I'm still in shock over the answers that Jimmy Bower of Superjoint Ritual. He was able to unknowingly make me look differently at the music that I have stopped creating recently and really made me excited about starting something up again. This is up there with one of the best interviews that I have conducted, and I got a free water out of it.

This interview took play on July 12 at Ozzfest while a whole bunch of bands and Sharon Osbourne were eating dinner.

PL: State your name and what you do in the band.

JB: My name is Jimmy Bower and basically I play rythm guitar. Me, Philip and Joe Fazzio are the founding members of the band, and Kevin Bond came in afterwards and so did Hank. The band has been around since 1993, and we've been talking about the band since '91.

PL: So you guys started by just talking about the band at first?

JB: Yeah, well I had moved to Atlanta and I had just finished doing In the Name of Suffering with Eye Hate God and Phillip was really into it and said what a great record it was and said: "Me and you need to play guitar together, get a band together." And I was like "yeah, dude."

I moved back to Atlanta a year later and Philip moved to Atlanta. I moved back to Philly and I started jamming with Joe. Me and Joe had "Fuck Your Enemy;" we had parts of that. We had some parts to stuff and Phil came and said "No way, no way, dude, this is awesome, this is perfect." He picked a guitar up and the next thing I know, we had four or five songs. It was so easy; thats what it was all about; it was all so young and fresh. This is far back as '91.

PL: Do you think the music industry is a good thing or a bad thing?

JB: I think it can be a good thing if they focused on one thing. They'll focus on six bands this year and we're gonna pre-focus on 20 bands. The main focus will go to six bands, and have the focus would go to 20 bands, which is better than no focus at all. A system like that could work.

PL: Kind of like a minor league system?

JB: Yeah, man. People need to work these records. People need to make sure the record stores don't not it on the shelves. There's a lot of people telling me that they couldn't find it, and thats a bummer, man. Thats a real bummer. Hopefully, we can get that record out. We just want our band to be able to do our records, just like any other band.

PL: What has being a musican taught you?

JB: Its taught me discipline. Its kind of weird, as you go through the process of learning the guitar, you can lead your life into it. I think your guitar playing reflects on how your life is going. Right now, I'm pretty happy with my guitar playing. I've really improved a lot and I intend on improving more. The first Superjoint record, I really didn't have to worry some guitar stuff, but our stuff has evolved and I want to be there; I want to be a part of it. Thats my hardest part in Superjoint, trying to learn some of the really hard riffs. Just being honest.

PL: Is there anything you feel that you haven't accomplished in music?

JB: There's a lot of things I haven't accomplished. I haven't gotten a gold record; I haven't gotten a platinum record yet. I want it all, man. I just want to work hard. I love being a songwriter. I love being a band member. I like being in bands. I think being in bands is the coolest thing that anyone could ever ask for. Its so cool to be in a band.

PL: Where do you think your life would be now had you not chosen music as a career?

JB: I don't know. I guess I would have gone on to college, done something. I was always into electronics and stuff like that. For my 12th birthday, my dad bought me a six channel TF mixing board, and I used that in practice to help record our demo. I like that sound. I like that sound of the ignorance of not knowing certain things. There's an element in that that's along the line of chaos. There's this line where everything is right and the pedal works fine and then there's this other element too that's taking this weird shit to it. Next thing you know, WOW. Its cool, man, its evolution. Its like a lot of the guitars and the amps evolve so fast.

PL: Is it hard to juggle two bands at once?

JB: Its very tough. You get attitude and rightfully so. Its hard for me to work through that. I feel bad cause I should be out on tour with Eye Hate God, but I can't pass up an opportunity like this. Superjoint on Ozzfest; that to me is important, and Superjoint to me kind of comes in the front burner. It just has to be that way for a little while, but Eye Hate God is gonna do some stuff in September and October, so I'm really excited about that. I have some money to hopefully invest in it. Hopefully, we should be set; make some CDs.

PL: Somebody suggested this question: which city has the best weed?

JB: (Thinks for awhile) Probably between Oregon and around here where we are (Massachusetts). There's some serious weed around here.

PL: Do you think that music is better when you're doing it as a hobby or when it becomes a job?

JB: Its two different worlds, and you don't let those worlds meet. You can't let those worlds meet, man, because, when they meet they fight. And its fucked up. So, to me, I say "why don't we worry about the music?" Of course you have to pay attention to the business aspect as well. That our records are being given to the stores throughout, did you do this, did you call these people today and try to figure out how many CDs they have. That stuff is important. We're really into our music, really into our record, really into our movement and we want to fucking move this, man, we want to move it. Whatever it takes; we're ready to do it.

PL: Name one album besides your own that you think all kids should own.

JB: Melvins-Gluey Porch Treatments. Its awesome.

PL: Are you going to vote in this upcoming election?

JB: No, I've never voted.

PL: Do you have any final comments?

JB: No, I don't, man. Just, if Superjoint ever comes around and you've never seen us, come check it out, man, you might dig it. And, if you're into heavy music, man, get involved, looking in the newspaper. People are putting out ads and you can find where the metal people hang. Its not that hard. Try and unite. If everybody unites, its over with. Its over with, dude! I can remember when Boston and Connecticut were merged together in this massive big group of kids that went to shows. A lot of it still exists, but a lot of them have moved on. Maybe we're in a generation gap, I don't know.

Interviewed by RF

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