Loved Ones, The - 01.31.07 - Interview

Home

Profiles

Exclusives

Blogs

Forums

Reviews

Gallery

Interviews

Releases

Articles

Advertise

Contact

Submit News

Search

Content

Interviews

Loved Ones, The - 01.31.07

Browse Interviews

Alphabetized Listing

Most Popular Interviews

Need Help?

Interview

Hint: Have a band you'd like to see interviewed? Tell us.

Inside AP.net View Artist Profile View News Articles Buy the Album or MP3s	Loved Ones, The - 01.31.07 Interviewed by: Nathan Lint (02/06/07)
	I'd like to thank Dave and Mike for taking time to talk to me. I'd also like to thank Vanessa over at Fat Wreck for getting this put together. First of all, state your name and what you do in the band. Dave - I'm Dave, I sing and play guitar in The Loved Ones. How do you feel about the departure of Mike "Spider" Cotterman? Dave - How do I feel about it? I feel okay about it. You know it's something that he wanted to do and I think in any relationship when you have somebody who wants to be out of the relationship, you don't want to hold somebody where they don't want to be. So, it's a little sad, a little difficult, but this tour has actually been great. We've been playing with our buddies Dave and Chris from The Explosion and we're having more fun then I think we've almost ever had as a band, so it's turned out pretty good so far. So there's no hard feelings? Dave - No...these things happen when you're in a band...hold on.. (Mike Sneeringer walks in) Will his departure affect the songwriting/sound of the band? Dave - Slightly, I don't think the songwriting, no, but I think it's affecting the sound somewhat. It just depends on whoever you get. Whenever you change a member, there's slight changes, but I don't think it will...what do you think, Mike? Mike - Whether it will affect our sound? Dave - Yeah. Mike - Probably, a little bit. Spider did write some things that contributed to the overall sound of Keep Your Heart. I don't think in any way it would be a step backwards, any time you add another element of another musician, you interact a little bit differently with everybody and it could be the best thing ever, you know? We have to wait and see who we're even going to have play on the record or if we're going to get a permanent bass. I mean we're just trying to figure everything out. We definitely want to get a permanent bassist, it's just a matter of when and things are winding down touring for Keep Your Heart, so...we just have to see what unfolds and who's available. How do you reply to those who seek to compare you to bands such as Lifetime, Kid Dynamite, and other bands you've worked with over the years? Dave - It doesn't even really come into my daily thought at all.. I mean people can compare us to whatever they want... I don't know, I don't really think about it all that much. Was there any other reason for the label jump from Jade Tree to Fat Wreck other then the opportunity? Dave - No, I mean it's just that we're the kind of band that has the idea that we want to play in front of as many people as possible. So, anytime you make a jump to a different label, you potentially have more opportunities and more resources and therefore you can reach more people. So that was basically the reason. Because I know you all were on Jade Tree in different bands before. Dave - Yeah, we all were, we all put out records with the label. Yeah, so there was some history. What's your relationship with everyone over at Fat Wreck? Dave - It's positive, there friends and good colleagues. They're supportive of what we do and the decisions we make. They're great. I don't think we really directly rely on Fat very much. I mean just the typical thin's that a label does. We kind of have our own program that we run. We tour when we want to tour, we have a good booking agent. We've gotten some good opportunities to tour, and we've also gotten our own headlining stuff. We kind of exist in tandem with them instead of having them sort of lead what we do. So, I think they like that, I don't think they like to do all the work for a young band. You guys toured with Lifetime this past summer, how was that experience for you? Dave - It was like hanging out with friends. It was good, they were kind of getting their sealegs back a little bit. They hadn't been on stages for a long time, so it was kind of interesting just that we had been on tour so much, so used to this lifestyle and used to playing shows. To have these older guys that had done it ten or more years ago. You know, other then Yemin, those guys had been pretty dormant. You know here and there he did bands. It was fun, I mean, we had a really good time. It was a short little run, maybe ten shows total. We had a great time, it was fun. We've gotten