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What is music to you?
LISTENING to music is a way for me
to relax, get through the day, deal with problems, or give me
inspiration.
WRITING music gives me the opportunity to express
anything on my mind that I wouldn't otherwise say.
PLAYING
music is a way for me to release any sort of pent-up energy,
and to pull that same sort of energy from a crowd of
people.
What is the best thing about music?
I like the
interpretive nature of music. A song can mean something to one
person, and can mean something completely different to someone
else. The same song can have a deep and personal meaning to
two different people who come from two totally different
circumstances or backgrounds.
What is the worst thing about music?
Shooting Blanks. Oh
wait - no. Fallout Boy.
What do you want to see happen thru music in the
future?
I want to see a reversion back to the old days of
balls-out ROCK'N'ROLL. No more of this sissy "industry" B.S.
No more "business politics". And (above and beyond all else),
no more image-whoring. Guys shouldn't be wearing mascara.
Suburban kids who grew up in wealthy two-parent families
shouldn't be dressing in all black, moping around, and singing
pseudo-emotional songs about how "lost" they
feel...
...I'd like to get back to the days of sex,
drugs, and rock'n'roll. Purist rock. Groupies. Backstage
antics. Back to a time when "fun" was a primary objective, and
music could be pushed to the wayside occasionally. Basically,
the glam-rock/old-school-metal days, but without having to
wear makeup and spandex.
Are we doing anything to progress those ideas? I dunno - as
much as we can, I suppose. The band started almost six years
ago as a means to get free drinks from bars (we were always
going to SEE bands and paying for drinks, so we figured why
not just START a band and drink for free!). So, I guess that
lays a good framework for our "mission". Unfortunately,
despite our worldwide stardom and popularity, we don't make
enough money to live the elaborate debaucherous lifestyles
that we'd like to, but if we ever hit it big then it would
most certainly be a mess!...
Does being involved in playing music make you miss out on
anything?
Obviously the fact that we play almost every weekend and
that we book shows months in advance causes us to miss out on
a lot of "non-Shooting-Blanks" related activities with friends
and stuff. But we're usualy missing those activites in order
to drink for free and entertain crowds of people, so I'd
hardly complain...
We also miss out on being able to afford anything, since -
between recording, promotions, merchandising, touring, etc -
this band costs quite a bit of money to properly maintain.
Again, though - it's not worth complaining about, cuz we all
have a great time doing what we do. If we didn't love it, we
wouldn't have kept going for this long...
What other instruments can (each person) play (other than
the ones they currently play in the band)?
I see that you're under the assumption that we each CAN
play the instrument that we are assigned to in the band. Very
flattering - thanks...
Other than guitar, I play drums in a side-band. I can also
play bass, and I fiddle around with keyboards a bit. Oh - and
I used to play trombone from 5th-8th grade. I was first chair.
Oh Yea
Besides bass, Deech also plays guitar. I think he played
drums like a decade ago too, maybe.
Brey's our guitarist. Sometimes he can play guitar.
I think all that Scotty plays is the drums. Oh - and the
skinflute.
What do you guys do for work right now, other than playing
music?
I do online development for a big company. "Working for the
man" is what the kids these days are calling it, I think. That
also defaults me to be the "website guy" in the band...
Deech is a professional graphic designer. He's good to have
around not only for his good looks, but also because he does
any sort of design work that we need (logos, t-shirts, cd art,
etc). He's probably better at his job than the rest of us are
at ours...
Brey is in the entertainment industry. Well, he's the
projectionist at a movie theater, but that counts, right? He
also does freelance videography, so he shoots all of our
awesome music videos...
Scotty is an electrician. Sometimes. Most of the time he's
unemployed, actually, because he seems to get laid-off every
four months or so...
What were some of your favorite bands growing up?
I can only speak for myself here, but MY favorite bands
growing up were a lot of the hair bands of the 80's (Poison,
Motley Crue, Slaughter, etc). I also loved old-school rap
music (Digital Underground, Rob Base, Kid'n'Play, etc). Other
bands I've loved for years and years include Nirvana, Alkaline
Trio, They Might Be Giants, Kajagoogoo, and Taco.
Did your parents like you playing music and the person you
are today?
Well, those are two separate questions. First - did my
parents like me playing music?...
I don't know if my parents LIKED me playing music, but they
definitely SUPPORTED me. Back when I lived with them in high
school and just out of college, my parent's house was our
practice space. They also still come to a number of shows, so
I'd say they're "Shooting Blanks fans". I dunno how the other
guys' parents feel about them being in a band, but I know
their parents have all come out to shows. In fact, all of our
parents recently participated in our latest music video for
our song "It's So Easy". Our fathers played older versions of
us, and our mothers played audience members watching our
fathers perform...
Okay, part two of the question. Do our parents like the
people we are today?...
