ION INDIE MAGAZINE November 2015, Volume 18 | Page 74

impressed, I told Nick it would be great to get Jeff in the band. We realized quickly that we liked Jeff as a person, and that’s really important. Jeff: We all have the same goals. Ted: We all learned the lessons about not letting yourself get in the way, not to let drama become part of the band. We don’t care if our name is at the top of the bill. We play some pretty heavy dark stuff, but we have fun. The best way to have fun is to share it with others. There is no better way to play, than to be smiling. Jeff: We hear all the time that we smile too much. Ted: We absolutely LOVE to play. That’s what really carries this band. CW: Can we get a little background on Nick and Ryan? Ted: Nick and I have been friends our whole life--our parents were friends. Nick played drums in high school band. He and I started this horrible cover band, but it got me going, and got Nick really into the drums. But that’s it. This is Nick’s first band that has recorded or played shows. This is all new to him. But, then him being who he is, he respects it and appreciates it. Jeff: Nick is solid—he is the most solid drummer I have worked with. Ted: He’s like a metronome. Now for Ryan, he kind of did what I did. Ryan was in a band called EVOLOCITY Down in Phoenix. They ended up having a manager and doing some tours, opening up for lots of big bands. They had some success, but Ryan ended up moving here to be closer to family. He sold a lot of his gear and thought it was time to be a grown-up. He worked for about a year and really started missing it. He had already known Jeff, so he reached out to him. Jeff: It’s just so weird how life works. When I was in Six Pound Sledge, I almost went with Ryan to start a band. Now 20 years later… Ted: I think as far as it goes, we are all coming from the same place, at least in life experience. But of course, working with Nick is like pulling teeth… Jeff: Yeah, it is JUST like pulling teeth. CW: You have a new album called “Down the Rabbit Hole”. Tell me about it. Jeff: Nick’s family does a white elephant gift exchange for Christmas. About two years ago, he got this creepy little rabbit. He brought him in, propped him up on the drum riser--it kinda freaked us out. There’s something not right with that rabbit. It was always a running joke with him. The rabbit morphed into his own personality--even ended up with the name “Amos”. Ted: We were talking one night about different record names, and I was thinking about how everything had come together. You always think about the “Long Strange Trip It’s Been” by THE GRATEFUL DEAD, I was thinking about that--but only with more of a Lewis Carroll theme of going down the rabbit hole. That’s really where the album name came from. The band's name came from JACK KEROUAC. I’m a huge fan. I’ve read on the road about 40 times. A favorite quote where he says, “I love the mad ones, people are mad to speak, mad to live, and never say a common place thing, but burn, burn, burn, like yellow roman candles,