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This interview was conducted with Nick and Andy of The Junior Varsity when they played Providence, RI on May 12. They were really funny dudes and nice people, offering to refund my ticket money because there was a mix up with the guest list (I didn't take it, but it was a nice gesture on their part). Their debut album, Wide Eyed hits stores on July 12, and it should be a fun record.
PL: Can bands still be successful without touring full time?
A: Yeah, I'm 100% sure of this.
N: Bands can be successful without touring.
A: We've played over 200 shows, and we are at the same level with a lot of bands that have played 30 shows.
N: We used to ask older bands what they did to make it, and all they told us was that you've got to tour, tour, tour. But we quickly found out when other bands that we knew started getting signed and they hadn't toured at all. We did maybe eight full U.S. tours before we got signed, and these bands hadn't stepped foot outside of Chicago and they were getting signed. We feel like we just wasted so much god damn money. We've gone through three vans, we're on our fourth van now. We're touring all the damn time, and all anybody cares about is demo CDs. Go the Pro Tools route and you've got a deal, no problem.
A: All it takes is getting the demo in the right hands. We've been working hard, but all it took was for our demo to get in the right hands. It made us feel like we wasted a lot of time, but we gained experience.
PL: Whats the best thing to do to try and get over times of adversity?
N: What do you mean? What do we do when we get down?
RF: I thought of that question because I know you guys get robbed a lot, but it could be for anything.
A: We've had a lot of bad times. We've been robbed five times now; we've had three vans; we've had at least 12 break downs.
N: We're paying off two vans that we don't have right now. We've had a lot of rough times and we've all been through some dumb shit, so we just have pretty high spirits.
A: Things are going the way they are tonight. We play to 50-60 kids and thats a good night. We met some cool people.
N: We look on the positive side of things. We'd wake up in the studio every morning and look out the front door and we'd be like, "oh fuck, our trailer got broken into and all of our merch is gone." We'd be like, "shit," and we'd be pissed off for a couple hours, and then we'd get over it.
A: We've gotten really used to taking it over and over.
N: We're able to look on the bright side of things.
PL: If you could throw a cup of pee at one person, who would it be and why?
A: Our first show ever in Chicago was this bar. It was our first time playing the city, downtown Chicago, and we hadn't played many shows at this point, maybe 20 or 30. We drive up there and they make us pay for parking, $18. It cost $40 in gas to get there, and $40 to get home, so that was $80 in gas, $20 parking was $100.
N: It was ridiculous.
A: We played a twenty minute set, and they told us we were done, which was fine.
N: They made us quit.
A: At the beginning, they told us that we had an hour.
N: But then, they were like "last song, guys." (There was much laughter at this point)
A: It was just a bar. It wasn't an all ages venue. It was 21+.
N: We were all like 18.
A: It was a bad time. They didn't pay us. They told us that there was a guy named Fabian that we needed to talk to to get paid. There was no motherfucker there named Fabian. We asked everybody.
N: Fabian does not exist.
A: They said that we needed to talk to Fabian about getting paid. We'd ask security guards where Fabian was, and they'd be like "Who?" We gave up pretty quick.
N: And just went home, pretty upset.
A: Yeah. We went home and lost a lot of money, but we learned a valuable lesson. I don't know what that was.
N: Take it as it comes.
RF: If only you had a cup of pee.
A: Exactly. Exactly.
PL: What are the ups and downs of being the opening band on tour?
A: Well, since there's only three bands on this tour, its not that bad, but a lot of times, bands get stuck playing before the real crowd gets there. I don't think you'll see that on this tour with only three bands. Thats probably only the real downside to playing first. I think people really recognize who's good and who's not no matter what the order is. I don't think people really look down on us for playing first.
PL: Whats one movie everyone should see?
A: What was that movie we saw?
N: Uh..."Battle Royale." Its a fucked up movie.
RF: Is that a Japanese movie?
A: Yeah! You can only get it in another country.
N: Its this class of kids that randomly get selected, and they get sent to this island and they all have to kill each other. Whoever kills everyone else gets to stay alive.
PL: Whats a little known fact about Illionis?
N: (long pause) A little known fact is (another long pause) Disturbed is from Illionis (laughter).
A: I can't think of anything. Its pretty lame, other than Chicago. Thats about it.
N: We have a lot of good friends there.
RF: Do you live anywhere near the father that killed his daughter and her friend? That happened earlier this week.
N: We stayed with our buddies in the band June, and we were maybe three to five blocks from where it went down cause we were staying in the same suburb.
A: Wait, this might be a different. There was one that happened last week and one that happened three weeks ago where this mom stabbed each kid 200 times. Think of counting to the number 200. Thats so many times. She said that she didn't want them to go to the church that her husband went to.
N: Her husband started a church, and she didn't want them to grow up in that church, so she killed her kids. Makes sense, right?
PL: Name one album, besides your own, that you think all kids should have in their collection.
N: I'd say Deloused in the Comatorium by the Mars Volta is pretty good.
A: False Cathedrals is pretty good, by Elliot. I'm a really really big fan of that.
N: Who else do we like?
A: Probably...whats the American Football CD? Is it just called American Football?
N: Yeah. A band called Lewis. They're on Deep Elm. Nobody in the world has ever heard of them. They have a full length album that is one of the best I've ever heard.
A: They're incredible; so good. Nobody's ever heard of them. I've never seen anything about them. Our singer got the CD randomly through his brother. He saw it in a mail order catalog, heard one demo song, sent away and got it.
N: Its incredible.
A: Its amazing. Its just never done anything. I'm not even sure if they're around or anything.
PL: Do you have any final comments?
N: Buy our new album. Please.
A: Victory Records, all Best Buys.
N: You kids will like it.
A: We tried really hard on it.
RF: I think it has a Get Up Kids feel to it.
N: Yeah, we've heard that before.
PL: Which is good because they're broken up now. You have a little niche right there.
A: We'll run away with it.
PL: Thanks guys.
Interviewed by RF