It is I, Maris The Great! You shall now tell me how and when The Commodes formed

DREW: The Commodes formed about three to three and a half years ago. Jimmy and Eric were talking and they decided they wanted to start playing some music together and rock for the rest of there lives. So they started playing together, and not long after that they picked up a bassist by the name of Justin and he joined to make them the Queen Latifas, or that’s what Eric told me. Justin didn’t work out because I guess he was lazy and didn’t want to move pretty much, so they got and other bassist by the name of Justin, yes, a different one, and they formed the Fight. I guess what happened with him is that he just went his own way. So since I had just picked up my first bass about a month and a half earlier, they asked if I wanted to join. I was so excited I almost cried. And I don’t think that I could have had any other three guys in the world to be in the same band as I am than Jimmy, Eric, and my loving cousin Dustin.

ERIC: We formed when I met Jimmy Weber in Math class and he was talking about guitar in class and I told I played drums. He asked me do you wanna jam sometime? So it just kind up picked up from there..

JIMMY: Eric and I were good friends in high school and wanted to do something to do in L-Town besides drugs and dancing at the Grizzly Rose. Drew had always been a good friend of Eric’s and wanted to play bass. We started playing seriously a couple months later and hired Chris aka Max, to be our lead guitarist. At this point, the Commodes were officially born. However, after a year or so of being in the band, personal and creative differences forced us to ask Chris to leave the band. We were worried we wouldn’t be able to find someone to fill his shoes. But we didn’t have to look too far, Drew’s cousin Dustin gave us one tryout and landed the official role as our lead guitarist. It’s been about 8 months and here we are

Where did the band name come from?

DREW: The band name came from one of the best movies in the world, Reservoir Dogs. There is a scene in the film called “The Commode story” and it is one of the best parts in the movie. I guess it could be my favorite because of the history it brings with our band.

Why Punk?

ERIC: I know that I love Punk and I know that it’s just kind of a fast, fun, sometimes disrespectful kind of music that you get crazy listening to. That’s why it kicks ass. Also Punk is based off mostly power chords that sound like a good grungy sound.

Yes, but originally, Punk came from social misfits. You four are well adjusted, rich, white kids. What do you know about Punk?

DREW: We know everything there is about Punk. Like Mohawks are the top of the line Punks, patches and pins are the next ones down and blink 182 is the most Punk band ever (laughs). Okay, I really think that just growing up listening to Punk music almost all of my life, has taught me a lot about the music scene and where it has started. I actually think its really funny how you brought that up about us being rich, white kids, because growing up where we do, you are either a “gangsta” or a jock. But the best thing about our band is that we could get along with anyone you put in front of us, except for the ones we
couldn’t get along with, so we had that going for us.

DUSTIN: Well, I know for sure that I’m not a rich kid, but I also know that Punk started out as an attitude, not a music style. The music came after that. These days, I don’t really know what Punk is anymore. I think its more of a fashion these days. Punk is always evolving I guess.

JIMMY: First off, I’ve never viewed Punk as a congregation of misfits. I’ve always viewed Punk as a congregation of people who think for themselves and think and dress differently from conservative people. I feel quite normal dressing in black, spiking my hair, and wearing a bunch of bracelets. The only people who view me as a misfit are conservative people. And I don’t give a fuck what they think about me…that’s Punk. Plus, being Punk isn’t about how rich you are or where you are from, it’s about how you view life and how you view yourself. If some kid with a mohawk comes up to me and tells me I’m not Punk, I’ll tell him to fuck off. I’m not gonna go home and cry about it. I don’t care what he thinks…that’s Punk. I was introduced to Lars from Rancid and Rob Aston from the Transplants at last year’s Warped Tour. Now, Lars is the king of Punks. He’s so Punk he has “SKUNX” tattooed on his mother fucking forehead. Well, when I met him we chilled and talked about the Transplants, when Rancid was going on tour, and how rad the Warped Tour was…never once did we talk about how I grew up in upper class L-Town and how he grew up in Berkeley stealing cars for the Hell’s Angels. We both had respect for each other and talked like Punks should do. We just clicked…that’s what Punk is.

