Julia Conny
02/21/07, 01:05 AM
Robots and run-ins with cops? Glass floors and interior decorating? Victory Record's The Sleeping (http://www.absolutepunk.net/thesleeping) had a lot of great stories up their sleeves, and they let it all out right here. The re-release, Believe What We Tell You, is out now - listen and learn (http://www.myspace.com/thesleeping). A big thanks to Joe and Doug for indulging us with their cute secrets and wild tales.
First of all, what is your name and what do you play in The Sleeping?
Doug: I’m Doug and I sing.
Joe: I’m Joe and I play the drums.
Let’s go through a general history. How did The Sleeping project come about?
Joe: We were a band called Sky Came Falling. The guitar player was the only original member, and then the bass player and I got into the band. The band soon after broke up but a few of us wanted to continue. We sought out a singer, tried out so many people, and we picked Doug. Within a few months we were playing our first show. That was April of 2003. In fall of 2003 we started touring.
Is there significance behind the name?
Joe: No, not really. We couldn’t pick a name. We had no idea what we wanted to name the band, so this one just sort of fell into place. We sort of attribute the name to an idea we had at the time - how a lot of people seem to not have a drive or passion for anything. They don’t want to go out and achieve their dreams - working, going to school, and sort of being like a robot. We didn’t pick the name because of that, but when people ask us what it means, that’s something that comes up.
Speaking of robots, is there a reason why you had a couple on stage tonight?
Joe: Haha. We were decorating our first studio like a thrift store. We got a carpet and things to put on the walls, and we found this robot! We were like, “We have to have this guy!” We thought he was from the 80’s, but when we got home, we found out he was actually 1999’s Toy of the Year. We’ve had him forever. Our friend, Justin, got us the second one, and we put a laser in his head.
I read somewhere that you auditioned 22 singers before finally choosing Doug. What was it about his vocals or energy or anything that helped you realize he would be a perfect fit for the band?
Joe: I think it was more his determination and his drive. Everybody else was all right, but we felt Doug had the most determination to make it happen. We didn’t get that vibe from a lot of other people. He proved it because when we took him into the band, we lied to him and told him he wasn’t in the band, and he freaked out. He said he would kill anybody to do it, so we were like, “Okay! So I guess you are serious! We were just joking, by the way.”
Doug: I was ready to kill people if I had to.
I remember when I was first getting into music of these sorts; I was envious of Long Island, as though your trees grew talented, successful bands. For those of us that live elsewhere, is the LI music scene all that it’s cracked up to be?
Doug: Well, I moved there when the band started. I’m actually originally from Jersey, but I definitely like the vibe a lot better there. Everybody is pretty tight-knit, any Long Island band that tours a lot and deserves the credit that’s coming to them, I guess. Everyone is close. You wind up meeting the band on tour, and you just get close. It all depends on what you mean “how it’s cracked up to be.” You know, Taking Back Sunday and I Am The Avalanche – those guys are genuinely good dudes. It makes us happy to know that just because they’re from The Island. Especially me just meeting everyone.
Joe: I don’t know if there is something in the water, but there are a lot of good bands coming out of the area. I think it might be because it’s a culturally diverse area. We’re really close to New York City and anyone from any corner of the world is living in NYC. There is just so much culture there that it helps open people up to listening to different things.
Doug: And the pizza’s dope.
Joe: Yeah, the pizza is dope.
How did the deal with Victory come about? What do you like most about being on Victory?
Joe: We were on an indie label for a while and just touring our butts off. We wanted to take a step forward but we were still bound by contract. A lot of labels had stepped up to the door, but no one had wanted to step through it. Victory showed a lot of promise. We met them and we thought it would happen. We bro’ed down with a lot of people at Victory, and we figured that was nothing but a good thing. They were pushing us to Tony and the other head honchos. Nothing had unfold, and were constantly like, “Yo, dude. Did you give anyone our CD?” But we were still bound by contract on our old label. One day we just all had it; we were just fed up. We wanted to make a move. We were about to make a second record; we didn’t want to stay on the label that we were on.
