PROBE

Poptart Monkeys
(continued)

By Alyce Wilson

BILL: That happens to each and every one of us.

CHRIS: That's why if you take the album and read it to each one of us and ask us what our favorite song is, we'll each tell you a different thing.

BILL: Right.

ALYCE: (to Chris) Am I right in assuming that "Star Washed" is your favorite?

CHRIS: No, believe it or not, no. "No Way Out" and if I had to pick a second one, "Planet Blue." They're my two favorites.

ALYCE: "No Way Out" is the second one that I could see hitting the airwaves in a big way.

CHRIS: That one, that's actually getting a lot of play; in State College they're spinning that. There are a couple of our songs on this album, two songs, "This Trip," which is pop-y, kind of Top 40-ish...

ALYCE: Yeah. That one, too.

CHRIS: That one and "No Way Out," which is like the angst kind of, emotion kind of, I'm looking for a movie soundtrack kind of song.

ALYCE: [laughs]

CHRIS: They're getting the two biggest radio spins right now in the state, so pick whatever song you want, just spin them, that's our thing.

BILL: We just write.

ALYCE: Bill, where do you draw your inspiration from, musically?...

BILL: I'm married and I have kids. ... A lot of emotions run through my head all the time, because of being married and dealing with my children, and dealing with the band. I play my guitar constantly. If I'm in an angry mood, it will come off a little angrier, just like anything. If you're asking about musical inspirations, who I like... I'm a Creed fan, Stone Temple Pilots. I'm more of the heavier, melodic.

CHRIS: Heavy emotions, kind of like, if I had to describe it.

BILL: That's personally where I am. But as far as why a song comes out, I will write you a death metal song. And the next song, I could write "Star Washed." It's just whatever mood strikes me.

ALYCE: That's what James said, too, that you could come in with something heavy and come in the next day with a sweet ballad.

BILL: And actually, it's frustrating to me because I can't pick a style that I can classify myself as.

ALYCE: ... Are you finding that as you're getting more attention on airwaves... people are trying to get you to define yourselves into some kind of niche?

CHRIS: We're hoping that somebody actually figures that out. ... We'll always write pop-y songs, cause we'll always have those happy days or whatever, but we find we're leaning more towards ... the heavier melodic stuff. And that showed on this past album. The first album is just ... a hodge-podge. There's pop songs, there's ballads. ... We're kinda on both sides of the fence cause one radio station picks "This Trip" and one radio station picks "No Way Out" ...

ALYCE: You wouldn't be the first band to have that.

CHRIS: Right. Sure.

ALYCE: Like Blind Melon, you know? Their big hit was a song that was completely different from the rest of their album. ...

BILL: The first album, it was just an icebreaker, something for us to do. Just to get comfortable with each other. Unfortunately, the guitar player didn't work out.

ALYCE: And that wasn't your first change in the lineup. ...

BILL: ... I'm actually an addition. James was an addition to this band. They had a couple members. Me and James joined the same time. And then Chris came on about a year ago.

ALYCE: Are you finding that you're getting a different reaction from audiences, now that Sept. 11th has happened? James was telling me that one of the first shows you did after that was a benefit and you had people throwing money at the stage.

CHRIS: Yeah. We raised close to $2 to 3,000 dollars in the weeks following that.

BILL: Just from extra money. We passed the hat, for people to put money in the hat.

CHRIS: I think what happened was the week, or the week after, there was a real somber feeling. Like people came out, but not as many as normally would have. ... But then, two or three weeks into it, our crowd came back. People were coming out, getting back to normal. But they definitely don't forget, I mean, Bill does a thing on guitar where he plays a little bit of Star Spangled Banner and it still definitely gets a reaction.

The door swung open, and drummer Rob Hampton stepped in, a low-key guy who sized up the room with a perceptive glance. We invited him to join us, and soon his quiet persona fell away.

ALYCE: We were talking about songwriting, and how it's really a group process with you guys.

Rob Hampton: A lot of times. ... Like, Bill will fill in a lot of riffs ... And then, we'll take it as a band from there. And Chris is actually coming into his own as far as song-writing. Towards the end of the album and the new album we're working on, you know, a lot of it's been Chris's brainchild. You look at the guy and think, "They're can't be a lot of stuff in that brain." Having said that ... But a lot of the new stuff is, Bill comes up with a riff and Chris has really been coming up with really good melodies. And usually Paul will take it from there and try to finish it up.

ALYCE: What's your part in it?

ROB: Well, I....

BILL: He bitches a lot.

ALYCE: [laughs]

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