a lot of opportunities to play a lot of great shows with a lot of good people. It was just another good time. From what I hear, this is your first headlining tour as a band? Dave - Yeah. How was the crowd reacted to you so far? Dave - It's been fantastic. Just because open for a lot of bands doesn't mean that you have your own fans necessarily. You have to go out and do your own thing to determine if anyones really listening and pretty much across the board, we've had a solid showing at every town we've played and good times, spirited crowds, and people who are interested in the bands and know the words. For us our expectations are fairly low just because we are a new band. We have one record out, so you know it's been great! It's been terrific. Right now you're on tour with Zolof. How's this tour been going with them? Dave - Great! Mike - Yeah, I mean we get along with Zolof really well and we have a history with playing with them before on little runs. We knew they'd be something fun to bring out. Their a fun band that we get along with that might be a little different. You know sometimes we get clumped in, not so much anymore, with some of the hardcore/post-hardcore. So we just bring out a band that we just love to listen to. They're fun. They might not be the stereotypical band that people are used to seeing us with. That's the point of headlining, you get to do your own thing. Do you have any plans for the upcoming summer? Dave - Probably making a record, I would think. At least in the early part. We'll probably go back to the UK to do some shows. We really had a blast there and it was really successful, so we really need to get back there. But probably focus on making a record, that would be the main thing. You mentioned UK, but do you have any intentions of going to Australia? Dave - Yeah, we'd love to. It's just a matter of time and putting together a tour where everything is sorted out and we have a good tour ahead of us, things are taken care of financially. But yeah we plan on going anywhere the music takes us. Other countries and parts of the world, you know, we're pretty much game for whatever. Europe was incredible, so we kind of feel like any experience like that we can have would be great, Japan and Australia. I've never been to Australia, been to Japan, but not Australia, so it's something that i'm definitely interested in. Not the plane ride, though. Because I think someone said you were supposed to play there with Less Than Jake, but you dropped off that leg. Dave - No, we never got offered. You know that's weird. Less Than Jake has come up like four times today. (to Mike) and you know that number that was coming up on my phone? It was Vinny from Less Than Jake. But anyhow, no, they asked us to do the American tour that we did, but we didn't get asked to do Australia or anything else. Mike - What was the one we got asked for Japan, it was like No Use For A Name. Dave - Something like that. Mike - Yeah it was like No Use For A Name, but we didn't end up doing it. How's the writing been for the new record? Dave - It's been kind of slow, we spend a lot of time touring, so it's difficult to sometimes write on the road, especially in this situation because we're breaking in new musicians and trying to make sure our sets tight. So writing new material is kind of put on the backburner, but I have a ton of ideas. We have a couple of things that will probably end up on the record. I have a ton of ideas and songs, it's just a matter of getting them ready to go and worked out. So it's something we're definitely looking forward to, and excited about, making a new record. Like you said, you've had the help of Chris and Dave from The Explosion, have you had any ideas for a replacement for Spider? Dave - Yeah there's always ideas, I mean, we're just going to have to see. Right now we're trying to get these tours we have booked straightened out and make sure we have somewhere to play those tours. We're doing the west coast with Dead To Me, headlining that tour, and then we're playing on the tour with Strike Anywhere and The Bouncing Souls in Canada. So those two tours we need replacements for. But I don't think we're looking right this minute for a permanent person. I mean it's just right now we're sort of looking to get done what we already have booked. Do you have any intentions to do anymore music videos? Dave - Yeah, sure, because videos are good ways to promote the bands and the music. It's a different sort of art form and we feel like we have a good relationship with Jason Shevchuk. He shot both of our videos and I would like to work with him again. He kind of comes from a similar place in terms of kind of the way he was raised on music and stuff that we do, so our ideas