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May 07, 2011
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Inside This Issue: This Is: Jesse Barnett and George Schmitz of Stick To Your Guns, On Tour: Cory Brandan of Norma Jean, Impact: JR Wasilewski of Less Than Jake, Dear Dead Abby, The Official J.X.M.X. Flyer, and more!
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This Is: Jesse Barnett and George Schmitz of Stick To Your Guns Interview and Photos by Liana Marie It was my first time experiencing that cute little Lancaster City sitting area, & it couldn‟t have been put to better use! I had the pleasure of speaking with both George and Jesse of Stick to Your Guns. The guys were great and entertaining, to say the least. Not to mention, they played an awesome show! “Rest assured that with a heart that's pure, we‟ll be victorious and not let our hate get the best of us...MOVE!” Oh! This is an interview...L.M. PI: So first, tell us a little bit about yourself, a little bit about your background. Where did you grow up and where are you from currently? J: Interesting, I grew up in Orange County. I was born in Long Beach, and my mother immediately took me home to Orange County. And that‟s where I grew up. I spent pretty much 22 years of my life there, and now I am living; kind of residing in Montreal in Canada with my girlfriend. We bounce back and forth between there and Orange County. PI: So tell us a little bit about the band‟s background. How, where, and when did Stick to Your Guns get started? J: It was kind of just more of an idea. I guess the idea started in 2003. I‟m a drummer. I liked to play drums. I‟ll say that because I wasn‟t ever a drummer. George is the drummer. I just happened to be a guy who liked to play drums. I played drums in a couple of other bands... They were okay. We played a bunch of shows and I was enjoying it. I was in junior high, just about to go into high school at that time, when I had the idea. I wanted a band that was more on the hardcore side of things. So I kind of had the idea to start Stick to Your Guns. So I wrote a few songs, and got over the idea of playing drums. I was supposed to originally play the guitar in Stick to Your Guns. It was never my intention to be the singer of the band, if you could call it that. We couldn‟t really find anyone, and then we found a dude, and long story short it didn‟t work out with him. So I just stayed the singer, but I was intending to be the guitar player in the band. PI: So how would you describe your band, especially for those who haven‟t heard of you before, in terms of personality and music? J: Personality of the band or the personality of the members of the band? (PI): The members of the band. (J): Oh boy. We‟ve got a whole smorgasbord of personalities. We all just like to mess around and have fun. We take what we do seriously and we like doing it very much, but we don‟t want to take it too seriously to the point where it just isn‟t fun anymore. We are just enjoying it. We‟re all very young still, except for Chris because he‟s 31. He‟s on the back nine I would say. He‟s on his way out. No, I‟m just kidding. But he‟s been in some other bands like the Walls of Jericho, so it was good to have him come in to the band, and almost revitalize us. I like writing music for the band, and I write some songs for the band, but it was getting hard being the only person who wrote music. And then our old drummer actually started writing music, but I didn‟t really like where he was going with it and I started falling out of love with the band. Then, basically, we had a falling out with him, kicked him out, and then literally minutes later we found George and that was an amazing thing.
Wayne Lozinak
PI: So, in terms of music, how would you describe your band? J: I don‟t know. Corey, from Norma Jean, kind of put it in a way that I kind of viewed us as this but no one else has really said it. When I heard him say it, when I heard it come out of someone else‟s mouth, it sounded pretty good. He said that we‟re hardcore kids that like hardcore but we don‟t follow the same loyalties, guidelines, or handbook rules that make someone hardcore. We sing…that‟s just something we like to do. I don‟t really feel like a singer, and I don‟t think that I can sing that well, but it‟s something that I enjoy doing. We‟re not trying to sell insane amounts of records or anything. It‟s not like we‟ve never sang before. If you listen to our first album, there is singing on it. If you listen to our second album there is singing on it. And if you listen to our latest album there is singing on it. That is something that people sometimes have a hard time swallowing, and also the fact of being from Orange County. Hardcore Orange County isn‟t taken very seriously, because it‟s not a hard place to live. It‟s got its own bullshit baggage just like anywhere else does. (PI): It‟s good to step a little bit out of the box. (J): Exactly. (PI): You don‟t want to follow the same cliché. (J): You don‟t want to be that band where every single song you play just sounds like the same horseshit over and over again, even if it‟s not horseshit. There are bands that I love, but their music is so repetitive that I just get bored. That‟s just my own personality, because I need chaos. That why I love the members in our band because no one‟s dull. I don‟t feel like our music is dull and our members aren‟t dull. I just like everything being different. We don‟t do the same tours over and over. This tour is Norma Jean, Impending doom, and us, and the next tour is Trapped Under Ice, Us and Terror. We‟ll do any tour we want to do and do it whenever we want to. PI: That‟s a good state of mind. Overall, I know, it might have be a little bit tough because you said it is pretty different but overall, what bands would you say influenced Stick to Your Guns? J: That‟s not tough at all. Bands like Boys Set Fire personally it‟s gonna be different no matter who you ask. The Guitar player, Ronny, loves bands like Nickleback, Creed, and stuff