Staff Member Archive

When you're not on the road or in the studio, do you all still hang out together?
David Desrosiers: Well, we've been touring non-stop since February, pretty much. We're usually only home for about two days and so in those two days, I usually just pay bills and don't even answer my house phone. My friends just check the website, see when I'm home, and my good friends call my cell phone. I don't want to be a prick, but sometimes I'm just busy or tired and don't even answer. But sometimes, if we're home for a week, then we'll call each other up and just check in with each other. It's just that when we're home like, I try to spend as much time as I can with my girlfriend, because obviously I'm very busy and she's also busy, because she goes to school and all. I'm always telling her about how she works too hard for school, but then she's always telling me the same thing, and it's true.

How soon was your first show after you joined the band?
Oh, you have no idea! It was like the following week after! It was crazy, because before Reset, I didn't play the bass. I mean, even in the band, I would have to borrow a bass from someone. But I was in Reset with Chuck and Pierre, but then Pierre had left the band, and Chuck was gone long before that but a few months after Pierre left, both of them came to check out one of our shows and saw me play. Then I saw them at a concert and they told me about this new band and asked me if I would want to be a part of it, so I left Reset and had to learn all of their songs playing bass and singing in about a week.

We're happy with where we are, but we've got so much farther to go.

You seemed to have gotten a lot of recognition when you opened up for Sugar Ray.
I personally think it was a really good match, despite whatever everybody else might say, because Sugar Ray, they used to be a little bit more aggressive, like with their old record, but they got a lot more pop, which is good. We have the punk rock energy on stage, but we still have the pop side of the vocal harmonies, with the old influence of The Beach Boys and The Beatles. So I think those people were not going to hate us, because if they liked Sugar Ray, they were going to like us and vice-versa. So it was good and what was really cool, was that they were pretty much all ages, like even some of the shows I saw some 12-year olds, which is cool and some show there was 30-year olds, which is a good range, because the more people you can reach, the better because then there's nobody too old or too young to listen to you.

So, would you say your success is a result of the shows you did with Sugar Ray, or from your single, I'm Just A Kid?
It's hard to say, because with Sugar Ray, we only went to the east coast and it was kind of like a college tour and there are still a lot of places we have to play. I'm not saying it wasn't a good thing, because it was really good exposure, but as far as success, it's hard to say, because for us, we're just playing music. We don't really see it as a big success, partly because we don't have time to slow down and realize what's going on. Now that we just came back from Japan and Thailand and we go to Australia in two weeks, that's a little bit -- you go "Wow, we're going places." I still can't believe we played in Japan. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life.

What were the fans like there?
They are the coolest crowd. They're amazing. They're so -- can you believe that most of them can barely speak English, but they still manage to learn all your lyrics and they sing them, and then you go and see them after the show and you're like "Hey! Did you have a good time?" And they're like "Ehh. No English", but they still sang the whole song. It's wicked. And between songs, they don't make any noise. They're so interested in what you're going to say, and they're so respectful, but they still go crazy, which is really cool. The whole tour in Japan was sold out, which is unbelievable, because everyone was like "Oh, so who did you tour with?" And we're like "We toured on our own." Thailand was really crazy too, but they were a bit too intense sometimes. It's great to have fans at the airport, but on the other side, when you just travelled twenty hours, you don't look like there, you have to look ready to take a f-----g picture, which is alright if you're *NSYNC, I guess, but I'm not gonna shave in the morning to get on the plane. I'm just going to put on a hat. But then you get to the airport and they even have video cameras in your face. I think that is a little intruding, but that's just me. I think it's great, pictures are fine, but when they're two feet from your face and following you to the plane, it's like "I'm going to get my suitcase! There's nothing cool about that." People don't want to see David getting his suitcase, but it's cool, whatever floats their boat. And then the airport was pretty far away from the city, so we had to jump in a van and we didn't have security. We're in the van going to the hotel on the highway and I'm looking outside and thinking "Oh my god, I'm in Thailand", and I turn around and I go "Holy s--t!" There's a cab full of kids going crazy, taking pictures and following us. Then I look to the side and there's another cab of more kids taking pictures and that was really weird. I think it's great and we appreciate it, that they like us so much they show up to the airport.

What's your favorite song on the album?
I think I'd Do Anything, simply because it represents who we are and everything and that song is about two or three years old for us. We sent a demo once to Mark from Blink-182 and he told us that it was his favorite song of the month, and about how he listened to it before going on stage to get him pumped up, which was really cool for us.

Despite the fact that most of your songs are sad, would you say you're all happy with where you are?
Yeah, of course we're happy with where we are, but we've got so much farther to go. And we're tired! Like I said, we've been touring since February.

