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YOUR BEST FRIEND

Ok so let's start with the usual, I don't know what order you wanna go in, but tell me who you are and what you do in the band?
Dale: My name is Dale Brown and I play the bass guitar and I sing.
John: My name's John Bonham, I play the guitar, the keyboard and I sing.
Steve: My name's Steve Sochanek. I play guitar and I sing.
Nick: I'm Nick Edler and I play the drums and I sing. We're like a boy band.
(laughing)
Colin: I'm Colin Scheffield and I'm just doing merch… and support…
I like the merch people.
Colin: That's cute.
We had a conversation about that.
Steve: Yep. Yes we did.

So you guys book all your own tours right? … For the most part?
John: Not for the most part, all the part.
Well I would have said "book all your own tours," but if I would have been wrong, I'd have felt kinda dumb.
Steve: That's embarrassing.
John: Yeah I could see what you mean there.

Right… Does it ever feel like too much to handle without having a label to help you or are you content without it?
Dale: Every time we book a tour it feels like too much.
John: Yeah it gets too… like… it's getting overwhelming, like the stuff we're having to do on the business side and then to uh… concentrate on promoting shows and then writing music, practicing, uh… having personal jobs. It's getting overwhelming kuz I feel like I get from work and then I just sit in front of the computer the rest of the time trying to book a tour and uh……… what am I trying to say?
Steve: It's not just that there's a lot of work. It's that there's a lot of work that a lot of times seems fruitless. You talk to people and they don't talk back or they just completely deny you. It's a lot of, a lot of getting rejected and still keeping at it… keeping going until you actually get a response or get a positive answer. So it's not so much the amount of work you have to do than it is the work and keeping your spirits up and keeping positive and just keeping going at it, you know?
John: You can email like a hundred people a day and maybe like four will get back to you and one of them will say ok, maybe, and then you still need to badger than person to make sure that the show's gonna go well and then half of those get canceled. It's just so frustrating to put all that time and effort in and sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn't.
Well I mean, I understand because with our website - well not with our website but I work for an autism charity - which I think I messaged you guys about - and we're trying to contact bands, like artists in the band, or get band's autographed merchandise that we auction off to raise money for autism research and nobody wants to get back to us except for bands that aren't signed or that nobody knows about which is fine, but like I said, on some different sort of level, I understand.
Steve: Yeah basically trying to do something for your organization and then… and no one's ever going to care about anything more than you do. Well I mean, like even on our level and we're not even anything big yet but it still gets to the point where like, we can't do everything for everyone that we want to you know? The bigger you get the more that starts to… as much as everything - like even a lot of the stuff you can't do is important but just having the time to do it and like… just the resources to do it starts to just….
Well like I said, in a weird way I understand, but not entirely.
Steve: It's getting to the point where we like… it's getting to where we're gonna need outside help.

Have you, I assume you have, looked into all the labels…?
John: Well as far as labels go, um we didn't wanna do anything until we had a new record out. We have the new record out now and we have live footage that we're putting out on DVD. Once we have that all together like the record and DVD, like a whole new press kit, we're gonna start shopping around to a couple of labels that we think would be a good fit for our band. Just try to go after them and see if we could do this for the rest of our lives.
Well… that's a little depressing conversation there. I hope you guys have good luck with that.
Steve: Yeah, we've got no back up plan. This band, with me in it, without before I came along, has been through much worse but… we're four dudes, five at this point, who like to persevere through anything. We have a main goal, this is what we like doing, this is what we wanna do… so it'll take more than this to break us.

Dale: Is this too loud?
John: Yeah… there's no end to this band.
It's good, no, it's good. I feel slightly weird shifting the topic but…
John: Shift it girl.

Do you have any plans to head out west at all?
John: Not west just yet.
I know it's expensive and all…
John: Every time we go on tour, like you gotta try to…. Like the first couple tours we did were the midwest then we wanted to branch out to the east and now we're trying to do the east coast and midwest. Just every time we go out we try to make a bigger circle. Like the next tour we're gonna do is gonna be like all midwest so then the tour after that we can branch out to the west but it just takes time.
Well gas prices are like four, four and a half dollars so I understand.
Steve: Yeah it's getting really frustrating with that too but…
Dale: It's not gonna stop us by any means. We're hoping it gets to the point where it stops other shitty touring bands. It's like, when you try to book a show, especially in the summer, there's so many other bands that are trying to book that same show and a lot of times the promoters don't know how good or bad they are. And they just kinda book first come first serve so if uh… gas prices get high enough, bands who aren't as serious, per say, can't do it and that'll start making it easy for us. We can't afford it either but we'll find a way.
Colin: Process of elimination. Weed that shit out.
John: Darwin at it's finest.

