None More Black is close to releasing their second album, This is Satire, on Fat. They are a wonderful band and a good group of dudes with a great sense of humor, even though I thought a punch might be coming when I dissed Some Kind of Monster. This interview went down on February 6 at the Century Lounge in Providence, RI, and talks about a whole bunch of stuff that is both informative and entertaining.

PL: Can you guys all introduce yourselves?
Jason: My name is Jason, and I play guitar and sing.
Jared: Jared, drums.
PD: Paul, bass.
CM: Colin, headbang.

PL: State an interesting fact about the history of punk rock.
Jason: An interesting fact?
CM: An interesting fact about the history of punk rock.
PD: The Sex Pistols used to wear swazticas on and people still gave them respect, and Colin says a rascist joke onstage and we get slammed for it. I'm kidding. I don't know how many interesting punk things-I think all the books sort of say it all.
CM: We know some interesting ones: Chumbawumba was Crass.
Jason: Maybe one of the guys was in Crass.
PL: I did not know that.
Jason: Did you know that Lee Ving from Fear was in "Clue?"
CM: Jimmy Gestapo from Murphys Law was in a Beastie Boy's video.
Jason: Wow, I guess there are interesting things.
PD: Mackie from Cro Mags was in the Fun Lovin' Criminals.
Jason: Jenny Lewis from Rilo Kiley was in "The Wizard."
Jared: Vinnie Stigma.
CM: Chic-a da Chinese, the Chinese chicken.
PD: Love crab legs.

PL: Can you name all of the bands that would fall under the None More Black family tree?
CM: Metallica.
PD: Kid Dynamite, Go! for the Throat, Kill Your Idols, Hope Conspiracy.
CM: Paint it Black.
Jason: And then you can go through more. You can say that The Loved Ones are in our family tree. The Loved Ones, The Cursed, you could say Hey Angel, Trial by Fire.
Jared: Madball, H2O. I just found that out today.
Jason: Affirmative Action Jackson. We've gone through a lot of members.
PD: Slipknot.
CM: I don't think thats true.
Jared: He wears a mask, you don't know.
PD: I wear a mask. I keep it in my bag.
Jason: Kill Your Idols. Did you say Kill Your Idols?
PL: Yeah, somebody said it.
CM: There's so many bands that we all played in or shared time with.
PD: But None More Black is the band that we...I guess, are.
CM: That, or we're starting a new band together. Its gonna be a thrash metal band called Blackened. Its just gonna be the same members, playing thrash songs.
PL: Thats cool. (I highly recommend all bands mentioned, as they are all amazing, even though I haven't heard Hey Angel).

PL: How do you handle conflict among band members?
PD: We don't have any conflict.
Jason: We really don't have any.
CM: If there is, we just shut up and say, "Oh, you're right," and just walk away and leave it at that. We don't start fights.
Jared: The only one that starts shit is Katie.
CM: Yeah, thats true. Katie is our merch-
Jared: Merch guy.
CM: Merch person and tour manager.
Jared: Did somebody do that?
CM: It wasn't me. Thats the only conflict we have, is who actually farted, because he'll never own up to it most of the time, and he'll usually blame me.
Jason: I will, unless we're around pretty girls.
CM: Than you blame the fat guy.
PL: I work with kids, so conflict happens all the time.
Jason: We act like children most of the time.
CM: We really try to shy away from any conflict because we just want to have fun.
Jared: Since I've been in the band, we haven't had any, so-I can't think of anything.
CM: We argue about-
PD: Colin didn't want to get a fucking trailer, and all I want to do is be comfortable, and this guy is fucking my life up.
CM: We're getting a trailer, a free one. We argue about-
PD: We made it here with under a half a tank of gas. Our van is very good on gas and we're getting a trailer. End of argument.
CM: Alright, we do argue about some things.
Jason: We all have opinions, and we just talk about them. Its not arguing.
CM: I wouldn't say its arguing, its old conversation without the emotional stress of "our relationship is gonna be hurt if I tell this person that I think his idea is bad or good or anything like that." Thats a new feeling as this lineup. That hasn't always been the case.
PL: How long has this lineup been around for?
Jason: September.
PD: What is that six months? Five months?
CM: Its gone by pretty quickly because, as soon as Jared started playing, we started writing the new record and its just been Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, and we're like "Let's do something else and lets have fun."
PD: Are you hungry?
CM: Yeah, let's go get food is the other main thing.

PL: If you were to describe your upcoming album in one word, what would it be?
CM: Fantastic.
PD: Bangin'.
Jason: Awesome.
Jared: Since its one word, I guess I'll just have to say, "The Shit." Shit...no.
PD: With an exclamation point. SHIT!
Jason: We're really stoked about it.
CM: Yeah, we're really excited about this record.

PL: Do you think any of you could take Dan Yemin in a fight?
Jared: Fuck yeah. I'll run him over with my car.
CM: I've already kicked his ass plently of times.
Jason: All you've got to do is make fun of him and you hurt him mentally. He'll break down.
CM: Dan is actually really ticklish, so its not like he's really that hard to take down.

