Dustin: We all met separately actually, Clint and I met first. We were delivering pizza together at this place called Gumby's Pizza and we were in two different bands. I was in a band called the Nemoys and Clint was in a band called Little Boy Henry. So, we both worked at Gumby's Pizza and both of our bands eventually broke up and we started jamming together. We went through a couple of drummers and bassist and finally Dave joined the band and we were really strong. It was us two and Dave and we were looking for a steady bass player and that's when we got Mark, about two or two and a half years into the band. Mark joined, then shortly after that we got signed to Columbia records, and made our first record and went on tour with Reel Big Fish and Goldfinger.

FLES: Are you as excited now as you were back then?

Dustin: Yeah, more-so sometimes.

FLES: How did you first react to hearing yourselves on the radio?

Dustin: I was delivering pizza the first time I heard myself on the radio. I freaked out, I had to pull over. It was pretty crazy, it was pretty weird in like a paradoxical experience like I'm sitting here but I can hear myself on the radio. I think I delivered a pizza and was like "that's me on the radio.." and they were like "yeah, whatever, give me my pizza..".

FLES: Was it difficult getting radio airplay?

Dustin: Yeah, it was really difficult. We recorded a $7000 demo and turned it into the radio. First of all we tried to get on whatever minor or independent label that we could get on and nobody would have us. So last resort we were like well, maybe we can get on the radio. So we turned it into this program director in Austin, he eventually checked it out and he really liked it and put it on. But we had to go through two different times of two weeks of "like it or spike it." Finally, we were added to rotation and that's when the record labels started snooping around. But it wasn't an easy process.

FLES: How long did it take to make the new album?

Dustin: The new album.. about a year. Recorded off and on for about a year.

FLES: I noticed a lot more harmonizing.

Dustin: Oh, cool. Thanks for noticing. It was a lot more involved process this time around, recording and writing this record.

FLES: Who writes the majority of the songs?

Dustin: We all work on them, this record there was a lot more thought put into them, the harmonies and stuff. The last record we had all of our stuff already written, when we went into the studio this time we were writing in the studio, it was a lot more fun. We got to build on, we'd lay down the rough song and we'd keep building on it. We got to be more creative with the harmonies and stuff.

FLES: Where do you draw the line with how much you put into a song, is that a factor in the writing process?

Dustin: I don't think you draw a line.

Clint: There is no line.

Dustin: Somebody has an idea, they throw it in, if it works- it works, if it doesn't- it doesn't. You just write whatever comes to you.

Clint: The songs done when you know it sounds good, if you're still thinking of ideas then its not done.

FLES: Are there any band favorites?

Dustin: I still like "Never Live it Down," "Stop the World" is cool, that song really grew on me. It wasn't my favorite song when we first wrote it, but its really grown on me. Still, probably "Never Live it Down" is probably the funniest for me to play live, and its just a cool song.

FLES: How important do you feel internet publicity is?

Dustin: I think it's very important. it's probably, right now, the first and the last line of promotion of a record. It starts with internet and ends with internet. So more and more every year it comes more to the front of things. I think where it is right now, it's not in it's beginning stages, but its kind of being perfected and tweaked, in a couple of years it'll be just as viable as magazines or anything like that. There'll be big websites, like A.P. magazine, where you're relying on this internet site to give you a really good review, cause it will hold a lot of weight. It's on it's way to that right now where it holds just as much weight as a regular printed 'zine. Some websites hold more weight than a lot of 'zines.

Clint: Not to mention, the buying of music is going more and more towards just straight up off the internet. I bet in ten years, we probably won't even have cds, people will just be getting stuff online. When you go on that route it's just as easy to go online to check out what's new with some cool 'zine that has the kind of music that you're into, see what's new then click over to itunes or something and buy it. Before you know it, we'll all just be really fat, eating Doritos and drinking dr. pepper and never even leave our houses. We won't have to go to a record store anymore, or buy any magazines, just sit in front of a computer all day.

FLES: Wouldn't you miss going to the record store though?

Clint: Not really, if you have everything in the whole universe right in front of you and you just buy it there, and you don't have to worry about it not being in the store.

FLES: That's true.

Dustin: I can already find old metal tunes a lot easier on the internet then I can going to the record store. But I still love going to the record store, I don't think I'll ever replace one for the other. Its a different thing.

FLES: Earlier, I was thinking about slipping some silly questions in to try and break the ice.

Dustin: You should.. (laughs)

FLES: What do you guys want for Christmas?

Dustin: Uh, I don't know, well.. my dad just had an operation, a liver transplant, and everything went great with that, so, I just wanna get home and hang out with my dad.

Clint: I just want my backpack back.

FLES: Awwww, somebody stole it?

Clint: Well, sorta, I left it in a dressing room at a club in Buffalo and I couldn't get back in, cause the door locked and I didn't have a key. Then, the next day, it disappeared, so somebody stole it. It had my computer, my MP3 player, a bunch of other things in it.

FLES: So, what do you want? You're so quiet back the re...

Clint: He wants a Ferrari..

Mark: I don't know.. I just want to relax.

FLES: Sounds good.

Interview by Jessica Zoller - © 2005 Florida Entertainment Scene - All Rights Reserved.