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PZO:
Whats up dude?
Tony: Nothing much.
PZO: So how has the road been treating you so far?
Tony: Good
PZO: And when did you go on the road again?
Tony: um
on this tour?
PZO: Yeah, this one with Good Charlotte
Tony: This one we started out on I think October 16th or 19th
PZO: And youve been on every show with them.
Tony: Yeah, I think we flew out for one show to do a radio show and then
we missed two shows cause of my throat and in order to get better I couldnt
keep singing so I had to take two days off so everything would be ok for
the rest of the tour.
<Steven
sets up audio recorder> <Tony burps into recorder to break it in>
PZO:
Yeah, so I just checked out Not Another Teen Movie the other day
and noticed the Melt With You song on the soundtrack, how
did that come about?
Tony: Well since our record label was doing the soundtrack, and the guy
putting it together is a fan of our band, and he was like hey theres
this movie coming out and were doing the soundtrack, you guys wanna
do a song on it. And I was like Fuck yeah, of course. And
so he was like think of some songs, and we thought of some songs, and
I was like whatever song you want us to do well do, cause its
a cover song and whatever it is well just do our own version of
it. And when he told us we were doing that song, I was like cool
cause Ive always liked that song anyways.
PZO:
Were you a big fan of that type of music, like the 80s pop?
Tony: Nah. No, but I like that song though 'cause it sort of reminds me
of The Cure, and I like Cure. But yeah, we just did our own version of
it.
PZO:
Have you seen the movie yet?
Tony: Yeah we just seen it like
yesterday? Right Chels?
Chelsea [girlfriend]: Yeah.
PZO: And what did you think?
Tony: I liked it. It was pretty funny. But I just like that dirty shit
thats in it. Its pretty funny. Like that turret girl and then
when that girl is like I just want a man to take me out and I want
a man to shit on my chest and the kid is like I am appalled
by that. I am appalled that a man wont shit on your chest.
That shits good.
PZO: Yeah that part definitely got a response from the audience.
Tony: Oh yeah.
PZO:
I wanted to ask you about a couple songs you have written. Opinions
is one of my favorite songs off of the new album. What inspired that song?
Tony: Opinions is pretty much like the song Drawing
Board. Um, Its about the pressure of writing songs and hearing
the record labels opinions of songs. To me, its like sometimes I show
someone at the record label a song and I think its a really good
song and then they are like It doesnt have this, it doesnt
have that. Sometimes I just wanna be like, can I hear you play the
guitar, can I hear you write a song. Its just that peoples
opinions piss me off sometimes, and its just like, let me do my thing
and if I know that there is some potential there, then you know just stay
behind us and stay behind it and whatever Im thinking at the time
and things will work out. Its just dealing with so many peoples
opinions and just being like no matter what I do, its just not good
enough.
PZO:
Has it ever come about that you wrote a song that you thought was just
so good, but never made it to the light of day for the reasons you just
said?
Tony: Yeah, a million times. But there are also songs that I thought were
shit, but turn out to be great after I show half of it to a producer.
Were just sitting in John Feldmans room [the producer], and
I was just playing the guitar; playing these half songs I had. Songs that
I had pretty much totally given up on but I was just fuckin around
and he hears it and was like Wow dude, thats awesome, you
should work on that. So I finished writing it and it turned out
to be the song Another Day. It was just a song I started a
year and a half ago and I was just singing the chorus and he was like
you need to finish it.
PZO:
Now what about the recording process itself? I mean I know you go in with
John, but I mean is it broken down by an instrument or vocals or by person?
Tony: No, its like Ill just write a shit load of songs and
bring them to the band so we half ass know them. I mean thats what
we did on this record, cause we didnt have a lot of time for it.
So we half-ass knew the songs, went up there, showed him all the songs
and hed be like Lets work on this song today and we
just sorta picked and chose between songs because wed work on a
song a day. Wed just sit there in pre-production and figure out
the whole song and once we had every song down then, um, Nick would go
in an do the drums, then the bass guitar, then the guitars and vocals.
All that shits separated.
PZO: Then it just flows all together?
Tony: Yeah
PZO:
Now we touched on this before, but with actual songwriting, when you write
a song, do you have to write the music first or the lyrics first?
