This has been a really good year for punk rock, and Smoke or Fire are one of the reasons for this. The are currently on the Fat Tour with Against Me!, The Epoxies and The Soviettes. Check this show out (a few times if possible) if you get the chance.

PL: Introduce yourself.

JM: My name is Joe. I play guitar and sing in Smoke or Fire.

PL: How does living in Virginia differ from living in Mass?

JM: It basically has made it affordable to do the band. We loved Boston. It was really hard to move away from there, but we just couldn't afford to live there-it was so expensive. I guess the bottom line is that it was so cheap that we can be a band and take time off and tour. It is easier for us to come home and have pick up jobs and stuff. There's a lot of musicians there coming home from tour, and you can find work. You can find a lot of odd jobs like painting, setting up things around, doing shows and bartending, things like that where they'll give you time off to tour. The living situation is much cheaper, and you can actually focus on touring, which is why we moved down there.

PL: Is a 50 state tour a little overwhelming?

JM: Yeah, it is definitely overwhelming. Its such a long amount of time. I think the longest we've ever gone out has been five weeks. We've done that a couple times, and that kind of seems like forever. By the time you get home, you can't even remember the beginning of the tour; its just a blur. 50 states, all that traveling and being away for three months is definitely overwhelming, but this is a really good group of people and its a great tour, so that makes it a lot easier. I don't know if it was a different situation if it would be doable. Its a great tour and the people are great, so that makes it a lot easier. We'll see when we play back up this way.

PL: Is the price of gas starting to bum you out?

JM: Its definitely a killer. We have a 30 gallon tank so it costs us about a hundred bucks every time we fill up. When we start getting to the mid west or west coast where the drives are a lot longer-as opposed to the east coast where the cities are real close together-it starts to really hit you hard. We were really concerned about that at first because we were finishing up the Planes Mistaken for Stars tour when the hurricane hit. We were down in Florida and everyone was freaking out because there were two gas stations open, and we waited in line for an hour and a half to get gas, and everyone was fighting. We were more concerned about getting home because there was no gas anywhere, and we had to go up through Atlanta. So, the price of gas is definitely gonna take a big chunk of change from us on this tour, but its going down a little bit. Its kind of sad when you're excited that the gas prices go below $3. And with the hurricane that supposed to hit us tomorrow (Rita); I'm just hoping that the price of gas doesn't really kill us.

PL: You should just all share equipment and take one van.

JM: (laughs) If it comes down to it, its something that might happen.

PL: Would it be cheaper if you rented a bus?

JM: No. When the tour was first discussed a couple months ago, back in April, there was a discussion if it would be cheaper for there to be two buses on the tour instead of all the vans and gas and hotels and stuff. It ended up not being cheaper, so we scrapped the idea.

PL: What state are you most excited about playing in or seeing and what state are you least excited about?

JM: I'm most excited about going to Alaska.

PL: Alaska is cool. I went there on a cruise.

JM: Yeah, I have a lot of friends and family that have taken a cruise to Alaska, and they said that it was so beautiful. I'm actually more excited about Alaska than Hawaii. I'm excited about Hawaii, but I'm really really excited to play in Alaska. Thats definitely my number one. Least excited, um...I don't know. Texas kind of freaks me out because we have a lot of friends who have had vans, trailers and equipment stolen there. We have heard horror stories from Texas, so we always get a little nervous when we play there.

PL: Do you think that there are too many bands out there today, or does it just seem that way because of the internet?

JM: Thats a good question. I don't know if there's too many, but with the internet it seems like more of the bands that you maybe never would have heard about before, you hear about more. I don't know if thats a good or a band thing. I think the internet is good because I think people who are in bands who don' have access to radio and labels and stuff, its a way for them to get ther music heard. But, in the other sense, it seems like kids are less eager to go to punk rock shows just for the hell of it. When we were coming up in Boston, if there was a punk rock show, we'd go, even if we never heard of the bands or if we heard about one of the bands, we'd go because it was a punk rock show and it was something fun to do. A lot of shows, you'd end up seeing your next favorite band that you've never heard of before. There's good things about it and there's bad things about it, and I think the bad thing about it is that kids are less willing to go out to a show just for the hell of it anymore. If they haven't heard about it on Myspace or the internet, its not worth it to them. In that sense, its kind of a bummer, but its kind of a toss up.

PL: I was watching "The Filth and the Fury;" the Sex Pistols documentary which shows the whole start of it. While watching it, I noticed how dangerous it seemed. Do you think music or punk rock is dangerous anymore, and if so, do you think thats a bad thing?

JM: Um...

PL: Well maybe not dangerous, but it seemed like everyone there was a part of something huge, and to me, it doesn't feel huge anymore. It doesn't feel like a big deal.

JM: I agree with that. I feel like its getting better, for some reason. I don't know why. Maybe its just the tours that we've been on in the last year or maybe its just me being optimistic about it, but there was a serious period of time where it seemed like-Boston had a huge hardcore scene, and when that started to die down and emo became big, shows kind of got miserable. It seemed like people were more concerned with who was there and what everyone was wearing, and it became this kind of fashion show where more kids were hanging outside the show and never going in than actually going in, watching the bands and having fun and not giving a shit about who was there and just dancing and singing and having a good time. People seemed to get a little too self conscious about just letting go and doing what was so fun about those shows. I went through that phase where I definitely didn't feel like going to shows anymore. I definitely think that, with bands like Against Me!, seeing kids show up and just go nuts and being into it that much again-I don't know if its necessarily dangerous, but the involvement and the passion seems to be back, and I think that comes with the music. I think that when there's passionate music is being played and people are playing their asses off, I think thats something that can only rub off on the crowd. I'm not sure if its the fans or the bands. I feels like the pendulum is swinging. People can sense insincerity. I can trash talk specific bands. I think there's a lot of bullshit bubble gum bands that came out that were sounding like everyone else. Thats not something thats gonna get people fired up or anything, and its definitely not dangerous, and its not sending any kind of message really. It kind of depends what you like in your music, but it definitely doesn't feel dangerous like the old days and stuff. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but I hope that it continues in the way I feel like its going right now.

PL: Whats one movie everyone should go see?

JM: There's a movie called "The Fog of War" thats really good. Its a documentary that really really amazing. Its kind of a war documentary. Thats a great movie. If people would check out a political movie, I would tell them to go check out "The Fog of War."

PL: Whats a little known fact about Virginia?

JM: The most valuable sculpture in the United States is in the Capital House. Its a statue of George Washington, and its the only piece of artwork that he has posed for himself. He posed for the sculpture and its the most expensive sculpture in the United States. Its really neat. I saw it. I was impressed by it. I was an art school major.

PL: Name one album, besides your own, that you feel all kids should have in your collection.

JM: London Calling by The Clash. Thats probably my favorite record of all time. We were actually in Cleveland on our last tour on our day off-this is good for kids in bands-if you are in Cleveland and you have time: if you're in a band, you can get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for free. You just have to bring them a CD. So we went and gave them a CD; its usually $20 a person. We went in and went to the punk rock exhibit. They have the bass that is being smashed on the cover of London Calling, and we all kind of stopped. We're big dorks about stuff like that. Its worth checking out.

PL: Do you have any final comments?

JM: Just come out to the shows and try to see as many shows as you can. We'll be back this way in December (December 4 at the Wonderland Ballroom in Revere, MA).

Interview by: RF
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