Very well, Mr.Punk rock, mortal, veal Jimmy, you once talked about the kids around you doing drugs because they’re bored and there is nothing else to do. Can you elaborate on that again?

JIMMY: That’s the way it is in L-Town. You see, most parents up here work all the time…that’s why they’re rich. So they try to buy their kids affection by buying them Mercedes and BMW’s for they’re 16th birthday. The parents go on exotic vacations and give the kids a handful of cash and tell them to go study for the weekend. But instead of studying, the kids throw a big party and have all their homies come over. The “greatest” part about suburbia is if you’re 16-19 years old, you’ll be damned if you can get a six pack of beer, but if you want bag of chronic or an once of YaYo, just call up the captain of the baseball team. So, here we got a bunch of rich white kids all coked up and fucked up while us “Punks” get hassled at school for having a gun on our Rancid shirt. So Me, Drew, and Eric (Dustin’s a bit older), said “FUCK THAT!” We wanted something to do besides drugs and throwing our lives away…so we started up a band. It was cool at first, but was AWESOME after awhile. Instead of going to shows on the weekends, we were PLAYING the shows. The sad thing is some of our best friends went in the “Drug” direction. They’re all fucked up now and don’t have much a future. Just weed, coke and ex…no college, no job, nothing. That sucks.

DREW: DRUGS SUCK, sorry I had to add my word on it

You’ve mentioned a number of bands like Rancid, but My Greatness is curious, what other bands inspired you to play?

DUSTIN: Well, I was 8 when I heard The Beatles for the first time. I heard A Hard Days Night, and after that I was sure I was gonna grow up to be a rockstar. After the beatles phase, I went through an Aerosmith period for a couple years, and then finally I discovered Nirvana. That was about the time I was 12, when I first started playing guitar. After that, it was always Nirvana. There were always other bands that I would try to get into, but I was always back to playing Nirvana.

DREW: The bands that inspired me the most are probably bands like Rancid, Afi, Anti Flag, Green Day, Tiger Army, Nekromantix, and Love Me Destroyer. I would have to say that Rancid inspired me the most because I have been listening to them since fourth grade and they are the most rocking band in the world. Also Matt Freeman is the best bassist ever and no one can disagree. He is the best.
The bassist in my band, Maris The Great and The Faggots of Death is better, young, veal mortal. Miss Hissy Fit is a ferocious bassist!

ERIC: For me, it would be Green Day, and mostly Nofx. They have a lot of fun doing it, I can tell.

JIMMY: My sweet six have and will forever be: Rancid, AFI, Green Day, the Lawrence Arms, Dillinger Four, and Alkaline Trio. I’m also a huge Transplants, H.I.M., Tiger Army, and Broadways fan. Local bands were also a HUGE inspiration. Bands like Pinhead Circus, Love Me Destroyer, the Gamits, the Fairlanes, and Dr. Neptune really got us going. Some of my non-Punk influences include, Johnny Cash, G-Unit, NWA, Tupac, Chris Issak, Robbie Williams, Conor Oburst (Bright Eyes and Desapericidos) and the Backstreet Boys and ENYA

Enya?!

JIMMY: Yes, seriously

Tell me about your first CD “A Prelude To Toilet Rock.” How do you see it now?

DREW: Our first CD was good at the time, but now that we have a new one coming in middle to the end of may, its so much better. I was so impressed by the sound and everyone else that heard it said they like it so much more.

JIMMY: The first CD was mostly a learning experience. It was our first time in a real studio and our first time “on the clock.” The studio was really crappy with a pretty mean engineer, so it definitely wasn’t our best performances. But I don’t think it’s anything to laugh at or anything. I mean, four of the songs made the top 25 hit list on AOL Radio…so that’s pretty bad ass. I think if we were to take those songs into 8 Houses Down (the best local studio) we could definitely make it better. But all in all, I’m still proud of “A Prelude to Toilet Rock.”

