February 25, 2005
[interview by Attiya]

Estrella: Could you please state your name and what you do in the band.
Dan: My name's Dan and I play guitar and I sing.

Estrella: What's it really like to be in a band?
Dan: It's like summer camp, all year round. It's hard though. It's hard work.

Estrella: About your new album, are you guys excited with the release and everything?
Dan: Yeah, we're very excited. We enjoy it, alot.

Estrella: When you guys released the single, "Stand Up" on Myspace. How did you guys feel when you got all that negative feedback?
Dan: We expected it. It was like a transition of writing and some of the stuff on the new album fits into the old album a little bit, which is straight. And that song is the total opposite and the label wanted that to be our single. But for every bad comment we get, we get like 50 good ones. So that's cool.
Estrella: Did it make you guys feel bad or anything or did you just not care?
Dan: Some of the stuff hurts. Like the stuff they say, you know, "You guys were so special to us and now I'm gonna throw your cd in the trash." That's ridiculous.
Estrella: Are you happy with the album, as a whole?
Dan: Yeah, everyone's happy with it.

Estrella: What's your favorite song from "Don't Forget To Breathe"?
Dan: From "Don't Forget To Breathe", I like "We Go To Eleven" & I like "Charred Fields of Snow".

Estrella: What's your favorite song from the new album?
Dan: From the new album, probably "Half Man, Half Shark", we played that tonight.

Estrella: Do you ever listen to your own music?
Dan: Not on this tour. On the last tour, we did. But just because we had to edit things, change things we didn't like, take out things we didn't like. But yeah, we listen to our stuff.

Estrella: What do you guys usually listen to?
Dan: Lots of Radiohead, Lagwagon, just like everything. Counting Crows, stuff like that.

Estrella: If you were to meet someone, how would you describe your style of music to them?
Dan: Like new style or old style?
Estrella: Both.
Dan: Like harder rock and it's very melodic and it has screaming.

Estrella: I saw on your website that you guys have recorded the video for "Stand Up". Do you know when that's going to come out?
Dan: We're not sure. We just watched the rough draft of it today. So we're not sure when it's going to come out. It should come out probably before the end of this tour.
Estrella: What's the video about?
Dan: "Stand Up" is about the Hollywood lifestyle. It shows the disgusting side of Hollywood. It's like us playing, with people walking around with rats. It's like everyday, we're playing everyday. It shows scenes like, it follows the path of this dollar, like a dollar bill through Hollywood and it shows what the dollar is used for all day. Like it shows it being stolen and used for other things.

Estrella: Do you guys all live together?
Dan: Nate & Phil live together, they just got a house. Joe lives with his girlfriend at his Dad's house, but his Dad's never really home, so it's kind of his house. Brett & myself still live with our parents.

Estrella: How old are all of you?
Dan: I'm the oldest, I'm 23. Phil is 20, he'll be 21 in August. Brett is 20, he'll be 21 in April. Nate's either 21 or 22 and Joe's 23 or 22.

Estrella: What's your craziest fan story?
Dan: It's not like a stalker kind of thing. There was a girl who died in a car accident and we were her favorite band. Her friends buried her with our cd, that was nuts. When we found out, we were so shocked. That's pretty crazy.

Estrella: Where are your favorite places to do a show?
Dan: Favorite place is Philly or Jersey. California's awesome too, just because my parents are out there. Jersey's probably the best place.

Estrella: Are you guys playing the Bamboozle? Are you excited for that?
Dan: I am, it'll be fun. It's in Jersey, so that'll be good.

Estrella: What was your worst subject in high school?
Dan: Probably all of them. I just never went. I mean, I was good at stuff, but I never applied myself. Senior year kind of kicked my ass. Probably my worst subject was Spanish. My mom's mexican and I just can't learn that shit.

Estrella: Have there been interesting tour stories so far?
Dan: Tons already from this tour. Joe got real drunk one night and came into the hotel room, well me and him we're both drunk, and came into the hotel room and Brett was sleeping and Joe just starts freaking out on the bed. Like jumping on him, jumping on the bed, tackling him, then Brett threw his pillow at Joe's face and Joe threw a huge wooden table at Brett. But they weren't fighting, it was just all fun. It was so funny. He threw it so hard, it was funny. That's like every night for us though. Joe gets drunk and he's hilarious, he goes nuts.

Estrella: If you weren't in a band, what would you be doing right now?
Dan: Probably working at a bank. I'd actually probably be a youth minister. But that's just me back then, that's where I was going back then.

Estrella: Best Halloween costume ever worn.
Dan: I suck at Halloween. I remember I was a dead football player for like four years in a row. But that's not that great. My mom made a Michaelango costume when I was like 10. I was king of the school, so that was good.

Estrella: Who's the messiest of the band?
Dan:Joe. Joe's a messy kid.

Estrella: Any last comments?
Dan: Just to give the new cd a chance. We've got breakdowns and everything.
Estrella: Thank you.
Dan: Thank you.