work well together. So yeah, for sure, we'll definitely shoot more videos. It's fun. Yeah, because I saw your videos for the first time the other day. I didn't even know you had any until a couple days ago. They're actually really cool and really well done. I guess I just wasn't expecting that from you. Dave - Oh really? Well how come? I don't know. I just wasn't expecting it because you actually had good ideas for the videos and it was just some footage of a live show with the music tracked behind it. The typical run of the mill stuff. Dave - Yeah, we try and have fun with it. Something you're going to want to watch. Mike - We average about four to five cases of beer per video. So we definitely have fun doing it. It's all pretty lighthearted and we just bounce ideas off of Jason. For the 100K video, we showed up at like 10 in the morning and just sat around his living room. It was kind of just like "hey, lets try this". We had general ideas, but we kind of worked out like a little storyboard just right there that day in the morning. We had a blast Dave - Yeah, we had like a general concept but we didn't have it quite worked out and we worked it out right there. Then we started drinking and by the end of the day we had a video. Here's a different kind of question. What's the most ridiculous thing that you've done or that's happened to you on the road? Dave - (laughs) We've got a couple of them. I mean with this band? or in my life? Either or. Dave - I don't know, man. (to Mike) why don't you answer this one. Mike - Okay, in Ottawa, I won a stripping contest at a strip club and then got beat up in a seperate event three hours later. So that was pretty wild. Dave - It's true. (laughs) Random Dave - Yeah. Mike - Randomly Awesome. Here's another random question. What's your favorite place to eat on the road? Mike - Go with the place we've been going a lot recently for breakfast. Dave - Uhh..Panera Bread probably. Mike - It's a great value. Dave - It's a great resturant. It's my favorite resturant. It's up there with other resturants like Starbucks. I don't know, I mean there's always a good little Cafe in New York City or Chicago. The Chicago Diner's great. New York's got Vegetarian Paradise. Philly's got a lot of great places, The Adobe Cafe. What else? I don't know DC's got some good places. Mike - We've just kind of learned over time that every citys got at least one place that we look forward to. It's rare to come to a place where we don't look forward to some of the food. Dave - England, the foods terrible. Mike - The foods horrendous. Dave - But the shows are awesome. Mike - The shows are great, though, so we don't really care. As long as we don't die of hunger, then we're stoked. If you weren't musicians, what do you think you'd be doing? Dave - I'd just work more then I do now. I don't know. Mike - If I wasn't a musician? Oh, I don't know. I'd have some shitty job that i'd hate. Name three bands, together or disbanded, dead or alive, that you would tour with given the chance. Dave - The Clash, The Police. Mike - The Beatles. Dave - The Beatles. Oh The Replacements. Are there any other bands that you think we should know about? Or releases that you've been into lately? Dave - Well...let's see... The Hold Steady for sure, that record was my favorite of last year. Regina Spektor's record was awesome (saw that one coming), Decemberists record last year was real good. You liked that one, right Mike? Mike - Yeah. I've heard the new Shins record, it's really good Dave - Yeah, the Shins record is real good. Neko Case's record was great. Dead To Me, they put out a nice record. Tom Petty's last record was awesome. Bruce Springsteens last record was great. That Johnny Cash record that came out last year was great. There were a lot of great record that came out last year. Lot's of good stuff. Patty Griffin has a new record that comes out next week. I'm psyched for that. Not a lot of punk shit, I mean, Strike Anywhere's record was great. Dead To Me, like I said, was great. Are there any other punk groups? Mike - Uh.. I think this was from last year, The Methodones from Chicago, their record blew me away. Dave - Yeah, their awesome. Mike - Uh, other then that, I don't know. I've been listening to a lot of old stuff so it's hard for me to tell. I really don't have my ear down as much as I should. Yeah, there's better years, there's worse years, you know. Dave - Yeah, last year was a great year. Man, that Hold Steady record is incredible. So good, real rock and roll album. Great lyrics, it's so good. Pretty much that's it, is there anything else you'd like to say to everyone reading this? Dave - No man. Thanks for the interview, thanks for taking the time out. Enjoy the show. Have a good show.