This interview was originally done for a UCHS Commander spread on local bands; it was conducted by Melissa Ferrer and Kayleigh Shaw. We’d like to thank Counterfit for taking the time out to talk to us after their show at The Casbah.

Kayleigh: Okay, so just for the record, can everyone state their name and what they do?
Justin: I’m Justin, and I sing and I play bass.
Marc: I’m Marc and I play drums.
Adam: I’m Adam, I play guitar and sing backup.
Dan: I’m Dan and I do the same thing Adam does.
Melissa: First question…have there been any changes in your lineup in the past and has it affected your sound or the dynamics of the group?
Marc: Well, we moved out here and our friend James, also from Connecticut, was playing guitar and he just really wasn’t liking school, he was going to school in L.A. and he just wasn’t liking it in California and he ended up going home after about a year out here and we got Dan here and it’s been the same since.
Adam: And it has affected the sound, definitely. Dan brought a new influence to us and we went in a slightly different direction. It’s different.

Kayleigh: Okay, so what year did you guys form?
All: September of 2000.

Kayleigh: What’s the story behind the name Counterfit?
Adam: There really isn’t one.
Marc: There really isn’t much of a story behind the name, it’s kind of just a name, like I don’t know…I thought of the name a long time ago, like actually before I was really in this band. I was in another band with the same name and I was too lazy to change it. I’d rather just put effort into playing music and writing music, and I didn’t really put that much effort in to the name.
Adam: I think the music represents itself and the name doesn’t really do all that much.

Melissa: So what made you guys move to San Diego? Was Connecticut not doing it for you?
Adam: Connecticut’s not really happening. There’s bands, good bands that come from Connecticut and I guess you could say there’s somewhat of a scene but not really much. I moved out here before everybody else and Marc and Justin and James came out just because the San Diego scene was doing really well right when I recommended that they come out to San Diego, which is the same time that SOMA shut down and the scene took a dive.
Justin: Pretty much right when we got here.
Marc: Right when Counterfit started.
Adam: Yeah…in San Diego, things were really bad and it was really hard getting our first show but we kept at it and it’s gotten a lot better since.
Justin: I think it made us appreciate everything a little bit more, the fact that we had to struggle through the scene rebuilding itself, rather than coming into a scene that’s already thriving and producing bands left and right/

Kayleigh: What’s your favorite place to play besides San Diego?
Adam: The bay area is my favorite, I think.
Marc: San Francisco’s also really good.
Adam: It’s also really hard to get accepted up there and we were lucky enough to get some good shows right off the bat and we’ve probably played the bay area more than the LA area, which is weird, but we like it. It’s a fun place for sure.

Kayleigh: What are your main influences, musically?
Marc: That’s all personal, I think, for each person. We all listen to completely different things and There’s some similarities, you know, in music we listen to, but for the most part it’s really dynamic; everything from indie stuff to old classic rock to hardcore to whatever.
Dan: If we started on that we’d go for a long time.

Melissa: What do you think of how the scene is getting really big, how the whole punk thing is on MTV…has that affected the scene or what people’s expectations of bands are?
Adam: I think, I don’t know, the main thing I’ve seen it affect…you get weirder comparisons from people that are more into the mainstream stuff that’s just coming out. Someone from here might run comparisons to Mock Orange or No Knife or whatever, but then people from somewhere out in the Midwest would be like, “Oh you sound like Thursday.” So, that’s the only thing I’ve seen. I think it’s great though, that bands like that are getting into the mainstream because it’s making the musical field that people are listening to on the radio a lot more broad; it’s giving a lot more bands a chance to get their music out to people that wouldn’t normally hear them. I think it works to our advantage just cause we fit somewhat in there, and obviously if that’s what’s going on lately, if that’s the “cool thing” then there’ll be more kids out in every city that we play, but yeah, it’s weird.