Tony: No, its both, all at once. Just start playing the guitar and
Ill be humming a melody and just start singing whatevers in
my head. Somehow, no matter what Im thinking, I dont specifically
write about one thing, but after I write a song about a girl, obviously
thats what it was about, its just sorta right.
PZO:
When you got signed, did you guys notice any people coming out of the
woodwork, like back in Chicago?
Tony: Yeah.
PZO: Like people that never really paid attention, cause I mean you hear
about it all the time, but any experiences with that?
Tony: Yeah, family members too.
PZO: No shit?
Tony: Yeah, like a lot of family didnt accept us and it was like
you know cause I quit school at a younger age, but I knew this is what
I wanted to do. And they didnt support that, and now they are all
like, fuckin, pretty happy.
PZO: And behind you
Tony: Yeah, and just like being disowned by certain family members and
then theyre like coming to the shows and I just have nothing to
say to em. Im just the kind of person that, to me, family
isnt blood anymore at all. Some of my closest friends and family
members arent blood. And you know, so Ive learned that
you
go through it.
PZO:
Back to your record label, whats your experience been with your
record label?
Tony: Um great
because we have sorta had to always prove ourselves
'cause with anything we do nobody believes we can do this and nobody believes
we can do that, but we can pull it off. And you know like our first week,
we were only able to ship 16,000 records cause nobody would buy them cause
we werent on the radio, but weve been touring our asses off
and thats what really will sell records. And then first week, like
the next day we get this call and they are like Wow something happened.
Like everybody, like all the stores are sold out and all these new buyers
came in and was just a huge thing. So then everybody started backing us,
and we were trying to go to radio again then Maverick lost their radio
department, so now Reprise and Warner Brothers, its between them
and nobody really wanted to pick it up because weve already gone
with two singles and its like they dont know if we can do
any more singles. Now Warner Brothers is backing us cause the record is
still doing good.
PZO:
Yeah, myself and the other Mestheads have been talking about that a lot
on the MESTCRAPP message boards. Wondering if there is going to be another
single released and if so, which would it be?
Tony: Yeah, Mothers Prayer. We remixed it though and
redid the drums. Its like way harder.
PZO:
And any possibilities for any other videos?
Tony: Um thats up to Maverick and Warner Brothers. I dont
really know. I mean Warner Brothers just picked up the single and said
they were going to promote it. So, its up to them when were
going to release it and what were going to do with it and shit,
so ...
PZO: And they are going to try and push it really hard?
Tony: Yeah
PZO:
Right on. So what are you guys after this tour is done? When does this
tour end?
Tony: This tour ends two days from now. I go home for a week. Then January
2nd, me and Paul from Good Charlotte, and Chelsea and his girlfriend
PZO: Chelsea from the song right?
Tony: Yeah
PZO: Right On
Tony: Were going to Jamaica for like a week and then coming home
and starting another tour til the end of March, and in March we
are going over to Japan. Cause' in Japan things are blowin up and
we ended up being number 12 in Japan and shit, so its cool.
PZO:
Yeah, so how does that shit happen, like bands becoming huge in Japan?
Tony: Um ... Its just a totally different record label. Whoever
just wants to really, like Maverick signs bands, but internationally Warner
Brothers is everywhere, and if somebody at the label sees something PR
hears something they like, they pick it up and start working it. And obviously
somebody in Japan liked it, so they started working it and so far things
are going pretty good. First week sales we had like 8,000 records and
in Japan thats huge, cause its so small, so thats awesome.
PZO:
And do you know who you're going to be touring with? Any ideas?
Tony: H2O
PZO: Are these east coast dates or all over?
Tony: Well, east coast dates we are doing with Circle Jerks starting January
9th for like 6 dates.
Tony <to tour manager>: you can turn the heat down if you
want, its fuckin, the heat, Im dying
um
<All Laughing>
Tony: But yeah were doing 6 dates with Circle Jerks then we
have like a week off then we start the tour with H2O thats not east
coast, thats why were doing shows with Circle Jerks.
PZO:
And these shows are going to be at the smaller club venues, right?
Tony: Yeah
uh
pretty much.
PZO:
Aight bro, thats about it.
Tony: Cool Cool
PZO: Thanks so much, dude.
Tony: No problem..
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