PZO: As a band, what are your best qualities?
Sam: We're continually evolving which is a good thing. I think we write some pretty good songs. I think since we've known each other for so long we're really good friends, we have a good relationship with each other. That's sort of an internal great quality. We're going ten years now.

PZO: What event on your life had the greatest impact on you?
Sam: Going to the guitar center when I was twelve with my dad. Realizing that I wanted to try it and just having a father that played guitar, I don't think it was any particular event, but just seeing how cool it was going down there and being able to make noise with guitar was cool. I'm trying to think of a specific date. He gave me a guitar for Christmas when I was twelve. It was a great guitar I played it everyday.

PZO: What keeps you grounded and optimistic?
Sam: Friends. We have a really good group of friends. Everyone knows each other. We've been playing in the band for ten years now and to have that backbone is really important.

PZO: What's the worst advice you've ever been given?
Sam: <laughs> Not to break up with my girlfriend in high school. No, to break up with my girlfriend in high school and I didn't take it and she ended up breaking my heart a year later. That was not a music related one though.

PZO: What's a common compliment people give you individually and as a band?
Sam: Everyone says I'm really nice. I don't know. I think it's true, but I get it a lot and I like that. It makes me feel good. As a band, I guess we just get--I never had to answer a lot of these questions. I think we get a lot of we write good songs and people have fun at our shows.

PZO: What's something you would like to do before the end of the year?
Sam: Record a record which I think we're going to get to do.

PZO: What's the most difficult aspect of your job that a typical music fan wouldn't be aware of?
Sam: You miss home a lot. It sounds really cheesy, but it's true. I have a serious girlfriend and family that I spend a lot of time with. When we're touring I see them maybe half a year even that it's like two days, three days at a time. I wouldn't give it up. I'm not saying that, but it does get a little tricky. You have to work really hard to make relationships work.

PZO: Given the opportunity, who would you kidnap for a day?
Sam: Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead or the guy from Aphex Twin.

PZO: What was the last good deed you did?
Sam: I recorded a guided meditation pregnancy CD for a friend of a friend. It was the worst most difficult thing I had to do. I literally had to sit there and listen to this woman talk about her cervix and all this crazy shit. It was pretty painful, but she was really happy with it at the very end of it. I thought it was a pretty good deed to do.

PZO: What was the last meaningful thing you did?
Sam: It was me and my girlfriend's three year anniversary yesterday. I took her on a date even though we don't normally go on dates that often you know after you've been with someone that long, so it was kind of cute to go on a date again.

PZO: Are there any fairly unknown bands that you think other people should check out?
Sam: You've probably heard of The Like already. I like them a lot. There's a band called Simon Dawes they're coming out soon. They're a couple of young kids kind of from where I grew up. They're amazing. I'm always really impressed by kids who are like 17 or 18 that have incredible taste in music. It makes me really jealous because I listened to absolute crap when I was 18. I wish I could go back and re-learn it. They're on the right track.

PZO: What band would you like to see get back together?
Sam: The Beatles. That ain't going to happen. Other than that, Nirvana. Those are about the only two that I would care to see back together. Impossible.

PZO: What's one thing you would not do no matter how much money you were offered?
Sam: I would not kill someone. I'd have a serious problem with that. I wouldn't eat absurd shit like on Fear Factor.

PZO: What do you have in your pockets right now?
Sam: A wallet, a cell phone, car keys and some receipts.

PZO: What's the best lesson you've learned?
Sam: I don't know if I learned it, but patience. My dad sort of instilled that in me when I was a kid, so did my mom. Obviously, being a good person and all that kind of stuff, but I think without patience it's really hard to accomplish anything.

PZO: Is there a line in one of your songs that is often misunderstood?
Sam: I don't know half the lines in our songs. I'll find Alex. There's a lot in the song "Bad Business". I've seen some many different interpretations of the lyrics it's hilarious.

PZO: Is there a song of yours that you're tired of playing?
Sam: "California".
<laughter>
Sam: At this point it almost feels like it's not our song anymore.
PZO: Do you watch "The OC"?
Sam: No, I don't. It's been very helpful for us though. I think we're the most known unknown band of all time. It's great.

PZO: What's your best childhood memory?
Sam: My parents used to have a house in Big Bear. It was right on the lake and we used to go on the speedboats all the time and our dog used to sit right on the front of the boat. It's nothing special, but it always makes me smile. They sold the house awhile back and I kind of miss it.