like that. At first I thought it was a joke when he told me, but he literally has all of the albums for both of those bands on his iPod that he rocks frequently. He‟s also a diehard Metallica fan. George loves New Found Glory, Motion City Soundtrack, Green Day, and Blink 182. And then Chris loves 90s hardcore stuff, which I like too, but that‟s just his era and that‟s the stuff he grew up with. But he also loves a whole bunch of other shit. Same with me, I love a lot of Orange County bands, bands like Eyelid, Excessive Force, Death By Stereo, Ignite, I Love Black. I don‟t know if you‟ve heard of him. He‟s from Orange County. He‟s actually like a soul, Motown hip-hop guy. He‟s great. Yea, all sorts of music, we all love different things. PI: So how‟s the tour treating Stick to Your Guns so far? J: Good, I would say. Yea, we came straight out of Europe and had like two days off, well most of us had two days off. George‟s plane landed and he got right on the tour bus in Kansas City, Missouri and we had to drive to Southern California. ... So the poor guy didn‟t have any time off. I had two days, which is okay, but then we‟re back on this tour. Now we have two weeks off and then we have another seven weeks. This tour has been really short though. It‟s been great. It‟s flown by. (George) What‟s insane though is that we were in Seattle like a week and a half ago and now were in Pennsylvania. I had my feet in the Pacific Ocean and now I‟m at the coast of the Atlantic. (J) Its crazy too because we didn‟t just come down, we came up and over and then back down and around. It seems like we traveled so much distance. PI: What would you say was your most memorable tour? J: The last tour we did in Europe. (G) It was us, Your Demise, Breakeven, and Let Live. It was just thirty of the
coolest dudes ever. (J) I‟m not going to name any names, but there is always at least one dude on every tour that you want to stay away from. Sometimes it‟s even the whole band. I wouldn‟t say that this tour is like that and the tour in Europe wasn‟t like that, everybody just hung out all the time. Some of those dudes became some of my best friends. It was great. (G)There were no egos, everyone just hangs out. (J) I tend to be anti-social a lot of the time which is something that is a pet peeve of mine. (PI): I don‟t see you coming across as that. (J): Sometimes I just like to sit and put my headphones in; I don‟t really like to talk. But on that tour I actually wanted to go and hang out and be a dude that hangs out. On a lot of tours I maybe seem like an asshole because they‟ll be hanging out and I‟m just in the van alone. I feel like I‟m that guy on this tour, which bums me out because I don‟t want to be that guy. I‟m just tired, which I shouldn‟t be because I sleep more than anyone in the band. PI: Yea, but it‟s a tiring thing to do. So, do you get much time off the road? G: Seldom. (J): Yea, I mean we used to do like three weeks on, two weeks off, a month on, a month off, two weeks on, a week off. It was all scattered about, and now it‟s like seventeen years and five months off. At the beginning of the year we‟ll talk to our manager, and look at what we‟ve got in the pot mixing, and they seem all very spread out. But somehow they all come within days of each other. (G) As of January 1 st I was under the impression that I was going to go on tour for like a month. (J) We just did all of the U.S. and Canada, then straight to Europe, straight to Australia, straight to New Zealand, Straight to Japan, and then straight back home. But I like it, its fun. But it seems like we‟ll do a big chunk of touring for a while, and then actually have a bigger chunk off. There have been a couple of times in the past year where we‟ve had a month and a half off two times in a row, which is great, but for that month and a half off, you would have three straight months of touring. (G)At the beginning of the month you‟re like yea I‟m off this is gonna be great. I‟m buying groceries; I‟m a real person, look at me! I‟m doing cool things, but then the last week you‟re at home, you‟re like get me the fuck out of my house right now. (J) You start losing it. It used to be like that but I got a girlfriend that I actually like too. There are some girlfriends I‟ve had where I‟m like, “Yea, you‟re cool. Let‟s hang out!...I guess.” But this girlfriend, I really like. That used to be a lot like me. Like, “Get me out of here! I want to go on tour.” And I still kind of am like that but now I seem to enjoy my time off a little bit more than I used to. PI: So how would you say you spend your time off the road? J: In my bed with my dogs. That‟s it. And with my girlfriend, somehow she finds a spot on the bed. (G): I‟m on a two pots of coffee a day minimum. I take online classes so I‟m either doing that or reading. I try to do that. (PI) So you‟re doing the whole school thing too? (G) Yea. I watch a lot of movies. I watch a lot of movies that I‟ve already seen though. I go out and buy movies I haven‟t seen, but I just end up putting in Indiana Jones. The new ones just stay wrapped up in my room. (J) I try to read. I‟m on the one book every two month thing. I try to be that guy, just because that‟s a big step up for me because usually I‟m just a comic book dude. I try to step up my book game and read something that doesn‟t have so many pictures in it. (PI) I‟m more of a picture person myself. What are you reading? (J) Right now I‟m reading the Great Adventures of Cavalier and Clay. It‟s a fantastic book, so far. It‟s pretty thick so I‟m about half way through. PI: So if everybody in your band were to play musical chairs, so to speak, and switch places instrumentally, who would play what? J: I would probably go to drums. (Other guy, can make out a name) would go to guitar or bass. (G): I‟d do bass. I‟m so bad at the guitar. (J): Chris would be on vocals, Ronny on the other guitar, and then Andrew on the guitar too. No, it would probably be Chris on vocals, Schmitty bass, and me on drums. And Andrew and Ronny would be groupies.
