sandiegopunk.com

Wild Eyes Full of Terror

WEFOT interview conducted November 2005 by Dasha Matsuura.
(WEFOT photo album)

After Mark's (former singer) last show as part of Wild Eyes Full Of Terror, I huddled into Tanner's (drums) van, aptly and fondly named "The Cave", along with Brian (guitar), Brandon (bass), Manny (guitar), and Mark (former singer). Alright, so now that we are out of the rain lets get this started. I have never personally heard where the name came from. Who came up with it?

Brian: The name came from Cory when he was reading the book "All Quiet on the Western Front." And although it's not the sweetest name in the world, we get by as WEFOT for short; pronounced "we fought" and we are trying to prove that it's not about the name, but about the music you produce.

There have been multiple lineup changes over the course of WEFOT being together. What is the chronology of the band?

Brian: Manny and Cory and Philip started the band. Then they found me [Brian] to play bass and Jordan Wark to sing. Everything going good we had a good kick off in the local scene but then Jordan and Cory left to play in Lower Definition. Which Jordan is still in, Cory has moved to The Remedy. So then to replace them we got Mark Stemler on vocals and Adam Lopez for our second guitarist. Things were going good with them but they Adam got an offer from 51 Guns (formerly Agent 51) and he couldn't pass it up because they were like his favorite band and more his style of music. Which is when we found Brandon and Tanner. Brandon said hey I'll play bass if Brian moves to guitar but only if I can bring my drummer along Tanner. So we let Philip go and said, "dealio."
Brandon: They came to see our old band at the YMCA and Manny came up to me and gave me a hug and said, "You are F-bombing sexy and talked about you wanna be in the band, and I was all chill, hardcore, way cooler than other types of music and sat in Manny's car, listened to the new demo, said, "This is way good, under one condition I'll join the band: bring my homeboy Tanner into the band and drop the other guy. It happened over night and he's all, "Is your boy in? Is your boy in?" I'm like, "My boys in, I'm in. We're good lets go." Done deal.
Manny: And that's the line up right now, but unfortunately tonight was Mark's last show. That's on good terms though, we all love Mark.
Mark: [jokingly] Bastards.
Brian: Then we thought we were finally set. Until Mark got accepted to Berkley. Then that problem arose and we had to replace him with Dave Briggs which is our current singer.
Tanner: We didn't want to be known as WEFOT with Mark, go places and then have to replace him in a year when he leaves for college.
Brian: Finding the right pieces to the puzzle isn't always easy, but when you find them you know. We are just trying to make sure we have all the right pieces before we try to finish the puzzle.
Brian: My favorite thing by far about being in this band is when we play shows and we get wrist bands and I put them on all the other members and I make sure I stick it on their arm hairs.

Other than determining you needed a new singer, what else have you guys been up to as a band?

Brandon: Writing, writing, writing.
Tanner: Writing.
Mark: Have you guys written anything?
Brandon: We actually have written a lot of songs. We are going to have another lock down as soon as my mother goes out of town.
Tanner: We're gonna record soon.
Brandon: We want to record, hopefully, by the end of the year.
Manny: We're just trying to get the new promos and press packs done and start sending them out to venues and such for a summer tour.
Brandon: We've got to get some new music with the new lineup in it.

Is there a new singer already? Brandon: Yes there is. Manny: Davey Sunday. I'm not going to promote his other band, but he is the drummer in another band. Brandon: He will be leaving that soon. He is a long time friend, comes out to a lot of our shows.

Manny: We played with his other band at Epicenter and we asked him if he wanted to go hang out one night after the show and started hanging out a lot. Then he found out we needed a new singer and tried out and it worked.

What else do you guys have planned specifically, other than recording?

Tanner: We are recording at the end of December and releasing a EP mid January
Manny: Finalizing our contract with Solid State and tour with The Chariot.
Everyone laughs.
Brandon: We would like to tour. Tour is a big thing for us right now.

Ideally who would you like to tour with?

Brian: Every Time I Die, Fear Before the March of Flames, The Chariot.
Brandon: No, no, no. The Audition dude!
Manny: The Audition are our homies though.
Brandon: The Audition are our homies.
Mark: Lets just all put one in, everyone gets one.
Tanner: Gwar!
Manny: That would be ridiculous. I would have to say The Chariot. Brian your up.
Brian: Oh, is it my turn? Oh ummm. . .
Tanner: [whispers] Jon Bennett
Brian: Yeah probably Every Time I Die. They've been a favorite for a while.
Brandon: I don't know dude.
Mark: Ashley Simpson.
Brandon: Ashley Simpson, Ashley Simpson.
Brian: He is NOT kidding!
Brandon: Ashley Simpson!
Wait, is he serious?
Brandon: I'm not even kidding, Ashley Simpson.
Tanner: This is going to be the Booze tour 2006.
Mark: Fear Before The March Of Flames.
Manny: Oh man, now he is all excited. Look at the smile on his face, Ashley Simpson.
Mark: Jon Bennett is a favorite.
Tanner: Moby.