My bass player and I straight up called Tony, but he didn’t answer so we emailed him. We were like, “Yo. Here’s the deal. We are a hardworking band. We bust our ass. I know you know who we are. We’re friends with all your people. We know they bust their ass for you, and we know they would bust their ass for us. We work as hard as any other band out there. We think we’d make a good team, and we need someone like you behind us.” Two seconds later he wrote us back. I called him and we talked business for 45 minutes on the phone. I did my best to sell the band. The next day we had a contract in our email. He likes to move fast. Then he was like, “Alright cool! Your record comes out in March so get to work.” We had to cancel any tour plans we had. We had about two/three months to write the record. As far as what we like about Victory, Doug…
Doug: [to Joe] I would just like to tell you that you can curse on AbsolutePunk. You said “heck” a couple times. I’m thinking, this isn’t Joe [laughs]. What I like about Victory is that everybody is hardworking. Everyone on the staff wants to work just as hard, and it just proves you don’t have to just be the band on the road working your ass off. They all try to push us hard. And Snapcase and Quicksand were the shit back in the day.
Does being a Victory band, or being on a tour as big as Nintendo Fusion, ever intimidate you?
Doug: Not really that it was intimidating, but the tour just wasn’t for us. Two of the bands were Christian bands, and Relient K had a big draw. We don’t have anything against anyone – we want everyone to have a good time. But when you have kids praying for you up front because you said a curse word on stage, this is just too wack.
Joe: Kids would say, “Oh, you cursed on stage. We can’t support that. We need to return that CD that we just bought.“
Doug: I fought, like, three moms.
Joe: You know, we’re open-minded guys. We don’t have anything wrong with anybody’s beliefs, but we don’t like being told what to do. This is a rock show. Be who you are, enjoy the show, and if you don’t enjoy it, don’t feel the need to shove it in our faces because we’re not like you.
The first time I saw you guys, you were playing a small art gallery in Pittsburgh, Mr. Roboto Project, with Halfway Home, if I remember correctly. This is a far cry from some of your recent tours, like Nintendo Fusion or a sold out show like this. Do you feel as though you’ve accomplished your goals as a band?
Doug: There is definitely a lot more. One of the really good things about our band is that we are all big over-achievers. I feel, personally, that I have accomplished goals in my life, but whenever you pass a certain goal, you start another one. It never ends, especially when you are like us and want to play all the time. We just want to do new things and go to different spots. We go to one place and we’re like “Cool. What’s next?”
You’ve been touring basically non-stop for how long now? 3 years?
Doug: Three and a half.
We can say four, even. You know, round it up.
Doug: We’ve been touring for 20 years!
I imagine you have some great tour stories.
Doug: Yeah! (Laughs) We got one that just happened this morning.
Joe: This morning we are leaving a friend’s house that we stayed at. It was a dead end, so we had to make a U-turn. We’re making the turn and this lady comes out of her house, and she’s like “Get out of my fucking driveway!” And we’re like, “No, it’s cool. We’re just making a U-turn.” Then she screams, “You’re in the grass!!” We have a trailer so it took forever [laughs]. We back up and this lady is still yelling at us at, like, ten o’clock in the morning. It was pretty obnoxious. This is one of the best tour stories we have – we found two kids that ran away from home at 2:30 in the morning in West Virginia. They were ten and six. We helped them out, called the cops. Turns out the dad beat the mom. It was crazy shit. And we’ve gotten shot at a few times.
Like with guns?
Joe: As in with guns.
Doug: Like gunfire.
Joe: In Orlando there was a gunfight that we were sort in the middle of. But we’re cool. The craziest thing that happened was when we were driving in Florida. We had a shuttle bus at the time. One of the robots, Emiglio, had a plastic gun in his hand; Sal and Doug are wrestling with it. I’m driving and all of the sudden I see a cop on the side of the road. He pulls out behind us, and I’m thinking, we’re gonna get pulled over and I don’t know why. Next thing I know, there are a bunch of cop cars behind us. They turn the lights on, pull us over, and I’m like “What the fuck, we didn’t do anything!” I’m not speeding, I’m not swerving, nothing. The guy walks up behind and he’s like “Get out of the fucking vehicle!” They never ask you to get out of the vehicle, so I’m wondering what’s up. I get out and the cop has his hand on his gun.
By this point there are two or three cop cars, and the cops are standing by their cars, ready to battle. You know, I’m just this short little hardcore dude. He goes “What are you doing?” I’m like “I’m in a band. We’re driving from Orlando. What’s the problem?” He says, “I need you to open this. What do you have in the back?” I’m like “It’s band equipment.” He’s like “How many people in there?” “We have six.” “Drugs, alcohol, weapons?” I’m like “No sir, we don’t have anything. Can you please explain to me why this is going on?” He said they had a complaint that the driver of the vehicle was holding a passenger hostage by gunpoint. Everybody gets out of the vehicle. My merch guy is half asleep in his pajamas. They pulled us out and threw us against the side of the bus, and now we are assuming the position on the side of the highway.