PI: So if you weren‟t in a band, what could you see yourself doing today? J: Something with animals, something with dogs or animals. I like to write things down. Really anything, but nothing specific. I don‟t want to call myself a poet or a writer; it‟s just that sometimes I find myself writing things down. So maybe something that has to do with writing. If I couldn‟t chose music, I would choose either writing something down or animals. Honestly I would buy a movie theater. That would be amazing. Clean up peoples‟ trash and then see movies all day long. (G) I‟d like to think that I‟d do something with science. To be vague, just science. Something with science, so I can step up a lab in my house. I‟d probably be interested in something like that, something with science. PI: So how has being in a touring band affected your life? J: It becomes your life. I wasn‟t really doing much and I knew that I wanted to do it. People thought I was crazy because not only did I want to go on tour, but I wanted to go on tour with a hardcore band. Going on tour is hard enough, but going on tour to try and get people listen to you scream about shit is even harder, especially to my parents. They supported me, but they were skeptical. They told me I might need to think of something else but the idea was so locked in my head that I somehow made it happen. Once that happened it seemed like all of the members fell apart, and I had to find a bunch of other people. I had to find people who were crazy enough to do it. George‟s life went from going to school and being normal to touring full time. I got gradually into it, and he just got thrown into it. (G) The thing is I was like Jesse; I always had the mindset that this is what I wanted to do. It‟s like when you‟re twelve and your teacher asked you what you want to do when you grow up. I always said I was gonna be a rock star. I don‟t think that rock star is the term for it. I don‟t want to be known as a rock star. I guess playing music in front of people is what I mean. But with being in a touring band there is always that black listed song... There‟s a blacklisted song called “Tourist”. I don‟t want to be the guy who cites that song in an interview...And Im about to. But in all honesty, you hear that song...And I did a tour where “oh that songs not relevant, I don‟t know why anyone would feel like that. He‟s just being that way to be that way.” Then, after 3 years of incessant touring, and seriously I get home and people forget you exist! I call my friends and I‟m like, “Hey man, I‟m home!” “Alright.” Or it‟s like “Hey are you home?!” And it‟s like, “Dude. I hung out with you yesterday!” “I‟ve been home for like 2 weeks!” We‟ve been hangin‟ out everyday! (J) It sucks being in a touring band when it comes to your friends back home. Your friends all have inside jokes that you‟re not a part of and then you just sit there and say you don‟t get it. And then they tell you a story about something that happened like two weeks ago. Then you just stop asking. But now it seems like when I went on tour my friends got there shit together, because we would all hang out and do nothing before I left. And after I left they did the same thing for a while, but now they all go to school so it‟s like when I come back, I‟m the reason we all hang out again. And then I leave again and things go back to normal. PI: So, your latest album released in 2010 is titled the Hope Division, correct? Are you completely satisfied with the overall product? G: That‟s the best record I‟ll ever be a part of. I‟m not saying that record is phenomenal, I think it‟s awesome, but as far as anything I ever record for the rest of my life, that is gonna be the thing that I‟m most proud of. (J) I think that for me and the rest of the band, every record we make after this last one has to be better. That‟s what we are going to compare them to. It needs to be better than this. A lot of people are just now hearing us on this album, which is great, for me and for them because I wasn‟t in love with the band as much then as I am now. Because of other things that happened and songs we wrote. It was whatever. I didn‟t really give a fuck. For me it‟s my favorite album also. So yes, I would say more than overly satisfied with these songs and ideas. We had cool ideas and we got to go in and record at a studio that‟s done so many albums that have changed my life…The Blassinger Studios in Fort Collins, Colorado. We were supposed to record with Phil Stevenson, the drummer of Black Flag and the Descendants, but he had some sort of weird brain tumor or health problem going on so he couldn‟t. But we got Jason Livermore which was kind of a bummer, because we were like we get the B rig guy, but he was awesome. Jason Livermore is the fucking dude. That was an incredible experience and they took our songs that we thought were good and made them even better. It was awesome. PI: So how does this album specifically differ from that of your past albums, like musical direction? J: This one‟s good and the other ones aren‟t. (G) This is a real record. (J) Before it was just us, looking at what everyone else was doing, and then ripping that off and making it even worse. Basically, we took what people liked and played it less good. It was worse versions of all these bands that were just ripping each other off. The other albums were alright. I‟m the only original member from the first album and even the album after that but it was, I don‟t want
