If you don't know, now you know, and you can thank me later for introducing you to your new favorite band. Psssh.. like I'm even kidding. You'll be even more stoked to save hella money and time on eyeliner and all those crazy haircuts seeing as it definitely need not be present at any of these real punk rock shows. Its all about playing music while having a good time, and you'll sit there, and think: "everything else isn't Dead to Me". and guess what? It never will be.. they are nothing short of special professional .
One of my favorite people, meet the homie- Chicken.
V: What were y'all doin before you were doin this?
C: Honestly, the same exact shit we are doing now. Playing Instruments with our friends, touring in (other) bands, riding bikes, going to shows, etc. We still have the same shitty jobs where we sit there, and pretty much count the days/hours until we get to hang out with each other and play music.
V: What made you form 'Dead to Me'?
C: I was interested in starting a new band because I had just gotten out of rehab, and I was looking for something to keep me busy and out of trouble. I was really worried that soberiety was gonna be super boring, but it has actually been the funnest years of my life so far, and the busiest.
V: Um, I loovee your name. What made you choose it?
C: Our friend, Noah Levine came up with it. He and our homie, Brandon, would always go around saying that shit. "That dude is dead to me," or "that shit is dead to me." I think they watch a lot of Sopranos. It was a fitting name, though. I was at a very transitional point in my life and I was hoping that all of my self destructive behavior and relationships were in fact "dead to me."
V: Tell me a little about everyone in the band.
C: Well, let's see....Jack spends a lot time playing Planetside online and riding bikes. He's one of the most talented people I've ever met, and easily the most humble. Maybe I have a man crush on him? Ian is a weird little art dude, haha. He paints for a living and when he's not doing that, he is usually buying some shitty hardcore LP's, although once in awhile, he does find some real gems. He and I are cousins, so I have literally known that dude as long as he's been alive. When we were younger he drew dinosaurs and had a pet rat while he sported a rat tail hair cut. Now, he draws weird character things and STILL has a rat tail. Me? I'm kind of a big deal. I spend way too much time text messaging fools and drinking coffee. I would rather be by myself then out in a crowd. I'm also sober, but not straight edge. I fucking love(d) drugs and alcohol.. I just can't use them or else I turn into an out of control pile.
V: Your first album, Cuban Ballerina, was released on July 11th. What were some of your biggest inspirations while writing it?
C: Whenever I'm writing songs, I've noticed that whatever is going on around me usually shows up in my lyrics. This can be on different levels though, whether it's be personal or political. The United States invaded Iraq while I was in rehab, and I wrote a lot of the lyrics and songs for this record right around that time. Songs such as "Don't Lie" deal with the political side of all that bullshit, whereas songs like "Visiting Day" or "Special Professional" deal more with personal relationships and how the decisions we make in those situations can have a profound impact on people in a very positive/negative way. The two (personal/political) can also be very intertwined at times, which can become quite overwhelming. That's what is talked about in "Cause Of My Anger", which deals with how it is kind of hard to pay attention to a war that is being waged a million miles away, when all you can think about is when you can get high again. Or, how you don't want to leave your room so you pee in empty 40oz. bottles.
V: What were your anticipations prior to the record being released?
C: We are just all really anxious to tour. We can't wait. The reason we put in all the hard work (altough it's more like play) in the practice space, is because playing live is our favorite shit ever. We will be hitting the road hopefully late this summer and most of the fall.
V: What does 'Cuban Ballerina' mean?
C: Cuban Ballerina is a metaphor for the one dream that you have that you should be living your life for. Everybody has a Cuban Ballerina in some form or another. Whether it's that one person you love more than anyone but have always been too afraid to tell them/show it, or the things you dream about doing if you weren't stuck at some shitty job living paycheck to paycheck. The one thing I've learned since getting sober is that anything is possible and no dream is unattainable. My Cuban Ballerina is this band.
V: <3
V: Which song is your personal favorite? Why?
C:You could ask me this tomorrow and I would probably have a different answer. But today i will go ahead and say that I really like "Visiting Day" and " Special Professional". They are the newest to us, and we usually like the new ones best. "Visiting Day" is my favorite lyrically by far because sometimes I have a hard time saying exactly how I feel, especially about the two people which that song is about, and I feel I accomplished everything I wanted to say on that song. I could listen to " Special Professional" a million times a day and never get sick of it, it kills me. Jack rules.
V: Being a new band, you're still very vulnerable to being stereotyped or labeled. Is there a general message, or messages even, that you're hoping to give?
C: We don't really sit around and try to project any type of image or message or anything like that. We just want people to take what they want from our songs and hopefully they feel a connection with them. I will say though that I am very proud that what you see is what you get with Dead To Me. What you see us wearing and what you hear us talking about on stage or in pictures and interveiws, are the same exact shit you will see us wear, or hear us talking about in the van ride home. Why does every band dress up now? I don't get it. Oh, and enough with the spooky shit already people! That shit is so played and only cool if the name of your band is The Misfits, so lay off the bats and coffins for like five minutes and chill the fuck out.
V: (Literally laughs outloud...) That's real!
V: Music can lack a lot of inspiration and influence nowadays, in my opinion. Sometimes, its not even a personal reflection of the people who create it. What do you to stay real to what you want to produce, as well as what you believe in?
