little bit like that…
Do you guys have any new songs, considering this album is a re-release of your independent so it’s been out for a while!
Yeah, we were going to play some new songs tonight but we didn’t have much time so we just played songs off the album so we didn’t like confuse anyone you know what I mean? A few people tonight knew the words so it was cool.
Yeah, you even had a heavy mosh pit going!
Yeah it was cool man, you know what I mean? Good to see man! We just like people reacting to our music as much as we reach to them you know? It’s got to be a two way thing. If you don’t give the crowd anything to buzz off, why would you expect them to go nuts? When we play, straight off, we are all jumping around and everyone is all oh! And they want to be a part of it so…yeah, we usually get the best crowd reactions really. We like it rough.
What’s the direction of the new songs?
It’s kind of like progressing from the last album basically. We didn’t play live much when we did this album. There are certain songs we played live though, and there are bits in there that are kind of boring for us to play live so we’ve cut those sections off and just kept it interesting all the time for us. The songs are probably a little bit shorter and a little bit heavier. We’ve written a lot of songs but we don’t know which ones we want to keep. We’ll see how it goes!
You guys already recorded some of them?
One song…we did a song with this producer guy just to see what it’s like and see if we’ll use him on the next album. That was quite a catchy song though…
When are you planning to do the new album?
Maybe about a year’s time because we are brand new to a lot of people.
Is there anything to hold the old school fans off? I’m sure they won’t like the album delayed so much.
Yeah, especially in the UK, we are starting to get some stick ups from UK fans. They go “oh it’s the same album as your independent” and we go, “well yeah you know…” I think we are going to try to do an EP later in the summer…maybe and maybe not. Dreaming! Don’t quote me on it!
Ok so put it in big quotes?
Yeah, in big capital letters – THEY ARE DEFINITELY DOING… nah, it’d be cool to do a few…don’t print many and keep it kind of underground. As underground as you can keep it you know. We did a b-side the other day which turned out kind of cool! Like last show kind of cool you know?
So you are going to start playing a lot of new songs here and there?
Ah..yeah, probably not for a while though since we are doing this tour where us and Apex Theory swap over as headliners for every other night. We headlined last night but we sucked! This was a hometown show for Apex so, yeah that’s cool.
What do you think of Apex?
Cool. Kind of like Mr. Bungle meets Alien Ant Farm…kind of the way they move on stage. They have that geeky movement kind of thing.
I kind of like Alien Ant Farm, I saw them live!
In England?
I saw them with Papa Roach in New York last year, but Snapcase killed the two bands. They killed them!
What bands do you like from the UK that you see rising up?
There’s a band called This Girl…they rock, and Douglas is really good. And bands like Vex Red…they are cool. There’s plenty of cool bands I forgot about as well, you know what I mean? So anyone I left out! Sorry.
What about Hell is for Heroes?
I haven’t heard much so far, but I don’t know…maybe they are good. I’ve heard one song and it didn’t really do much for me. You know, it’s like…they used to be in this pop/punk band and all of the sudden they want the Refused producer to do their album, and it’s like, oh, get a fucking life!
Yeah, I see those guys in Sunset quite a lot now
Eh! We got offered to move over here last year and we didn’t want to do it because we don’t want to fucking lose sight of where we come from really.
But you are going to hit the North American market pretty heavy now right?
Who knows. We are going to try our best, and just tour it.
What’s the message that your music brings to people?
Basically, we try to keep it positive instead of like the singer from Staind who walks all around depressed you know. It’s like, fuck off! Shut up! You know what I mean? It’s like, enjoy yourself and go on stage and get everyone excited…positivity really. We just try to promote our vibe. A lot of bands are stupid, you know what I mean, a lot of metal bands. It’s kind of biased to say you like them even though you like them. We want it to be cool to like us. Not ashamed to be in a heavy band. Like I say, I really like Slipknot, and someone says “Oh those guys in masks?! Oh my God, you like those?”
Yeah the good thing is you guys have indie credibility. Everyone used to like Limp Bizkit, but now they are the most hated band.
Yeah yeah, same with Linkin Park you know. It’s like, you liked Linkin Park last year so why don’t you like them now you know?
The hardcore fans are always like, “my band’s changing and I don’t like them anymore!” I used to be the same way with bands when I was a kid you know. I used to love the Deftones and as soon as everyone else liked the Deftones, I was like, I don’t like them anymore. You know what I mean, and move on.
It’s like Glassjaw. I love Glassjaw and now everyone seems to be wearing Glassjaw t-shirts!