to say a joke, but we just were like fuck it we‟ll just play breakdowns. It was whatever. And people thought it was cool, for whatever reason. So three years or almost four went by and people were like maybe you should do another album and see what happens. So we did another one, and our drummer kind of got on this thing where his musical taste changed and he became extremely Christian, which is okay, but it kind of got weird. Then I was like, this is not working out. He tried writing a bunch of songs and asked me what I thought. I said honestly I don‟t like them but what can we do. It‟s coming down to the point where we need to record an album and I can‟t just say no. At that time I wasn‟t inspired by anything either, so he was like okay you don‟t like it so why don‟t you write something. I didn‟t know what to do. I would look at my guitar and say fuck, I don‟t even remember how to play this thing. So it got to the point where I was like whatever. I don‟t completely hate all these songs; I don‟t want anyone to think that. It was okay. (G) It comes from the heart. Sometimes I go back and listen to them, because I like them but I didn‟t love it like I love our latest album. (J) First, I love the dudes in the band, that‟s a start. I love the band now, these songs that we wrote are awesome, and everyone takes their instruments seriously, and loves to play their instrument. It‟s all good things. PI: So if you had to choose, what would your favorite song be off of this album? J: Oh man. That‟s so tough. We get asked that question a lot. I think our answers are different every time. I think I‟ve said every track on the album. But if I had to choose, maybe for me, it would be “Some Kind of Hope”. That is definitely one of my favorites. (G): I definitely like a lot of the somber songs on the record, like Some Kind of Hope or Scarecrow. Scarecrow is definitely one that hits real close to home because I‟m from Kansas City, Missouri and I live near the West Borrow Baptist Church. (btw their fucking fascists) But also, the song “360”, I love. We have yet to pull that song out live; I would love to pull that one out live. We played it once during a sound check but never live. It‟s one of those things were I don‟t think we‟re worried but we just don‟t know what‟s going to happen if we play that song. PI: So what can we expect from you guys in the future? J: More music and more touring. This is completely off topic to the question but it should be in the interview. Last time we were here was in 2006 0r 2007 with Bury Your Dead and Suicide Silence, and we were at the Chameleon Club. After the show we were told that we were never allowed to play here again. So now I‟ll rewind and tell you why this happened. There is a man that now we have become extremely good friends with because of this show. His name is Brandon Biggins. He‟s got a giant beard at every freaking show. He was singing along to a song and a security guard had grabbed him and threw him on the ground and then choked him out and dragged him outside. It was way to excessive for my liking and for some reason something snapped in my brain and I stopped the song and said in the microphone, “You know what I wanted to be someone to respect the venue but right now I need everyone to pick something up and throw it at something.” The place turned into a full blown riot. And I took all the microphones off the drums and I started smashing them. They then, of course, didn‟t pay us because they needed all of our money to fix the microphones, which we broke. And they made us set up all of our merchandise out in the rain, which we didn‟t end up doing. We just took it all down. And they told us we weren‟t allowed to come back here. (PI) And here you are. (J) And Brandon is here too, so we‟ll see what happens. PI: Well, thanks for giving us a chance to chat and get “Plug‟d In!” J: No Problem! Thank you!
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Dear Dead Abby Brought to you by It’s All The Hair Rage Designs
From The Grave Abby was born and raised in the coal regions of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The oldest of eight, she constantly had her younger brothers and sisters asking her questions about everything from how things work to why that boy threw dirt on her. She’d try to steer them straight with her advice, though sometimes she could be a bit sarcastic. Abby also had an uncanny ability to see the truth in people, despite what they tried to portray with their lies. Unfortunately, this led the locals to believe that she was with surrounded with dark forces. The summer before her final year of school, Abby was sentenced to death by hanging, without a proper trial, simply stating that she was a witch. Abby can’t recognize the faces of her family through death, but she answers questions, thinking it might be one of her siblings needing her guidance.
Q. Why do women love chocolate so much? M.G. A. Chocolate contains phenyl-ethylamine, the same chemical released in the brain when falling in love. Women love falling in love; it's the hell that follows afterwards that presents the issue. Chocolate won't cheat on a woman, tell her she's no good, beat her, or anything else that bastard men do to a woman; hence why women always resort to chocolate when they need to be picked back up after being dropped. Q. Sometimes my boyfriend gets really cranky for no reason. Do men get periods? S.S. A. Men do actually suffer from a form of PMS, called IMS, Irritable Male Syndrome, caused by a drop in testosterone levels. Anger, irritability, depression, anxiety and hyper-sensitivity are all symptoms. Men also can't deal with emotional issues and pain like women can, so something that a woman might shrug off will affect a man. They may be the stronger sex physically, but that's where it ends. Q. Do you think the world will end in the year 2012? M.H A. No one knows if and when the world will end. Personally, I don't think the world will end, and it amuses me how upset people are getting over the ridiculous notion that we're all going to die in 2012. Simpletons. Q. What is the best way to lose weight? S.A. A. Die; takes the weight off real fast. You want to lose it the healthy way? Eat right and exercise. You'll feel good as well. Never try to become skinnier than your body type. If you're naturally a thicker woman, don't worry so much about becoming skinny, focus on becoming healthy. When you feel good about yourself, other people will see that in you. People who worry too much about keeping up with all the trends just irritate me. Be glad and make the most of what you have, clothes, friends, a home, your health. Some people don't have any of that. Pissing me off now.... Q. I play the lottery every week, but never win. What can I do to increase my odds of getting that big payoff? D.A. A. Drive down to where you play the lottery, smash your vehicle through the window, and load up all the lottery machines into the vehicle.
