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SMASH MOUTH
members present:
Steve Harwell
Greg Camp
conducted on:
July 2005
by: Nevra Azerkan
extras:
official website
shout-out to PZO





 
 

PZO: As a band, what are your best qualities?
Greg: Wow, probably shows. Pretty amazing show.
Steve: Pretty fun live show.
Greg: Midgets, unicycles, parrots, parakeets--
Steve: people on stilts. Nah, the shows are fun. That's what we love the best.

PZO: What event on your life had the greatest impact on you?
Steve: Probably getting signed. I think.
Greg: Let's talk about it.
<laughter>
Greg: Steve and I were in a hotel room--I mean--
Steve: Yes, we were.
Greg: We're best friends!
Steve: Don't be afraid. It's okay!
Greg: The phone rang pretty early in the morning. It was a record company. They were looking for us. What happened was we were on the radio down in L.A. and we didn't have a record deal, but all of these record companies were trying to get a hold of us. The next day we walked into Interscope records and they wouldn't let us leave until we agreed to--
Steve: sign a record deal.
Greg: They cut our fingers
Steve: and they put bamboo underneath my nails.
Greg: That's part of the biggest impact: the bamboo.

PZO: What keeps you grounded and optimistic?
Steve: <turns to Greg> Probably for you, your daughter, no?
Greg: <nods head> My daughter.
Steve: Beautiful daughter, absolutely gorgeous.
Greg: When we accomplish something, especially [Steve], he's always thinking of the next thing. There hasn't been a whole lot of time to celebrate what's happened to us. It's always been what's next, now what do we have to do. That keeps us a little more grounded than a lot of bands who take off and go buy a mansion or put themselves away for ten years and promise a new record that never comes out.
Steve: Oh, Axel Rose?
Greg: I didn't say that.
<laughter>

PZO: What's the worst advice you've ever been given?
Greg: Don't buy a house until your greatest--or your live album comes out.
Steve: Worst advice?
Greg: Have something to fall back on. I think we all ignored that one that's why we're here. That's why we're here at the fair.
<laughter>

PZO: What's a common compliment that people give you as a band and individually?
Steve: How hot Greg is. That's usually what I get.
Greg: Especially Paris Hilton.
Steve: He's actually the one in the video with the green eyes.
Greg: I haven't seen it yet, is it good?
Steve: It's good, you look good. I just saw your ass.
Greg: That's all you need to see.
Steve: Probably our live show. I think a lot of people for the most part don't expect what they're going to get. So at the end people are like I can't believe how good you guys are; especially people who have seen us now and has seen us years ago. If you work hard enough you get better.
Greg: They pigeonhole you as just a radio band and being able to piece all of these things in the studio and they're like how are they going to do that live?
Steve: We do it, damn it.

PZO: What is something you'd like to do before the end of the year?
Steve: Before the end of the year?
Greg: Make a Christmas album.
Steve: Yep.
PZO: Really?
Steve: That's what we're doing next.
Greg: Seriously.
Steve: We were just talking about it when we walked in here. We've been wanting to do one for ten years.
Greg: It's like November <makes noise> we forgot to do it.
Steve: <makes noise> Next year we swear we're going to do it. But now--
Greg: it's July
Steve: It's starting. At least by September it's going to be done. So we're going to do that.
Greg: Maybe we should do a holidays album just to keep it all pc.
Steve: Happy Holidays from Smash Mouth.

PZO: What's the most difficult aspect of your job that a typical music fan wouldn't be aware of?
Greg: Probably waking up.
PZO and PZO Camera Person: Yeah!
[Sleeping hour's discussion goes on]

PZO: Given the opportunity, who would you kidnap for a day?
Steve: Who would I kidnap? Jessica Alba.
PZO Camera Friend: What would you do with her?
Steve: Cut her up in little small pieces, stare at her body, take pictures with my camera. <laughs>
PZO: This is cool kidnapping. You can do anything.
Steve: I don't want to go to jail.
PZO: There's no jail in this scenario.
Steve: I can't get arrested?
PZO: No.
Steve: Oh, fuck. Shit, throw a party. You know what I'm saying?
<laughter>