I hope so. They really have no choice, since I'm their only
child. So, if they don't like ME, then that means that they
have no other kid to fall back on, so they would probably feel
like failures as parents. Deech's parents probably like him
because he's so attractive. Scotty's parents probably like him
cuz he never works and he always cancels practice, so he's
always around to hang out with them. And I'd imagine that
Brey's parents like him too, cuz he's so big and cuddly.
Is there a venue or area you would like to play that you
have not played before?
As far as the Chicagoland goes, three or four years ago I
would have said The Metro in Chicago, just because it's
"legendary" or whatever. Now, though - I don't care so much.
In fact, I kinda don't even WANT to play there because they've
completely lost their independent spirit over the years. The
Metro can kiss my...
I'd enjoy getting back and playing out West again. I loved
everywhere we played in California and Las Vegas. Of course
I'd love to play sold-out arena shows with flame-cannons and
giant JumboTrons too, but whatever.
What is your favorite venue or area to play shows?
As noted above, I had a great time in California. I liked
Atlanta too, for some reason. I dunno - I really just enjoy
touring ANYWHERE (preferably warm and sunny). Playing in
places other than your hometown area is such a great
feeling.
When, Where and how was your first show?
The first Shooting Blanks show was June 21st, 2001. I can't
remember the birthdays of my parents, girlfriends, or friends,
but I remember the date of our stupid band's first show. I'm
an idiot...
It was at (the now closed-down) Rockhouse Cafe in Rolling
Meadows, IL. We played our first (and only) show with our
original drummer. It was terrible. I actually have a
good-quality audio recording of it that I will only release if
we ever get super famous. So, yeah - don't expect to be
hearing that anytime soon...
We tried to do a cover of "Stutter" by Elastica. Our
drummer had never heard the song, and I think we tried it for
the first time ever just the day before. It was almost
unrecognizable. We were also a three-piece band at that time.
Brey played bass and also sang a few songs. Sweet Jesus, we
were bad.
Where was your best show? Why?
Each of us has our own "best show" that we liked. Just this
past weekend was a cool experience as we got a chance to play
with one of our favorite bands for years, Local H. To add to
the awesomeness of it, Local H's lead singer Scott Lucas came
on stage during one of our songs and sang with us. Pretty
sweet...
I personally like any outdoor/festival show. Nothing beats
a long day of drinking in the nice weather and
rock'n'roll...
What religion are you and does that have an effect on your
music?
I was raised Catholic, but am not anything now. I think
Scotty's the same way. I believe Deech was raised Methodist,
but I don't think he does anything with it either...
...surprisingly, the most deviantly repulsive member of our
band (Brey) is the most religious. He comes from a strong
Catholic background and still practices to this day. If he
practiced guitar with as much conviction as he practices
Catholicism, we may be a decent band one day.
But no - religion has no impact on our music.
How did you come up with your band name and what does it
means?
This is, far and away, the most commonly asked interview
question (not just of us, but of ANY band). That being said,
you would think that I would have made up with a funny
anticdote to answer you with by now. Sadly, I have not...
...there really is no "story". Brey thought of the name,
and it sounded fine to me. Honestly, at that time I never
thought we'd be around long enough to where people would ever
even hear the name! In hindsight, however, I think it captures
the essence of our band well.
Did you have any previous band names? (with same band
members)
Yeah - for a brief time we were called S.F.U. That ended
abruptly when we found out that what it stood for was an old
Nazi term. Obviously this was unbeknownst to us, so we changed
it immediately.
What would you say to a kid who has no faith in
himself?
Stop whining, sissy.
Who do you one day want to play a show with the most?
I'd love to play a show with local heroes Alkaline Trio. I
think most of the band would concur with that.We have had the
opportunity to open for a number of great bands that we're
fans of, though, so that's cool. Taking Back Sunday, Bayside,
The Lawrence Arms, Local H...
Why do you play music, what makes you strive to be
heard?
I think I speak for all of us when I say that we play it
for the fun of it. If you're in a band for ANY other reason
than to have fun, you're setting yourself up for a world of
disappointment...
...getting signed or whatever would be great, but it is by
NO means something that we "look forward to". We'll keep this
up until people stop coming to shows and stop buying our CDs.
Until then, the madness continues.
why would anyone want to hear your music and what you are
saying thru it?
Our music is a pick-me-up. Put it on if you want to have a
good time. If you want some background music at a keg party.
If you wanna bounce your head and jump up and down. That's
what Shooting Blanks is for...
...we're not a band that's about "messages". We're not here
to preach this-or-that to you. Do I have opinions? Sure - we
all do. But our songs are not the place for those
opinions.
How many people in the band right now are the original band
members?
Just Brey and myself are the original members. We played in
a cover band for like 4 years prior to this. It's a cover band
that we started, but we also got kicked out of for being "too
crazy". Go figure THAT one out. The rest is history...
(explain new members)
Brey originally played bass. At that time we had another
guitarist named Matt and a drummer named Dave. Matt was from
our old cover band, and after about two practices with
Shooting Blanks, he said that we'd never play a show because
we were terrible, so he quit. He was right about us being
terrible, but we played our first show a few months later and
haven't stopped booking since...