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On Tour: Cory Brandan of Norma Jean Interview and Photos by Liana Marie It was grand meeting up with Cory Brandan of Norma Jean, before the show. It was my first time seeing the band live, and I was more excited than ever. Cory was an interesting guy and overall the interview went great. I hope you can enjoy it as much as I did. Here‟s what Cory had to share with us...L.M. PI: I recently came across the title „Luti-Kriss‟. Was this a whole separate project or was this just another title of what is now „Norma Jean‟? CB: Kind of both. It‟s really more of a different project. The music was different and the band changed into something else, so the name changed. Plus that name was dumb. Norma Jean‟s a way cooler name. (PI) Isn‟t that a rapper, too? (CB) It‟s also a rapper. That helps with the name change. PI: What brought about these changes? CB: Well, I wasn‟t in the band at the time, actually, but I was friends with the guys. They stayed at my house. We were best friends. So I kind of remember that. Actually they were at my house asking me, like, I remember Scotty waking me up at 6am when they were leaving, like “What should we change our name to?!” and I was like “I don‟t know, dude”. They had all these other wacky names. I think it just got thrown around and that one name, somebody said it on stage and it stuck. PI: What‟s the story behind Norma Jean, both the name and the band itself? CB: The name, it comes from Marilyn Monroe. (PI) What about Marilyn Monroe? (CB) She‟s just rad. Have you ever seen her? That‟s her original name. Her name isn‟t Marilyn Monroe, it‟s actually Norma Jean. PI: What about when you joined the band? Can you tell us a little bit about how you got involved? CB: I was in a band called Eso-Charis, back in like ‟96-‟98, and they were doing Luti-Kriss and we played all the shows together and we became friends, stayed at each other‟s houses. We liked each other‟s bands and when the singer left, they asked me to join. It‟s pretty much as simple as that. They thought I was cool, I guess. (Laughs) PI: One of your more well known songs, off of „Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child‟, it‟s called „Memphis Will Be Laid to Waste‟, can you tell me a little of what it‟s about, maybe explain the lyrics? CB: I don‟t know, and it‟s funny because I asked Josh what the songs were about when I joined. And he asked me what I wanted to know, and I asked him what this song was about. I think his answer was „I can‟t remember‟. I think the thing is, with any of our songs, even the songs I do know the meanings to, we like that people read the lyrics. When you think of something to write the song about, lyrics are the best explanation for that. We write down, how can I explain this best? Read the lyrics, you can kind of get your own interpretation from that, like if you look at a painting, you‟ll see something different. It‟s art, so it‟s okay to interpret it yourself.
PI: So, how‟s the tour going? CB: Good. Really, really awesome. We‟re having a lot of fun. We left for tour at the end of February and we have 4 shows left. PI: Did any of the shows stand out to you for any specific reason(s)? CB: There are ups and downs on tours. There are some cities that you know, you can play Seattle, and it‟ll blow your mind and be the best show you ever played and the next day play Salt Lake City, which you‟ve had good shows at before, but on that tour it would be terrible, you would hate it. It changes from tour to tour, but on this tour Houston was really great, San Antonio was amazing. Portland, Seattle was great. Last night was insane. We played in Worchester. So awesome. Most of the shows have been really, really awesome. (PI) Awesome turn out? CB: Yea, yea. Really good. PI: Are you enjoying your time here in Lancaster, PA so far? CB: Yea, we played here a bunch. It‟s one of our favorite places to play, so we like it. PI: So, out of all your albums, if you were to pick one , which one do you favor the most and why? CB: I think any band would pick their newest record, and I am not excluded. Our newest record, for sure. I think it‟s the best interpretation of this band ever. I think it‟s the most honest record we‟ve ever written. We did everything we wanted, but it‟s the first record where we continuously asked ourselves, like ok let‟s do what we want but let‟s try not to be so selfish about it. Every band says “We‟re going to do whatever we want; we don‟t care what anybody thinks”. That‟s really cool and stuff, but if you think about it, kind of selfish. We asked ourselves on this record, what do our fans want? Let‟s do a little bit of that too. Let‟s make it something we want and something we think people would want to listen to, and that‟s what came out and so very, very, very happy with it. PI: What‟s your favorite song to perform live, and why? CB: Right now it‟s a song off the new record called „Falling From the Sky Day Seven‟. It‟s a really different song. It has a really different vibe to it. After our 30 minutes of abrasive music, it‟s a nice break in the set but it still has a lot of energy. PI: Can you tell us a little bit about the band‟s accomplishments, awards, achievements? CB: I know that when I first wanted to be a musician, I was real young. All I wanted to do was play my local venue in Fort Smith, Arkansas and have 100 people show up. That was my first goal; if I could do that, damn that‟s awesome. So, did that, several times over, then we did that on tour. You know, you can keep setting goals for yourself, but you don‟t want to do it to where you‟re unhappy with what you‟re doing. I‟ve seen a lot of bands do that. We did OzzFest in 2006. We were on tour with Ozzy Osbourne, and I had to like, slap myself. Like, you‟re on OzzFest. That‟s insane. At the time that was the coolest metal tour. That was the tour you wanted to get on to if you were a heavy band. And so, 2006, we had already done so many cool things, but we really wanted to make sure we told ourselves we‟re happy with where we are and anything after that was awesome. We‟ve done a million other things. We did Warped Tour twice. Before that, we were nominated for a Grammy, which is pretty cool. (PI) Do you remember what the Grammy was for? (CB) Yea, it was for artwork on the record. There‟s different cool things like that but, really all of its awesome. Being here playing the show is awesome. We‟ve been really lucky to do this as long as we‟ve been doing it. We just enjoy it. PI: Did you ever think you would be this far? CB: No. I mean, kind of, because it‟s all I cared about when I was growing up. As soon as I got a guitar, that‟s all I
