James: “Left Behind” that’s the Dave Smally, Down by Law positive to the core, the really cheesy but it’s basically really summing up what we’re done as a band for the past year. I think those lyrics are awesome because I take everything we’ve done really personally and that’s kind of like a pick me up kind of song, driving nine hours to play to three people sucks, it that kind of song to get us through that s***. 

RNW: “Belle Said”?

James: “Belle Said” is just about stupid girls who say they are gonna do a lot of s*** and just don’t put up or put out which ever one you want (laughs) 

RNW: I’m sure a lot of people can relate to that one! 

(laughs)

RNW: “Just Wonderin’”? 

James: A cheesy pop song about meeting a girl at a show and it’s like there is no bones about that one, it is what it is. 

RNW: That’s your first single isn’t it? 

James: Yeah

RNW:That my favorite track on the CD. 

James: Cool man thank you. 

RNW: “Mak it up to You”? 

James: That’s a song Bob had to do with those lyrics and can’t really say what that’s about. That’s his stuff, I don’t know. 

RNW: “Just a Song”?

James: “Just a Song”, that song had a lot of different, we had a lot of different takes on that song. We kept changing it but eventually it turned into kind of a really cool metaphor about a girl who is cheating on her dude. Kind a like a girl that cheating on her dude with all these guys, it’s another like cheating girlfriend. 

(laughs) 

RNW: Lot of experience with that!  “Runaround”? 

James: That song sounds really dark but it’s actually a real positive song. It’s about this girl who gets f***ed around by this guy and the song is about how she is trying to prove herself to the world. 

RNW: “No Free Rides”? 

James: I imagine that’s about a girl!  Who would think?

(laughs)

James: That’s more of a relationship song. It’s about how the girl is stringing the guy along and we got some good metaphors in there about the disparities of the relationship. 

RNW: “One Day”? 

James: that’s just about not getting old, just being a young suburban terrorist kid hellion, f***in s*** up. It’s just about staying young. 

RNW: “Can't Slow Me Down”? 

James: That’s about being on tour and not like letting past heartaches get in your way. It’s like a f*** you to anybody that’s dicked you over in the past. You know being a girl or (laughs) being a whatever it’s just like a real positive f*** off song. 

RNW: “Along for the Ride”? 

James: That’s about us driving around kind of like trying not to wreck the van and stuff (laughs) 

RNW: Ah just partying on the road?

James: Yeah just partying on the road. We booze it up a lot after shows and it’s just kind of like, I have to say that sometimes we do the unthinkable that’s drive while we’re under the influence. So it’s kind of like, That’s bad I know but it happens. It’s about how it happens and how it sucks..

RNW: Ok I’ll make sure to leave before you guys…

(laughs)

James: No it’s bad, don’t do that! 

RNW: “Hello November A.M”? 

James: A.M. is just the country version of the F.M. basically we’re big fans of country music we wanted to do something in that genre of music and we thought we could pull it off as a country song and it’s worked we were able to do it. 

RNW: “Hello November F.M”? 

James: F.M. is the pop-punk version of the A.M. That’s just about how I was taking a walk in my neighborhood at two in the morning, it was one of those soul searching kind of walks where you discover things about yourself…   Whew that was hard..

RNW: Oh you’ve never gone through the songs like that before.

James: No and it’s hard cuz sometimes you just can’t explain it.

RNW: We like to break down the songs cuz people like to know. 

James: Yeah, I’d like to know that about bands I listen to and I can imagine asking some bands about their lyrics. I can’t imagine what they would say, like “f*** Off!” I can’t tell you what that’s about, cuz I don’t know I’m just putting words together that fit. 
RNW: Like asking Robert Plant what’s Kashmir all about?

James: (laughs) yeah and the Immigrant song, Jimmy can you relate this to me?  (laughs) 

RNW: What do you guys have in store next? The album comes out later this month.

James: The album comes out September 18th (rescheduled to be release Sept 25th) then touring, touring nonstop. We’re really excited about having a full body of work and taking it out to people. The next year we’re just gonna work, keep touring and THEN kind of sit back and see what have we done in the past year. We can’t even question that now, we’re still like such a new band to a lot of people. 

 RNW: Final question. I use this in all of my interviews. What do you want people to take away from your music. 

James: Just a good time, you know. If they can read more into it and actually walk away with something more that’s good but if all we can give them is a good time, that’s fine with us. 

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Live Photos by Phil Dis Copyright 2001 Iconoclast Entertainment Group.  All Rights Reserved.