We told the first drummer, Dave, that the band broke up,
but really we just got my cousin, Mike, to drum. With Mike,
Brey, and myself, we recorded our first studio EP, "Nuclear
Family". After that, Brey's hand hurt from playing bass, so he
moved to 2nd guitar, and Deech came on board to play bass. I
knew Deech from college and he was the bassist in my old
highschool/college band, Diaper Fetish...
The foursome of Deech, Brey, Mike, and myself recorded
about half of the "Wasted Time" album before heading on tour
out East. Mike got upset at me for repeatedly waking him up
with drunken phonecalls in the middle of the night while we
were playing in Virginia, so he quit on the spot. This caused
us to drive directly back home from Virginia and cancel our
remaining shows on tour. Awesome...
We found our next drummer, Dan, on the internet, and he
finished recording the rest of the tracks on "Wasted Time" -
our first full-length studio release. He also stuck around to
record all the tracks on our latest full-length release, "The
Sticky Album". Dan went on tour with us too, but quit in early
2005 because of Shooting Blanks' busy schedule. No bad blood
there, and we still see Dan regularly...
Scotty was a drummer in another local band that we were
friends with, and they had recently broken up, so he jumped on
board with us. He toured with us and has already recorded a
couple tracks for our upcoming full-length release that should
be finished up in October and released in November of this
year...
What brought your band together?
A common interest in drinking, being loud, and being
stupid.
Any funny or interesting stories?
There's very few ShootingBlanks-related stories that are
NOT funny. If you wanna hear any sordid tales of Shooting
Blanks tomfoolery, feel free to come to a show and we'll talk
your ear off...
How long have you been a band?
About six years.
What do you wish for your band to be in 5 years?
Still not paying for drinks. Still selling CDs. Still
touring. It would be nice if someone ELSE were paying for all
of it instead of us, though!...
What is the best thing about being a band?
I personally like the social aspect. We've met so many
great people (and bands) as a direct result of putting
ourselves out there and playing in front of people. I've made
friends just through the music scene that I'm sure will FAR
outlast this band, and that's pretty cool...
When was your band formed?
Late 2000/early 2001, maybe?...
How old were each of you when starting to play
instruments?
I started playing trombone in 5th grade, but didn't pick up
a guitar until my sophomore year in high school. I taught
myelf how to play, then I taught Brey how to play...
I think Deech has been playing instruments since he was a
kid as well. Not sure about Scotty. I know he started playing
drums just so that he could be in his old band Ratbag Hero
(the one before our band), so that was probably 5 or 6 years
ago, maybe. He is also self-taught...
As a band still in highschool what kind of respect or
disrespect do you guys get?
We're still in high school? Sweet.
Where have you been playing lately and how has your
response been?
We play all over. Seriously. We're shameless promotional
whores. Responses totally vary from show-to-show and from
place-to-place. We've played shows to hundreds of people and
we've played shows to handfuls of people. Either way, we rock
the balls off the place and try to play like every show is our
last, so we hope that the audience enjoys it...
What inspires each of you to play?
Again - we just love doing it. It's not for the money, cuz
we don't make any. It's not for the fame or recognition, cuz
we don't have that either. We just enjoy it performing and
making people's heads bob to our music and watching people
sing along to original songs that we wrote...
Have you ever been on tour, how many and how did you
go?
We're been on a few tours. Out East, out West, and down
South. Every one of them has been FULL of crazy stories and
experiences. We keep a pretty entertaining tour diary on our
website of our past tours, so it's worth the read...
...I think it's safe to say that every member of the band
agrees that being on tour is probably the thing that we all
look forward to most as a band. We'll be heading out East
again this Spring to promote the new CD.
Your your latest cd, what do you guys think about it
and what did your fans say about it?
Our "latest" CD isn't really that new anymore. It was
released in November of 2004, and the reason for the long
break is that we had to transition a new drummer into the
band. We're all EXTREMELY antsy to finish up this new disc and
have it out in November. The new songs that we've been
writing/recording with Scotty are really good, and we think
that fans of the band will be very satisfied with what we're
putting out there...
Our first EP, "Nuclear Family", was kind of an experiment
for us. We were a new band and jumped right into the studio.
The sound quality is good, but the songwriting is definitely
the work of a beginner band. Our next release (and first
full-length) "Wasted Time" has a lot of our fans' favorite
songs on it. It's our "fun" album. Lots of bouncy, poppy,
goof-off songs. After that we released what is currently our
most recent full-length, "The Sticky Album". This CD most
certainly has the best songwriting of anything we've released
thus far, but probably isn't as "playful" as the other CDs.
Although still a fun poppy disc, if you're more into
"listening to music", then the "The Sticky Album" is for you.
If you just wanna bounce around and have some music as
background for your party, then pop on "Wasted
Time"... | 