Favorite songs to perform live? Manny: "Cigarettes on Bread Sticks" which will be re-recorded on our new EP Tanner: [making mooing noises] "Happy Cows come from Kal-i-forn-i-a." Brandon: "Outlines." Mark: "Mexico." Brian: My favorite one to play is a new song that isn't named yet. Manny: Which is now called "Let me tell you about porcupines." That's on the DL, that's unreleased. Are there any specific concepts in the lyrics that you really like? Tanner: Killing. Mark: Killing people. Tanner: Killing babies. Brandon: Tanner eats babies. Mark: All of the lyrics are really

actually descriptive and I'll write them just being descriptive straight off and then later they'll actually come to mean something more. That's just what I tell people, that the meanings actually are. I'm always like, "Yeah dude, it's about this one girl and we love each other and it's really symbolic," but really I just wrote it and it really didn't start out meaning anything. What I'm hoping is that it was my subconscious just taking over.

Nicknames?

Brian: Glenwood for Brandon. T-bone for Tanner. I'm known as Z.
Tanner: Manny Man Eater and Mark is just Goldie Locks.
Manny: For the record we are the most random band ever.
Brandon: Everyday we have a new nickname. Tanner is Cobraface. Brian is Bearface. Mark is Lionface.
Manny: No one ever knows what we are talking about, and it's just random and amazing and it is why I love these guys.

All of you guys live in San Diego, where do you guys hang out?

Brandon: Solana Beach where we practice.
Mark: In 'N Out, we're there a whole lot.
Tanner: I'm at Hot Topic trying to look cool.
Mark: I do not shop at Hot Topic! I am not mall core I am HARD CORE!

Any embarrassing moments on stage?

Mark: Manny falling into the crowd!
Manny: By far one of the most embarrassing moments. At our last show at Soma, I thought I would be really tight if I put my foot on the bar and rocked it. So I went to put my foot on the bar, but I'm exhausted on the second to last song and my foot slips under the bar and I actually fall into the crowd. It was horrible.
Brian: He nutted on the bar.
Manny: At the YMCA show we just played I was actually again being a real rock star and I had one leg up on the wall and one on the amp, when I went to get off my pants ripped from the bottom middle all the way up to the zipper.
Mark: Rocked out with his cock out.
Brandon: And last show, Manny thought it was funny spitting water all over the ground. I was just an idiot and jumped, did a 360 ballerina style and just about fell on the ground and stumbled back on Tanner's kick drum and kind of just played it off really well.
Brian: Just for the record, when he says 360 ballerina move. He looked like a ballerina.
Brandon: It was triple toe axel quadruple stuff.
Mark: How bout when you broke the light at The Basement? We were playing a show with the Jon Bennett and we were really stoked to play with them and Manny. First song, he goes off and hits
the light and breaks it.
Manny: But all of these times make our show.
Brandon: Manny falling off the stage, people pay mad cash to see that.

When you guys aren't with the band doing something for the music, what are you doing? Mark: We're with each other doing something else. Manny: Playing Halo. It might sound geeky, but we are big Halo fans. Tanner: Geeky? It's kinky. Brandon: Designing for clothing. Brian: Street art, going to other shows, we are all taking tap lessons. Tanner: Caballah. Brandon, you have the clothing line. Do any of you guys have side projects? Brian: I'm starting my own line right now.

Brandon: Your Mannequin Clothing
Brian: www.whatisthegallery.com. That's all you need to know.
Brandon: Myspace.com/yourmannequinclothing
Mark: I might be in a new band now.

Any fans worth mentioning?

Brandon: Brittany and Marissa.
Tanner: XBrittanyX
Brandon: Shady Will.
Mark: He's shady dude.
Brandon: He started a myspace group for us.
Brian: Erin and Kristy, because they come to all the shows. They've been there since the beginning.
Tanner: They truly love us.
Manner: V-los, V-losser rapter.
Brandon: They help promote us a lot.
Manny: They really stay there till the end.
Mark: Brittany could kick any one's ass.
Brian: Erin and Kristy because they made a lot of merch for us.
Manny: We don't pay them, they just make a lot of merch. It's basically a sweat shop and they love to do it.
Brian: But we're not going to talk about the little Chinese kids right now.

Any before show traditions?

Brian: Human pyramids. There are five of us so it works out pretty well.
Tanner: We stretch, we play patty cake, we do the emo comb, you know, fix the hair. Wet our hair down so we don't get dehydrated on the outside.
Manny: Our shows, if we don't stretch, the next morning we won't get out of bed. It has happened. Pinched a nerve, pulled a hammy. We played at The Basement on University and one of the old guitarists, Adam, he nailed Mark in the face and cut his eyebrow open. Blood was everywhere. Very hXc.
Mark: I have a little scar.
Tanner: I blacked out at Epicenter.
Manny: Blacked out in the middle of a song.
Brian: I jumped out of the rafters and broke both my legs.
Manny: That hasn't happened.
Brian: But that would be cool.
Manny: After the interview stopped everyone jumped Brian Zanini.
Mark: Yeah, I would run him away. Wait, I would run away with him.
Brandon: Are you still recording?
Yup.
Mark: Now we just sound like idiots.

