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PL: State something interesting about yourself.
AS: Uh (laughs). Uh. Lets go back to that one.
PL: Whats changed during the haitus that you guys went on?
AS: I think we've become better musicians. We kept playing music during that time. We're a little older and a little wiser about the music we're doing-about how we're doing it, not the music itself. I think we've tried some different things and I think we're a lot more well rounded.
PL: Are you going to be rereleasing any of your past material?
AS: Right now, its sort of in lawyer land, trying to get the rights to all of our records. They're all out of print. The first one might not be, but we want to get them back.
PL: How has working with Fat different than working with Lookout?
AS: I think Fat has had more successful bands. Lookout has had Green Day and a few others, but Fat has had more bands that have been popular. I think that they have a well oiled machine when it comes to the practical element of running a label. They've always been friends of ours, and fans. Sometimes when we'd play, we'd have more people from Fat at our shows than Lookout, like the actual staff, so it was kind of a no brainer when we were looking for a label.
PL: Has your taste in music changed as you've gotten older?
AS: Yeah, I think it has. I still like all the stuff I liked when I was younger, with the exception of maybe a metal phase when I was in middle school. I think that I'm more picky now than when I was back then.
PL: Whats the most frustrating thing about being in a band?
AS: Money. Thats not for all bands, I guess, but it is for us. Trying to do all the things that we want to do as a band to help us become more successful, but some things become prohibitive because we don't make any money by being in a band. Things like jobs, wives and things like that. We try to get out as much as we can, but its a balancing act.
PL: Are you guys a full time band?
AS: We're a full time band, I guess, but we have to choose our tours very carefully. Its very expensive to tour, as I've said, and we don't make that much money. But, I'd say full time. I think a part time band would be weekend warriors.
PL: State one thing you want fans to know about American Steel.
AS: We're funny guys. We don't really joke around on stage or have goofy songs or anything like that, but the guys in my band are a fucking riot.
PL: What do you think American Steel has done for the East Bay punk scene?
AS: I don't really know. We're kind of in the middle of the timeline of it. All the bands before sort of did the groundwork for it, so I don't really know if we were anything other than just another band in that timeline.
PL: Have you thought of anything interesting about yourself?
AS: I'm a vegetarian. I'm a Socialist. I don't know. I have mental telepathy.
PL: Whats a little known fact about Oakland?
AS: A little known fact? I think most people think that Oakland is all a dangerous slum, which some of it is, but its mostly a normal city. It has all kinds of parts and all kinds of people.
PL: Name one album, besides your own, that you think all kids should have in their collection.
AS: The Clash London Calling. Thats a good one to start with.
PL: Is there anything else you want to say?
AS: No. I'm good.