So what's the future looking like?
September 24th, we play at the Hard Rock here in Los Angeles, which I think is going to be really cool. Then the 25th, we're going out, having fun, and meeting up with some old friends, like Sugar Ray. We're really good friends with them. We've got this tour going on right now, that's mostly going to be in the West and Midwest. Then October 3rd, we head to Australia for a tour there and when we come back, we're going to be doing a tour with Good Charlotte in the Midwest area -- I know Philadelphia is one of the places. I don't know where I am half of the time! The tour dates are on our website.

Awesome! Good Charlotte is one of my favorite bands.
I can't believe you just said that! They're my favorite, too! I'm going to be telling all my friends to buy the album October 1st. The guys already gave us a copy a while back and it's wicked awesome, but I'm still going to buy another one. And there's this thing coming up that we're doing in Montreal, that's a private concert/interview thing, but you just sit there for an hour and a half or so and the fans ask questions and listen to you play, but while I'm there, I'm going to tell all of them to go buy the Good Charlotte album!

Johanna Fredriksson: Thank you for taking the time to do this interview.
Katherine Moennig: Sure! It still amazes me that the show is still on.

And on three different channels over here, in Sweden
That is crazy!

How has being in Young Americans changed your life?
Well, it has been so long since the show aired here, that my life is pretty much the same now.

Are you still friends with the cast from the show?
Honestly, I haven't seen anyone from the show in so long. Maybe because I live in NYC and they are all in L.A.

That sucks, huh?
Well, it's the way it is in this business. You spend a huge amount of time together, and then you go your separate ways.

If someone called you today and said that they're doing a second season of Young Americans, would you agree to do it?
If someone asked me that two years ago, I wouldn't think twice to say yes. But now, I'm in a different place, so I would want to leave it the way it was, but I still think of that experience with the happiest memories.

Now that it's been almost two years and people are still very emotionally attached to Jake and Hamilton, what do you think? Did you ever imagine this kind of reaction from the fans?
Never in a million years. I am beyond flattered. I'm so thankful for the support.

You really did a great job. I'm a huge fan myself.
Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

There is a piece of me in all of them.
(Katherine on her roles)

Your new movie, Invation To Suicide -- can you tell me a little about the movie and the part you play?
That movie is set in the Polish community in Greenpoint. It's about breaking free of the everyday lifestyle and just how far you would go to do it. I played Eva, who probably has the most realistic voice in the film. She's best friends with Kaz, the lead.

Can't wait to see it! Do you know when it will be out in theaters?
Thank you! I really don't know when the film will be released. It's an independent film, so that means going to the festivals, getting distribution...blah blah...it could be a while, but I really believe in the story, and I think others will relate to it.

I'm sure it's a great movie. You played in Swedish director Lasse Hallström's movie, The Shipping News. How was that?
Very brief, but a lot of fun. A great learning experience.

Have you ever been to Sweden?
No, never been.

There are always different answers to this question: What's your eye color?
My eyes are green, but they go different shades, depending on the colors of my clothes.

Who's your favorite fashion designer?
I like a lot of little unknowns, but I love Henry Duarte and Christine Ganeaux.

Which character that you've played would you say is most like you?
It's a mix between Jake and maybe on my bad days, Ms. Moosup from The Shipping News. There is a piece of me in all of them.

Which movie, modeling or other acting part are you most proud of?
I have a hard time watching myself, usually. I'm most proud of myself, when I walk out of an audition and know I did well, but there are certain people I've worked with that pushed me and that makes me proud.

What commercials have you done?
I did a Fleet Bank commercial not too long ago.

A fan wants to know if Ian's a good kisser and if you've heard about him winning The New Face Award on Movieline?
Yes, he was and no, I didn't know that.

How do you feel about having fans, websites and message boards about you?
I'm really flattered and grateful that others care. It means a lot to me, because I know it takes time to do those things and for people to take that time means sooo much.

I actually just started katherinemoennig.org if you want to check it out sometime.
Oh, thank you! That is so kind of you. I will check that out.

Do you like to stay at home on a Friday night, or do you go out to clubs?
I really don't do the club scene. There are too many people. I like to hang out at home or see some friends.

I agree. Have you ever had a "regular" job?
I have had "regular" jobs before, but they never lasted that long. I think the longest was ten days. I don't have a very strong work ethic when I couldn't careless about what I'm doing.

Is there anything you'd like to say to your fans?
For the people who have been sooo supportive since the show -- I just want to say, I love you all and thank you from the bottom of my heart, for all the love you have brought my way. It means so much and I cherish it. Thank you everyone.

Who is your biggest musical influence?
Ryan Dennis: Mostly everything we heard on the radio when we were growing up.

Where and when were you first discovered?
Ryan: We won this contest and we got ten hours of free recording time and like, three free music videos.

Wow. That must've been emotionally hard.
Ryan: We were shocked!

What is the weirdest thing a fan has ever done for you?
Dan Stadnicki: Pretended to be an interviewer from a magazine we've never heard of and when she gets backstage, she tells us she just wanted to meet us.