wanted to do. That‟s all I thought about, school went down the drain so I knew that‟s what I was shooting for, but you never really know what‟s going to happen. I‟m just really stoked that we‟re still doing it. PI: What are some of your personal influences, in terms of specific bands? CB: I have a lot. There are so many. That list is ridiculous. One of my favorite bands in the world is The Smashing Pumpkins. That‟s the band that when I heard I thought “I want to make that sound. I want to do a record like this. That‟s cool.” Fugazi is another one. Helmet, a huge one. The list is so long. Those are the 3 really good ones though. PI: Would those be your top 3 favorite bands today then? Or would the list be completely different? CB: No. I‟m 34 and as you get older, you can‟t pick a favorite band anymore. When I was young, I had the favorite band and it was Alice in Chains. Before that it was like Def Leppard or something. You go back and forth, but really after a while, you just have a lot of favorite bands. You really have a list you could make. (PI) Are there some that you listen to more than others? (CB) Not really, no. PI: „Meridional‟ is your most recent record. Can you tell us a little bit about it? CB: We wrote the record for a year, from January 2009 to January 2010; the first record that we took that long to write. The strategy throughout the year, we would tour, come back and write, tour, come back and write. We would just spend a lot of time on songs, and went into the studio in February, recorded it in 28 days, and it‟s been fun. It‟s definitely been the most accepted, most well received record we‟ve ever done I think, by the industry. Fans love it. It is a different record but that‟s going to happen every time. We can‟t do the same record twice. That‟s too easy and boring. So, we‟re going to continue to do that kind of stuff. PI: So, all around you think the record turned out the way you wanted it to? CB: Definitely. Way beyond our expectations. I listen to it still and it‟s kind of weird, like how is that us? I listen to it from a fan‟s perspective. (PI) What about the music...Is it heavier? (CB) I wouldn‟t say heavier. There are heavy songs and there are songs that aren‟t as heavy. I think it has a lot of passion and a lot of energy. PI: What can we expect from Norma Jean in the future? CB: We‟re going to be touring our butts off until we‟re ready to write again. We‟re out in May, we‟re out in July. We‟ll take months off in between, on a month, off a month. So that‟s what we‟re doing right now. PI: Thanks for giving us a chance to get Plug‟d In! CB: Thank you!
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Through Their Eyes: Exceptional Photography by The Plugâ€&#x;d In Photographers
Photo by Liana Marie
Photos by Liana Marie
Impact: JR Wasilewski of Less Than Jake Interview by Vikki Sin If you‟re looking to go to a fun show (and really, who isn‟t?), Less Than Jake does not disappoint. These Ska punk veterans always bring massive energy to the stage, along with half the crowd. I had seen them in January and had a great time, so I was very happy to get the chance to speak with saxophonist JR Wasilewski recently about what it‟s like to be in the band, and when we can hear some new stuff (very soon!). Here‟s what he had to say…V.S. PI: You just got back from Australia not too long ago; how was that? Did you get to do anything cool while you were down there? JR: Because the tour kind of moves from city to city day to day, you have to fly usually from city to city, so on the weekends not so much. But during the week we were in Melbourne for like 3 or 4 days straight so we got to go out and kind of experience the city and some of us probably experienced a little more of the nightlife of Melbourne than others, but you know everybody has their own choices in life I suppose. Yea, we‟ve been there a bunch of times so it was great to go down there. It‟s definitely one of my favorite countries in the world to go to. PI: You guys just got added to the Warped Tour too, are you excited about that? JR: Yea of course we are! We were doing some research and apparently we are, I don‟t know if we‟re the first band, but we are the only band this year on Warped Tour that‟s played on the Warped Tour all 3 of the decades that it‟s been in existence. PI: So do you have a new CD you‟re coming out with? JR: We‟re actually working on music right now so I don‟t really have anything to tell you right this moment, but we will have something for Warped Tour. I don‟t know exactly what it‟ll be but we‟ll have something for sure. PI: You came out with TV/EP in the fall that was covering some TV show themes. What made you guys want to do something like that? JR: We were bored. We definitely talked about doing it for a couple years, and it made sense I guess. We were taking some time off, we hadn‟t recorded in a while and we wanted to do something for fun. Most people I think understood that and they just took it as like fun and then some people, well you can‟t please all people all the time I guess. Some people tolerated it and that‟s good and they probably didn‟t buy it anyway, they just downloaded it for free. My only problem with anybody that complains about music is if they don‟t pay for it. If you pay for it, you definitely have your right to bitch and moan, but if you‟re just downloading it for free, nobody cares. The people that bitched about it that bought it, I‟m sorry but we‟re actually writing some songs now, Less Than Jake songs, so hopefully that will satiate the small amount of people that actually purchased the record. It‟ll satiate their need for real Less Than Jake songs. PI: You guys obviously have a love of cartoons and things like that, what‟s your favorite cartoon? JR: My favorite cartoon, any of the Looney Tunes stuff; definitely so timeless and classic. It could make anybody laugh, if you‟re 88 or 8 years old. It‟s great. So definitely Looney Tunes would be my favorite.
