Interview with Phil from A Static Lullaby
Where are you guys from?
Chino Hills, California- Southern California, outside orange county
How did you get out of that unbelievable scene? Was it difficult to get noticed?
We just played as many shows as we could in the area- the Troubadour is our favorite, our choice place to play. Not too hard to get noticed, we had a great team of people working for us- getting us shows and presenting opportunities to us. We put in a lot of hard work- we toured constantly, would go in and out of Canada two or three times in one tour. It didn�t seem like a struggle to get noticed- we would tour with good bands and people would come see us, and by the time we were headlining, it was great. It�s been a hard last year
How long have you been together?
3 � years. Touring life is killing me. I�m 20 years old and feel like I�m 40. I have health insurance though, so when I go to the doctor they tell me my joints are bad, my back is bad, my body is bad. I don�t sleep all that well anymore. But its what I love, you know, sitting at home you cant really understand. Sometimes you just wanna walk away, but every time you get up on stage and hear people going nuts, you just, you know, some shows are just so amazing that you know that this is how you want to live your life.
So this is the job of choice?
Oh yea, definitely. I�ve been doing this since I was 16 and its just great
What are your influences?
The band as a whole is most influenced by any good songwriting that isn�t boring. It has something, some kind of vibe. The bands from the beginning were things from operation ivy to jimmy eat world to Glassjaw and even to things way back like king crimson and Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. They really showed us what you can do as a band. But then bands like foo fighters and smashing pumpkins- those kinds of bands definitely were major influences.
New cd drops April 8th�
I�m glad you said �drops� because our guitar player gets mad whenever I announce the record release and don�t say �drops�, so thank you for saying that. But yea, I�m really excited, haven�t been this excited in 2 years.
How does it compare to the last record?
It�s a lot different, id like to say �mature�. Just the song writing and point of views and the collaborative efforts make it a lot more dynamic� I think it�s a really good record to tell you the truth.
How have you grown?
We wrote the first album when we were 16, 17, 18, we�ve been together for 3 � years and now we�ve lived lives where we�ve been traveling constantly, doing 65 miles an hour in the freeway and its really hard to write. We just wanted to jam. So when we just sat down to write this record, we couldn�t write anything for 2 years, so we took designated time off to write, this past summer, we just hashed it out every day in the rehearsal space, just trying to write songs, and at the beginning it was really hard. Everyone was contributing and everyone had something different, it was weird because we all had different experiences. 60% of the process is Dan and Nate, and 40% is me, Joe, and Brett. But I mean I wrote a song on this new record where I didn�t write anything on the last record. So it�s just different, there�s one song that will be brought in completely by a person and there are other songs that are just jams and natural and others that are little parts by everyone. Its great to know you�re a part of this record, part of this whole thing. The last record it was 1 or 2 or 3 people who could feel this way, and now it�s everyone.
You guys have awesome song titles�they�re ridiculous, where do you come up with them?
Well, we�re ridiculous guys, we don�t take ourselves seriously, and we�re lucky fools, so we figured that we shouldn�t have serious or meaningful song titles. Why do that? We�re not gonna make it something from the song or the hook or something, why do that? We put in a lot of funny things, from movies, etc.
Favorite place to play, favorite band to play with, favorite tour, etc
This tour has been the best. Every show has been great. Every band is the coolest band in the world. This is the best thing we�ve been involved with. Vendetta red are awesome, the bled are very close friends of ours, finch are friends of ours, vaux are really close friends of ours, codeseven, hopesfall, there�s a ton of bands we love to tour with. Bands we�ve just become brothers with- we�d do anything for them. If we�re in town we stay at this house, if they�re rolling through my area they stay with me.
So it�s a brotherhood of sorts�?
Yea it�s a weird circuit of brothers who hang out and play shows and talk to teach other on the internet.
What do you think about myspace?
It�s a good idea that a lot of people use for the wrong reasons. A lot of pretension, a lot of attention starved young girls teasing boys. Its kind of tragic actually, but its getting more and more popular, which is cool. The only pictures on my myspace are candid photos, we�re not gonna go �I think I�m gonna take a myspace photo� no it�s not like that. It�s a place for my real life friends. It�s not my network of people- it�s my escape from boredom. I don�t go on it that much so I don�t even care.
How has it helped ASL?
I haven�t seen it yet because we haven�t been on the road for 3 months and it�s hard to tell, but there�s just tons of kids everywhere. And I mean, I look at the top artists and we�re always in the top 10,a nd I see bands that are a little bigger than us or a lot bigger than us and I think that wow, this is a really good resource to advertise and play music
Are you self-conscious of your popularity? How do you know when you strike it big?