What is the nicest thing a fan has ever done for you?
Dan: Washed my boat.
Ryan: I don't really know. It's hard to pinpoint specific things.

It must be crazy with all your fans. How do your families deal with fans and your fame?
Ryan: They're okay with it.

If you could change one thing about fame, what would it be and why?
Ryan: People who thing we're rich. It's not like we're rolling around in hundred dollar bills. We're just ordinary people.

I think that would be hard, especially when people think that and then you do something and they always assume the wrong reasons. For instance, a friend of mine told me you don't hug people, because of sexual harassment lawsuits.
Ryan: It's not so much the lawsuit thing. It's nothing personal, but we've got a tour to do and if a fan is sick, then we'll get sick.
Dan: Plus, if we have one thousand fans waiting for autographs, it will take up a lot of time to hug everyone of them.

That's understandable. So tell me what your favorite song is that you have produced?
Ryan: I think we like all the songs we produce, but just because of the results of Mistake, I am going to say that one.
Dan: Me too!

Our bus broke down, so we had to push it into the parking lot! -- Ryan Dennis

Where did you get the name "Serial Joe" from?
Ryan Stever: A guy who lives on Ryan's street named Sergio, and a little girl also lives on Ryan's street and she can't pronounce his name, so she calls him "Serial Joe".

How did you feel when you first saw yourselves on MuchMusic and heard yourself on the radio?
Ryan: When you hear yourself on the radio, it's like listening to the CD, so that doesn't bother me much, but when I saw myself on Much, it was freaky.
Dan: Yuck!

Do you have any celebrity crushes?
Ryan: Oh, of course. All of The Backstreet Boys.
Dan: Oh, how about *NSYNC?

She likes O-Town.
Dan: Didn't they sing a song about wet dreams?
Ryan: Yeah, Liquid Dreams.
Dan: You got my liquid dreams...

That was nice, Dan. Do you enjoy traveling to your shows?
Ryan: Yeah.

Out of all the celebrities you've met, who is your favorite?
Ryan: Silverchair. They are just awesome guys.

What would you be if you weren’t in the music industry?
Ryan: Well, we're all still young, so we'd probably be in school.
Stever: Yeah, I think I would be.
Jon Davidson: Yeah.
Dan: Me too!

What qualities do you look for in a girl?
Dan: Good conversationalist. If she doesn't know how to carry on a conversation, then there is no point talking. And she HAS TO, HAS TO, HAS TO have a sense of humor.
Ryan: Yeah, a sense of humor is a big thing. I would say she has to be smart.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you as a band?
Ryan: Going to our Woodstock show. Our bus broke down, so we had to push it into the parking lot!
Dan: That was kind of embarrassing!

You guys have had a pretty exciting year so far. You've been signed to Her Majesty's record label with Bif Naked, released two hit songs, joined a tour...can you describe how this year's been for you?
Leah Emmott: Fun! Amazing! We haven't done a lot of touring, but we've gone to a lot of places none of us have been before. It's been a really great year!
Brittin Karroll: We're really lucky that we've gotten to do and see the things we have.

What's the greatest part been about it so far?
Leah: Playing shows!
Brittin: Especially with the bands we've gotten to play with, like Black Angels that we played with at Edgefest. That was really cool! These two got up on stage and sang with them!
Foxx Herst: We opened for Goldfinger and it was such a shock for us, 'cause it was like "Wow! This is Goldfinger!"
Colette Trudeau: And doing music videos, that's a lot of fun. Our last one was done in Vancouver and all of our relatives were in it. It was just a big fun party pretty much!
Foxx: Actually, the whole job's a big fun party pretty much!

How much different was your first video from your second one?
Brittin: Well we filmed this one in our home town instead of in Toronto. Our whole family was in it, actually, in the crowds.
Leah: The executives were our parents!
Foxx: It was totally more fun when we had our friends and family there. And Bif was in it too. The first one was kind of a little iffy.

Rock can be a noun or a verb, just everything. We're not hardcore and we're not really punk. -- Foxx Herst

So has Bif been your mentor for the past year? Showing you the ropes of the business, that sort of thing?
Brittin: Oh yeah! She's like the cool, I don't wanna say mother, I'd say more like sister.
Foxx: She's a cool big sister! Yeah.
Leah: She teaches us a lot of things. She teaches us a lot about being on the road and...
Brittin: She's been touring forever, well, for a while, and we just learn what we need to know through her.

Who influenced you to pick up the instruments that you did?
Leah: Well for me, I listened to... I picked up my vocal chords when I was three, just because I was a little girl. And I wanted to sing just like Tiffany. I was one of those little girls who would walk up and be like "Hi! I'm Tiffany!" But as I got older, I decided I wanted to do rock. I don't want to sing pop no more. I was influenced by Veruca Salt, Holly MacNarland, Hole -- strong feminine rock people. I was mesmerized by how hard they could be looking at the music of the time.
Colette: We've also had our families to back us up. They've been really supportive of our music careers and they're pretty much the ones who've gotten us to reach our goals. They've helped us out in every single way.