Do you have any favorite cities or even venues that you have played?
Steve: Philadelphia's been like my favorite city…
John: I'll agree with that.
Steve: … to be in so far. Um, we only played there once. It was a pretty good show, um… but I guess our best luck is been like… I don't even know if it's because of the city we're in or just because we're lucky to find a band that was really cool that would kind of take us under their wing in their hometown and you know, throw a good show for us… those have been our best shows. But just the city itself… in Chicago's been sweet.
Steve: There's other areas too like uh St Louis, Missouri area. We have some good friends there for awhile and whenever we go there there's always a good show. It's always fun to hang out with them and the crowds there as all. Pretty much every time we go out we meet someone new… like a good friend's band that we could play with that like there are people there that like cross over bands, like in South Carolina we played with Sent by Ravens. We met a band from Miami in Kentucky, And Then There Was You. And every time we go back to those cities the shows are better.

Do you have any strange or silly nicknames for each other?
Dale: (laughs) J-Boz, J-Bones, James, Jermaine (???), J-maine. J-bird.
Nick: They're all pretty dumb.
John: Uh D. D-boz.
(lots of laughing and various nicknames)
John: She-train. I've got a wrestling alter ego - the abominable snowman. Keep your eye out for that Vince McMahon.

So what are some must haves while being on the road?
Dale: Cheesecake, uh pasta salad.
Steve: 100 Grand
Dale: Energy drinks uh, soap, food and shelter, um… gasoline, underpants.
Steve: Uh wanna move like… out in the hallway or something?
(we moved into the quieter stairwell)
Steve: Take three…

So this is a fan-submitted question … What do you do before shows to get pumped in order to bring the high energy performances that you do to the stage?
Steve: We stretch out a lot… that's the main thing.
John: I jump up and down. I really do. I jump up and down a lot. I don't know what it does but I'll jump up and down.
Steve: That doesn't really… we'll stretch before the show as a precautionary measure so we don't pull anything you know? Like as far as getting pumped goes, it's just as soon as we start playing. I mean even at practice just when we start playing we start moving, you know?
Nick: I think one of the biggest things too, if there's a good crowd there and not necessarily a big crowd but a crowd that really is interested in us and really wants to hear, maybe not even us, just the music and they're excited about being at a show, that makes us way pumped up. Yeah, if kids are excited we're way excited.
John: Well we played shows for like 10 kids there were, like that show in Georgia. There were like 10 people there and we thought it was going to suck but there were like really interested in what we were playing and we actually played our first encore. We played like… they wanted one more song and we did it and it was stupid but like… I would rather play shows with 10 kids like that than 100 kids who just didn't care.

I've heard a lot of people compare you guys to Brand New. How do you react to that?
John: Yeah we've heard that before. Like a heavier Brand New. We all listen to Brand New. We think they're a great band. It's cool to be compared to them. I mean, we all like em a lot.
Dale: We don't try to be like them. We try not to steal, like you know, a bands rights to make music like "Oh that sounds like this song" or like, if that happens with us we try to catch it and change the part or use a different part.
John: We never set out like "Hey, lets start a band. I wanna go for this sort of feel." We just kinda play and see what comes of it.
Steve: Influences blood through whatever you listen to obviously. You know, you listen to bands and then it comes through but I think we're like Boyz II Men in some aspects too.

I have people ask me, "Who, your best friend? Do you mean MY best friend?"
Dale: That's the worst part about our band.
Nick: Everyone that says that joke thinks they're the first person to say it and thinks it's a real witty, comic thing and it's not and people start to say "Oh Your Best Friend's up next and they're our best friend" and then I get mad (laughs) "… They're gonna be your best friend too"… no we're not, we're jerks.
(Nick leaves)
Dale: Colin, you're the new Nick.
Steve: Thanks for coming.