DUSTIN: I wasn’t on it, but its got a huge pop influence to it I think.

ERIC: I see our first CD as a completely different from from our new one. The old CD is just how we were in High School.

What positive things came out of that CD?

DUSTIN: I think they learned that it sounds better to go with a badass for a lead guitarist (laughs)

JIMMY: Well, it put us on the map. It was “A Prelude to Toilet Rock.” That’s what we called it and that’s what it was. It was the introduction…the beginning of what we were to become and what genre we were going to play. Our stuff since then has been tweaked a bit, but it still stays true to what we laid down on that CD I think it’s pretty safe to say if you plug in a CD we put out ten years from now and then plug in “Prelude,” the genres will still stay true to each other. We won’t turn Emo or anything. Plus, basically everyone I know has a copy of it. It’s pretty cool when we play “Cheers” at a show, everyone sings along. That’s the coolest thing EVER.

DREW: The most positive thing that came out of that CD is getting our name out and having it played on www.spinner.com We made a top ten hit with Cheers, beating out bands that we grew up listening to. Another thing was all the support we got from all out friends and family.

ERIC: We’ve had a couple of labels talk to us about it. It was a success, and we’re hoping for even better things with the new CD

Jimmy, you mentioned Emo. What is your opinion of Emo and why will The Commodes never go in that direction?

JIMMY: Oh, my old friend Emo. I don’t consider us Emo because we don’t write depressing song after depressing song about how another “girlfriend who was the love of my life left me and how I spend night and day wondering whether or not I should cut my wrists.” I have a hard time writing songs about how a girl broke my heart. I’m worried it will sound trite and cliché. Two things: I’m only 19. What the fuck do I know about “love?” A girl breaks up with me…big deal. Look at Tim Armstrong of Rancid. His wife Brody cheated on him with the dude from Queens of the Stone Age. It was a huge media deal and a really crappy situation. So Tim goes and writes this great song that says “If you lose me, you lose a good thing. That’s one thing I know for sure.” That’s sad, but not depressing. Emotional, but inspiring. That’s what a break up song should be. When I write a song about a girl I try to put a disclaimer on it. “Self Made Man” was inspired by a girl who cheated on me. In the song I say, “All alone in my room again, just got dumped by my girlfriend, a cheesy song spills from my pen, no one else to confide in.” Sure that’s Emo and cheesy, BUT I ADMIT IT. But the rest of the song is about me and my life…not her. It annoys me that Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional has 10 songs on a 14 track CD about girls breaking up with him. First off, what does that say about how good of boyfriend he is? And second, it fucking pisses me off that Emo is associated with Punk. Can you really picture a dude like Lars from Rancid or Glen Danzig from the Misfits, crying in the corner of room with a candle, wondering whether or not they should cut their tattooed wrists. NO!!! You can’t picture it. It’s so annoying. And what’s even more annoying is now these hybrid-major-label-created-nu-Punk-Emo-metal-screamo bands look all “Punk” on MTV with their HOT TOPIC sponsored videos. It annoys me that a guy with a mohawk has the number one video on TRL with a song that says “Until the day I die, I’ll spill my heart for you.” I’m not saying I’m the Punkest mother fucker out there. But I do have ethics and morals and I stick to them.

ERIC: The Commodes aren’t Emo because there way too many freakin Emo’s bands out there. We want to get rid of some of that sad, depressing shit. My opinion on Emo is I think the music is talented but come on quit with the cry baby shit OK?

DREW: We are not Emo because we like life. My opinion on Emo is if you like it that’s fine, but don’t bring it near me please. I also think that life is to good to cry all the time and I also feel that Emo people are big jerks to
others, except for the cool ones that hold their tears in.

DUSTIN: We aren’t Emo because we don’t wanna get beat up. I’m not really sure what exactly Emo is, but it kinda seems like its what folk music was to the 60’s. A lot of people are into it, but nobody knows why (Laughs).

If you had a vagina for one day, what would you do?

