Juliana: How do you think all the constant touring
has shaped who you are today, personally and as a musician?
RyMo: I think it has definitely made me more street
smart. We work at night so we’re setting our gear up at
night and tearing down late, late night or really early in
the morning, whatever you want to call it, so we’ve seen a
lot of crazy situations unfold, as you can imagine.
You realize that its just a really big world! We’ve been
all over the place now and it keeps you humble. You can’t
walk around with your assumptions on your sleeve, because people are just gonna laugh at you. [You can’t just
say, “Well in America. . .”] Well, Guess what you’re not in
America anymore, now you’re in Brazil or you’re in Australia, and the customs are different. You learn how to
keep your mouth shut and go with the flow. If you’re in
Japan, we’ve been there a couple of times now, it’s humbling because you’re looking at a sign that’s warning you
about electricity and its just a bunch of squiggly lines.
You can’t read and you don’t know where you are and you
don’t know what day it is. You realize [this] when you
travel, especially internationally, [and] it just keeps you
humble. [For example] you’re wired in the US, you have
friends all over the place and you know where to eat when
you’re in Iowa, but when you’re far away you don’t, and
16 • CIDER MAG • cidermag.com
that just keeps you humble. Learn how to get through
and learn what you gotta do to survive.
Juliana: Do you take that back home with you when
you come back?
RyMo: I think so, yeah, definitely. Try not to judge.
You don’t know what people have been through. You look
at someone, and you’re like, wow, this person has been
through a lot, or look at this guy, he’s got this crazy car,
he must be so rich, but maybe he’s dealing with other suffering that you’re not. You just never know, so I think if
anything traveling has taught me not to be super judgmental or not to be pretentious because you just never
know who you’re talking to. You could be on the road and
be talking to some dude and he could be the best drummer
in the world, and you don’t know that. You’re being an arrogant douche and he’s gonna laugh at you! So the idea is
that you just be cool to everyone you meet and you just be
nice. Then at least, if someone has a better skill than you
or someone has something going for them in their own
way, and that’s fine, but at least you were nice to them.
Because I’ve met people and they didn’t know what I did,
and they were acting so cocky and I was thinking in my
head, wow I can’t believe this person is so cocky, but okay.
I think that traveling has just taught me to be humble,
and go with the flow and try not to judge people.
July• 2014