Interview with the whole band, 24.4.2003

Jan: So, first of all, introduce yourself, please.

Matt: My name is Matt, I play guitar and I sing.

Steve Borth?: My name is steve, I play tenor saxophone and keyboard and I sing.

Steve Choi: I`Steve Choi, I play guitar and keyboard.

Jan: Boring question, I know, but what`s behind the name “Rx Bandits” and why did you quit the name “Pharmaceutical Bandits”?

Matt: We quit the name because it`s a different band. There`s nothing really behind it, it`s just something we made up when we were really young.

Jan: How old have you been while releasing the first CD “Those Damn Bandits” (wird leider nicht mehr gepresst)?

Matt: I recorded it when I was 16 and I was 17 when it was released.

Jan: “Those Damn Bandits” was somehow a Funskapunk-album, in my opinion. If you compare these songs with the new stuff, like your demo “Sell You Beatiful”, it`s completely different. There`s a huge evolution. What`s the story behind that “evolution”.

Matt: It`s just natural. Progression through music. The natural changes that come with the years, with touring, with listening to more music. And like I said, I was 17 when “TDB” was released and I`m 22 now. So a lot happens in five years, especially the five years being between 17 and 22. I think most likely you grow up the most in your entire life between ages of 18 and 21 or 22. I was a kid then and now I`m trying to be an adult. (haha). We have always just played what we wanted. That`s all.

Jan. You`re new album is coming out in July. What can we expect, can you say something about the direction of where the sound goes.

Steve C.: The direction is – really playing what we want to play. And so it might sound different than anything else. It`s not really comparable, ther`s a lot of outside influences, like Latin, like Dance and like R`n`B and Soul aspects, that we incorporate to the Rock and the Reggae and the Punk type stuff we do.

Steve B.: It has a lot to do with the stuff we`re listening at the moment ...

Steve C.: ...I would say for me personally the soundwriting process was more what I wasn`t listening to. Like I wasn`t much listening to music at all. I don`t know why, that just happen...so, it`s very unique sounding, I think.

Steve B.: For me I know that I`m strongly influenced by what I hear. Recently I tried to go back to the roots of some of todays music and I found some really great stuff. Like old Reggae, like the begining of the Jamaican music. It was like rebell music and just really pure. Yeah, I`ve really been searching for a pure kind of music.

Jan: You said the word rebell. So you as well are somehow rebells, doing music with strong political contents. How is the climate actually in the states for a political band?

Matt: The climate for bands that speak about things other than normal tune so speak ...is not very conducive to bands. There`s never been a lot of such bands, especially from where we come from, Southern California, there`s very few bands using music to inspire change, it`s usually used for material gain or fame. It`s kind of tough, you know, because a lot of our country doesn`t really want change. I mean it`s obvious, the way most of the Americans are, just the fact that the US is not a country where we were taught other languages in school, I mean you guys were and most Europeans are. Yeah, but as far as the climate for bands like us, ...it`s, there`s a lot of opposition. As far as for the people that come to our show, they`re all for it, everyone is in to it, but as far as the outside, the press and the median stuff, they really don`t want to have to do with us.

Jan: What about your label “Drive Thru”, are they really just dealing with your music, not concerning about your politics, or...

Matt: ...right, they do what they do. They like our music, so they put it out. They don`t have any part in our politics, they practice different methods and different types of marketing and whatever. They do what they do. We appreciate the help, and it`s cool, the things that they do for us are cool, but we try to keep as much seperation between the band and the label, in terms of creating expression and ... personal expression.

Jan: Right now you`re touring through Europe. So do you like it here or is it more like “I wanna go home!”?

Steve C.: Not at all. There`s such a diffrent feel when you have culture that`s so deeply rooted in like so many generations and supposed to the American culturewhich is so young. Everything from the way people are with each other, the way that the buildings look an how good the food is...

All: hahaha

Steve C.: ...It`s the ethical, unsaid stuff that seems to be so rich in Europe.

Steve B: I`m very happy every time I get the chance to go to every country besides the US, because not many people get to do it and it`s so a need to leran about other cultures. I mean now we are in Switzerland. So, cool let`s just everything check out ...we are just really really lucky.

Steve C.: US is like a part of everything. Of all the cultures, even though it`s small stupid stuff from certain countries and more huge cultural things from other countries. It`s a mixture of everything. And now you see where the origin of all these things are, that we are exposed in small amounts in America.