DUSTIN: would make sure the toilet seat is down before I pee. (Laughs)

DREW: If I had a vagina for one day I think I would snack all day long.

JIMMY: If I had a vagina for a day, I would spend the entire day in my room trying to figure out why the fuck a vagina sprouted on me. (more laughter)

Tell me about the new CD

JIMMY: It’s called “Cursed from the Beginning” and that’s what it was. We attempted to make this CD over a year and half ago. But ever since then we’ve had problems. First it was the band problems with Chris leaving, but once we got that set and the songs we wanted to record, we tried to record it ourselves. But that quickly turned sour, so we needed to decide on a good studio. Ultimately, it wasn’t a question. The legendary 8 Houses Down (preferred studio of Love Me Destroyer, Pinhead Circus, the Gamits, and Suburban Home Records) seemed right up our alley. It’s a five song EP featuring “Self Made Man,” “Sympathy Symphony,” “So Yeah,” “Remember Sammy Jankis,” and “The Crimson Conscience.” These are five of our best songs and I think everyone will enjoy them. It may only be five songs, but at the risk of sounded like an asshole, it’s one of the best EPs EVER RECORDED IN THE HISTORY OF MUSIC. Seriously though, I love it, I’m proud of it, and I’ve been listening to it. It should be out in like a month (end of May-June 04).

ERIC: It’s pretty rockin, the title I think kicks ass personally. The songs come together good, there’s one or two poppy one’s and then harder ones. It’s a good combo.

JIMMY: The process of recording WAS hell. However, it wasn’t their fault AT ALL. We just had a bunch of technical flukes in the studio that made everything crazy. But we finished and it sounds amazing. Now, we’re good friends with the studio and have an awesome CD

DREW: The difficulties were just small ones like we had to go back in and record a few songs again because the computer didn’t mix them well or something like that. The people at Eight Houses Down were great. It seemed like they had done a few thousand recordings. Although we had a few difficulties with the recording it still was very great. Our new CD, in my opinion, sounds very good and I was very impressed by the recording process.

Why do you think the four of you get along so well?

DUSTIN: because we aren’t dicks who think that we’re better than everyone else

DREW: I think the four of us get along so well because we are all so alike and we can do anything at anytime and hardly ever fight. I also get along with Dustin pretty good because he is my cousin. We have pretty much gottin’ along all of our lives.

JIMMY: We were all friends before we started a band. We made a pact that we would quit the band if it started to get in the way of our friendship. We weren’t four musicians hoping to land a gig. When we aren’t playing or practicing, we’re hanging out. That may not sound that cool, but it really is rare. I know some bands that don’t get along at all, they just have their band as their connection. That’s not the way we are. We’re bothers from different mothers. We all have the same personality and have spent everyday for the past 4 years together…so we know each other backwards and forewords. And none of us are ashamed to admit that we love each other. Drew, Eric, and Dustin are my boys, I would kill or die for anyone of them. That’s the way it will always be and that’s why we get along.

ERIC: I think we get along really good because we are all crazy goofy bastards and we just know how to have a good time together and talk and do stuff.

What is the big dream for The Commodes?

JIMMY: My dream isn’t that glamorous, but I just really want to get signed to a good independent label and make a living out of the band. Being rich and famous would be cool, but I think doing what I do now…for a living…is a victory in itself. I also hope this band will be my vehicle to meet some of my heroes. Maybe someday I’ll meet “Chino” from the O.C. and Carmelo Anthony. I also hope that I won’t be murdered by a bunch of candle-bearing Emo kids for all the shit I talked tonight

(Everybody laughs)

ERIC: I think mostly our big dream is just to get our music really popular all over the world and just got on tour everywhere and to have fun.

DUSTIN: to get filthy rich. I need an elevator in my house that opens up right to my swimming pool (laughs).

DREW: The big dream for the commodes in my opinion is to play for ever and always be together. What I would like ato see happen is the commodes get on a record label and also start a record company. Kind of life the life like Tim Armstrong or FAT MIKE. Most of all I would like to just play music with The Commodes. I LOVE THESE GUYS.