PL: Jason, this is more for you. Whats more rewarding: film making or making music?
Jason: I think music is probably way more rewarding, because I get to do this. The most rewarding thing is being able to do them both, but right now, music is way more rewarding because I get to hang out with my friends.
PL: Do you take a camera out on tour and stuff?
Jason: No. It was weird. I'm always the guy at home that people call on to shoot stuff, but when I'm on the road, I barely bring a camera, and I just have this now. I take pictures and I take video on this. For those of you that don't know what I'm holding up: its a Sprint Trio phone PDA with Blue Chip technology.
CM: We used to be all Sprint, but I think Jared is-
PD: He probably went to Verizon.
Jared: I'm broke. Fuck Sprint.

PL: How low do you let your gas tank get before filling up?
PD: Last night, we hit low fuel.
CM: We got a low fuel light that says: "Hey, fill me up, motherfucker!"
PD: Last night, we went pretty far. Normally I don't like to go under a quarter tank because you get the dirt from the bottom of the tank.
Jason: Its always like, "I can go a little longer. Let me go to the next stop."
PD: At home, forget it, we'll take the van zipping around, but on tour, a quarter tank and we fill it up.
Jared: I'd say it could go a quarter inch below the E line.
Jason: Oh, we've been there before.
Jared: Once it hits E, you've still got a little while to go.
Jason: You've got about 12 more miles.

PL: If Kid Dynamite were around today, do you think they'd still be relevant, or as relevant as they are now?
Jason: Are they relevant? Its hard for me to answer that honestly, because it was odd. We were a band for two years, we did two U.S. tours, but there's been such a buzz about that band.
PL: I think sometimes when a band breaks up, thats when the legacy really starts, because they're not around anymore.
Jason: Maybe. I don't know how relevant we were, or are. We were just a buzz band. I don't know.
PD: I've got a question for you: If Kid Dynamite was... (laughter) I'm kidding.
PL: That was just a general bands that break up that have huge reputations.
PD: In my opinion, these guys were great. There are bands that I like that break up, and I find myself looking through CDs, and I wonder what happened to them.
Jason: If we were still around today, what do you think we'd sound like? We'd be doing the same record over and over again, I think. I think people would think that we are just rehashing. Just listen to the new Lifetime record.
CM: Don't worry about Kid Dynamite; wait until the new Lifetime record comes out.
Jason: Then you'll hear whatever Yemin had brewing. Disclaimer: Not quite sure what we just said.

PL: Whats one movie you think everyone should see?
Jared: "Kentucky Fried Movie."
Jason: "Batman Begins."
PD: "Revenge of the Nerds." The first one.
Jason: "Some Kind of Monster." Everyone needs to see "Some Kind of Monster."
Jared: What?
PD: Don't listen to Jared, he just got kicked out.
Jared: Fuck that, I quit!
CM: "Spaceballs."
Jared: I love "Spaceballs."
PL: For a class, I was gonna parody "Some Kind of Monster," but I was making it too bad, so I stopped.
PD: What are you trying to say? You talking shit?
PL: No, I remember when I was in third grade watching the "One" video-
PD: "Cliff Em All."
Jason: How old are you?
PL: 25. When I was watching that, I found James Hetfield freaky. He reminded me of my cousin who would always beat me up. But then watching that, you don't fear them. They're more of a joke now. Thats what I got out of that.
Jared: I'm with you, brother, but don't be saying that shit right now.
Jason: Its a band that has been playing together for 25 years, and they realized that they don't really know each other, that they don't really spend much time with one another. I think every band should see that movie because its about how their relationships become more important than the music, or become more important that the entity of Metallica, and thats what brings the band to another level: they enjoy playing music together again.
PD: You've got to keep in mind that when Kill em All came out, they were probably about 20, 21, so they've pretty much lived their lives as famous people, and that took a toll on them. They can't just be regular dudes like us. I mean, they're not as cool as us. I think it was a good movie, and the DVD had some good bonus footage with James Hetfield talking about his mom and dad. Its good stuff. I think it was a good movie.
PL: I did think it was a good movie, but I didn't have much respect for them.
PD: I see what you're saying. The way I look at it is that they are in their 40s and they're still playing heavy music, and that means a lot to me, because I'm a fan of aggressive music.
CM: "Spaceballs the flamethrower." Enough about Metallica. We're big Metallica fans, though.
PD: I like Load, I like ReLoad, I like St. Anger. Great band.
PL: St. Anger is okay. I wish it was recorded better.
PD: I've got gripes with it. But, for the most part, for what it is, I can't change what it is, I deal with it.
PL: I was excited to see fast music on the radio.
PD: The songs are too long and the production sucks, but what are you gonna do? It was a good record; leave them alone.

PL: Name one album, besides your own, that you think all kids should have in their collection.
Jason: ...And Justice for All.
CM: Bodycount-Cop Killer.
PD: Kiss-Alive.
Jared: A new album or any one?
PL: Any album.
Jared: i'm gonna have to say the Big Business record is something everyone should pick up.

PL: I guess thats it. Do you guys have anything else you want to say?
PD: May 2, our record comes out on Fat.
Jason: Its called, This is Satire.
Jared: SHIT!
CM: We had a blast. We made it with J. Robbins in Baltimore and we are definitely looking forward to going out, hitting the road and having fun with all of our friends in the very very near future.
PD: And J. Robbins is awesome.
CM: Yeah, he's the best. Go see his bands Report Suspicious Activity and Channels. He's an awesome dude. We had a good time with him, and we definitely look forward to doing it again, for an EP, later this summer.

Interviewed by: RF

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