Curl Up and Die are a great band from Nevada. They released a killer album,Unfortunately, We're Not Robots, on Revelation Records last year and have been tearing shit up ever since. They recently released an EP on Status Records called You Can't be Through With the Past, which is also worth picking up. They will release another EP on Revelation sometime this summer. This interview was conducted last August 7, 2002 at the El n Gee in CT; so some questions may sound a bit outdated..

PL: You guys lost a couple of members right before you recorded. How did that effect you guys going into the studio?

Mike: It didn't really effect us in the studio, except for timewise. We had to find new members for touring after we recorded the record. They weren't the essential members that were creating the band. Not that the other guys didn't play a part but as far as writing songs it was just me, Matt and Jesse, so it was cool because Matt would just play the bass. So it didn't really effect the recording or the writing of the record.

CB: Did it effect the mindset at all?

Mike: Yeah. We lost our bass player and then we got rid of our guitar player two days after that. We had two or three weeks to go out and get ready to play and go record. Matt would go over the songs on bass and then guitar. It was a little awkward.

PL: Are you guys staying a four piece or are you going to get a second guitarist?

Mike: We're pretty sure we're gonna stay a four piece. We've been writing almost a whole EP that we're gonna record this winter that's pretty much written as a four piece band.

PL: Do you guys have any big plans coming up? Aren't you going on tour with Thrice and Hot Water Music?

Mike: Yeah, the end of October beginning of November on the West Coast we're opening for Thrice and Hot Water Music. We're gonna try to record the record and then touring in the winter.

PL: With the Thrice, Hot Water Music tour, how do you think you guys will go over? It's a pretty diverse tour.

Mike: I don't know. I definitely think its better that it's on the West Coast because more people know us out there and more people would be into it. Hopefully it will go well, but I know how the opening band, especially with how big of a band Thrice is at this point on the West Coast too, there might be a lot of people that are just there to see Thrice. We've never been booed before. We've never played venues like the ones we're gonna play on that tour too. I don't know if we're gonna get booed or not. It'll be fun either way. We'll get to hang out with Thrice, Hot Water, Coheed (Coheed and Cambria are also on the tour).

PL: You guys recorded at God City (Kurt Ballau of Converge). What made you drive a couple thousand miles to record?

Mike: We actually flew out. We were touring last summer and we were like: ‘Where are we gonna record the record?' We didn't want to go anywhere like Vegas or Southern California. There's nothing in Vegas. We were shopping around at a few places and we got into contact with Kurt and there was a really cool vibe that we got from him. It was really cool. We learned a lot from him. We're more confident actually. When we record now, we somewhat know what we're doing. We have an idea of what we can do. Everything else we did was just demos and even the EP, it was like, how many songs can we pump out in a weekend or a day.

PL: Song titles. I've read a lot of reviews where the song titles are given much praise. What makes you come up with those? Are you trying to make something funny because I was reading through the lyrics today and they're more serious. Is there a hidden meaning?

Mike: I didn't know what to name song titles when I was starting to write lyrics. We started as a joke band at first-not a joke band, but a fun band. We all had other things going on. We had a couple songs that were joke song titles. I liked the idea that we had. You'd come a long way to have a humorous side to the song titles.

PL: Did you write besides writing lyrics?

Mike: Now I do. I originally started writing lyrics because of the band. At first, I would just copy comic books. I love comic books. I'm now interested in all kinds of writing. Its like my new hobby.

PL: What two celebrities (one male, one female) do you think would be cuter if you shot them in the face?

Mike: Um...its hard for me to be funny on the spot. For guys, I'd have to say Ray Harkins of Taken, just because he's an ugly guy (laughter). And for girls, I'd go with Britney Spears...no, actually I'd go with the Olsen twins because everybody loves them.

Interview by: RF

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