PI: Being a saxophone player, are you a big fan of Lisa Simpson? JR: I probably am a fan of Lisa, I probably relate more to Bart, though. I‟m definitely a fan of Lisa though. PI: I went to see you not too long ago for the first time, and I have to say that‟s probably one of the best shows I‟ve ever been to. I‟ve never seen a band that‟s so involved with the audience. You guys had more people on stage than I‟d ever seen. Has there ever been anything in particular that was real crazy that‟s happened when you‟ve pulled a fan up? JR: I‟ve had that question asked a couple times and to be honest, every time somebody comes up there it‟s ridiculous. I actually remember more of the people that didn‟t do things than the people that did things. Sometimes there‟s this pretty steep demand placed on these guys to just to get pulled out of the crowd for whatever reason, whether it be a haircut or the fact that they‟re texting or whatever it is. Our whole thing has always been, there‟s really no separation between the band and the crowd. We‟re all there having fun together so we try not to be too mean about anything, because it‟s all in good fun. As far as crazy that I‟ve seen, I couldn‟t even begin to tell you. We chopped some kid‟s hair off one time on stage for $8. He had a real mop head too. I think the kid thought Chris told him $80 but it was actually $8. We‟ve had multiple people make out with each other. Sometimes it gets crazy, it just depends on the people and how willing they are and how drunk they are. We try to make it so people can walk away and at least have a smile on their face. There‟s a lot of misery in the world so if nothing else, for that hour and a half that we‟re on stage I hope that people will forget about the horrible shit that‟s outside of that club and they‟d smile about it on the drive home. Mission accomplished, we‟ve done what we‟re supposed to do. PI: Who are some of the people that have inspired you, musically? JR: My friends, that‟s who inspires me the most. I don‟t want to list them all because that‟s just name dropping. My friends inspire me the most and that‟s kind of awesome. PI: If there‟s one artist that you could see that you might not have the chance to, but if maybe you could go back in time or something who would you have loved to have seen in concert? JR: Frank Sinatra, in the heyday. I think he would have been probably the greatest thing I‟ve ever seen. In the 40‟s, 50‟s when he was at his peak, that would have been awesome. PI: What are some of the things you like to do when you‟re not on tour? Any hobbies? JR: I‟m a big baseball fan, so I try to go to baseball games so long as I can. I try to play music, even though music is my profession, I try to play other things besides saxophone. People are always like “Yea, I race cars” or “I fly planes”. I don‟t do any of that stuff. I just kind of come home and putter around my house like a grandfather, just garden (laughs), mow the lawn, fix stuff around the house. It‟s really quiet when I come home and I like that. So when I come home, I don‟t really do anything. I save it all up for when we go out on tour. PI: Do you prefer being on tour? JR: I used to but I‟ve gotten to the point now where I don‟t mind being home. It doesn‟t bum me out. I like getting up in a bed that doesn‟t have a generator buzzing underneath it. I like taking a poop in my own bathroom. It‟s the little things, you know. We‟ve been going on tour for so long. I‟m not going to complain about it, because that‟s my new
thing in 2011, I‟m not complaining anymore, because what‟s really to complain about? It‟s like anything else, going on tour to me, it‟s like going to work. It is, because I have to leave my house, like if you work you leave your house and you go to work and you hate your life when you‟re at work some days. So I try to equate it like that to people. Imagine if your job is your lifelong thing you wanted to do for your entire life, so I‟m really lucky in that aspect, and so I try not to complain too much. Being on tour is great, but being home is great, too. When you get older you start to realize that I think. PI: What would you be doing if you weren‟t playing in a band? JR: I don‟t know. I probably would have been a teacher. I went to college. I have a degree, believe it or not. I‟m one of the few guys that are in a touring band that has an actual working, living bachelor‟s degree. I have it in music education, so I probably would do that. I guess I would teach elementary school kids or something. PI: Have you been playing since you were a kid? JR: Yea, I started to take up piano when I was 6, played saxophone when I was 11. I always thought that was a cool thing, so I went to school for music teaching because if I told my parents I was going to school for music performance they would tell me I‟m out of my fucking mind. I went for what I thought was the best thing I could do for myself and the future so I could always be around something I love. I would probably do that because when I was student teaching I enjoyed seeing little kids discover something for the first time. It‟s as awesome as playing in front of 80,000 people, and trust me, I‟ve done both. PI: Thanks for giving us a chance to get Plug‟d In! JR: You‟re welcome and thank you for the interview. It was very good. I appreciate it.
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Thank you Bandi Budwash for 1 Year of service. Without you we would not be able to do what we do!