How'd you guys end up coming together? We hear it's kind of an interesting story?
Brittin: Yeah, it's a crazy story. Me and Leah knew each other from baseball, so she submitted a tape to my dad. Well actually, it was to me at school...
Leah: I gave her a little cassette tape of some country songs!
Brittin: We decided to start a band, so we put an ad in the Georgia Strait in Vancouver and Foxx answered it. After that, we found Colette and we were all set. It's hard to find girl drummers!
Leah: We found her!

What's the next thing you have planned to release? You've just released your last song Get With It, but do you have any ideas of what you want to release in the future?
Foxx: Kay sera sera, whatever will be will be. We would be happy if anything off that album came out. We'd be happy if radio stations played anything off that album.

I was listening to the record earlier and I was actually really impressed that you guys, being so young when you wrote it, could write really good songs.
Leah: Thank you!
Brittin: We were 12 and 13 when we wrote that record!

If you could put any song off your record into any soundtrack what song or soundtrack would it be?
Brittin: What about Rush Hour 2?
Foxx: Yeah! Rush Hour 2! That's like my favorite movie now.

If you had 30 seconds to sell your album to someone off the street how would you convince them to buy it?
Foxx: Buy it or Britt'll kick your ass! She's a third degree back belt!
Brittin: Please buy our record? It's okay!
Foxx: I guess if we had 30 seconds to sell our album to someone, we'd probably play for those 30 seconds. It's the best way to sell it. And not just play the CD, but play for them live.

How would you describe your sound? It's not your average mainstream pop or rock music. It's not too unusual to see a girl band such as yourself in the industry.
Colette: That's true, but I don't think we're the first. I think there are other girl rock groups out there, but they're not getting as popular as they should be.
Leah: Our music's totally different from anything. You can't compare us to girls and girl groups, because we're not just a girl group.
Foxx: We're totally different.
Leah: We really have our own sound. No one can really compare us to any one. They try and compare us to Bif's music, but we don't sound all that much like her. They try to compare us to other girl groups, but they're either much harder or much softer.
Colette: It's weird to hear that we're kind of pioneers, because we're just doing what we do.
Foxx: It's kind of hard to answer that. We always have a problem trying to explain to people what kind of music we play. We usually just say rock because it's all encompassing. Rock can be a noun or a verb, just everything. We're not hardcore, we're not really punk.
Brittin: We have different songs on our record too. It's so diverse. It goes from like Britney to Faith Hill to Johnny, so it's hard.
Foxx: Our album is hard to classify, but our live shows are easy because it's just a rock show.

We always have to prove ourselves with every single show we do. -- Leah Emmott

What's it like touring with a band that used to be pop like The Moffatts?
Colette: We're playing with The Moffatts? Hmmm...
Foxx: We talked about all the special stuff we could do if we were playing with The Moffatts...
Brittin: If you just say Moffatts, than everyone starts to scream!
Leah: We already played a show with them and I was like "Next up are The Moffatts!" and was just like "AHHH!"
Foxx: The funny thing is you don't even have to say Moffatts and they scream. You could say broccoli and they'd scream. They just scream at anything! They're such a wild crowd. They get hyped up about anything.

Isn't it kind of weird for you guys though since you play a solid rock show to be touring with a band that used to be really heavily into pop music?
Leah: They're trying to cross over to be more into rock now though. I think it's great that they're doing that!
Foxx: They've been so busy this tour, we haven't even seen them yet. We only played one show with them so far. Tonight is going to be our first time actually getting to watch their show, so we're excited.
Colette: And they're only a year older than us, so it's cool that we have an almost entire teenage bill.
Foxx: Bif fits in too. She's like a big teenager anyway!

The Moffatts changed their sound drastically. Do you maybe see yourselves changing your sound in the future?
Brittin: I think we're going to stay with rock music for now.
Foxx: I don't think we'll do what they did. They made a drastic swing from I think it was country, to pop and now rock music. I think for us, we'll always be somewhere within that rock genre.
Colette: But our music is going to totally evolve and mature from our experience.