Doug: I had a black eye and a beard.
Joe: Yeah! The sketchiest fucking thing. They come over and pat us down. [Doug] goes to scratch his leg and a female cop kicks him and says “Don’t fucking move!” They look through our thing and find our big gun [laughs]. The head cop, the fucking nerd that he was, goes back to his car and comes back with the stupidest speech. The rest of the cops are laughing because they know this is retarded. He comes back and he just lets us have – “You guys are just little kids! Don’t you know you gotta grow up!?” We’re laughing, thinking, This is so fucked. This kid is like, “I’ll take the blame for it, sir. I’m sorry; I just didn’t think anything of it. I was just cleaning the bus. We were moving around and…” “I don’t care! You’re a child! You should know better!” “I do know better, and I’m not a child. It was a simple mistake.” The cop is flipping out. He gives us the gun back and just leaves. Oh, and he said, “We were swerving through ditches trying to catch you guys!” We were in shuttle bus that goes 50 miles per hour! We’re not in Lamborghinis and shit. It was one of the many crazy stories.
That’s hilarious. What’s on your tour rider?
Doug: Batteries. For the robots. A wrestling buddy that we definitely haven’t gotten.
Joe: Chips and stuff like that.
Doug: Assorted chocolates.
Let’s talk about Cartoon Network.
Doug: No.
Haha. I want to talk about it. I saw the video; I thought it was adorable.
Doug: I saw someone saying on the site [AP.net], “Why are you on the Cartoon Network thing?” Guess what, buddy? We didn’t have a choice and we loved it.
Joe: It ended up being one of the greatest days of our life. We started Warped Tour that day too. Some band was already scheduled to do it, and they backed out last minute. So we got a call from Victory, saying we gotta do this thing tomorrow. We’re playing on Cartoon Network? All right. But we said we didn’t know if we could do it, and they were sort of hinting that we didn’t have a choice because they needed a band to fill the spot. It was a Thursday or something and we had to be at Warped Tour at like 8 o’clock in the morning on Friday. We were like, “Where is it?” “Atlanta.” “Well, we’re in Buffalo...” So we didn’t sleep at all that night because we had to be at the airport at 4. We were up and hanging out with friends, partying in Buffalo. We took the plane ride to Atlanta, tweaked the fuck out, but it was sort of fun. A little different, but unique. We met some cool people, so fuck it.
We missed our flight coming back, and we were nervous we weren’t gonna make Warped Tour and it was our first date ever, but Victory got us on another flight. When we got back there was this black Suburban and this crazy bald dude waiting for us. He’s like, “Let’s go!” and we jump and the car and go. By the time we got off the plane it was like 6:30, we were supposed to play at 7:30, and it was a half hour away from the airport. By the time we got our bags we knew that we’d have, like, a ten-minute window. There are six dudes around the luggage thing, like, “Come on, please!” We finally get our bags, jump in the car, and the guy goes 90. We drive right up to the stage and our tech, who is the man, loaded all the shit by himself because he stayed. We walked right up on stage and played. It was sick because Buffalo treats us fucking well. And then we were dead. That was one of the craziest days ever, but it was fun.
[To Doug] I hear you like to read, specifically non-fiction.
Doug: Yeah, I do. I haven’t read in a little while.
What are some of your favorite authors/books?
Doug: I love non-fiction, but I’m really big on sci-fi too. I think when I did that interview I was really into a true crime phase. First I read Jenna Jameson, How to Make Love Like a Porn Star, you know. Then I read Helter Skelter. Then I read The Devil In The White City. But now I’ve actually been getting into interior design. I haven’t really told anyone.
It comes out now.
Doug: I watch HGTV. It’s really cool. There’s a lot of cool shit you can learn. So for Christmas I got a book on how to design rooms and shit like that. For real, it’s really fucking interesting. The way colors bring out rooms. Stuff I would never think of. Open floor plans. Crazy fucked up shit. Books are good. I watch The History Channel a lot. Do you watch The History Channel?
I watch the Food Network a lot.
Doug: Do you watch Take Home Chef?
Haha. I watch Food Network Challenge. You should watch it.
Doug: Do you watch Hammered on HGTV? With the two brothers from New York? The guy makes stuff, but the brother is just in the back being the brother. He makes wine racks and the brother will get drunk, comes back and says, “How’s the wine rack going?”
Hah. Ok, I’m gonna check it out.
Doug: Oh, and chicks rule.
You made a video for “Loud And Clear.” What was it like making a music video?