Kayleigh: What’s the band-friendliest venue you’ve played in San Diego so far?
Justin: The Scene and the Che Café and The Casbah are all tied.
All: Yeah…
Kayleigh: Really?
Justin: Yes.
(Everyone laughs.)
Adam: All three of those venues are just phenomenal to their bands.
Justin: It’s nothing but amazing. Spence at the Che, Alice at The Scene, Tim at The Casbah are all amazing and have really helped us out along the way.
Adam: And the polar opposite of that is Cane’s. I’ll say that, I’m not even ashamed. That place treats bands, local and touring, like shit.
Justin: I heard that one of the security guards when we were away on tour, some kid was trying to get in, he was all drunk, he was like a 16-year-old kid, he was like, “I need to get in and get my girlfriend,” the security guard’s like, “No, no, no, no, no,” and finally the security guard got so fed up he grabbed the kid and started smashing his face into the fucking cement, and he ended up getting arrested, but that just goes to show the type of people that they have working there, who obviously don’t know how to handle…
Adam: Yeah, regardless of your venue, if you hire people like that, that are gonna treat the audience that way then fuck you. Not a good operation.
(We all agree; there’s a bit more shit-talking about Cane’s from me, then we move on.)

Kayleigh: So does anybody go to college or finish any higher education?
Justin: We’re all losers.
Adam: None of us have finished any form of higher education.
Justin: We’re all homeless and jobless. (Everyone laughs.) Like it’s funny, but it’s not because it’s true.
Marc: We either sleep on couches or sleep like…
Justin: I sleep in a laundry room.
Adam: I live at my girlfriend’s house.
Dan: Yeah, I live at my girlfriend’s house.
Adam: That’s just because we do a good amount of touring and it’s really tough to come back and secure a job and a place to live when you’re leaving in a month to go on tour again, but we’re not complaining about it, but you know, we’re trying to live. The bare minimum.

Melissa: Speaking of that, what’s the weirdest or scariest place you’ve ever had to spend the night at on tour?
All: The basement in St. Louis!
Justin: That was fucked up!
Dan: We ended up, we stayed with these kids and, uh, I don’t wanna say too much cause they were really good kids…
Marc: They were awesome, they cooked us dinner and everything but then they watched some really fucked up videos at their house, and that scared the hell out of all of us…
Dan: A man having sex with a corpse in great detail and they’re all like, “Hahaha, that’s so funny,” and we’re all like, “Okay, I’m uncomfortable now.”
Marc: But then they’re like “Alright here’s where you’re sleeping,” and it’s just this windowless, cement basement.
Justin: With an oriental rug in the middle…
Marc: And there’s bugs and shit all over the place, those little pincher bugs.
Dan: It was all wet and hot and sticky, it’s just gonna get worse every time we tell it, it’s just gonna…
Justin: There was dead people hanging from the ceiling…
Dan: Blood stains on the walls…
Justin: Look at the bloodstains!
(Everyone laughs.)

Kayleigh: What do you guys like to do in your free time, if you have any and you’re not doing music?
Adam: I don’t think we really do anything.
Justin: I skate a little bit.
Marc: Yeah, I skate.
Justin: I drink alcohol, that’s about it.
Adam: I enjoy computers and going out.
All: (Laughing) “Enjoy computers and going out…”
Marc: I go to a lot of shows, I guess.
Dan: I just kinda hang out at my house and watch Animal Planet when we’re not playing.
Marc: I do a lot of skating, and I surf a little bit when I can; I’m awful at it but I try. I’m really into graphic design and stuff like that, like Adam is, so I just kinda sit at the computer.
Dan: Yeah these guys do websites, the Allen Brothers websites.
Adam: If you’d like one, please contact us.
(More random comments and laughing.)