What's the most important lesson you've learned from the industry so far?
Leah: I guess a lot of it's learning to deal with people. A lot of people look at us and say "Okay, you're a girl group. What can we expect?" We have to deal with something like that every single day. We always have to prove ourselves with every single show we do. We always have people coming up to us saying how suprised they are. Saying things like "When we came here, we thought 'Oh it's just another girl group, they're going to suck.'" But then after, they're like "Oh, you guys were REALLY good!" So that's something we have to overcome. We have to put 110% into all of our shows to prove to everyone.
Foxx: We always have to deal with those preconceptions and misconceptions. A lot of the times, we get people telling us we were great, so it's really great in the end. But the best thing, too, is having to prove yourself. Deep down we just prefer to play to a crowd like we have tonight. Sometimes we prefer to play to the old, experienced industry crowds too though.
Leah: Yeah, and they just stand there with their arms crossed. They think because we're teenage girls, we're not going to be anything special.
Brittin: They won't scream just when we come out on stage. They're just like "Yeah, well prove you're good before I start clapping."
Foxx: That's what makes it exciting, because you have to prove it to them!
Brittin: It's really cool to see the crowd turn afterward and really start clapping and cheering. It means a lot more!
Foxx: It's so much more real to us!

Why did you name your album Seeing Red?
Leah: Well, when we first started out, we were putting "seeing red" as lyrics into a bunch of our songs.
Foxx: Well, there is "seeing red" in a bunch of our songs, but I like the imagery it conveys about anger and it's kind of a relection of how we felt at the time. Angry young women. We felt it kind of represented our struggle to be noticed in a male dominated business.
Brittin: It's also the last lyrics of the last song "now you've got me seeing red."

Was that planned, or just a coincidence?
Brittin: No.
Foxx: That came first.
Leah: When we were naming our CD, we knew right away it was going to be Seeing Red.

Did you discuss any other titles, or was it unanimous from the start?
Leah: Well, we'd talked about it before.
Brittin: We had some funny ones too, like LiveonRelease Black or something stupid like that.
Foxx: Yeah, stupid things! A lot of it was inside jokes too. We talked about using a song title for the CD title too, but we thought it'd be better to use Seeing Red instead.

Where do you guys see yourself in a year's time?
Brittin: Still playing. Five years from now, it'll be the same. Ten years from now, the same thing. It's easy!
Colette: Maybe a couple more records. We'll see what we can do.

How did you get yourself out there in the music business? What's the story behind becoming Jo Davidson, a recording artist?
Jo Davidson: I have been playing the piano since I was four. I have been writing my own songs since I was 11. I grew up in Ohio and then moved to L.A. to pursue a career in music. I met some industry people when I was attending a class at UCLA. From there, I met my manager, Tommy Manzi.

Any specific artist you would like to work with in the future?
I would love to work with Aimee Mann, Alanis Morrisette or even Coldplay.

What CDs are in your player right now?
I have Aimee Mann, The Magnolia Soundtrack, Heather Eatman, Macy Gray, and Miles Davis.

What are you going to be doing in the next couple of months?
I just returned from doing festivals in Tampa and St. Louis. In the next few weeks, I will be in NYC, Boston, Albany, Detroit and Memphis.

Fame comes along with alot of negative perspectives, for example lack of privacy. How do you plan on handling such things?
I try to handle things as they come and not worry about what's ahead. That only creates stress.

You have a very distinct sound, unlike most solo female artists. Was this the kind of music you wanted to make all along or did it evolve once you were in the studio?
We are all unique when we are being ourselves. It's when we try to copy others too much that we lose our spark. So I take it as a compliment that you say I have a distinct sound.

I don't have to prove anything. My music speaks for itself.

You mention New York City in more than one song. Any specific reason why you chose New York City?
Because I live there.

What sort of things influences you when it comes to songwriting?
Everything influences me. As writers, we are influenced by everything around us. People we meet, music we hear, and the experiences that happen to us.

Is there a particular message you are trying to send out to your listeners through your music?
I think it's to hold onto hope in the tough times. To bend instead of breaking.

What made you decide to be so personal with your songs? Do you ever feel that you are being a little bit too personal with your listeners?
Being personal is the only way I know how to write. That's how I express my feelings and let everything out of me. It keeps me sane when I write.

Is your family supportive of your music career?
They are very supportive of what I do.

Being blonde, female, and a solo artist in today's music scene usually gets you labeled into the "Britney Spears" category. How are you planning to prove that you aren't just another pop-singing blonde?
I don't have to prove anything. My music speaks for itself.

What has been you most awkard moment?
My show this past week in St. Louis, a guy came up to the stage and asked me to sign his chest. I was like "Maybe later." But it was a little awkward.

What do you think you will be doing in the the next two years?
Supporting myself through my records, making music, performing as much as possible and hopefully producing records for other artists. That's what I see myself doing.

Where did you come up with your band's name?
Chris: Well Gotti was my nickname from high school. I'm Italian and from New York, so kids would call me Gotti. The 13 is actually the symbol for change. A clock goes from 1-12. 13 would be the next level.
Tommy: I was watching "The Simpsons" one day and my mom asked me if I wanted macaroni and cheese, and I thought she said "A cool name would be Gotti 13."