Joe: They kept us in the floor for hours. It was one of the worst experiences of my whole life.
Doug: The next day we all had bruises.
Joe: There was no vent in that thing. They didn’t realize that it might get hot. They glued down the plexiglass because we had to punch the glass, so we were basically in coffins. So we would come out, and it would just be a wave of stink. We were sweaty and disgusting. I was probably lightheaded and nauseous for hours. It took hours to do it.
Doug: [To Joe] I never talked to you about that. It must of really sucked for you.
Joe: I had drums around me and I kept hitting on my knuckles on the rims of my drums. I’m breaking lights with the drumsticks. The worst part is it had to be 150 degrees in there and getting so lightheaded that you felt as though you were going to throw up. And that was for about four or five hours.
Doug: They would be standing on the glass, like, “You guys having fun yet?” And we’re all looking at them, saying “No! We’re not fucking having fun!”
Joe: The cool part is that there was a nurse in our video. I wasn’t lucky enough, but one of our guys was able to see up her skirt. Then she put on boy shorts, but it was still sick. That got me through.
Doug: My girlfriend at the time was at the shoot, so you know.
Joe: But there was that camera thing.
Doug: Yeah. There was a camera thing. They were all standing behind it so I didn’t know when they were zooming in on me. Every time she walked over, I would look over really quick.
I was actually going to ask you next what it was like to be trapped in a glass floor.
Doug: It was brutal. I always have to plug this because I’m badass like this, but I’m the only one that broke my section of glass. It was awesome. The girl was scared to walk over me.
We are only a couple weeks away from the re-release of Believe What We Tell You. Why re-release?
Doug: We see it as a good thing. More push, and it shows older stuff from the band. There are some new features to it. We’re gonna have a DVD on it from us recording the first record. It’s got our first demo on it, which we made, like, 1000 of. This kid [to Joe] airbrushed hearts and Supermans on them.
Joe: The day before we left for our first tour we took them home and just burned, gave them to friends and said “Just burn as many as you can!” It was pretty much shit. The night before tour I taped them the wall and painted every single one by hand.
Doug: I think we have pictures of that on the re-release.
Joe: It’s just three songs from the original demos that are on there. It didn’t sell that many copies and it didn’t get out to that many people. The only reason it got out is because we toured so much off the record.
I have a copy.
Joe: See, you have a copy. How did you get it? You were at Mr. Roboto Project.
I was indeed.
Joe: Word, son!
Doug: You are the Roboto Queen.
Joe: That’s just how that record got out. Now we have larger distribution and a larger label that will help push it. Hopefully people will hear the first record because we are in love with it.
If a new fan was to buy the album, what are a couple tracks you would direct them to first?
Doug: I’m sure there will be a difference in opinions here. Joe, good luck. Umm, on that record I really like “Sunday Matinee.” It had a lot of energy. I would also have to say “Funus-Eris.” It’s a very chill song. It’s got an epic big ending. It’s just a cool song. I like the way it flows, and I think it shows a chill side of us.
Joe: I like “Sunday Matinee” too. It’s sort of an explanation musically on what our band is about – the way the song has heavy parts, soft parts, electronic parts, grooved out parts. It’s every style that we are melted into one song. I like “The Big Breakdown – Day 2.” I feel as though it’s different then a lot of the other tracks on the record, and that makes it stand out a lot.
What songs off Questions and Answers are your favorites?
Joe: I like “Don’t Hold Back” a lot for the same reasons I like “Sunday Matinee.” It sums up the band. And I like “Dearest Mistake.” It has a rogue organ in it, which is my favorite instrument ever. I think it’s a powerful song lyrically.
Doug: I’d have to say that “Don’t Hold Back” is one. I like “King of Hearts,” but it’s really weird – we just started playing it live, and that song is very, very personal for me. I wrote it when I was the shittiest I’ve ever been. Now things are a little different with it. It’s kind of hard to explain. Now, when I play it I get really happy. It shows a time in my life that I overcame with someone and what not. When I play it I still feel kinda funny, but it also makes me think that it’s cool to get over shit with people and what not, especially when you come out on top. And “Hotel Rock.” That’s something you guys haven’t heard, and maybe one day you will.
Have you begun writing new material? Will you be playing any of it live soon?
Doug: No, we haven’t. We will (laughs).
Joe: Just some randomness. We haven’t had a chance because we have been touring so much. We were off all last month and in jam sessions some riffage came out. Just some random jams. As for now, we have nothing. I’m looking forward to new stuff, but we really want to push this new record to more people.
