Error-type: 11

Name, age, instrument.

Arty: Liam Gallager. I'm 26. Just kidding, I'm Arty, I'm
26 and I play guitar and I sing.
Adam: I'm Adam, I'm 23 and I play bass.

Start off by telling us about your new CD coming
out on Some.
Arty: It's going to sound huge. It's produced by a guy
named John Agnello who's produced Dinosaur Jr. and
Jawbox and Screaming Trees. We were pretty
psyched to work with him. The songs are a lot better.
We were only a band for four months when we went to
do the first album.

You mentioned that you hate the first record
during the show. Is the new one going to sound
much different?
Arty: We don't hate that album. No, it's going to be
similar but better sounding. It's just that [Adam] wasn't
in the band at the time. We had a different bass
player and my voice has gotten a lot better. I never
really sang for a band before, so it was a new
experience. In those four months we wrote 20 songs
in four months, went to the studio, did this album and
the EP. Then we really became a band after that all
happened. It's a lot more together, and the songs are
better. Hopefully, people will get it a little bit better.
Adam: And I play on it.
Arty: Yeah, he plays on it.

After the Gameface split on Revelation, do you
have any intentions of working with Rev again?
Arty: Revelation was one of the labels that we were
looking to do the album on.

Have you signed a contract for future releases
with them?
Arty: I was not supposed to say this in an interview.
I was told we do one-offs with everybody, with Rev
we're not doing a contract thing. We basically, my
theory on this is that... I kind of stole it from Hot
Water Music, you put out a tot of different records
on different labels, because there are so few people
running these labels. Basically what you do is get a
bunch of people, a bunch of small labels working
for you. Therefore you have a lot of people working
for you. You're constantly in fanzines, blah, blah,
blah. It's kind of like an onslaught of releases. The
Crank EP which came out in July on Crank. Now
the album's coming out January 11 and then the
Rev EP's out in April.



Adam: We like spreading ourselves across the
country.
Arty: "The Rev" was one of the labels up to put our
album out and (cough) -cheap- just kidding. We love
'em. We went with Some again instead so...but Jason
the A&R guy there still wanted us to do something.
That's what we came up with, it was coot. Plus we're
really good friends with Gameface.

We've noticed a lot of bands in the indie scene
have been using promotion companies (Errortype:11 included). 
What do these companies do for you?
Arty: I used to do PR myself, so I know exactly what
they do. I would guess that the label could handle
most of those situations, and I don't know if Maria
could get us bigger things or not, and concentrate a
little more [on our record] because especially with this
release, Some [Records] has like four other releases
coming out around the same time as our record. So,
I'm happy that we have somebody else concentrating
on getting us into things. They are a small staff label
as if they want to pay someone to do stuff so that they
can do other things that's fine with me.

So the label pays for the promotion company?
Arty: Yeah. We definitely couldn't do it ourselves and
still have that kind of time. I'm 26 years old, I've got to
pay rent.

How was tonight's crowd compared to others? We
assume that the poor attendance was due to poor
promotion.
Arty: Yeah, that's my understanding. Also a lot of
people that came for us showed up in the middle of
the set, which kind of sucks, but that's okay.

Have your other shows on this tour been more
successful than this one?
Adam; This is our first one.
Arty: We just came from playing in NYC to packed
shows and kids singing louder than me, but it's cool to
come and play for nobody.
Adam: I totally expected this coming to DC, this is our
first time playing DC I totally expected nothing more
than what we got tonight.

What have you heard about DC?
Adam: My old band played in DC before, but that was
more of a screamo band, so it was better received. I
still think DC as far as I know, a band like ours, there
isn't really a scene for it.
Arty: Yeah. We're basically a fucking major label style
rock band playing in a scene that wants indie rock.
Adam: It has been good to us, but there just...
Arty: It's hard for everybody to get it because the way
we look, and all that shit. It doesn't always translate
well that I want to be in an arena, playing to 8000
people.

