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Estrella: State your name and what you do in the band.
Tim: I'm Tim, I play guitar.
Scott: Scott, bass.
Mike: I'm Mike, I play drums.
Estrella: What are your personal influences? Music-wise.
Tim: Mine would probably have to be Guns N' Roses, Green Day, the Marvolous 3, Screeching Weasel, the Ramones.
Scott: the Beatles, Elliot Smith, Death Cab for Cutie
Mike: Mine are pretty simular to Tim's.
Estrella: Influences as a band.
Tim: I think well, atleast I know we all like a lot of the same things. But we all like a lot of different things. So we bring, that's what's cool about the band, that everyone brings you know atleast like 3 or 4 bands that other people don't like so much or maybe not neccessarily don't like but haven't really heard too much to the table, so it's kinda like a mix of a lot of different things.
Estrella: How did getting signed to Drive-Thru all happen?
Tim: Well, when we started the band in 1996/1997, we just recorded a really shitty demo tape in our basement and sent it out to a bunch of labels and at the time Drive-Thru happened to be one of those, they were really one of the only labels, i think it's the only label that responded and said they really liked our stuff. And they wanted to hear some more so we went in and recorded in a real studio and recorded like 5 songs, and sent it to them and they liked it, and so they're like ok, lets record some records.
. Estrella: So I read the band was named after a tv show host?
Tim: Kinda, yeah. He wasn't necessarily a host. There was a show You Can't Do That On Television that was on Nickelodeon, he was kind of one of the main characters and he spelled it a little bit differently, so we figured for phonetical easiness we would change it so kids could get it right. And they still get it wrong which I think is kind of funny.
Estrella: Do you think your music has changed from Dead Ends and Girlfriends through Last Stop Suburbia to the newest album?
Tim: I think so.
Estrella: Did you mean to write it so it's a little different?
Tim: Well it's been like 10 years in between so naturally you're gonna, your musical interests are gonna change, musical skills get better...hopefully. Yeah, we made kind of a conscience effort to make this record, not different but you know progress a little more because you know, we're kind of under the impression there was a lot of the same kind of dribble coming out, i think a lot of the bands sound the same and we try to do something a little bit different, just incorporate a little bit more rock riffs and a little bit more edgier stuff into this record.
Estrella: Do you remember the first show you ever played?
Tim: I do, it was with Meal Ticket, a ska band with a girl singer and the Skelatones, I don't know, I forget it was a long time ago.
Estrella: I listened to Showoff for a while, but not enough to realize who was in it. I heard Kyle was in Showoff.
Tim: Yeah, he played guitar in Showoff for a while.
Estrella: Were you fans of the band before you asked him to join?
Tim: Yeah, actually that's how we meet Kyle. Is we did, when was that 2000? Like 5 years ago I think, we did a few tours with Showoff and that's how we met Kyle and we met all the guys, and we became pretty good friends with them and then once we heard Showoff broke up, we were kinda bummed cause they were friends of ours and then it just so happened that we needed a guitar player and Kyle kinda called us up and was like "you guys still looking for a guitar player?" and we're like yeah, so he came in and we basically knew instantly that if he wanted to join the band then he could.
Estrella: What is your favorite song to play live?
Scott: Probably D2rd
Tim: Off the new record?
Estrella: Off any is good.
Scott: Most of the new songs are more fun since we haven't had to play them year after year after year. The old songs get tiredsome after a while.
Tim:It's so cool 'cause the kids still like them, you know like songs like Somewhere On Fullerton, you know stuff that like it's fun to play because the kids reactions are really good.
Estrella: Favorite song off the new album?
Scott: Probably Blackout.
Tim: Yeah, mines probably Blackout too.
Mike: I like Alone, the last song.
Tim: Blackout's a little bit different like it's kinda a small step outside of the pop-punk box that we've been living in for 10 years. Which is kind of cool since it's different, it's not something we would normally do.
Estrella: When you started the band, you were from an area, that sounded like kids that weren't really into that music and now it's like go somewhere and every kid likes something that you listen to.
Tim: It was weird, I mean when we first started going to shows we were 15/16, there was a really big underground scene in Chicago and there were a lot really good bands coming out of Chicago back then. It was cool but it wasn't as socially acceptable to really listen to that kind of music and it wasn't commercially available either. And then for a while it kinda died out and there weren't any bands and then all the sudden you know New Found Glory started getting big and you know, bands like that. And it just all of the sudden took off. And there it is all the sudden but this times it's on a much larger scale. So it's cool.
