From a Second Story Window

What a nice bunch of dudes. Every member of From a Second Story Window that I met was super nice, seeming incredibly excited just to be on tour. This interview was mainly with guitarists Derek and Rob, but drummer Nick and singer Will also contributed to the interview, which covers everything from The Sopronos to South Park to a dirty joke.

PL: State something interesting about yourselves, and your names too.
DV: I'm Derek and I play guitar in From a Second Story Window, and I really like Asian horror films.
PL: I thought you were gonna say that you really like Asian whores.
DV: Well, I like them too.
RH: I'm Rob. I play guitar in From a Second Story Window, and I love "The Sopranos."
PL: The last season I didn't think was so great.
DV: Season 6 was a bit disappointing, but I think its gonna set up the last season.
PL: You saw the last episode, right?
BOTH: Yes.
PL: Did you find closure in that?
DV: No. You know the thing about a show like that, is that its become a part of your life. That isn't a show.
RH: Its real.
PL: James Grandolfini was riding a scooter or something, and he got into an accident. Someone went to him: "Tony, are you alright?" He goes thats a character I play in a show.
RH: Thats funny as hell.

PL: How did you feel when, all of a sudden, you were a part of Metal Blade?
DV: Well, we're still on Blackmarket Activities. We didn't switch. Metal Blade just distributes us. We don't have a deal with them.
RH: Its awesome, because we get to stay with Guy (Kozowyk, singer of The Red Chord), but we get the perks of the Metal Blade bands and that distribution, so its really nice.
DV: To be honest, the past months, Guy's really come through for us. He's done exactly what he needs to be doing as a label owner. We were a little nervous and hesitant at first, but now it is what it is. We've ben friends with him for four years now.
PL: I've spent so much money at his distro.
DV: He's amazing. He's an important person in the hardcore and underground scene and we're happy to be part of his label.

PL: Is there an added pressure when you're headlining a tour?
RH: I wouldn't say a pressure, but I would rather almost open a tour because I don't like to wait to play for so long. Depending on where you're playing, sometimes you don't play until midnight, and you have to wait around. I don't feel too much of a pressure. We do what we do.
DV: We don't care if there's five kids watching us or five hundred. We just do our thing. As far as headlining goes: on this tour, I think credit should be given where credit's due. Cattle Decapitation has been around a lot longer than us, and they have more CDs out. They should be headlining, but the powers that be want us to do it, and its cool because everyone on this tour is humble and everyone is really amazing.
RH: And some nights we'll switch it up. If someone does better here than we do, then they play.
DV: Out in California, Animosity will do a lot, as will Cattle Decapitation because the own California, and we're just their guests. Over here on the East Coast, they're our guests, so we'll do it here.

PL: If you could bring back any musician from the dead, who would it be and why?
RH: I don't know. Maybe Kurt Cobain.
DV: I was just thinking Kurt.
RH: But, I don't know what he'd be doing now.
PL: I was thinking him, but I figured if he was still around, the music would be horrible.
RH: Right. Thats what I was thinking too. Maybe what it was is what it was.
DV: It would be cool to see him at a show. Have him come in one day with him and Francis Bean, and Francis kind of gets into it, and maybe she'll become a hardcore chick when she grows up. That, or-
RH: Freddie Mercury.
DV: Freddie Mercury would be really sweet. I definitely agree.

PL: The Simpsons, Family Guy or South Park?
DV: Family Guy.
RH: Yeah. I love Family Guy and South Park equally.
DV: They're both so amazing, especially when South Park makes fun of Family Guy.
RH: I'm pretty much obsessed with both, because they don't leave anybody alone. Nobody's safe.
DV: They're both great commentaries of what is going on in the world.
RH: The Simpsons is definitely good, too.
DV: Oh, its outstanding. Its been around forever.

PL: Whats a little known fact about this tour?
DV: Job for a Cowboy is going on first, and they're only 17.
PL: They don't look 17.
DV: They're all young.
RH: Maybe people don't know how young they are.
DV: They're so great, and they have such a great future ahead of them. And we're honored that they chose their first American tour with us.

PL: Name one album, besides your own, that you think all kids should have in their collection.
DV: One album; Jesus, Journey's Greatest Hits. (laughs)
RH: As far as this music goes?
PL: Any kind.
RH: Dark Side of the Moon.
DV: For me, Sigur Ros' () album. I think every person needs to hear that, and if they don't get moved by it, then they don't have a heart.

PL: If you guys were going to a show, and all your friends backed out, would you still go?
DV: Yeah, why not.
RH: Yeah.
DV: Its different when you're in a band because we used to go to shows non stop, and it was one of those things where we would just go. But then, we would book a lot of shows as a band to try and get bands to come and play with us, and we'd bring the shows to us, so it didn't matter if we went alone or not. I think nowadays, because of who we are, its cool to just show up at a show. We know a lot of the bands, so we're friends.
RH: We've been to a lot of different cities so many times and we have a lot of friends there.
DV: And mentally, we know that if you're a band on tour, and you see a friend that is in another band, and they took the time to see you, it makes you feel validated playing their city. Anytime we're home from tour, we always make it a point to go support our friends, whether its in Pittsburgh or Cleveland; they're both an hour away from where we live. One of us will always go to a show if our friends are playing; just to represent. It doesn't matter if ten of us go, one of us will always go.

PL: End with a joke.
DV: I can't think of any jokes. Didn't Nick have a joke? Hey Nick (Huffman, drums), come here for a minute, really quick. This is our drummer, Nick. We're doing an interview and he needs a joke, and you're the joke master.
NH: A joke?
DV: I need a great joke. You just told one the other day. We need a great joke.
WJ: Whats up! My name is Will, and I sing for the band.
DV: We need a great joke.
WJ: Alright: there's these three dudes, and they're hiking through wilderness West Virginia, and its so awful that they get lost. They go and they're two days in with no food or water; they're fucked. They find a cabin, and they go "Oh, fuck yes; salvation." They go to this cabin and they knock on the door, and this big gigantic fat woman answers. She says: "What do you guys want?" And the guy goes: "We're starving, we're hungry, we need some water, anything we can get." The woman goes "I'll give you anything you want if one of you guys will fuck me." This is the nastiest chick ever on Earth. One of the guys decides to do it. The other guys wait outside and thank him for taking one for the team. So Derek (laughter) goes in, scopes the sityation out and sees big barrels of corn and green beans. He tells her that he's gonna blindfold her before he fucks her. She lays down, puts the blindfold on, and he takes a piece of corn, pulls it out of the barrel; puts it in, pulls it out and throws it out the
window. He does this about 50-70 times and gets her good and going. When she's done, she thanks him and tells him that she's never been fucked like that, and gives them all the water or food that they could ever want or need to get back to civilization. And he's stoked and loaded down, and goes outside and goes: "Guys, I'm stoked. I got all this food and water and we're ready to go." And the guys go, "Fuck the water and food, someone's been throwing buttered corn out the window all day."

Interviewed by: RF
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