PZO: What was the last good deed you did?
Greg: Two days ago, I took Eric to Zachary's in Santa Cruz. Zachary's is the best breakfast place. We took all the food we didn't eat and piled it up on a plate and gave it to a homeless person.
Steve: Did you really?
Greg: Yeah.
Steve: Speaking of good deeds, Eric and I were riding home towards San Bernardino at Del Taco at Midnight after doing something with the band. So I'm at Del Taco and I had extra food and I gave it to a gentleman who was digging in the trashcan. I do a lot of good deeds. We're pretty nice people.
PZO: Well, Del Taco does suck.
<laughter>

PZO: What was the last meaningful thing you did?
Greg: Probably this.
PZO: Good answer.
Steve: That was a great answer.

PZO: Are there any bands that you wish would call it quits?
Steve: I don't think anyone should call it quits. Why quit music if you love it?

PZO: Is there a band that you would like to see get back together?
Steve: The original Van Halen, I'd like to see them before anyone in Van Halen dies. I'd like to see STP get back together, but I like Velvet Revolver. I don't know about Greg.
Greg: Van Halen. I'd like to see them one last time.

PZO: What's one thing you would not do no matter how much money you were offered?
Steve: Skydive.
PZO Camera Friend: For fifty million.
Steve: I'll jump without a parachute for fifty million.
<laughter>
Steve: I wouldn't kill somebody.
PZO Camera Friend: How about chop all of your fingers?
Steve: How would I count my money?
<laughter>

PZO: What do you have in your pockets right now?
Steve: Are there any cops around?
PZO Camera Friend: No.
Steve: She's all-- "No". She's down. Nah, I have a cell phone, some money-
Greg: Fifty million dollars.
Steve: Fifty million dollars.

PZO: What's the best lesson you've learned?
Steve: Don't go in business with your friends or family. Very bad idea no matter how good it sounds and how cool it is, it's going to bite you in the ass somehow.

PZO: What's your best childhood memory?
Greg: I have some memories from around here.
PZO: Like what?
Greg: I lived over, I can't remember the name of the street like 11th street something like that. We had a dirt hill going down to a paved street, so I thought it would be a good idea to go through the garbage and find all the bottles and throw them down the street and break them.
Steve: <laughs>
Greg: As I was throwing one of them, I tripped over a root and fell down the hill, my hands first, and slid into the broken glass that I had thrown and I had all kinds of scars on my hands. That was the best; it was just a couple blocks away.
Steve: That was a pretty intense childhood memory.
Greg: You want to hear another?
PZO: Sure.
Greg: This one is better. My mom was gardening just right down the street here. I was bothering her eating rocks and snails just being a nuisance. She gave me a shovel the kind that you get at the Army surplus, the kind that folds up. She said to stand over this gopher hole and if one pokes his head out to hit him and one poked his head out and I hit him and I killed him.
PZO Camera Friend: That scarred you for life?
Greg: I don't think it was dead it was just shaking.
Steve: We had very similar childhoods then. I shot a bird with a BB gun and blew the back of its head off. Then I tried to save the bird and I was crying. I don't like guns.

PZO: Is there a line in one of your songs that is often misunderstood?
Steve: About fifty million of them.
Greg: Yeah, in "Walkin' in the Sun" everyone thought that, 'You need to be there when your baby's old enough to relate' that part. They think it's 'old enough to be laid'. In one of these interviews, like this, during our first album they were like how could you say that about your kids getting laid?
<laughter>
Steve: Read the lyrics.

PZO: Can you tell us anything about the new album?
Steve: New album, Old Habits. We recorded up in Oakland, CA. Recorded live with Jeff Saltzman who did The Killers record; had a great time working with him. Party the whole time--literally; just had fun making it. It's a bit of a throwback to the first album; a little more garage-e sounding. It's not all bubblegummy and really slick. It's kind of--
Greg: very raw,
Steve: very cool,
Greg: pop punk.
Steve: A lot of fun.
Greg: It's fun.
Steve: Then we have a greatest hits thing coming out. Then we're going back to the studio in April.
PZO: Christmas album.
Steve: Christmas album, we're going to start doing that. That shouldn't take too long. It should be a very fun record. We always miss the boat, but not this time.





 
 
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