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www.mayhemfest.com Friday, June 24th Single Day Pass: $30 Leftover Crack, Toxic Holocaust, Murphy's Law, Mucky Pup, The Spudmonsters, Ensign, Common Enemy, Vision. CDC, American Werewolves, Animal Haus, Last Call Brawl, Combat Crisis, Stoked On Being Pumped, Get Railed, Repressed Saturday, June 25th Single Day Pass: $40 Blood For Blood, Hazen Street, Wisdom In Chains, Skarhead, Death Threat, Shattered Realm, Sworn Enemy, No Redeeming Social Value, Ashers, Colin Of Arabia, Steel Nation, Lionheart, Bulldog Courage, Line Of Scrimmage, Hate Your Guts, Fist Fight
June 24, 25, 26 Reverb 1402 N. 9th St Reading, Pa. 19604
Sunday, June 26th Single Day Pass: $40 Shelter, Trial, 108, Freya, Shutdown, XLooking ForwardX, Foose, Such Gold, The Last Stand, Incendiary, FocusedxMinds, Concrete Reality, Unlearn
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From The Throne of The Rock God Rants, Raves, Reviews, and News for the Minions I‟m sitting here writing this and I have to admit, I‟m nervous. J.X.M.X is a little more than a month away and there‟s still so much to do! When I decided I wanted to do this I didn‟t really know what I was getting into. I knew it was going to be hard, just not this hard, or time consuming. Thankfully though, all is proceeding as planned. Here‟s the update… Our official flyer has been released and is being distributed everywhere. Sorry to the guys in Apollyon for the misspelling. The updated flyer will fix that shortly. The bands are all confirmed and boy is it a kick ass show. We handpicked some of our favorites from all over Central Pa. Each band will be bringing something unique and their own kick ass style to the show and I spoke with each of them personally and believe me…they‟re ready to rip you a new one! We‟ve got Throdl in the headlining spot. A lot of you guys already know what to expect from these veterans. Following them will be Dreamland Park, who are absolutely amazing, and will be reuniting for our show. Rumor has it they will be also debuting some new material. Rounding out the night is a slew of bands that are performing together as a whole for the first time @ J.X.M.X., so be prepared for lots of surprises! Tickets are being printed as we speak. Trophies for the bike show have been ordered and will look amazing! Wait till you see these things. The motorcycle show is open to all types of bikes (Harley, Sport, ect) and we have different trophies for the different bikes. The cool thing about the motorcycle show is if you register your motorcycle for $15.00 you get into the music fest for free! How cool is that? Anyways, there‟s so much more to tell you about…but I‟m short on time and space, but don‟t worry, you will see soon enough! Till next time…
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Special thanks to all the following for making this issue happen: Without you...well, we just would have had to work a little harder.
The Reading Tattoo Co, Shoo, American Heroes, Belly Busters, 1Up Collectibles, Its All The rage Hair Designs, Vertical Pole Fitness, Pottstown Tattoo Co, Gotham City Tattoo, The Last Level, Pocket Aces Skate Shop, Crocodile Rock Café, Michael Demos, Liana Marie, David Barber, Mark Kohl, Nicole Marie, Nicolle Stella, Vikki Sin, Tyler Heckard, Bandi Budwash, Mark Kohl, David Barber, Designs By Your Arsonist, Roadrunner Records, Century Media, W.M.G., Victory Records, Facedown Records, Fearless Records, Metal Blade records, E1, Hollywood Records, Disney, Adrenaline P.R., Solid State Records, DRP Records, Strike First, and all the amazing National and Local bands we‟ve had the privilege to work with.
Upcoming Shows May 20th - GRAVEROBBER, UNDER COMMAND, FIREBORN, TWELVE AFTER, MIDNIGHT DECADENCE CD RELEASE SHOW, 20TIL8 AND REARVIEW DESTROYER!! Tix $10 advance, $15 at the door. All Ages! Doors at 6:30 May 29th - MEMORIAL MADNESS!!! DREAM DEVICE, CIRCLE OF SANITY, SUNSETS NORTH AND SEVENTH CORVUS! DOORS AT 6:30, START AT 7! ALL AGES, $10 AT THE DOOR! June 3rd - END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR BASH!! UNITED WE FALL, SECTION 8, CALL ME CRAZY! June 4th - SIX PENNY, 5 HOUR SHOWER, EVAN RUSSEL SAFFER (VOCALIST FROM FIXER), INVARIANCE, AND CHOOSE YOUR WEAPONS, THE FLYING PIGS!! ALL AGES, $10 AT THE DOOR! DOORS AT 7:30, SHOW STARTS AT 8!! June 9th - IT'S A TRAP, BAMF, SEVENTH CORVUS, THE GREAT VALLEY AND MORE TBA! ALL AGES, $10 AT THE DOOR!! June 11th - "JUNE MONGOUS" XTREME MUSIC EXTRAVAGANZA!! BANDS, VIDEO GAMES, RAFFLES, AND SO MUCH MORE! THRODL, DREAMLAND PARK, NO REMORSE FOR THE FALLEN, APOLLYON, AMORA, GARMONIA, CURSE OF SORROW!! MORE DETAILS COMING SOON! June 17th - FAITH IN EXILE, FOR THE PERILOUS, THE GUNPOWDER KINGS, MOMENTS OF SILENCE, AND DAY TAUNT!!! ALL AGES! $10 AT THE DOOR, DOORS AT 7!! June 18th - MANTIS, AND MORE TBA! June 19th - POE WHOSAINE, TEAM STYLES, FIFTH - I, LOYALTY RECORDZ! ALL AGES! June 24th - HEIROSONIC AND MORE TBA! TICKETS $10 PRESALE AND $13 AT THE DOOR! ALL AGES! DOORS AT 7:30!
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