C: Like I said, it's not really anything we try to do to stay real so much as what we don't do to stay real. Does that make sense? We believe in making honest music and have always listened to bands that make honest music. It's especially important to do so nowadays, because there are so many bands doing things that they think will get them to where they want to be in the shortest amount of time. Things like wearing five bullet belts and four leather jackets at once, or having a bunch of spooky imagery, while writing third grade level political songs with sing along pandering anthemic choruses. We have no interest in any of that, thank you.
V: Thank god.. this is why i love this band so fucking much.
V: What direction(s) do you hope to take Dead to Me in? What do you wish to accomplish?
C: We realize that we are very fortunate to be able to hang out with our friends and play instruments, and even more fortunate that it so happens that people wanna come stand around and watch us do it, or jump around in their room and listen to our record. It is very flattering, and makes us happier than hell. We would be idiots to not want to do this as much as possible, for as long as possible. I feel like it's all just begining and I can't wait to see what is gonna unfold. We want to tour every corner of the earth and play to as many people as we are capable of, duh.
V: Are there any upcoming tours planned?
C: We have been planning out some pretty extensive late summer and fall tours, so check our web site for tour dates and shit, we'll be posting them very soon.
V: What do you do when you're not doing this?
C: As of late, most days go like this: Sometime around 8am or 9am my homie Worm calls me up from his work to see what I'm doing. In the past fifteen hundred days in a row that he has called me, 99% of the time I tell him I am sleeping or just getting up. I then roll out of bed and go outside and smoke a cigarette, while talking to him and waking up. Then I usually jump in the shower and wash my feet with Toe The Line foot scrub (the real reason I wake up every day), because it is the best smelling product on the planet. After that, I throw on the exact same pants I have worn for the last two years and one of the two shirts I wear every day. I call my homies and see who's around and who wants to meet up for coffee, I hop on my bike and go get coffee at Ritual up on Valencia St. or at Phil's over on 24th. We hang for a bit, then go fuck around some where, or split up. If I head back home I get online and lurk Myspace and GG and check messages and shit, then usually play some music or listen to the new Strike Anywhere record and get stoked that I'm not at work. If I'm feeling real ambitious I might give the 'ol rat tail a trim, or see if one of my homegirls would be kind enough to do it for me. I spend the bulk of my day in between one or all of the above activities. Usually at night I meet up with fools for dinner, or go to Rainbow Grocers and get some shit to cook up. I watch some Daily Show and maybe some Conan while I text message heads until the wee hours of the night. Then get up in the morning and start the whole damn thing again. Fascinating, huh? Or not.
V:How do you feel about the industry that this website is a part of?
C:It depends. GG is a part of a few different industries isn't it? It has interveiws with bands and tattoo artists, as well a lot of naked girls. I'm assuming you mean pornography. Simply put, porn is fucking gnarly. Especially internet porn. Any thing you could ever imagine people doing it with or to each other while having sex can be found on the internet. Trust me, I've seen it! The porn industry however seems to me to be shifting into a much more female friendly industry than in years past. It still has a LONG way to go, but look at people like Deanna DeArmond and others. It is very common now to see women in charge of every aspect of their careers, from producing, writing, filming, starring in, and distrubuting their own movies, not to mention starting their own female friendly web sites. In any industry- money is power, and if the girls are making and spending their own money in porn it gives them much more clout. In turn, a lot more women are in positions of power now in porn. The San Fenando Valley isn't going away, and there will unfortunately always be creepy dudes taking advantage of young girls, and mistreating them for their own financial gain in porn, but the industry is changing and sites like GG are a part of that change. The fact that the models are given a voice and a community to express themselves in is certainly a step in the right direction.
V: We love you. So, what do you feel godsgirls embodies versus the competing sites?
C: A more communal and supportive vibe. I like how the girls on here are always complimenting each other on their sets, and commenting on each other's journals even if it's an "I had a shitty day" gripe.
V: And which one of these lovely ladies is lucky enough to be your favorite godsgirl??
C: VERONICA and SHARKUMZ!!!!! DUH!!! Oh, and Stoya's arm pits are so fucking hot it hurts my stomach. I'm weird.
V: No you are not. You have now made me an armpit fan. Her armpits are totally fucking hot, man. For those of you less fortunate in knowing, Sharkumz is Melanie's alter-ego.
V: What can we expect from 'Dead to Me' in the upcoming future?
C: Pure mayhem.
V: Anything else you want to add?
C: Thank you very much for the interview and keep up the good work on the site. Any dudes that lurk this site better fucking join, everybody knows GG has the hottest girls and it's inexpensive as fuck!! Do it!!
Maybe now, you can begin to understand why I think this dude is the best there is on this planet. This band rocks so fucking hard, it makes my stomach hurt. You can often find Melanie and I jumping on our beds, in our underwear, blasting their new album. My favorite songs are "Writing Letters" and " Don't Lie". You can hear some shit on my personal myspace, or the band's, aduh!
For all you GG members, you can find Chicken in our members community as VisitingDay415 (and now you know where the inspirado for that name came from! Fancy that!!). Feel free to continuously lurk this band via their upcoming website or on what we now know as life, aka myspace. What are you waiting for???!!
more dead to me: myspace | website
