Buddyhead /
Errortype:11
Interview and photos by Aaron Icarus
(continued)
Arty: When we
came up with the name we didn't want to sound like… kites flying up your
ass.. fucking cake… or something so stupid. We didn't want to sound like
anything. People think we're a techno band or something. But basically
also when you start the name with the word error you’re already fighting
an uphill battle. Especially coming from New York.
Phil: We keep
getting called (in a thick New York accent) “Era”.
Buddyhead: What
do you find the crowds perception of you guys from town to town tends to
be?
Arty: It's
weird cause the shows we play are pretty small. At first the kids
perceived us as “emo” cause of the labels we were putting shit out on. But
we definitely don't sound “emo”. Basically we're arena rock…we're fucking
cock rock, that's what we want, what we do… the whole nine
yards…
Phil: Every
night he starts a song with “This songs about drinking and fucking…” and
the kids just stare at us.
Arty: All these
PC shits just stare at us.
Phil: It's just
a joke man.
Arty: Just
cause you’re not old enough to drink or fuck yet…
Matt: Bend
over…
Arty: But
anyway the kids that get it, get it so hard, throbbing really excited,
it's weird man cause they either get it or they really, really, dislike
me.. it's one of the two.
Buddyhead: Why
do they dislike you?
Arty: You'll
find out. Is this a PC crowd cause I'll lay off? I'll lay off on the dick
thing if I gotta move merch.
Phil: We don't
fit the norm of how we should dress and…
Arty: I've had
this fucking hair cut for fucking years, and all these little douche bags
who've never even heard a Beatles song get the fucking hair cut, fucking
pissing me off. But I don't want to piss off anybody... buy our
records.
Phil: Yeah, go
buy a shirt.
Arty: Our
shirts say "You’re an asshole and I'm fucking your
girlfriend".
Phil: The girl
one's are better, they say "You're a bitch and I'm fucking your
boyfriend".
Arty: "Error
type eleven, power drinking rock" on the back.
Buddyhead:
Nice. Nice.
Arty: I thought
they were gonna hate us for it, but as usual I was wrong.
Buddyhead: Do
you think your outlook with this band gets swallowed up in the current
“bookbag rock” scene?
Arty: I never
thought it got that big, honestly. I remember the first time we went on
tour and I saw kids with my hair cut, and I got pretty upset and I went
home and I shaved my head. But you know what? Fuck it, whatever. People
look at you and perceive the way you’re gonna sound. I'm not going to
dress up in a clown suit...
Phil: Not for
30 kids a night.
Arty: For
30,000 I'd dress up in clown suit. I'll do anything, as long as I get
paid.
Buddyhead: I
hit on that. When I heard your record, it was very immediate, I knew what
you guys were about. I really appreciated that I wasn't being pandered to,
and you guys weren't trying to be cool with some clique music culture...
you guys are just like "this is us".
Arty: We're
kind of doing it our way. You know how easy it is to get big when you go
along with what's cool. I don't even know what's cool, I'm 27. I fucking
got out of hardcore when I was 18. I don't care. I just play and write
songs and I listen to Yes and Genesis all day and drink a lot of
beer.
Buddyhead: What
have you guys been listening to lately?
Phil: This
tour’s soundtrack was anything from Jane's Addiction to Joe
Jackson.
Arty: I know I
put on Oasis at some point.
Buddyhead: Have
you heard the new Oasis album?
Arty: Yeah, of
course.
Buddyhead: What
do you think?
Arty: I think
it's bad.
Buddyhead: You
should have seen that guy on 120 minutes, he was sooo
awesome.
Arty: Was Liam
on? I'm one of the biggest Oasis collectors.
Buddyhead: Yeah
he was, he was a total arrogant pompous prick... it was awesome. Very
entertaining. They were like, “so your taking this band Travis on tour
with you, that's good”. And Liam is all "No it's fucking
not…."
Arty and
Buddyhead: "It's good for them!"
Arty: I have an
entire dresser filled with magazines from all over the world with them on
the cover.
Buddyhead:
Their honesty is great, they admitted that "the last record sucked, we
were doing too much cocaine".
Arty: And now
they're fucking straight. Big fucking mistake cause now they're fucking
boring. He’s not fucking chicks in bathroom stalls anymore…it's
lame.
Buddyhead:
Yeah, almost as lame as bringing your girlfriends on tour
huh?
Arty: Shut the
fuck up.
Matt: It's like
bringing sand to the beach... but you’re bringing crappy extra
sand.
Arty: Hey I
still drink...
Phil(laughing):
“Crappy extra sand?”
Buddyhead: So
tell us about these girls that showed up...
Arty: Basically
it's my girlfriend and three of her friends from New York. She brought her
friends because I don't pay attention to her when I'm on tour so she comes
to visit me. I mean... I can't... I mean she meets up with me after I've
been in the van with these guys and all we're saying is “Suck it” every 5
minutes, and now I have to be normal. Plus I'm drinking half a case of
beer every night and now all the sudden I have to stop.
Matt: Your
girlfriend must have not realized that California girls are
hot.
Phil: Haha,
that's why she came to LA.
Arty: Shut up,
you’re gonna get me in trouble.
Buddyhead: What
is your perception of LA besides the girls?
Arty: It's too
fucking spread out for one. The weather is nice, I mean it's too spread
out. To me New York is the epitome of... it’s the greatest place in the
world, it just doesn't get any better. There's no restrictions on buying
alcohol, which is my number one fucking pet peeve outside of New York.
Phil: I kind of
dig LA, it's kind of got that busy feel and it's close to the beach, not
like in New York where the city's awesome, but if I want to surf I have to
jump on the subway and go to a crappy beach in Queens. Or I can get in a
car and drive 2 hours to a nice beach.
Buddyhead: It
can get pretty gross out here, all the Hollywood bullshit.
Arty: Everyone
here is all Industry and I hate that shit.
Buddyhead: It can be kind of discouraging yet amusing when you see new bands get 400K to put out records and they just suck.