Kayleigh: Who is the rowdiest band member?
Adam/Dan: This guy right here, Justin.
Justin: In the band?
Dan: This guy is a whirlwind of destruction. We were in Florida and this guy broke this giant glass table and then broke a sheet of glass over his head. It happened!
Justin: It did happen.
Marc: He stripped down to his tighty whiteys and jumped into the bed of this guy’s truck as he was driving by…hitchhiking in your tighty whiteys with your spike belt was my favorite moment.
All: Good times.
Justin: Sweet, I hope my mom reads this.
Adam: Let’s publish this all.
Melissa: Isn’t it boring in the van, logging miles and not doing anything?
Adam: In the van? We sleep a lot.
Marc: We sleep and play video games.
All: And watch movies.
Justin: We watch a lot of movies over and over.
Adam: Yeah, everyone brings like, their supply of CD’s and it ends up wearing…we end up going through the CD’s extremely quick and then after that it goes, we watch a lot of movies.
Dan: Listen to the demos we get, which range from good to really, really entertaining
Adam: So horrible that it’s immensely entertaining. But yeah, it can be extremely boring in the van, they keep at us sleeping through the drives, trying to avoid the boredom.

Kayleigh: What is your favorite song to perform live right now?
Adam: That’s a good question. I enjoy playing “Feel the Ride” because that song, for us is sort of a challenge to play well live, and it’s come a long way on the six-week tour and we kind of feel like we’ve done a good job in improving playing that one live, so I enjoy playing “Feel the Ride.”
Marc: One is definitely “Lying in Traffic” and “From Finish to Starting Line” are my favorite two, the first and the last one. But those are like, we can put a lot of energy into playing them and have a great time.

Kayleigh: So do you think you’ve been lucky to be in San Diego, like coming up?
Adam: Definitely, definitely.
Melissa: (To Kayleigh) You wrote “as opposed to Kansas…”
Adam: Lawrence, Kansas is actually one of our favorite places to play, we haven’t played there in awhile but we…Lawrence, Kansas is cool though. I think it sort of ties back to what we were talking about before, about the scene and how it’s doing in San Diego. I think we’re really fortunate to have been a band starting with a scene that wasn’t doing so well and we sort of persevered to this point and I feel that we do okay now in San Diego…and the people that come out, I think we all have a connection to them. They really give back what we give back when we play shows; it’s definitely worth it by far. San Diego’s great.

Melissa: What audience do you think you’re trying to reach with your music?
Dan: Anyone who will listen.
Marc: I think we really just enjoy playing what we play and we just feel really fortunate that people actually enjoy the music.
Adam: Yeah, I think it’s a bummer that bands pick an audience or a genre, like 21 and up, or just the indie scene or just the punk scene. I think everyone should be given equal opportunity to listen to whatever they want. I know I listened to some wack shit when I was younger and if I hadn’t heard bands that had broadened my horizons, then I wouldn’t be into any of the stuff that I’m into now. If there’s anything that’s a slap in the face, it’s on tour when you play a show that’s with some completely weird bands that don’t have anything to do with the music you’re playing and there’s two people there and you think it’s gonna turn out shitty but you give it everything and then those two people say, “That was amazing, that really meant a lot to us, you guys were good.” It’s worth it.

Melissa: I just recently saw a show with a band named Salem, and they were really good, but the crowd wasn’t really reacting to them. Is it weird when you play and you don’t get a good reaction from the crowd? Does that affect the way you play?
All: Definitely.
Justin: We kind of feed off each other in that scenario, and you hope that everyone had a decent day so you can at least enjoy each other’s company on stage, cause if you’re getting a low from out there, it’s the only think you can find safety in.
Adam: I think we kind of, first and foremost, feed off each other and then if the crowd is into it, then that makes it all better, and that makes it even better of a show, I mean, that’s what we do first. That’s why we’re always turned in, playing in, acting like it’s a practice, playing to each other…that’s why we do it.
Marc: It’s a bad habit of ours, we’re all turned at each other and we don’t look at the crowd.
Adam: I’m sure the audience doesn’t like to see our backs.
Dan: Yeah, I think the thing is, you can’t really tell from a crowd. I mean, there have been times when we’ve definitely learned lessons as far as crowds not responding to you at all, and then we’re super bummed about the show, and then you sell a ton of merch so obviously kids liked it.
Justin: It just differs from state to state, city to city, people just react differently. I think San Diego is one of the places that is really hard as a touring band to play in. People don’t react that much. So we get really excited when we play and people react to us here. San Diego is a tough crowd to please.
Adam: Definitely.