Mike: I mean when we were in highschool it was like if you listen to punk music and stuff like that, it's like small clique of people that listened to that.
Estrella: It was weird the beginning of highschool, was like 9th grade and 10th grade and kids were like what the fucks that?, who's that? They didn't know.
Mike: Think about that and go 6 or 7 years ago, and was even like, and it's still like there's plenty of huge bands like Rancid, and I would wear a Rancid shirt to school in my junior year and kids would be like what the fucks that? what are you a devil worshipper?
Tim: When we were in highschool there were a handfull of kids at each highschool that was really into music and really into the scene, and now I obviously don't know because i'm not in highschool anymore but now it seems like it's much more acceptable and probably half of the highschool if not more knows who New Found Glory is and have seen them and knows Fall Out Boy.
Estrella: Where did you record Before the Blackout?
Tim: We recorded the drum tracks in a studio called World Class Audio in Anaheim, California and we did the rest of it at a place called The Vault in Fullerton, California.
Estrella:How long did it take to record the new album?
Tim: It took about...
Mike: 27 days
Tim: Was it 27 days exactly?
Mike: It was supposed to be 30 days and we had to cut it 2 days short so we could get from California to Florida to start tour.
Tim: So we worked vividly everyday for 27 days straight for about 14 hours a day, so it was pretty time consuming.
Estrella: Who did you record the album with?
Tim: A guy named Kyle Hummee enginered it and this guy Dennis Hill produced it.
Estrella:Your favorite place to play?
Tim: There used to be a venue in Long Island, New York called the Downtown.
Estrella: They shut it down.
Tim: Yeah, they shut it down. We were supposed to play there on this tour and then it got moved to a venue down the street, that was a really cool place.
Mike: What's that place called, it used to be Graceland? The Corazone
Tim: Yeah the Corazone, that's in Seattle. That's a great venue to play too.
Mike: The Metro in Chicago.
Estrella: Do you have any crazy fan stories?
Tim: There's a girl Florida that has an Allister tattoo isn't it? Maybe it was a girl in Chicago. That's pretty insane.
Mike: A couple years ago we were driving somewhere and Scotty was on the internet and found somebody and I think it was a girl or somebody was writing a live web journal pretending she was him. She would write on it everyday. It was like "yeah, this is Tim from Allister we're hanging out with the guys drinking beers, listening to Good Charlotte" or something.
Estrella: What was the best Halloween costume you ever had?
Tim:You know what, I have to admit this, I'm not a very big fan of Halloween so I would always have really stupid costumes. So none of mine have ever been good.
Mike: One year I was in college I was Indiana Jones and I actually put a lot of time, I spent like $30 on a shirt and...
Tim: a bag?
Mike: like a satchel and fake whips and shit, that was the costume I actually spent time thinking about it, and what I was going to get and I actually spent money on it.
Scott: I was once a bubblegum machine.
Tim: Cool, I never heard about that.
Scott: I had like the little small balloons in different colors and I put like a big clear...
Estrella: That's like the best I've heard
Scott: I had like, a little red hat. It wasn't very convienent, you couldn't really sit down in it.
Estrella: Obviously, you're beer drinkers. Favorite type of beer?
Tim: You're looking at it.
Scott: Mines this Belgian beer called Quak.
Tim: What is it?
Scott: Quak.
Mike: What about that monk beer that you drink?
Tim: Did we drink that shit when we were over there? Did they give it to us?
Estrella: How are the kids over there?
Tim: They're pretty cool. It's a little bit different in the sense that I think that kids over there are a little bit more fanatical, you know because we can only make it over there like once a year, at the very most twice a year so they only have once chance to go and see us, so the fans that come out are going to be really excited to see you play. So they go crazy, they sing all the words you know and all that. When you tour the US, we usually do like 3 or 4 or 5 tours a year, so we'll play the same city 4 or 5 times, kids will be like oh, I'll see them next time. I mean they'll still come out and it's still really fun but it's just a little bit different atmosphere I think over there.
Estrella: Do you have any closing statements?
Tim: Go buy our new record. Called Before the Blackout.
Scott: Look both ways before crossing the street.
Tim: Tell your mom you love her before you go to bed.
Mike: Wash behind your ears.
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