What was the last show you attended where you weren’t performing?
Doug: One of the last ones was Glassjaw. It was cool too because they played two shows in one day on The Island.
Any last words?
Doug: I’m really good at hackey sacking.
Joe: I’m not.
First of all, what is your name and what do you play in The Sleeping?
Doug: I’m Doug and I sing.
Joe: I’m Joe and I play the drums.
Let’s go through a general history. How did The Sleeping project come about?
Joe: We were a band called Sky Came Falling. The guitar player was the only original member, and then the bass player and I got into the band. The band soon after broke up but a few of us wanted to continue. We sought out a singer, tried out so many people, and we picked Doug. Within a few months we were playing our first show. That was April of 2003. In fall of 2003 we started touring.
Is there significance behind the name?
Joe: No, not really. We couldn’t pick a name. We had no idea what we wanted to name the band, so this one just sort of fell into place. We sort of attribute the name to an idea we had at the time - how a lot of people seem to not have a drive or passion for anything. They don’t want to go out and achieve their dreams - working, going to school, and sort of being like a robot. We didn’t pick the name because of that, but when people ask us what it means, that’s something that comes up.
Speaking of robots, is there a reason why you had a couple on stage tonight?
Joe: Haha. We were decorating our first studio like a thrift store. We got a carpet and things to put on the walls, and we found this robot! We were like, “We have to have this guy!” We thought he was from the 80’s, but when we got home, we found out he was actually 1999’s Toy of the Year. We’ve had him forever. Our friend, Justin, got us the second one, and we put a laser in his head.
I read somewhere that you auditioned 22 singers before finally choosing Doug. What was it about his vocals or energy or anything that helped you realize he would be a perfect fit for the band?
Joe: I think it was more his determination and his drive. Everybody else was all right, but we felt Doug had the most determination to make it happen. We didn’t get that vibe from a lot of other people. He proved it because when we took him into the band, we lied to him and told him he wasn’t in the band, and he freaked out. He said he would kill anybody to do it, so we were like, “Okay! So I guess you are serious! We were just joking, by the way.”
Doug: I was ready to kill people if I had to.
I remember when I was first getting into music of these sorts; I was envious of Long Island, as though your trees grew talented, successful bands. For those of us that live elsewhere, is the LI music scene all that it’s cracked up to be?
Doug: Well, I moved there when the band started. I’m actually originally from Jersey, but I definitely like the vibe a lot better there. Everybody is pretty tight-knit, any Long Island band that tours a lot and deserves the credit that’s coming to them, I guess. Everyone is close. You wind up meeting the band on tour, and you just get close. It all depends on what you mean “how it’s cracked up to be.” You know, Taking Back Sunday and I Am The Avalanche – those guys are genuinely good dudes. It makes us happy to know that just because they’re from The Island. Especially me just meeting everyone.
Joe: I don’t know if there is something in the water, but there are a lot of good bands coming out of the area. I think it might be because it’s a culturally diverse area. We’re really close to New York City and anyone from any corner of the world is living in NYC. There is just so much culture there that it helps open people up to listening to different things.
Doug: And the pizza’s dope.
Joe: Yeah, the pizza is dope.
How did the deal with Victory come about? What do you like most about being on Victory?
Joe: We were on an indie label for a while and just touring our butts off. We wanted to take a step forward but we were still bound by contract. A lot of labels had stepped up to the door, but no one had wanted to step through it. Victory showed a lot of promise. We met them and we thought it would happen. We bro’ed down with a lot of people at Victory, and we figured that was nothing but a good thing. They were pushing us to Tony and the other head honchos. Nothing had unfold, and were constantly like, “Yo, dude. Did you give anyone our CD?” But we were still bound by contract on our old label. One day we just all had it; we were just fed up. We wanted to make a move. We were about to make a second record; we didn’t want to stay on the label that we were on.
My bass player and I straight up called Tony, but he didn’t answer so we emailed him. We were like, “Yo. Here’s the deal. We are a hardworking band. We bust our ass. I know you know who we are. We’re friends with all your people. We know they bust their ass for you, and we know they would bust their ass for us. We work as hard as any other band out there. We think we’d make a good team, and we need someone like you behind us.” Two seconds later he wrote us back. I called him and we talked business for 45 minutes on the phone. I did my best to sell the band. The next day we had a contract in our email. He likes to move fast. Then he was like, “Alright cool! Your record comes out in March so get to work.” We had to cancel any tour plans we had. We had about two/three months to write the record. As far as what we like about Victory, Doug…
Doug: [to Joe] I would just like to tell you that you can curse on AbsolutePunk. You said “heck” a couple times. I’m thinking, this isn’t Joe [laughs]. What I like about Victory is that everybody is hardworking. Everyone on the staff wants to work just as hard, and it just proves you don’t have to just be the band on the road working your ass off. They all try to push us hard. And Snapcase and Quicksand were the shit back in the day.