No problem. So my website, TragicEndings, we support causes such as Skate 4 Cancer, which you never heard about…
Steve: But you were telling me about it…
Right. And like To Write Love on Her Arms. Are there any causes in particular that you guys support or want to make people more aware of?
Steve: Nick needs to answer this question kuz he's got the Love Alliance.
(Nick came back)
Steve: Hey tell her about the Love Alliance.
Nick: It was like… some of the people that helped start To Write Love on Her Arms and they just asked us if we wanted to be a part of what they were doing and then they never reached out to us (laughs).
Nick: But what is the cause….?
Is it like the same thing [as TWLOHA]?
Nick: Yeah, it's like the same idea. The people that helped start it, it's the same thing it just never got as big. We're just like, let us know what you want us to do, and they were like just put our banner on your page and we did and they never asked anything else of us so…

So if you were a piñata, what shape you would be and what would you be filled with?
Dale: Mmm, I'd be shaped like a jellyfish and I'd be filled with jelly.
John: I'd be shaped like a jellyfish and I'd be filled with fish.
Steve: I'd be shaped like 100 Grand and I'd be filled with a bunch of 100 Grands.
Nick: I'd be shaped like an owl and I'd be filled with pez.
John: I wanna change mine though. I'd be shaped like a wrestler and filled with wrestlers. Like a really big wrestler.
Colin: Eeyore.
(laughs)
John: What would you be filled with?
Colin: Many Eeyores. Piglet actually. Possibly all Pooh's pals.

If you were stranded on a deserted island and you could only have one album with you for all eternity, what album would you choose?
Dale: Third Eye Blind - Self-titled.
John: Cursive - Ugly Organ
Steve: Wait, are we together so I can listen to his record too?
Nick: Hey Steve, pick Weezer - Pinkerton.
Sure, why not. You can't tell him what to pick.
Nick: I didn't.
Yes you did, I heard you.
(laughs)
Steve: I'll probably pick Pink Floyd's The Wall.
Nick: The Beatles - Sergeant Pepper
Colin: Smashing Pumpkins - Melancholy
Nick: OH! The double-disc. A LOOPHOLE, A LOOPHOLE.

So what are your plans for the rest of the year, or do you not have any really?
John: We have plans. We're gonna finish up this tour and then head back to Michigan and go back to work and our personal lives and stuff like that and book another tour for October/November and uh… ride out the holiday season and probably go back out again in January. Keep touring and touring and touring and all the while shopping out the labels seeing if we can get some label support. It doesn't matter kuz we're still gonna keep touring.
Steve: We're all in this together.

I know your album just came out in April so it's really early to be talking about it but do you have any plans for another album?
John: Not yet. It takes us forever to write songs kuz we're super picky and all four of us have to agree on almost every aspect of every song. Right now we're just trying to support this record and we're gonna be out touring it for awhile. We'll write in our spare time but we don't really have much spare time.
Steve: We'll probably wait until everything after this album dies down. We'll wait til we reach as many people as we can around the states until we exhaust ourselves playing these 10 songs and then get back to writing another album, writing some new material to put out but for now we're focused on supporting this kuz there's only a small handful of people that have heard everything on it so we need to get it out to more people.
John: I think it's kind of a goal to get hopefully, to get signed and to get this record that we have re-released on a label before we write another one. I mean kuz this record's new to us and it's new to people that we even meet face to face but as soon as we can get it on a label and in stores then it's kinda new to the… all over the country. Once we get distribution like that it'll be new all over again. Six months from now if we get signed we could be back on the road supporting the same record but to everyone else we're supporting our new record.
Dale: And I'm pretty sure when like on the road, we all still write a little stuff here and there like nothing major, but uh… I still write lyrics and I play on the guitar. So we have ideas and that really helps to have some good… if we all like our ideas and come up with a basic framework then by the time we get to work out together it's a lot less stressful… but it still sucks.

(laughs)

Well that's really all I have.
John: That's beautiful.

Is there anything else you'd want to say?
Steve: If you can just mention our website, myspace and everything.
John: Myspace.com/yourbestfriend. Yourbestfriendrock.com. Shop at yourbestfriendrock.com. Buy that -ish.
Steve: Thank you so much!

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