Heather: So, how did it all begin for you guys?
Jared: Me and Pat - mostly Pat - writing songs. We put a couple of songs on MySpace in 2005 and didn’t really have any plans to make a band or anything until we started getting some traction. I knew Kris and Jesse and we asked them to come play and that’s really it. Then, we started playing shows and writing more songs.
Heather: As a group, you have such a unique stage presence with the eccentric light-shows and what not. Where did you draw your inspiration for that?
Kris: Well, it kind of evolved. I remember for our first show, we had three of these shitty fluorescent lights. If we looked backed now, we’d probably think we were idiots.
Heather: Hey - you gotta start somewhere though, right?
Kris: Yeah. Then, we got these three things that sat on the floor - one mover, one LED, and a strobe light. Jesse and our sound guy, Andy, designed it and they do all of the programming.
Heather: Your video for “Don’t Stop” is really quite intriguing and unusual. Did you guys come up with the concept?
Kris: That was mostly our manager, Steve Penta. He likes to be called Penta. He’s done a couple of other videos. He did Saliva’s last video.
Jared: And Sum 41.
Kris: Oh yeah, and Sum 41.
Jared: Yeah, sometimes we need to even the curve a little bit because he tends to make stuff a little more disturbing than it needs to be. But for that song, it’s pretty obvious what the song’s about. It’s supposed to be about mainstream media, and his concept on that made it [the song] way cooler.
Heather: Yeah, definitely. Usually, when you watch a video, you sort of zone in and out. But for “Don’t Stop,” you’re hooked the entire time.
Jared: We couldn’t be happier about that being our first video. Whether you like us or not, it turned heads. People were like, “What the fuck is this?”
Heather: When can we expect the full-length album to drop?
Kris: September 8th in most of Europe and September 9th here.
Heather: So, you’ve got a busy schedule ahead, heading to the UK and then jumping on the Hot Topic tour. Is this your first big tour?
Jared: We kind of just did a tour with Ashes Divide for like three weeks, so that was definitely a warm for the “full guy.” But that will be our first legit around-the-country tour.
Kris: We’re definitely excited to go to Europe again.
Jared: Yeah, our video’s already on MTV there so we’re a couple of steps ahead there. We’re really excited to go back and have people know who we are.
Heather: Okay, so enough about the music. Anyone have any hidden talents?
Kris: Uhh…I’m really good at ping-pong.
Jared: Yeah, you are really good at ping-pong. It actually pisses me off.
Heather: Any artists you’re a fan of that we’d be surprised to know about?
Jared: Oh man, yes. As a band, we go from Sarah McLachlan to Dying Fetus. Honestly, it’s death metal to acoustic rock. We’re always that band rolling into shows listening to Method Man or something.