Does being a Victory band, or being on a tour as big as Nintendo Fusion, ever intimidate you?
Doug: Not really that it was intimidating, but the tour just wasn’t for us. Two of the bands were Christian bands, and Relient K had a big draw. We don’t have anything against anyone – we want everyone to have a good time. But when you have kids praying for you up front because you said a curse word on stage, this is just too wack.
Joe: Kids would say, “Oh, you cursed on stage. We can’t support that. We need to return that CD that we just bought.“
Doug: I fought, like, three moms.
Joe: You know, we’re open-minded guys. We don’t have anything wrong with anybody’s beliefs, but we don’t like being told what to do. This is a rock show. Be who you are, enjoy the show, and if you don’t enjoy it, don’t feel the need to shove it in our faces because we’re not like you.
The first time I saw you guys, you were playing a small art gallery in Pittsburgh, Mr. Roboto Project, with Halfway Home, if I remember correctly. This is a far cry from some of your recent tours, like Nintendo Fusion or a sold out show like this. Do you feel as though you’ve accomplished your goals as a band?
Doug: There is definitely a lot more. One of the really good things about our band is that we are all big over-achievers. I feel, personally, that I have accomplished goals in my life, but whenever you pass a certain goal, you start another one. It never ends, especially when you are like us and want to play all the time. We just want to do new things and go to different spots. We go to one place and we’re like “Cool. What’s next?”
You’ve been touring basically non-stop for how long now? 3 years?
Doug: Three and a half.
We can say four, even. You know, round it up.
Doug: We’ve been touring for 20 years!
I imagine you have some great tour stories.
Doug: Yeah! (Laughs) We got one that just happened this morning.
Joe: This morning we are leaving a friend’s house that we stayed at. It was a dead end, so we had to make a U-turn. We’re making the turn and this lady comes out of her house, and she’s like “Get out of my fucking driveway!” And we’re like, “No, it’s cool. We’re just making a U-turn.” Then she screams, “You’re in the grass!!” We have a trailer so it took forever [laughs]. We back up and this lady is still yelling at us at, like, ten o’clock in the morning. It was pretty obnoxious. This is one of the best tour stories we have – we found two kids that ran away from home at 2:30 in the morning in West Virginia. They were ten and six. We helped them out, called the cops. Turns out the dad beat the mom. It was crazy shit. And we’ve gotten shot at a few times.
Like with guns?
Joe: As in with guns.
Doug: Like gunfire.
Joe: In Orlando there was a gunfight that we were sort in the middle of. But we’re cool. The craziest thing that happened was when we were driving in Florida. We had a shuttle bus at the time. One of the robots, Emiglio, had a plastic gun in his hand; Sal and Doug are wrestling with it. I’m driving and all of the sudden I see a cop on the side of the road. He pulls out behind us, and I’m thinking, we’re gonna get pulled over and I don’t know why. Next thing I know, there are a bunch of cop cars behind us. They turn the lights on, pull us over, and I’m like “What the fuck, we didn’t do anything!” I’m not speeding, I’m not swerving, nothing. The guy walks up behind and he’s like “Get out of the fucking vehicle!” They never ask you to get out of the vehicle, so I’m wondering what’s up. I get out and the cop has his hand on his gun.
By this point there are two or three cop cars, and the cops are standing by their cars, ready to battle. You know, I’m just this short little hardcore dude. He goes “What are you doing?” I’m like “I’m in a band. We’re driving from Orlando. What’s the problem?” He says, “I need you to open this. What do you have in the back?” I’m like “It’s band equipment.” He’s like “How many people in there?” “We have six.” “Drugs, alcohol, weapons?” I’m like “No sir, we don’t have anything. Can you please explain to me why this is going on?” He said they had a complaint that the driver of the vehicle was holding a passenger hostage by gunpoint. Everybody gets out of the vehicle. My merch guy is half asleep in his pajamas. They pulled us out and threw us against the side of the bus, and now we are assuming the position on the side of the highway.
Doug: I had a black eye and a beard.