Kayleigh: Where do you get your influence for your lyrics? Is it from experience?
Dan: Yeah, it’s personal experiences I think, like whatever just happens to be going on. I know a lot of our songs are about being poor and about being on the road and stuff like that.
Marc: Are they, really?
Justin: “Feel the Ride.”
Marc: I think we write a lot about learning and growing up as people and life experience and things like that. Whatever we’re feeling really strongly about at the moment. I could never sit down and write lyrics when I’m not feeling really upset or really happy or feeling something strong enough that I want to put it down on paper. I think that’s the cool thing, that we actually really put a lot of ourselves down on paper.

Melissa: (To Kayleigh) Should I ask…
Kayleigh: No.
All: (want to hear question.)
Melissa: Okay…if you were a girl, what guy in your band would you be a groupie of?
Adam: Which guy would I want to get with in our band if I were a girl? I don’t know, that’s a really hard question!
Dan: I’d try to go for a four-way if I was a girl.
Adam: I’d be down for myself, actually. Yeah, I know how I work. I turn myself on.
Marc: I’d get with my brother but that’s not okay, so I think I’d probably choose Dan after that. I don’t know…now I don’t quite feel okay.

Kayleigh: Have you guys ever gotten recognized in public?
Adam: In San Diego, nowhere else.
Marc: And in San Francisco, nowhere else.
Adam: It’s not like, we go on tour and we’re walking around in the town that we’re about to play at, people really recognize us cause we’re not at that point yet. There’s been some places, like going to the mall or eating somewhere and it’s not like, “AAH!”
Dan: It’s like, “Oh yeah man, I saw you sometime at some show.”
Adam: Yeah, it happens.
Marc: I think more than anything else on tour we get, “Hey, are you guys in a band?” just cause we look like we’re in a band.
Justin: No matter where we are, we’ll be in Texas, white trash central, in a gas station…
Dan: He’s speaking of a town in Texas, not all of Texas!
Marc: But we’ll be somewhere like, everybody in the gas station is sitting at a table wearing a holster with a gun in it and they’re like, “Hey, are you guys in a band?”
Dan: Yeah, that’s fucked up man. I don’t like guns.
Adam: The more obscure the town the more we stick out. It’s like, “Hey, you guys must be in a band,” and I’m sure the gas station employees at the places we stop at get used to bands that come in on tour to fill up so we kind of get that question a lot, “You guys in a band? What’s the band called, what do you guys sound like?” We have to answer that a lot.
Justin: Occasionally we sell a CD that way.
Adam: We’ve sold CD’s to cops that have pulled us over, other bands that we meet in gas stations, random people, it’s funny.

Kayleigh: So who’s been your favorite band to tour with?
All: Benton Falls.
Adam: We’ve toured with a lot of really good bands, the band that we’re probably closest to is Benton Falls.
Marc: They’re from Santa Rosa, California.
Adam: they’re an amazing band, their record is wonderful and they’re great guys.

Melissa: What other local bands should we check out?
Adam: Well in San Diego that’s hard, because in San Diego there have been so many great bands that we love and that have influenced us…Pinback, No Knife. Bands that aren’t around anymore, like [Drive Like] Jehu, and Three Mile Pilot.
Marc: Three Mile Pilot’s put out a new record…I think as far as up-and-coming bands, I’m really into this band called Hot Like a Robot, I think they’re really cool. There’s The Plot to Blow up the Eiffel Tower.
Adam: ? To the Rescue, Rochelle Rochelle of course.

Kayleigh: (To Melissa) Is that everything we need?
Melissa: Yeah, I think so. Thanks, guys.
All: No problem.

http://www.counterfit.net
http://www.negativeprogression.com

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