ION INDIE MAGAZINE August 2015, Volume 15 | Page 71

to do to make ourselves happy. While I definitely wish the best for the other dudes, who are still continuing with The
Ditchrunners…it was just time for something else for us personally.
Alex: I mean this in the nicest way--we were looking to
become serious musicians and that was kind of our
main goal…it still is. We have no interest in becoming
“Rock Stars” if you will, you know, I think that was kind
of a bridge there that was between some of the
members and us. We just want to become better as
musicians and more professional--get out there and if
we do gain some headway, it would be in that sense, not
because of some flashy lights and some “rock star”
thing going on and stuff like that. It became an issue.
There were some things that happened that gave us an
excuse to leave.
CW: Has it been hard starting over again with this new
band?
Alex: I don’t think we really had to start over again,
Pete: It all just kind of fell into place.
Alex: When we were out doing Ditchrunner gigs--I am
sure you have probably even seen this--we would go and
do the full Ditchrunners, set and then afterwards, pretty
much this group of guys would come up to the bar, play
unplugged and do a full set there. Or sometimes, if
Buckshot was on the road, we would do gigs without
him. So honestly, it wasn’t that weird. When the split-up
happened, we just kept playing gigs. It was like the next
weekend we were jumping head first into this. So as far
as starting over goes, I don’t know if that would
necessarily be how I would put it.
PETE PAGEL
Pete: Alex and I had been out doing two-piece stuff on Thursday and Sundays for quite some time just on our own. One of the
other dudes would sit in or another musician, and it was a pretty natural progression. It was just to trim some things out and
slimming it down from what it was, so it was pretty natural. It’s given me a bit more of an opportunity; I really do enjoy playing
a more aggressive more percussive style of upright bass. I really enjoy having a bit more free reign as to be percussive with it
and still have that driving beat. It’s been a lot more work, trying to get the name out, getting the ball rolling, recording a new
album--its work. But as far as getting shows and getting out, it’s kind of fallen in place a lot more than it could have.
Alex: There weren’t too many die-hard Ditchrunner fans that didn’t at least come check us out. I’d say 85% of them were still
pretty stoked on what we were doing. Regardless, I think everyone is still looking forward to what happened with that band
(The Ditchrunners) too. The challenges are good. We are not kind of pigeon-holed to sing about one kind of thing anymore-we don’t have to sing about trucks and whiskey and doing drugs and stuff like that all the time. We definitely can, but it has
definitely taken a left turn from that kind of stuff.
CW: Where is your favorite place to play?
Alex: That’s a tough one man.