Joe: Yeah! The sketchiest fucking thing. They come over and pat us down. [Doug] goes to scratch his leg and a female cop kicks him and says “Don’t fucking move!” They look through our thing and find our big gun [laughs]. The head cop, the fucking nerd that he was, goes back to his car and comes back with the stupidest speech. The rest of the cops are laughing because they know this is retarded. He comes back and he just lets us have – “You guys are just little kids! Don’t you know you gotta grow up!?” We’re laughing, thinking, This is so fucked. This kid is like, “I’ll take the blame for it, sir. I’m sorry; I just didn’t think anything of it. I was just cleaning the bus. We were moving around and…” “I don’t care! You’re a child! You should know better!” “I do know better, and I’m not a child. It was a simple mistake.” The cop is flipping out. He gives us the gun back and just leaves. Oh, and he said, “We were swerving through ditches trying to catch you guys!” We were in shuttle bus that goes 50 miles per hour! We’re not in Lamborghinis and shit. It was one of the many crazy stories.
That’s hilarious. What’s on your tour rider?
Doug: Batteries. For the robots. A wrestling buddy that we definitely haven’t gotten.
Joe: Chips and stuff like that.
Doug: Assorted chocolates.
Let’s talk about Cartoon Network.
Doug: No.
Haha. I want to talk about it. I saw the video; I thought it was adorable.
Doug: I saw someone saying on the site [AP.net], “Why are you on the Cartoon Network thing?” Guess what, buddy? We didn’t have a choice and we loved it.
Joe: It ended up being one of the greatest days of our life. We started Warped Tour that day too. Some band was already scheduled to do it, and they backed out last minute. So we got a call from Victory, saying we gotta do this thing tomorrow. We’re playing on Cartoon Network? All right. But we said we didn’t know if we could do it, and they were sort of hinting that we didn’t have a choice because they needed a band to fill the spot. It was a Thursday or something and we had to be at Warped Tour at like 8 o’clock in the morning on Friday. We were like, “Where is it?” “Atlanta.” “Well, we’re in Buffalo...” So we didn’t sleep at all that night because we had to be at the airport at 4. We were up and hanging out with friends, partying in Buffalo. We took the plane ride to Atlanta, tweaked the fuck out, but it was sort of fun. A little different, but unique. We met some cool people, so fuck it.
We missed our flight coming back, and we were nervous we weren’t gonna make Warped Tour and it was our first date ever, but Victory got us on another flight. When we got back there was this black Suburban and this crazy bald dude waiting for us. He’s like, “Let’s go!” and we jump and the car and go. By the time we got off the plane it was like 6:30, we were supposed to play at 7:30, and it was a half hour away from the airport. By the time we got our bags we knew that we’d have, like, a ten-minute window. There are six dudes around the luggage thing, like, “Come on, please!” We finally get our bags, jump in the car, and the guy goes 90. We drive right up to the stage and our tech, who is the man, loaded all the shit by himself because he stayed. We walked right up on stage and played. It was sick because Buffalo treats us fucking well. And then we were dead. That was one of the craziest days ever, but it was fun.
[To Doug] I hear you like to read, specifically non-fiction.
Doug: Yeah, I do. I haven’t read in a little while.
What are some of your favorite authors/books?
Doug: I love non-fiction, but I’m really big on sci-fi too. I think when I did that interview I was really into a true crime phase. First I read Jenna Jameson, How to Make Love Like a Porn Star, you know. Then I read Helter Skelter. Then I read The Devil In The White City. But now I’ve actually been getting into interior design. I haven’t really told anyone.
It comes out now.
Doug: I watch HGTV. It’s really cool. There’s a lot of cool shit you can learn. So for Christmas I got a book on how to design rooms and shit like that. For real, it’s really fucking interesting. The way colors bring out rooms. Stuff I would never think of. Open floor plans. Crazy fucked up shit. Books are good. I watch The History Channel a lot. Do you watch The History Channel?
I watch the Food Network a lot.
Doug: Do you watch Take Home Chef?
Haha. I watch Food Network Challenge. You should watch it.
Doug: Do you watch Hammered on HGTV? With the two brothers from New York? The guy makes stuff, but the brother is just in the back being the brother. He makes wine racks and the brother will get drunk, comes back and says, “How’s the wine rack going?”
Hah. Ok, I’m gonna check it out.
Doug: Oh, and chicks rule.
You made a video for “Loud And Clear.” What was it like making a music video?
Joe: They kept us in the floor for hours. It was one of the worst experiences of my whole life.
Doug: The next day we all had bruises.