Do you anticipate mainstream appeal?
Arty: Ws can only hope. There is no predicting
anything. The public is impossible to predict anything
that's going to be popular. I think we have a great
record. If people dig it, then great. If they don't, they
don't. I just want people to get what we're doing. A
lot of people don't understand my sarcasm on stage.
They think that I'm serious about the things I say, and
they don't understand that we're not an emo band.
The kids that like emo, like real emo like Promise Ring
and shit aren't going to think that we're good. I can't
imagine that they would think that we're good, cause
they wanted to hear indie rock and we play arena
rock. Half the time I sound like the singer from fucking
Creed you know for Christ's sake.
[Creed impersonations galore.]
Arty: How the fuck can they possibly relate to that?

Do you think that a mainstream audience would
appreciate your message more than people in the
indie rock scene?
Arty: I think a mainstream audience would appreciate
it more. That's what it's tailored to, not purposely.

So you feel that your current fans don't give you
the love and respect you deserve?
Arty: No, no they love us and we love them.
Adam: The fans that we have that come see us play
that go out of their way to see us play. They are like
the coolest people ever.

Would you trade your fans for their weight in
beer?
(Silent meditation)
Arty: Oh, that's a tough one.
Erica: Toughie.
Arty: It depends. Did we just play in Columbia? South
Carolina, then: yes.
Adam: Or, did we just play in Detroit?
Arty: Did we play to a sold out show or six people?
That's what I want to know. It's hard to say anything
as far as mainstream and the scene goes. We're the
type of band that don't....

Random Drunken Fratesque Guy (walks by from the
bathroom): You guys are really awesome. Really tight.
Arty: Thanks. We're the type of band in the scene the
kids either love, or they just don't get. The kids that
dig us are so psyched at the shows. They are
completely freaking out. It's amazing.
Adam: Then you've got people who stand in the front
(DC scenster pose- refer to Kara for example).
Arty: They want to beat the shit out of me after the
show.
Adam: I don't want to talk shit about other towns.

Why do you think it is that nobody dances at Black
Cat shows?
Arty: I fucking wouldn't dance at a show with 20
people at it. I'd fucking stand still and watch.
No, this is even at sold out shows.
Arty: I can explain it very easily, if you really want to
hear it, but our booking agent is the sister of one of
the people I'm going to blame for it.

So you're going to blame a person for it?
Arty: Fugazi. I mean come on.
Adam: Do you mean just dancing around or moshing?
Just dancing.
Arty: Moving around?
Yeah.
Adam: Fucking shit up like an A-F show or something.
Arty: You can stand there with your arms crossed,
that's cool. I wish. everyone would jump around. But
I'm still going to blame lan. It's all your fault lan!
Adam: Everybody's got to look cool, right?          
Arty: Like [lan] cares about that. Who started 
that crap...The Make-Up, Nation of Ulysses?

How do you feel about big burly mountain men? 
Don't you just love big burly mountain men?
Adam: Rewind that question.
Arty: Is that a reference to Hot Water Music old
school?
Adam: Only if it's Chuck from Hot Water Music.
Arty: Chuck is kinda hot, after he shaves his beard.

If he shaves then he's not a mountain man.
Arty: Who are we talking about here? Guys from
Vancouver?

No, just mountain men in general. We're not
thinking of anyone in particular.
Arty: Only Chuck from Hot Water Music. He's the only
mountain man I want to have sex with.

Do a lot of people misinterpret the song "Born in
the 80's"? What is the strangest interpretation you
have heard?
Adam: Cyndi Lauper.
Arty: Cyndi Lauper really liked that song of ours. A
friend of ours designed our record. He works at Sony.
He's an art director in NY at Sony. He was listening to
our record and working on the new Cyndi Lauper record
at the same time. She was like "what is this song?,"
she heard "Born in the 80's," and then she opened it up '
and read the lyrics and he was IM'ing me, and telling
me "Cyndi Lauper's sitting next to me. She loves the
lyrics to your song. She thinks it's great" blah, blah,
blah. I was really excited about that, that was really
cool, but other than that...The story behind that song is
just really me feeling old and as you get older it seems
like the only people who stay in the scene are people
who are in bands or do a record label. Just regular
folks...