Where was your first live show?
Chris: My first live show was at this place called the F.B.I. The guy says to me "You guys will get 25% of the door for money." Well, nobody was there, and the guy handed me like $3 dollars when we were leaving, so I gave it back to him and was like "If this is 25% of the door, you need this money more than we do." Well, I thought it was funny.
Tommy: In Gainesville, Florida for a No Smoking Benefit.

What was going through your head when you first performed?
Tommy: Man, I wish I had more water on stage.

Is the music industry everything you expected it to be?
Chris: ...and a lot more.
Tommy: Well, I expected it to be a lot of work and it has sure lived up to those expectations.

What goes into recording and writing songs?
Chris: A lot of time. A lot of junk food, and a lot of me going "Ahhhhhhhh, DAMN IT!"
Tommy: A lot of sweat. Recording is very time consuming and takes a lot of work. Writing songs is totally different, because a lot of people can write songs, but you have to write songs where people can't get them out of their heads. That's when people start looking your way.

What are your feelings towards other "boybands"?
Chris: Well, I think that they've all got an incredible amount of talent, and nobody can deny them that. We're not a boyband, we are a MANBAND, an actual "rock band" — we play our own instruments, write our own songs, all that good stuff, and our shows are crazy .
Tommy: A lot of work goes into being an artist, so I respect anyone that is doing the same thing we do. The difference with us, is that we play our own instruments and write our own songs.

Who have been your role models and idols?
Chris: Kurt Cobain and groups like Goldfinger, Lit, The Beatles…gotta love 'em all.
Tommy: The Beatles.

If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be?
Chris: Johnny Knoxville We'd just hang out and get in trouble all day.
Tommy: Alyssa Milano!

Anything else in general?
Chris: I like Peanut Butter Twix. I am so glad they brought that back and I wish Crystal Pepsi was still around. Thanks everyone!
Tommy: I want to thank everyone for all their support. We have the greatest fans in the world and we would not have gone this far without you.

Congratulations on your Juno nomination! Did you expect it? What are some of the feelings you have about that?
Earl Pereira: No! When The Junos come around I don't even notice. A few years ago we were nominated for something and the whole experience of being there wasn't all that great.

It was weird to see yourself, a history of your last six years, documented. -- Safwan Javed

Do you plan on going this year?
Earl: If we're in the area we probably will, but if not, I'll just stay home and watch it.

Do you have any hopes of perhaps winning that Juno?
Earl: No. I never have any hopes that we're going to win anything. I hate competitions like that. That's why I got out of sports 'cause I was tired of the competition. Now it's happening all over again.

Do you think there's another band that deserves your nomination?
Earl: If I knew what records were out, it all depends on time lines, how a band gets nominated; if your record comes out at a certain period of time. I think they made all the right calls, Treble Charger...

If you could nominate a record, any record, if there were no limitations?
Earl: Jeez, you know what? I haven't been listening to much Canadian rock music. Really, to tell you the truth, I never really did. I'm not a big fan of Canadian rock. I like listening to '70s funk, The Beatles, stuff like that. I'd rather put on a Bob Marley CD before I put on Sloan. Not to say they're not a great band, 'cause they are, but I go for the classics. I grew up with blues and jazz-oriented stuff. Bands that do that like Philosopher Kings. I just wish there was more of it. People seem to think that if you're from Canada, you should play Bryan Adams Canadian rock. What really pissed me off was when we first got interviewed by Bill Wylicka, when our first record came out, he said "Yeah, so you guys are straight ahead rock." No. This one song may sound like it to you. But there are a lot of great Canadian bands. I just talked to my friend Bob today, he called me, he's from 54-40. He just called to congratulate me on my Juno nomination and I congratulated him right back. It was like:
Do you think you're gonna win?"
"No. Do you think you're gonna win?"
"Not a chance! It's either The Hip or Treble Charger!"

There's a lot of controversy right now in the music industry regarding Napster. What are your views on the whole free music trade?
Safwan Javed: I love Napster! I think Napster's great! In the history of music, in the history of the music industry, things like new technology is what moves it forward. Be it CD development, digital music, digital creation, all that stuff. All this is gonna do, is move the industry forward. Everybody that says otherwise is just scared because they don't want to move forward. If you're a big gigantic band, you'd be fased. I can understand why Metallica and Dr. Dre are fased 'cause they sell a lot of albums, and now they're selling a lot less albums 'cause you can get their stuff for free. For everyone else, it shouldn't make a difference. They should be actually applauding Napster, 'cause like I said, it makes the whole thing move forward, which is good for music.

Do you think you guys have reached your artistic climax or do you still expect it to come?
Safwan: It's still coming. We're still building. This last album is finally the first one where I think we all rolled out going "Yeah! That's what it's supposed to sound like!" So, wait till we get some time and a little more of a vibe where we can experiment a little more. We're still waiting for our climax. We're still learning.

