(Cord Magazine's questions are in blue. Artist responses are in grey.)


What do you do in your downtime that doesn't involve music?

RYAN SINN (BASSIST): That doesn't involve music? Uhhh…

If there is such a thing.

R: When I'm home I usually get tattooed and … that's about it. Hang out at my house 'cause I'm never there. Have barbecues, that kind of thing. I hang out with my roommate really, see my friends, relax.

What's your vice of choice?

R: My vice of choice.

TONY BRADLEY (GUITARIST): Cigarettes.

R: Yeah… alcohol, which I'm trying to get off of… which sucks.

What's your favorite venue or city to play in?

R: The Henry Fonda was pretty cool.

T: Yeah that kinda was cool.

R: In Los Angeles. We never played there, we just did… it was pretty cool.

T: I dunno, there are so many cool cities.

R: The Garage in Seattle is a really fun place to play.

T: Seattle's really beautiful. Portland's really beautiful.

R: What cities do I get excited to go to?

T: Seattle… New York.

R: I don't like New York.

T: I like going to New York but the shows usually suck. Everyone's really snobby. Like too cool for school kinda people.

Room full of free industry tickets?

T: Yeah like that shit. Playing for industry people and music hipsters.

What issues and aspects of the world most concern you today?

R: Trying to get that dick-fuck [guess who...] out of office.

T: In our country…

R: I hate that guy. I actually registered to vote this year 'cause I actually got mad enough about it.

Who are you gonna vote for?

R: I don't know, but it's not gonna be him.

T: It's kind of a bummer 'cause you kinda have to vote for [John] Kerry. If you want to get George Bush out of office, you have to vote for Kerry at this point. You can't vote for some Green Party guy 'cause it's kind of like a throw-away vote almost. I mean, every vote counts, but still you gotta vote for, like, the Democrat. That's your choice… you have no choice, you have to vote for Kerry.

What's the one interview question you wish you'd never hear again?

T: What does 'punk' mean to you?

I'll write that down…woops.

(interruption here while the road manager tries to track down opening band Darker My Love, who've gone missing)

This one's right up your alley then. What was your favorite Saturday morning cartoon?

R: They used to have this thing where it was like four cartoons in a row, it was like Action Saturdays or something, but it was like Thundercats …

T: Transformers?

R: Transformers maybe, but it was Thundercats…

T: He's a little younger than me…

R: Seahawks. And uh… no was it Seahawks? I don't remember, but they were basically the same show, and there was like Thundercats, which everyone remembers, and then there was like Thundercats in space, with these guys that dressed in metal suits with (beads?) on 'em, and then there was the underwater version…

T: My favorite was the… I don't remember what it was called. It was Spiderman and friends. It was like Spiderman, Iceman and… the fire guy.

R: And they'd always go to a different planet.

T: Oh yeah. I think it was just those guys.

R: The flying cat was in there too.

T: Yeah it was just him and all his buddies.

What did you wanna be when you were growing up, besides being a musician?

T: It's all I ever wanted to do.

R: Yeah it's all I wanted to be. Either that or work in a guitar shop.

You should both look into cartoon work.

R: You know I would love to be the voices of cartoons.

T: Me too. When this rock thing dies, soon, next week, I'm gonna be a voiceover guy.

R: You know the dude from Futurama, you know what he does now? He does the bee on the fuckin'… oh what is it… Honey Nut Cheerios, you know, Honey Nut Cheerios, he's the voice of the bee… like ooh. That hurts.

T: But that's bank man, doing those voices.

If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be, and why?

R: Troy Van Leeuwen from Queens of the Stone Age. 'Cause I would just love to wear those clothes one day. I would feel like such a fuckin' hotass.

T: True.

R: I'd walk around Los Angeles in those bitchin' sunglasses…

T: …jacket…

R: Yeah. Like I owned the fuckin' place.

T: And he's a pretty good guitar player too.

R: Yeah he's all right.

T: He's all right.

R: Yeah he's pretty fucking awesome actually. I'll never be as good as that dude.

So we have a running poll on the question that makes no sense in the entire world, so I'm gonna read off. It's kind of a long question. There's a shark and a bear and they're gonna get into a fight. Here are the rules. There's just enough water for the shark to swim around and exist and there's a small rock in the middle of the water just large enough for the grizzly bear to stand on. Neither have been fed in like a week and neither have been trained in any hand-to-hand combat. So it's like the biggest, meanest grizzly bear against the biggest, meanest great white shark. Who'd win?

R: The shark. They've got lasers.

T: The shark, they have laser beams on their frickin' heads! No I'm gonna have to go with the shark 'cause sharks are the coolest. They're cute.

R: Cute?! Who calls a shark cute?

T: They're cute!

R: A great white shark??

T: Have you ever touched their skin? They're real soft, like, fuzzy almost. No I'm going with… my roommate always draws sharks. He loves sharks. I'm gonna vote for the shark.

R: They got lasers.

T: They got lasers in their eye!

If you could ask me one question, what would it be?

T: Where'd you get that [recorder]?

(This is Andy talking)Um, Future Shop. No, London Drugs?

R : Oh I was gonna say, it's from the future??

T : It really looks like it's from the future. It's got laser beams. I like it.

Elsewhere

By Jack Libby
Photos : Andy Scheffler
Published : June 4, 2004.