me your commentsWarped Tour, Asbury Park, 8/2/98
K: Can you give me a little background on the band?
M: Well, we're four people. Lars on guitar, Tim is on guitar and vocals, I play bass and Brett is on the drums. We've been around for six years. First album was self-titled, second was "Let's Go", the third was "Out Come the Wolves" and latest is "Life Won't Wait" That's about it.
K: Why did you decide to change your style on the new album?
M: We didn't change it drastically. I think we just progressed. We've always done that on every record. We had ska on the last record too. We just like to mix things up. We don't like to make the same record twice. That's really the bottom line.
K: What went into the new record and your new sounds?
M: It just sort of came out of us. There was really no rhyme or reason to it. It was just how we did it. It's about as simple as that. There was no master plan.
K: How do you feel about being on the Warped Tour?
M: It's really fun.
K: What trait do you most dislike in others?
M: I don't like people who lie to me.
K: What do you think of critics who still compare you to Operation Ivy?
M: Ah, get over it. That band broke up nine years ago. It was a great band. We put out a record. But y'know they will probably be doing that like until we die.
K: What's your biggest regret?
M: Ah, gee. I don't have many. I pretty much did what I want. Most of them involve women, so I'm not going to get into that.
K: What was your inspiration going into the new record?
M: Well, my personal thing. I was so goddamn bored after the break that I had to get in there and do something. That was basically it. I had listened to a lot of different kinds of music. I got really inspired by bands like Slackers and I heard what they were doing.
K: You said that you hate when people lie. On what occasion do you lie?
M: Well, the only time I really do it is on this tour, when I'll be on the bus or something and people will come up to me and go 'Where's Rancid?' and I'll be like 'Well you obviously don't know who the fuck I am,' and I'll be like 'I don't know' and they'll be like 'Well is this your bus?,' and I'm like 'No,' and they'll say, 'Well who do you work for?,' and I'll be like 'I work for NOFX,' and they'll go 'Is Mike here?,' and I'll go 'No, its the NOFX crew bus.'
K: Well, is that what you think of the people who just show up for the tour itself and are not into all the bands?
M: Well, maybe they're not into the bands when they show up, but maybe they'll be into the bands when they leave. Y'know you can't expect everyone to be a fucking punk rock historian and know every little detail. I mean I don't really care whether they know me or not. But a lot of times these people, I mean usually I am nice to people, but sometimes these people are fucking morons, and they're usually drunk, so I don't want to deal with them.
K: Is there a story behind the song "Ruby Soho"?
M: There actually is. But I didn't actually even know this until about a year after the album came out. It was actually about me and this ex-girlfriend who were together for about five years and then we broke up and it was sort of tragic. Lars and Tim wrote the song about me and her and they didn't tell me. And then one day we were on the bus in Europe. Someone was like what's "Ruby Soho" about? Lars was like "Ah, its about you and Kathy." And I go "It is not. You fucking liar." Then Tim comes down and I go, "Tim before you do anything, what's the song 'Ruby Soho' about?" And Tim goes, "Its about you and Kathy. I told you that." And I go, "Nah, I don't remember that." And Kathy's so fucking smart that she figured it out.
K: Is there anything about the band or your life that you would want to change?
M: Ah, I don't know. I would rather not tour in the Summer if we could get away with it. Actually Rancid used to have this policy where we would only tour in the Spring, Fall, and Winter. We'd never do July and August ever. It was too fucking hot. Back in the days, everyone else was usually out there too, so we would just wait until it was all over, but now its sort of pointless and we can't really help it.
K: Do you have a lot of spare time?
M: No, not lately. I work a lot.
K: Do you actually get a break?
M: No, when we're rolling, we're rolling. We got most of the year off last year and we were doing the record sporadically. I mean I'm a big baseball fan. I would like nothing more than just to sit home and watch baseball games, but I got to work. I got to make money y'know.
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