Kara: And creepy old men who like little girls.
Arty: Oh, creepy old men who like boys.
Kara: Little boys?
Arty: Little boys. It's not little girls, trust me. We're
talking about a male dominated scene here. If they're
sticking around, they like little boys, trust me.
Adam: We've known a few of them.

Let's play some word association:
1. Hot pants
Arty: Jennifer Lopez.
2. Amethyst
Arty: Something I'll never buy my girlfriend.
3. Cell phone
Arty: Eric, our drummer.
4. Monocle.  
Arty: Monocle?
Come on, everybody knows what a monocle is.
Arty: Sherlock Holmes.
5. Termites
Arty: Raid. 

So how does it feel to be in the state where "Heavy
Metal Parking Lot" was filmed?
Arty: It's amazing. It relates to me so much...
Adam: We saw that on tour.
Arty: We saw that when we were on tour in Cleveland
last week. Where was that at, National Coliseum?
No. It was at the Capitol Center.
Arty: Porchester?
In Largo Maryland.
Adam: Oh, it's in Maryland. I thought it was in NY. It's
right by where we live.
Arty: Really? I used to go to see Rush, Maiden, and
fucking Metallica and shit at the National Coliseum.
So you relate to it? That's kinda scary.
Arty: I'm not that old. I never had a mullet or anything.

Did you wear one-piece zebra suits?
Adam: I had a mullet.
Arty: No. That's really old school.
Adam: You had a fucking mullet dude, you're fucking
lying.
Arty: When I was growing my hair out. Yeah, you
have to have a mullet for a little while.
Erica: Yeah, I have a mullet.
Arty: A fashion mullet.

At our local video store they have a
collection of that guy's films and it
has Blevis on it.
Arty: I can't believe I met him. I'm so excited.

If you could get your at home degree from ICS
what would it be?
Arty: What's ICS?
It's how you can get a degree at home. Sally
Struthers does the infomercial.
Arty: I thought Sally Struthers did poor kids in West
Virginia.
Adam: Yeah. West Virginia.

It's a mail-in degree with things such as gun
smithing, VCR repair, high school diploma, etc.
Adam: I'd have to go with Basket Weaving.
Arty: I have a degree in "punk rock." Therefore, I have
no future what-so-ever. So ICS is something I might
look into, because I hate this shit.
Even though our zine is coming out after the
millennium.. what do you think is going to happen
with Y2K?
Adam: I think nothing is going to happen. Although I
am going to print out my bank statement that day,
before midnight.
Arty: I have a prediction. Everything they say that is
going to go wrong, is going to go wrong. So, the world
is going to realize that Robbie Williams is a super-
genius and Robbie Williams is going to save the world.
He's going to have everything in his head and then
he's going to play "Millennium" and the entire world is
going to go (singing) "Millennium" with their hands like
this (swaying). It's going to be incredible. It's going to
be fantastic, it's going lo be amazing. Then he's going
to sing "Angel" and all of England is going to sing it all
at once and the whole world is going to resonate.
There's going to be world peace and they'll be no Y2K
problems because Robbie Williams is God.
Erica: My theory is that absolutely nothing is
going to happen on New Years of 2000. But, then
on New Year's of 2001, the real turn of the century
the world is going to explode. They'll never see it
coming.
Adam: Yeah, cause there was no year zero, the real
millennium is 2001. (High five to Erica)
Erica: I think it'll be funny, everyone will be caught
off guard.
Arty: What do you think is going to happen though?
Do you think Nostradamus' predictions will come true?
Erica: See, it's actually going to happen on Cinco
de Mayo.
Arty: Cinco de Mayo. I thought it was supposed to be
May 5th, when the planets align.
Kara: That is Cinco de Mayo foo'. 
Brush up on your Espanol.
Erica : And everyone in the world will go
down to Mexico and drink Coronas.
Arty: I don't live in Chile.
Kara: Yeah, but you live in NY.
Adam: Yeah, there is a lot of Spanish people.
Arty: What are you trying to say? You being racist?
That's fucked up man, that shits fucked up young.
What up, yo?
Kara: We have a lot here. I think it's a good thing,
it gives us culture.

