By Therese McKeon

Terry: I think we learned a lesson from Len Fagen a long time ago when we were coming up. Len Fagen is from the Coconut Teazer in Los Angeles. He used to huddle us up and showcase us for all his industry friends and hob nob with us. He'd huddle us up before the set and give us this pep talk. He'd tell us that it didn't matter if there were a thousand people or five people. You get out there and you play the best show you've ever played because you never know. It's a matter of applying that principle. To us, it's just wanting to have a good time because playing is what we love to do. The size of the place doesn't matter because we're going to have a good time no matter what. Obviously in smaller clubs there will be less room to move around but we'll make with what we can.

Dryden: I think the smaller, more intimate venues are harder for me. In my head... It's weird because the bigger the venue gets, the people are farther away and it becomes this mob where it's not personal. When it's really intimate and tight, you can make eye contact with the person in the very back. I think they're the better shows, the smaller ones but I get a little nervous sometimes when I see the beady eyes. It's a good nervous though. I'm not really nervous anymore. I'm more like antsy.

Shoutweb: Antsy! I get it!

Dryden: Ha, ha!

Mike: Definitely a big crowd accepting you when you're out there is a rush. It feels good to have anyone who is digging it. If you listen to our soundcheck and you're digging it then I'm grateful.

Shoutweb: Any video plans?

Dryden: We made a video! You can watch it if you want to come on the bus right now.

Shoutweb: Cool! Tell me a little bit about it.

Dryden: Um... we'll just watch it.

Terry: We did it with director Marcos Siega and we pretty much did it in one night. It took three hours and it was quick and we think it's totally us.

Mike: For "Movies" obviously.

Dryden: We did a failed video in eighteen hours and then a rad video in three. We went and re-shot the whole video all in one night over again.

Shoutweb: Why did you have to re-shoot it?

Terry: It wasn't re-shot. It was a totally different video.

Dryden: It wasn't bad. It just didn't work out. We had like these fantasy sequences in it and for it to work out the song needed to be like one to two minutes longer. There were so many cuts here and there that by the end of it you were like, "Who's the band?" I mean, we're a baby band and everyone needs, as I was saying earlier, to put a face with the name. We didn't want it so that no one even knows who the bass player is.

Shoutweb: Are you excited about the Warped Tour?

Terry: We're excited about everything that's coming up. Honestly, when we got the Linkin Park tour, we were coming right out of a van playing at clubs to hardly anybody. You know what I mean? We were traveling long distances in the snow to do it.

Shoutweb: A few months ago that's what Linkin Park was doing too!

Terry: We were totally excited to go on that tour, let alone out with Orgy and then Papa Roach and then the Warped Tour! It's all so exciting but it's going to be really busy. We even have time to think about going to Europe squeezed in between these spots. It's going to be really awesome! We're really excited by the whole thing. Everybody says that Warped Tour is like big punk rock summer camp so I'm sure ditch parties will be abound on there. It will be great. We're all going to be ditching the Warped Tour and pumping freon into all of our buses. We did at ditch parties at least when I was a kid.

Shoutweb: Not that these tours aren't great but do you guys have an ultimate wish for who would love to tour with?

Mike: Tool.

Dryden: We have some tentative dates with Tool in Europe coming right before Warped Tour so we're like "Woah!" Fingers are crossed.

Terry: It's like a dream come true for us.

Mike: We're willing to be their roadies.

Terry: Word is Weezer might been on Warped Tour – at least some of it – so that's a dream come true too. We're all big time Weezer heads.

Shoutweb: They're playing tomorrow night in the city.

Dryden: No shit.

Mike: Too bad we'll be in PITTSBURGH!

Dryden: I want the New Bohemians to get back together so we can play one set with them. (laughter)

Mike: I want to do something with Dave Matthews.

Terry: I like the idea of spreading us out to different music genres too. Putting us together with bands that are totally unlike us. The way music is going now. A lot of shows are exactly that. It goes over because more kids are getting versatile.

Dryden: We could make a really cool light set for kids that are really into Dave Matthews.

Terry: You mean bright lights? (laughter)

Dryden: Not light lights. Like a diet set! (laughter)

Shoutweb: You guys are way beyond me! (laughter) So, here I have checked off the list "Summer", "Wish", "Sticks and Stones", and of course "Movies". Those songs are my favorites so far but I like them all. Is there talk of a second single yet?

Dryden: "Sticks and Stones"

Shoutweb: Yes!

Dryden: We haven't even talked about a second single yet but the band agrees one hundred percent that it should be "Sticks and Stones". I think Dreamworks would go for it too. I love playing that song. It's one of my favorite songs to play.

Mike: Before the kids have a chance to pick up the record it's hard to play that kind of song because it's a little bit mellower.

Shoutweb: Well, you don't have too long to wait because it's out in stores in two days. I love "Summer" too.

Dryden: It's one of those songs you have to know. It's just doesn't work live in that explosive sense. If you know the song then you're like "yeah!" but it has a lot of changes.

Shoutweb: What's up with the hidden track called "Orange Appeal"? It's kind of freaky and moody.

Dryden: It was just an early song we wrote. It wasn't even supposed to be a song. We were just kind of goofing off and it sounded kind of cool.

Terry: That song was like a ditty. We wrote it in the studio while recording our first demo when we were like a month old. It was just a ditty.

Shoutweb: Ditty. Good word for it.

Mike: We had a few friends come out and play on it. Actually three people other than ourselves played on it.

Terry: It was kind of that one thing we had left over in the studio that we just kept putting stuff on top of. It was cool enough in the end to actually go on the album.

Dryden: That is the one song that we got goofy with all kinds of instruments and effects because we figured we're never really going to play that song in a live sense. And if we do, we'll bring out the players to do it properly. We're not going to buy a sampler some day.

Shoutweb: Are you guys involved with the Internet at all? Do you post on the message boards?

Dryden: I never go on there but they do a lot.

Terry: As much as we can. On the road it's really limited. Limited Laptop Access. LLTA.

Shoutweb: Do you have laptops on the road?

Dryden: Yes, we have two.

Mike: And we use them mainly for entertainment. (laughter)

Terry: It's not often we get to plug in and get on the Internet. It's few and far between but we try to get to as much stuff as we can. We're pretty active on there for as much as we can be at this point. We're in the trenches right now. We're busy all the time. Like you were saying 'Did you trip out when you were on the radio?', honestly since it's been on we've been running around like crazy! You know what I mean? We don't have time to trip!

Mike: This one download that I got goes, "Uh... Uh..."

Shoutweb: That's mad cow disease! Do you guys have any secret messages for your fans?

Dryden: Kill your Mom and Dad.

Mike: Listen to our record backwards and commit suicide.

Terry: And have a nice day!

Shoutweb: And you are, of course, JOKING!!!

Terry: Oh, and don't give up if you're in a band! I had to say that.

Shoutweb: Thanks so much for the interview guys. Have a good show.

Later on, on the tour bus, we watched the new re-shot-recorded-in-three-hours video for "Movies" together which does indeed show the band as they really are – playful, talented, fun, and holding nothing back. It's a refreshingly honest video from a refreshingly honest band that isn't afraid to be happy. More power to the antsy bands.