You guys released Change a little while back and it's been doing well so far. Do you have any plans to release another song in the near future?
Earl: Yeah, we do. It's just that picking songs is always tough for us. It's like picking your favorite kid, and it's hard to do. So whichever one comes up. There's songs in the running. The best way for us to judge, is to go to our website and see what the fans think. That's how Change was picked.

Do you visit your site a lot?
Earl: Quite a bit. Saf's our website master.
Safwan: I'm a bit of a webmaster.

Tom Drummond, he designed your album cover which is really nice. Did you have any imput on how it looked, or did you just kind of leave it up to him?
Earl: We put a lot of input into it and we left the rest up to him. It was just great to finally sit down with him, because we'd been doing it over the phone for months and it was getting hard and nothing was getting done. You've gotta sit down with him and just watch him do something. To watch him do it on-the-spot in five minutes was pretty mind blowing.

So you basically had your album drawn in five minutes?
Earl: Yeah! He just sketched it!
Safwan: The basic concept. For one thing, you spend about a week, week and a half, doing the finer details. With people who are doing creative stuff, putting in creative imput into the whole project, be it visual or audio wise like an engineer or producer, video directors, graphic arts designers, artists who are drawing covers, whatever it happens to be, you want to leave them a little bit of leeway to do what their craft is. Give them a little bit or artistic license to go experiment with some stuff. Other than that, you want to make sure they're in the same head-space and going in the same kind of direction as you want.

If you guys could write a theme song for any movie ever made, what movie would it be?
Safwan: That's a good question. That's tough man! I'd say Shaft is probably right up there. I would of love to have done Shaft. The next Shaft, any special movie I love, any Bollywood stuff, cause they need to up that. We gotta modernize that stuff. Of course, they got the flavor and stuff, but it's not quite in the main market. You bring those two together. And then maybe a nice kung fu flick. Maybe a Jet Li movie, Bruce Lee...
Earl: Yeah! Jackie Chan!
Safwan: I would've like to do that Crouching Tiger one. That would've been a cool one to write the soundtrack for. Nice question!

What Did you get a chance to watch the CBC special, Wide Mouth Playing With Poison?
Safwan: We saw it before. We didn't get to see it that night, 'cause there was a Knicks game on. We were both watching that. We saw it a year before when we first finished it.
Earl: What do you mean you guys and poison?
Safwan : It was titled Wide Mouth Mason Playing With Poison.
Earl: You're not thinking of the band Poison, are you?

Oh no. That's what it was titled...
Earl: Oh okay, good!
Safwan: Yeah, it was cool! It was weird to see yourself, a history of your last six years documented. It was just weird to see all the different hair 'dos and just ways of acting and stuff like that, even musically. It's kind of like having a video journal without you having as much say in what's shown and what's not. I think they did a really good job. It showed a sort of behind-the-scenes thing, which was pretty cool to see of what the business itself, and what the industry's like, and what people try to do.

A lot of your fans seem to really like it.
Safwan: Yeah. I think it's because it was such a naked look.
Earl: For really, really hard core fans, it was stuff they already knew. They were hunting for a more in-depth look. I think they were kind of disappointed in what they finally got to see.

A few years ago, you were playing for small audiences at your graduation. Do you like the small audiences or do you prefer the big ones your playing to, like at tonight's show?
Safwan: I like how we're at the point where one night, we'll be playing for 2-300 people and another and the next night, we're playing for ten thousand. It's good, because it gives you the contrast. At a big show, like at the Skydome or the Air Canada Center, there's that incredible rush that when you play something or when you walk out, you just hear "Haaaaaaa!!!" Two-hundred people can't do that. Even if they're all sitting there literally going "Haaaa!!!" It just doesn't sound the same. But then, at the same time, in a small room you can see the whites of peoples' eyes and you can see people sweating. You can see the impact of individual people with your music. They interact with you, they give you energy back. It's a whole different vibe.
Earl: Basically, as long as we're into it and whoever's there's into it, it doesn't matter how many people there are.

When will we see Wide Mouth Mason headlinging their own tour across Canada?
Safwan: We're planning to do our own national tour in fall, but we're just in the process of making plans for it. Probably in the summertime you'll see us at festivals, maybe a couple of shows, then like I said, fall. We'll see what happens though. This is a funny business. I don't even know what's happening as soon as this tour's done.

We heard about your problems in the States, and how that just didn't work out.
Safwan: Who knows. At any point, anything can happen. You just kind of play it by ear and always make sure you have lots of luggage!

Although you have a record deal going and you’re starting on a major tour, do you still attend a regular high school class?
Adam Gregory: Yes I do. I got to Jasper Place High School. It's here in Edmonton. I'm as normal as a kid as anyone. I just have a singing job as my career.

What grade are you in?
I'm in grade 10.

Do you still find it hard then to make time for your music while doing your school-work?
Not really, because I spend so much time on homework, then I spend the rest on school work. It works itself out pretty well.