What do you think of girls who belch, sexy, eh?
Adam: Yes.
Arty: Absolutely fucking not. My girlfriend doesn't
even fart. She doesn't even take a shit. I swear to
god.
Adam: I begged my girifriend of two and a half years
to fart in front of me and to this day, she still won't.
Arty: You know what happens? I think my girlfriend
farts in her sleep. She'll wake up and I'll be like "You
were farting in your sleep." She's like (in bad fake girl
voice) "No I wasn't."
Erica: Is that what her voice sounds like?
Arty: If she ever reads this shit, she'll fucking kill me.
My philosophy is on her is that she's like "The Virgin
Mary of Shit." Her ass is completely virgin.
Apparently, you date a robot.

Do you receive any fan mail from prison?
Arty: No.
No?
Arty: We get fan mail from people who should be in
prison.
We get a lot of mail from prisoners. We were just
wondering if other people did.
Arty: Seriously? Weird. Is it like hardcore kids in
prison?
Kara: Yeah, some of them.
Erica: They obviously are lonely because one
called me sexy.
Arty: Why would you say that?
Adam: You are sexy.
Arty: (in flamer voice) Girl stop it okay.
Kara: This is on tape. She's going to want to listen
to this part like 10 times.

[*For the record, Erica listened to it 12 times as we
transcribed it.]                                
Erica: It's like "Guy... said... not... ugly."          
Arty: (Flamer voice) Don't put yourself down okay. 
Seriously, we can do lots of things with you.

Everyone one has notable characters in their town
that everyone knows, sometimes homeless. Tell
us about yours.
Arty: Can we make it not just homeless.
Yeah, it just is that they usually are.
Adam: Oh my god, I have so many. I'll give you one
guy, I don't know his name, but he had these really
long dredlocks and would walk around and he had a
wad of hundreds and he was the smelliest human
being I've ever seen in my life. He had a cart, the
whole nine homeless person. One day I'm walking
home from school, back in high school and my
girlfriend at the time and her friend. He's coming the
other way and all the sudden he just punches my
girlfriend's friend in the head, and keeps on walking.
We all stood there just looking at this guy. We'd see
him around town and he'd just whip out wads of
money and still be the most disgusting man alive.
Kara: Kinda like WD40 man. (WD40 is a man in
Beltsville who always wore a WD40 shirt, and was
reading always, so the kids called him
"Professor." He owned a house and an
inheritance, but he was always filthy and
wandering the streets in the same clothes and
hat.) 
Erica: We've got a lot in our town. (To Arty) What
about you?
Arty: We had a few shakers around town. You know 
shakers, people who ride the bus all day.
There's a name for that?                     
Arty: I call them shakers. There also was this guy
"Nunsio" who used to walk up and down New Ridge
Road in my town. He'd just go to 7-11, buy cigarettes
and bread and coffee. That was his thing.
Adam: I worked at Hagen-Daaz and there was this
guy we'd call "Coffee Man." He'd talk like "Rain Man"
like "O-o-one cup of coffee." The scariest part of it was
he paying you in change and he'd put the change in
your hand like this (show, deliberate placing of change
in the palm of your hand). It was all set and you'd
drop the change. I went and scrubbed my hands in
the bathroom.
Final comments.
Arty: Buy our new record on January 11, 2000. So
buy it as soon as you read this article.
But the world is going to be over.
Arty: Robbie Williams will rule the world.
Adam: You'll have a year to buy our record.
Arty: Robbie!!!