Matt: It`s a very powerful inspiration, for expression through music, to see other cultures and the way that other societies function. It kind of makes me ashamed of my country, mainly because of the social aspects. Just the way that people take care of each other, here in Western Europe. Most of Europe is very socialised, very conducive to pedestrians, ther`s a lot of public traffic.

Steve C.: It`s beautiful.

Matt: America is such a large land. It was called the land of the opportunity, but it also became the land of corporated monopolys. And here you have multitudes of little restaurants, and of course there is Mc Donalds peppered within every now and then. In america, in most of America wherever you go, it`s every single place is a corporated chain. Mc Donalds, Burger King, Taco Burger, Wallmart or whatever. All their money and their ability to use capitalism to increase quantity but at the same time decrease quality and price, that just doesn`t seem to happen here that much, which is a large relief to me. And it feels really good to be able to know that I`m supporting people that are doing things by themselves. That and as well as the promoters and booking agence and the venues, ..it`s a very good vive and we appreciate being here and we really appreciate the attitudes that people in Europe has shown at our shows.

Jan: How was the reaction of the fans at the shows, seeing two quite different bands? I mean The Exit as a more common Rockband and you, with influences of Ska, Raggae and other stuff.

Matt: I think The Exit is a very good band and I think a lot of people in Europe respect good music a lot more. So I`ve seen they`ve had a very good reaction from people, also you can really feel the energy when they play, you can see that they love to play music. As far as we`re concerned. We get incredible reaction from people here. Like in Austria, where we played in Vienna, two nights ago, no three nights ago. We never been to Austria before and ther was like 150 or 200 people there, and there was this group of people and they were singing every word. And I was like for sure these guys are Americans and they`re here on holiday. For Austrian there is no way they would know all the words, because they don`t speak English that often. And then I came up to this after the show and for sure they were Austrians. It blows my mind. You know, people really seem to appreciate us a lot more and it`s cool, I like it.

Steve B.: It`s really cool because when you are on stage you can see in the faces of the fans how excited one is . And on this tour people seems to be really excited and happy. And that`s a good feeling, seeing that energy and having a good time.

Steve C.: In the US during a set you often see people in conversations and so. But here the people is just focused on what we are doing on stage.

Let`s talk about inspiration and influences again. You Matt said, that at the drive-in was an inspiration somehow and refused as well. Just say by who or what you are inspired.

Steve B.: For me, recently, I`ve been reading a book by Duke Ellington, that he wrote right before he died. He`s a really cool guy and in the book it`s just him and his typewriter. He`s just a great person and it`s cool reading about his career and how long he was in business and how many people he affected. And it seems he had a really good time in his life and it was really encouraging to see or read that. As far as for music I`ve been listening to a lot of like Motown, Stevie Wonder, I`ve been listening that for years, and like I said the Jamaican stuff like Ska, Rocksteady and Raggae.

Steve C.: I would say creatively, if I look at the soundwriting process for the new album, I`m really latininfluenced. What I was feeling, what I was writing. Lot of latin melodies, like rythms. I like a lot of Ambient music, but I like also Rock stuff like Refused and Fugazi as a huge favorit. Like for most of the band members, we like Fugazi.

Matt: Yeah, at the drive-in, I was really into them back when they were around, but I don`t listen them much anymore. But that`s normal, I mean you always discover something new and start listening new stuff, without losing the feelings or recognition for old bands. But as far as what I`m listening now or during the work of our new album...there`s a record label called “Constellation Records” and they have a band called “Godspeed You Black Emperor!” and a band called “Do Make Say Think” and I have both of those bands records and we really listend that a lotas well as ..ouh.... Oscar Peterson, I`m really get in to his records. Besides that I can`t really....oh... Postal Service, there is this group called Postal Service and they`re alright,...a Seattle band.

Jan: Concerning the fans. Are there still a lot of Ska-kids at your shows, or Hardccore-kids, Emo-kids. I mean your style can`t be described by those usual categories.

Steve C.: At our shows at home you see everybody.

Steve B.: Yeah. Really diffrent people, not like a special type of people.

Steve C.: It`s totally awesome.

Matt: Also multiple race of people. Black Kids, Mexican Kids, Asian Kids and we really appreciate that. Our music is for everyone...

By Jan

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