What's your best subject?
My best subject? I'd have to say math. I'm doing the best in math.

Many country singers began their roots in country, but decided to do crossover songs that'll hit the pop market to increase their exposure. Do you think that you'll write a song or two that might cross over?
Well, actually, for my second single, we did make a remix on it — a pop version.

Has it been released?
It's on Power 92 and a few other stations. I can't remember all of them, but yeah, they actually picked up on it and we're very excited.

Yeah, that sounds cool.
But I'm always gonna stick country. I'm never gonna change my roots. This was just to reach a bigger audience.

What would you say that your greatest musical influence has been so far?
My greatest musical influence…I'd have to say when I went to Nashville last summer. I had the opportunity to sing with Vince Gill and Rodney Coral, which was quite an experience.

Wow. Were you overwhelmed when Vince walked into the room?
I was really overwhelmed! We went downstairs in the building and Vince was stading there and he’s like 6'3". He's very tall. And he looked at us and smiled at us and said "Hey man." He's a very down-to-earth guy.

Many of our online readers might not have heard who Adam Gregory is. How would you describe yourself in a few words?
I'm a country singer. I'm 15 and I live in Edmonton.

Have you always lived in Edmonton?
I've lived in Edmonton my whole life.

Do live right in downtown Edmonton, or are you in a suburb?
Actually, we live on the west end of Edmonton.

Everywhere I've been is memorable. Just the crowds, the applauses and stuff, everywhere we've been.

I actually live just outside of Toronto. I imagine it's pretty much the same with the big city.
Yeah. So do you like Toronto?

Oh yeah!
We've been to Toronto like, twelve times already!

Do you like it?
Yeah, it's like a second home to us.

Don't you feel safe there?
I feel really safe. We have people there who take care of us, so it's really nice.

You know how you wrote the song The Sky's The Limit from your latest CD — do you think that you're going to continue in that direction and do more songwriting?
Well, I definitely practice and practice and get better on it. Maybe in a couple years or something like that, me and Dave Martin might go down to Nashville and write with some songwriters down there.

You've already released a couple singles off your CD, and they've been pretty successful. Do you think you'll release another one?
We're thinking about another one. If you're familiar with No Vacancy, it's the third track on the CD. That's in our minds as being a possible third single. We're just gonna…

How do you decide that? Is it just feedback from fans, or is it kind of at the conception of the CD that you decide, "We'll release this one first, this one second"...?
Some of it comes from what the fans like, but between me and Sony, it's 50/50…oh, what's the word I'm looking for…well, I get to pick a song, and the song we pick is usually their second song or their first song, so it works out.

So your creative stuff is done 50/50 with them?
Uh huh.

Do you think that one day you'll say "I think I'll take it from here?"
No, I'm never going to get too in charge.

Well, it's good to have professionals, too.
Yeah. They know a LOT more than we do!

Are you nervous about the upcoming tour you're going to do with The Wilkinsons?
I'm totally pumped! I can't wait! It's going to be sort of a challenge, because I won't have my family with me this time. We have a close and personal family friend, Taylor Reins, who'll accompany me on the tour.

Are you an only child?
Actually, I have an older sister. She’s 18.

What is your most memorable performance so far?
Most memorable? Everywhere I've been is memorable. Just the crowds, the applauses and stuff, everywhere we've been. To feel the power coming back to you…it's pretty cool!

Have ever had any really embarrassing moments during a performance?
Well, when I did the YTV Achievement Awards , I did the press conference and my guitar strap let loose and I broke my guitar…in front of the press and in front of everybody. That was sort of a shocking moment which I took extremely well, I think.

How do you feel about being called a "teen heartthrob"?
Hey, that's wicked people think of you like that. I don't see it though.

You’re probably too down-to-earth to get all big-headed about yourself.
I'm just me, and my family thinks of me as just being me, so it's pretty cool that people think of you as a teenage heartthrob.

I wonder how the girls at your school who two weeks before you were on TV didn’t notice you and now are going "Oh, yeah. I've seen him in the halls…"
Well, I think some of them recognize me a lot more than they used to.

Now they're probably going around, going "I know him you know!"
Yeah!

What would you say is the future for Adam Gregory? A year from now, what do you think you'll be doing?
A year from now, I'd like to travel, just always be doing what I do — sing. I'll just keep with it for as long as I live. No matter what, I'm always going to be singing. I'll be an 80-year old man and I'll be Ringin' those horseshoes…

I read that you're planning on going to Europe…
I'd LOVE to go back to Europe. We went there when I was about six…

You were performing then?
Oh, no. We went on a vacation with my grandparents, my parents, and my sister, and me. That was the first time and we went for a month and I haven't been back since. I'd love to go back!

I can only imagine that if Sony said "Hey, let's go to Europe, you'd be all for it."
That'd be totally cool!