Its very awkward going up to a band and telling them that you're there to interview them. Paul and Shane from Between the Buried and Me were talking to a girl when I went up to them, so I felt like a jackass right off, feeling like I interrupted something. Hopefully, they somewhat enjoyed the interview. If not, fuck, nobody's perfect.

PL: Introduce yourself.
P: I'm Paul. I play guitar.
S: I'm Shane. I play guitar.
PL: It seems like you guys have gone through a ton of members.
P: Exactly.
PL: What kind of a roadblock does that throw at the band?
P: Well, the main thing is that you almost have to start over. You have to teach them the songs and it defeats progress on writing new stuff. You get people who's chemistry is different. It just takes a lot of work, a lot of patience to get it back together. As long as the new members are motivated, stuff like that.
PL: Was it hard finding new members?
P: We actually got really lucky this time. We found two guys that were in a band together before that had played together and were good, and the other guy lived right down the street, so we got really lucky this time.
PL: Do you think that you guys have grown stronger because of this?
P: Yeah, without question. You take for granted things like a solid line up, so bad things like that kind of tear you down. When you get it back together, it actually makes you stronger as a band.

PL: Are you one of the new new members?
S: Yeah I'm the new guitar player.

PL: How'd it feel coming into this?
S: It was kind of nervewracking because I had to learn like 637 riffs in like two weeks. And they already had a tour booked, so it was taking on a lot, but we got through.
P: Interview Tom. Just say your name.
T: Yo, this is Tommy.
P: Thats the singer. (To Tommy)You don't have to do this.

PL: Would you ever pick up a hitchhiker or homeless guy on tour?
P: We've always talked about it, man. We've always seen them and talked about it, but never did. We're always running late for shows.

PL: What genre of music do you listen to the most?
P: Me personally?
S: Folk. We listen to so much stuff.
P: I don't even think there is a particular genre that we listen to most of. We just listen to so much stuff, like we might listen to a death metal record and right after, listen to a bluegrass record. It varies. The stuff that influences me most is stuff like progressive rock or progressive metal. But, we listen to a lot of stuff.

PL: Why did Victory rerelease your debut?
P: Cash cows man, thats all we are. We bring in financial security for our record label. No, I think what happened was, our old label, Lifeforce, basically just signed a distrobution deal with Victory. That and a couple different factors. We were on Victory now and they decided to do a rerelease type thing. But, more or less it had to do with the distrobution deal, which we didn't have anything to do with.

PL: If you were ever to add an additional instrument, what would it be?
P: An additional instrument?
S: Maybe a mellotron. That'd work.
P: A mellotron would work. Maybe a banjo would be tight. Mandolin, cowbell, dolcimer(?), triangle, fiddle. Is that enough?

PL: Yeah, thats good. Whats the best way to get away with murder?
P: We've talked about that. The best way to get away with murder would obviously be to have no motive at all. If you just went out and killed a completely random stranger. Just like stabbed him in the face.
S: Thats fucked up.
P: Think it would work?
S: Yeah, I think it would.
P: So there just has to be no motive. If you actually know the person, then thats some reason to kill them so you're not getting off.

PL: Do you guys get free clothes for being on this tour?
P: No.
S: Well, we got some.
P: And we wear them all the time. No, we got some stuff and the Made people are really cool. They put a lot of money into the tour. They sent us some clothes and we sport them from time to time.
S: Wear their socks.
P: This is Jason, our drummer, the guy we've been talking shit about the last couple of minutes.

PL: With all the member changes you've gone through, have you ever thought about giving up; music or the band?
S: On life.
P: laughing On life. Yeah, its gone through my head a couple times. We've thought about it when our last drummer quit; we thought, it wasn't that we were gonna give up, but we thought about it. It crossed our mind, but not for very long. We really wanted to keep the band going, so we kept it going.
PL: Was it tough for you, joining?
J: Yeah. It took a lot of practicing. No big deal.
P: He shreds on drums.

PL: Are you guys gonna vote in this upcoming election?
P: I don't know. I tried to register the last time I got my license renewed, but it didn't work out for some reason.
J: I'm too ignorant.
S: I don't even give a shit about all that stuff.
P: The only reason I would vote would be to keep George Bush from being in office again, but I want to vote for someone and not against someone. I think I'll wait until there's actually a candidate that represents my beliefs...me. I'm gonna wait until I run.

PL: There's a game that me and my friends always play where you have your dream girl but there's always one thing wrong with her and that one thing is really ridiculous. So, I'll throw a couple of those at you. What if she's got a beak?
P: A beak?
PL: A beak. Other than that, everything's perfect to your standards.
P: Are you crazy? The mouth is...thats like a key part...
S: Thats where your penis goes.
P: Yeah, dude.
PL: I can't think of all the other ones we had. (The next day I was pumping this shit out like gas)
P: We can come up with some. What if uh..
S: What if her vagina had tenticles?
P: Yeah. What if she was perfect, but she only had one eye?
PL: Like Leela from Futurama? I think I'd do that.
P: What if she was perfect, but only had one tittie?
S: Where would it be?
PL: Perfect girl, but her nipples are on her back?
P: Yeah.
S: Yeah. I'd just bury my face in her back.
PL: What if she's got a tail?
S: I'd love that.
P: That'd be cool. You could kind of hold it and tickle your balls with it. You know what guys do when they're jerking off where they choke themselves because it intensifies orgasm? You could do that with the tail.
J: It'd be a lot easier if the girl had a tail.
P: What else, dude. What've you got?
PL: I'm shot, do you have any?
P: What if she was perfect, but she had a dick? laughter What if she was perfect, but had a hairy ass?
James: You can deal with that.
PL: My friend did one once: Perfect girl, but she's got no penis.
P: That'd be perfect. Is that it?

PL: Do you have any final comments?
P: Nope, just waiting for this interview to be done.
PL: Its done now.

Interview by: RF
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