We�re accomplished everything we�ve wanted to accomplish already. We�re down to earth guys. But sometimes people misinterpret our shyness. I�m the type of guy I like to be silly and be weird and anything to cure boredom. I don�t mind, I actually like to talk to random people at shows and stuff.
What�s it like seeing your merch on sale at hot topic and stuff?
Sometimes I walk into there at the mall and just kinda walk in and take a look at our shirts in the case all right and everything and just be like �sweet�. I don�t wanna get jaded and stuff, too good for anything; this is the slow process of us getting bigger. We�re silly, we�re fools, we�re nerds- this hasn�t hit us yet. We get excited over stuff like that.
What genre would you consider yourself�
Well, on the internet we�re categorized as post hardcore/rock/alternative. Somewhere in between those 3 I guess. But I hate the word screamo. I hate it. I�d never call my band screamo. Blech.
How was ferret Records?
It was awesome, I loved working with Carl and everyone involved with ferret. Every band was awesome, every person was awesome. We�ve met some really cool bands through Carl. Just because I knew him, they were friendly. These huge metal bands (like Lamb of God) were totally awesome to me because I knew Carl. They�re all just friends but things get done and friendly and honest and straight forward but also efficient. A business but cool too.
What was the transition to Columbia like?
It seemed like a lot of hurry up and wait. We signed in April- our album came out in Jan 2003, and we got signed in April. It almost seemed like it was just part of the plan. We didn�t do anything for a long time. It�s great to have someone with a lot of power like your band. The CEO and the president and marketing department like our band. It seems like their down with the band. I guess its easy to say that they�re blowing smoke up our ass, but they�ve always been cool and seem like they legitimately enjoy it. Unless they�re really good liars, which they might be because it�s the music industry, but it appears as if people really like us. And if I fall for it, that�s fine, because then they�re genuine about lying. Lots of bands have horror stories about major labels, but not us, not yet.
Is this gonna lead to tours with Christina Aguilera or whoever is on Columbia?
Well, we�d love to tour with both cake and system of a down, they�re both on Columbia. But then like, the label might put us on a tour with sum 41, and maybe some kids will get into it that way. I�ve always liked them a lot, mainly because of their videos, but they always seem like fun guys who make fun music. It might not be the most technical thing in the world, but we�d be honored to hang out with them, I really enjoy that. If Slipknot offered us a tour, or Rush or the Police, I don�t care, we�d take it.
Do you get to pick your own tours? When they come in, do you have influence?
The label likes to tell us what they think we should do, but we make the final statement. They never make decisions for us. We just have to choose your battles. What�s worth fighting for, you know. Something that�s not worth fighting is a song title. You know we had a tentative song title that they wanted, the one thing that the label wanted, was to have a song called �stand up� � and we were just like, its not worth going to battle over. If it was our video? Maybe, because that�s our visual expression. But little things here or there, whatever. They haven�t really demanded anything of us. It�s been a good relationship. They never told us what singles to write. The first time they heard the songs, before the record was recorded, they said they heard what they liked, and we never had to go back and write a radio song you know? Even the most integrity driven, credible people have to do that sometime. And I don�t think they�re happy with that. Luckily, we haven�t been forced to do that.
Am I going to see you on MTV? VH1?
Yea, definitely. And if that bums you out, anyone out, whatever, grow up a little, and you�ll understand. 15 year olds will get upset, they don�t see the big picture. And it�s unfortunate that we might lose some of them, we don�t want that, but this whole bigger thing is rolling in. you know what I just talked about though, that�s not what drives us. It�s that we write songs that we like playing for a long time, and that�s been our #1 forever. We have to love this. It�s a lot different to have 5 people go in 5 different directions. Everything that happens changes your mood, but its crazy to think that 5 minds can all work together to create something. Its kind of cool.
Have you toured overseas or anything?
No, not yet, we want to so bad though. It�s not the right time just yet. Right now its just in the united states. Its gonna be a little while, and its unfortunate, it�s not right yet. If we were to go over now, it would be a few hundred kids, whereas in a few months, it might be a few thousand kids. And sometimes in Europe, we�ve heard the conditions aren�t always that great and you can get really sick. That�s not my concern, but its something we�ve heard about. Just playing is what we�re talking about. We don�t have money in our pockets to go there right now, so we have to wait for the opportunity. We apologize to UK and Europe and Australia and Japan, but its not ready just yet.
Do you have non-english speaking fans?
Actually yea, Arizona, Texas, San Diego- we kind of have to have conversations with our hands. We have a lot of emails and stuff from countries like Argentina and brazil, a lot in Japan, etc. Interviewers have come over from Japan, they saw us at taste of chaos a few weeks ago. We have some fans in Iraq and Kuwait and Australia, etc. Its really cool.