The Audition interview was really funny.

Tanner: That's because they're cool.
Brandon: They're our boys. We took them around San Diego.

Last time I was with them they said that one of you was supposed to come up too, but got grounded.

Brandon: Tanner!
Manny: This guy is grounded ALL the time! More than anybody in this world.
Mark: Yeaaaah.
Manny: Are you grounded right now?
Tanner: Yeah.
Manny: He is grounded right now!
But what for?
Mark: Let's not talk about that.
Tanner: No actually, its talkable. I have a bad grade in one class and that's it.
But what are you normally grounded for?
Tanner: Making faces at my… babysitters?
Manny: You have babysitters? You are a grown man.
Tanner: Girlfriend babysitters.

Tanner you make the best faces when you play.

Tanner: In the 60's, I did a lot of crazy stuff and those faces, those random demons come out of me every ten minutes on the dot.
Manny: For the record, he is not under the influence of anything. This is Tanner Wayne. His dad's name is John Wayne.
Mark: He's a cowboy.
Manny: And his mom can beat up his dad.
Brandon: His mom beats us up at every practice. We get beat up all the time. We practice at Tanner's house and his mom makes us bracelets and we love her. We love Teresa Wayne for all the crap she has to listen to every week.
Brian: And for pissing off your psycho neighbors. I really have to pee right now.
Then go pee on something.
Brian: But it's raining.

Do you guys have any extra curricular activities?

Mark: I play water polo and we all play Halo.
Tanner: He plays water polo, Brandon makes clothes, Manny chills hard as well as I do.
Manny: Honestly all I revolve myself around is music. Listening to music, playing music, practicing music, being music.
Brandon: Go to school, work on my clothing and try and get good grades.

Are there any other college bound besides Mark?

Tanner: We all don't want to go to school, because we know right away if something big happened…
Brandon: If something good happened with this, we would all drop school and go on tour. That's what we all want to do, that's why we are all in this band.
Tanner: That's the only reason why I'm grounded, because I'm in bands. I've been in bands since ninth grade.
Brandon: Tanner and I have been playing together for a long time.
Tanner: The only bands I've ever been in have been with this kid.
Manny: We do it because we love playing music live. We love the live show and meeting all the cool people. Even if it's just us chilling at the merch booth trying to get people to buy merch, even though they don't, it's still that conversation. And knowing that they'll go home and check us out and that's a good feeling that people listen to our music.
Brandon: I watch the Ashley Simpson show a lot and cops.
Manny: Miami Ink.
Tanner: I watch a lot of wrestling. That's where I get my faces from.
Manny: Family Guy for sure. That would be a tour DVD for us. That would definitely be on the bus. I did not say van. I said, "Bus."

I think that's about everything, unless of course you would like to add something else to go on San Diego punk for all to read.

Tanner: San Diego punk is super chill.
Brandon: Talk to me on myspace! Myspace.com/yourmannequinclothing
Manny: Honestly, because of San Diego punk, that's why shit goes down around here. They keep everyone informed. But our myspce URL is (myspace dot com) slash WEFOT not Wild Eyes Full of Terror. He [Tanner] is groping me I love it man. We would be the band playing pranks on each other. You know, pull over and just leave them in the desert somewhere and come back later.
Tanner: I have a new identity everyday.
Mark: Can we now refer to the van as "The Cave?"
Brandon: This interview took place in "The Cave" a.k.a. Tanner's van.
Manny: The soccer mom mobile.
Tanner: COUGS!!!
Brian: No one can know what it means.
Tanner: It's on my kick drum.
Brian: It stands for cougar taps.
Brandon: We get questions about that all the time. It's a cougar tap, but we can't tell you what that is.
Brian: If you wanna know you have to come to a show and ask us.
Manny: I love Mark.
Brandon: We're gonna miss Mark. Mark has made Tanner and my welcoming to the band very good. Normally singers are dicks and their cocky and not nice, but Mark is a homie.
Tanner: Just because Shining Through had a really bad interview talking about how fat I am and shit. James Clelland. That's all, no words about him. No games, just James Clelland.
Mark: I think he is the ugliest person.
[collective "oooooohhh"]
Mark: There are some pretty ugly people that I know but uh.
Brandon: Stop. Nobody is ugly, we are all beautiful.
Mark: Shut up Ashley Simpson!
Brandon: Ashley Simpson is gorgeous!
Well thank you boys.
Brian: Thank you so much for the interview and the photos.

mp3s: http://www.myspace.com/wefot
Interview by and photos: Dasha Matsuura

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