Joe: There was no vent in that thing. They didn’t realize that it might get hot. They glued down the plexiglass because we had to punch the glass, so we were basically in coffins. So we would come out, and it would just be a wave of stink. We were sweaty and disgusting. I was probably lightheaded and nauseous for hours. It took hours to do it.
Doug: [To Joe] I never talked to you about that. It must of really sucked for you.
Joe: I had drums around me and I kept hitting on my knuckles on the rims of my drums. I’m breaking lights with the drumsticks. The worst part is it had to be 150 degrees in there and getting so lightheaded that you felt as though you were going to throw up. And that was for about four or five hours.
Doug: They would be standing on the glass, like, “You guys having fun yet?” And we’re all looking at them, saying “No! We’re not fucking having fun!”
Joe: The cool part is that there was a nurse in our video. I wasn’t lucky enough, but one of our guys was able to see up her skirt. Then she put on boy shorts, but it was still sick. That got me through.
Doug: My girlfriend at the time was at the shoot, so you know.
Joe: But there was that camera thing.
Doug: Yeah. There was a camera thing. They were all standing behind it so I didn’t know when they were zooming in on me. Every time she walked over, I would look over really quick.
I was actually going to ask you next what it was like to be trapped in a glass floor.
Doug: It was brutal. I always have to plug this because I’m badass like this, but I’m the only one that broke my section of glass. It was awesome. The girl was scared to walk over me.
We are only a couple weeks away from the re-release of Believe What We Tell You. Why re-release?
Doug: We see it as a good thing. More push, and it shows older stuff from the band. There are some new features to it. We’re gonna have a DVD on it from us recording the first record. It’s got our first demo on it, which we made, like, 1000 of. This kid [to Joe] airbrushed hearts and Supermans on them.
Joe: The day before we left for our first tour we took them home and just burned, gave them to friends and said “Just burn as many as you can!” It was pretty much shit. The night before tour I taped them the wall and painted every single one by hand.
Doug: I think we have pictures of that on the re-release.
Joe: It’s just three songs from the original demos that are on there. It didn’t sell that many copies and it didn’t get out to that many people. The only reason it got out is because we toured so much off the record.
I have a copy.
Joe: See, you have a copy. How did you get it? You were at Mr. Roboto Project.
I was indeed.
Joe: Word, son!
Doug: You are the Roboto Queen.
Joe: That’s just how that record got out. Now we have larger distribution and a larger label that will help push it. Hopefully people will hear the first record because we are in love with it.
If a new fan was to buy the album, what are a couple tracks you would direct them to first?
Doug: I’m sure there will be a difference in opinions here. Joe, good luck. Umm, on that record I really like “Sunday Matinee.” It had a lot of energy. I would also have to say “Funus-Eris.” It’s a very chill song. It’s got an epic big ending. It’s just a cool song. I like the way it flows, and I think it shows a chill side of us.
Joe: I like “Sunday Matinee” too. It’s sort of an explanation musically on what our band is about – the way the song has heavy parts, soft parts, electronic parts, grooved out parts. It’s every style that we are melted into one song. I like “The Big Breakdown – Day 2.” I feel as though it’s different then a lot of the other tracks on the record, and that makes it stand out a lot.
What songs off Questions and Answers are your favorites?
Joe: I like “Don’t Hold Back” a lot for the same reasons I like “Sunday Matinee.” It sums up the band. And I like “Dearest Mistake.” It has a rogue organ in it, which is my favorite instrument ever. I think it’s a powerful song lyrically.
Doug: I’d have to say that “Don’t Hold Back” is one. I like “King of Hearts,” but it’s really weird – we just started playing it live, and that song is very, very personal for me. I wrote it when I was the shittiest I’ve ever been. Now things are a little different with it. It’s kind of hard to explain. Now, when I play it I get really happy. It shows a time in my life that I overcame with someone and what not. When I play it I still feel kinda funny, but it also makes me think that it’s cool to get over shit with people and what not, especially when you come out on top. And “Hotel Rock.” That’s something you guys haven’t heard, and maybe one day you will.
Have you begun writing new material? Will you be playing any of it live soon?
Doug: No, we haven’t. We will (laughs).
Joe: Just some randomness. We haven’t had a chance because we have been touring so much. We were off all last month and in jam sessions some riffage came out. Just some random jams. As for now, we have nothing. I’m looking forward to new stuff, but we really want to push this new record to more people.
What was the last show you attended where you weren’t performing?
Doug: One of the last ones was Glassjaw. It was cool too because they played two shows in one day on The Island.
Any last words?
Doug: I’m really good at hackey sacking.
Joe: I’m not.