I haven�t heard you guys toss around punkvoter or politics or anything. Just wondering, how do you feel about it?
Some bands do it well and wisely, and it�s fine if you know what�s up. Other bands just do it to know talk about nonsense. I don�t watch TV, I don�t know what�s going on, I don�t want to know what bush is doing, but whatever, and I�m not going to tell people I know because I don�t. I�d be a hypocrite to do that. We�re just not necessarily part of the revolt.
If you were a hotdog, would you eat yourself?
Of course! Id cover myself in mustard and sweet relish and id be so delicious! Haha yea, of course I would.
So you guys aren�t vegan or anything�?
No way, we love meat. We love beer, not straight edge either. To each his own, and you live your life like that, fine, but some days I need a beer to get through the day. But that�s just me.
Have you played every state?
Not Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico, Maine, Montana, the Dakotas, Vermont� we�re doing Maine on this tour� we haven�t playedWest Virginia. But we�ve done a lot of states. Maybe over 40. Maybe over 35 to be safe.
Ever play in Albany?
No. We haven�t. We�ve played in Poughkeepsie, NYC, Syracuse, buffalo, we did Hellfest twice. It was hell.
Good response?
Both years were great, last year we went on after My Chemical Romance, and the year before that we played the side stage. I mean, we had been a band for a year, and we played late in the day, 1000 kids watching us, it was awesome. Tons of fun. All those fests are really fun.
Ever do Warped tour?
This is our first Warped Tour thing. Its gonna be one of those things that makes a band. But we know it�s gonna be so rough. Just hot and brutal. But you gotta do it.
How do you feel about professional wrestling?
I grew up on it man. Not the stuff now because it got weird. But like Undertaker and Ultimate Warrior and WCW and Ric Flair and all that good stuff. I have the action figures and the wrestling buddies, oh man it was great. I don�t watch it anymore, but like, yea, we just got a wrestling game for Gamecube, but its really hard.
Do you have a bus yet?
Nope, we have an RV right now. It�s about $900 cheaper a day than a bus. If we had a bus, we wouldn�t be coming home with any money. But yea, the RV is cruise America (PLUG!). They are really reasonable and have stations all over the country and if it breaks down they�ll bring us another one. They�re unreliable, but whatever, its better than a van. It�s kind of a box on wheels, but its better than a tube on wheels. Like we have a crew now, so you can�t just stay in a van. Like we�re barely fitting in the RV. The next tour will be the last one in the RV, then up to the bus.
Big plans for the summer?
Tons of touring, that�s it. Whether its here or abroad, whatever. We�d love to do some festivals in Europe, then come back here and do warped tour. I just anticipate that all 3 months of the summer I won�t get a minute off. I won�t be home at all
Do you ever see your family when you�re on tour?
Here and there. They come to shows sometimes. I saw my uncle in jersey a few years ago who I hadn�t seen in forever when we were making our first record.
Oh man, I hate jersey.
Ha, I so agree. All the friends we have there: the best. All the fans and shows there: amazing. But I hate jersey! Ugh! Anyone who�s not my friend in jersey, they�re all just random meat heads. Back to family! My mom will come out sometimes. My dad never comes out. Last time he saw me was in coffee shop. My little sister comes out sometimes- she�s almost in high school so that�s cool. I have cousins who never come out. My family doesn�t really come out. My grandparents came out once on the last tour. But my mom is my biggest fan. Without my dad, I wouldn�t have ever gotten into music. I probably still owe him money for the equipment he bought me to start. They�ve been super supportive- when I dropped out of high school they supported me. They knew it could only happen once. I can�t do this when I�m old. I can go back and get my GED when this is done and ill go to college when I�m old. And just take as many things as I can. Like underwater photography and horse breeding and horticulture and African history and electronics and whatever else I can find. I just love knowledge; I just love to find things I don�t know. Anyone who can tell me something I don�t know gets me so pumped.
Do you prefer small shows or big shows or what?
I don�t like arena shows yet, playing arena shows opening for other bands is weird because lots of kids are just standing there. I like small shows with a good setup where kids can breathe. I like the Norva a lot in Norfolk, VA. That�s a cool venue.
What are photo shoots like?
They�re fun because we don�t take them seriously and we piss of photographers. They want one serious picture and we just screw around jumping all over each other and diving at the camera. What�s there to be pissed off about? What�s there to be angry about?
So did you cut out the screaming from the record?
No way. Joe has a gnarly scream, and it sounds cool and there are things to scream about. He was actually really sick during the last record, so now it sounds awesome. Yea.
Thanks so much for this interview; I really appreciate taking the time to sit down with me.
Anytime dude, thank you, thanks for expressing interest in our band, it�s great, I�m totally living in a dream world. So thank you.
Back to Interviews Main
