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Before the show I sat down with the band on their tour bus for an interview and we had a great time. They are some really friendly guys that are a lot like the boys I hang out with at home. The interview was a riot and they had some really funny stories to tell. Here it is...
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Tom: Noise Therapy played their first gig on Halloween night in 1993… Rob: HOLY CRAP! How'd you find that out? That's privileged fuckin' information, dude! Tom: No way! It's on your website. Rob: That's like twenty fuckin years ago! Bobby: Horn Porny? Rob: Porny Horny, yeah? Tom: …and like other bands from the Vancouver scene like Econoline Crush and Bif Naked; you guys have really worked hard touring to get your music out to the masses. How has the hometown crowd reacted to your success? Have they been pretty psyched about it? Rob: We don't play in Vancouver that much, because we used to get a lot of support from the radio in the past but now they're not supporting this new record and its our best record… so I don't know why. But… its kind of an ongoing battle right now. Because it's a corporate kind of Canadian thing… They'd rather play Tragically Hip and shit like that, ya know. The shows down here go off way more than the shows at home actually. We'd way rather play down in the States than Vancouver. I know it sounds bad, but that's the way it is. Tom: Rob, you and Dave do the majority of the writing, lyrics and melodies, respectively; do you find it easy working together or do you come head to head on a lot of things? Rob: well Dave and I… Kai: about 50/50… (Laughter) |
Rob: Dave and I just do the lyrics and as far as the band goes, the band wrote most of the stuff on the record. Me and Dave get into some real brutal fistfights over music… I'm just kidding. As far as lyrics go and stuff like that, like when a song is being born, Dave will take the song and run with it or I'll say, "I have an idea and I'll take it. So it's kind of like half and half on this record. So something like "Star 69" was personal to him and… Yo dude can I turn this fuckin space heater on? Its fuckin' cooooold!
Rob leans over to turn on the heater and his head is nearly in my lap.
James: Whoooooooo!
Rob: While I'm down there…
Tom: I don't know man; I don't know what you guys do up in Canada but, uhh…that shit don't fly around here…(Laughter)
Bobby: You don't want no Milfoil disease…
James: That's how we get good interviews.
All: Laughter
Tom: What do you draw your inspirations from?
Bobby: Personal life.
James: Everyone is different, I don't know.
Kai: Yeah.
Rob: Just stuff that happens in our day-to-day life. As far as lyric writing and stuff like that, just what happens to us. Its taken us 10 years for us to get where were at, all the trials and tribulations of that.
Tom: Your music is powerful and gritty with some really cool groovy stuff going on and many layers that show influences that include punk, ska, techno, and metal. It has been referred to as "heavy pogo groove." Who are some of you influences?
Rob: Everybody grew up listening to different stuff. Kai listened to Elvis…
Kai: ...and Van Halen.
Rob: James was into a lot of punk and stuff like that, I listen to a lot of old-school metal like Exodus and Slayer and stuff like that. I don't know what Bobby listened to…
Bobby: Old-school metal like you.
Rob: …and Dave was Faith No More and stuff like that.
Tom: Tell me about the new album: Tension. Why that title?
Kai: that goes back to your previous question about "do we ever but heads?"
Rob: We just had a lot of producers in the studio, there's everybody trying to get their way and stuff, there was just some tension in the air sometimes, so it seemed like a cool title.
Kai: It's a cool word.
Tom: The album's first single "Get Up" continues to build at radio. It's currently listed at #36 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart (February 1, 2003). I was gonna ask, Do you think it is harder for a Canadian band to make a name for itself in the States but you already answered that question…
Rob: Yeah, it's like #336 in Canada!
Kai: Probably…
Rob: Actually there is no chart that it's even on. I'm not aware of one radio ad we have in Canada, so thanks for the hometown love, see ya next year.
Tom: Have you guys heard of Brand New Sin?
Rob: No.
Kai: I've heard the name.
Tom: They're a great heavy band on Now or Never Records and the local station K-ROCK won't play them, because they're a local band. Yet they are a local band with a recording contract. They have been touring with the likes of Saliva and Motorhead. They aren't getting respect in their hometown.
Rob: You should always get supported in your hometown, that's just the way it should be. It's an unwritten law. I don't know why it doesn't happen…
Bobby: For some reason, it's like that exotic entertainment kinda thing, you go and see some band from Australia or something and you think "Wow! These guys must be good 'cause they came all the way here." Whereas, you can go and see a band from your own hometown, like, every third night or so.
Rob: (sarcastically) We're just not exotic enough for Vancouver. (Laughter)
Tom: Isn't pot legal there?
Kai: It's not illegal.
Rob: I only do the hard drugs… (Laughter)
Tom: You guys have played shows with Marilyn Manson, Filter, Clutch, Brother Cane, Incubus, Kid Rock, Sevendust and Hoobastank to name a few. What has been the most interesting thing to happen to you on tour?
James: Probably the last show with Motley Crue when Tommy brought the live sheep onstage…
Rob: The last show we did with Motley Crue in Vancouver. I used to bring out this blow-up sheep onstage…and they like Vaseline'd our whole stage… put tarps down and basically sabotaged our whole show in Vancouver. I used to have this blow-up sheep and I'd pour a beer bottle in it's ass and drink beer out of it's ass…but that's a completely different story…Tommy came up on stage and kicked the blow-up sheep off the stage and then handed me the leash to an actual live real sheep and the thing just stunk…it was scared shitless, there were bombs going off onstage and stuff…that was probably the weirdest thing I have ever seen…
James: There was no beer incident that time.
Rob: No, I didn't drink any beer out of that sheep's ass…(Laughter)
Tom: Where did he get a sheep?
Rob: He rented it from some farm…he came out in full prison coveralls with a fuckin' sheep…
James: What did he say when we asked him where he got it: "When you've got money you can rent anything!"
Tom: That's some crazy shit...(Laughter) Speaking of touring, you guys are out for the next four weeks with Seether, and then what are the band's plan for the summer: vacation or on the road? If on tour with who?
Kai: We've got a lot of stuff up in the air…
Rob: We're gonna try and do as much as we can. We haven't solidified anything as of now…We're going to hit the road and work this album as much as we can until Christmas…
Tom: I usually ask who would be the band you would like to tour with on your Ultimate Dream Tour, but I know that Rob would like to play OZZFest or with The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Are you guys any closer to that happening? Who else would you pick?
Kai: Well, the Peppers are a personal favorite of mine, but I don't think we'd get to go on tour with them.
Rob: I'd like to go out with Sevendust, they're probably my favorite band…
Bobby: Sevendust and Korn!
Rob: Yeah! Sevendust and Korn would be a cool tour…or the Deftones…
Everyone: Yeah! The Deftones!
Tom: Cool! Before we wrap up, do you have any final words?
James: Check out our live show.
Rob: And go to our website. Thanks.
