sandiegopunk.com

Exhibit F

Exhibit F interview conducted by Matt Pierce.
We all met at the Epicentre, outside, nice dark and windy. Everyone showed up in a different car, and we made like Swingers and each separately drove to the nearby Carl's Jr., where we proceeded with the interview.

Matt: How long have you guys been a band and how did you guys meet?
A long pause
Melle: Well don't all jump in at once!!
Chris: As our current form, we have been together for a year, or a little over a year. Although Melle and I have been together for about 2 years.
Melle: Yeah Jeremy dumped his hardcore band.
Jeremy: Yeah, our name was Drawn Close, and they were up in Orange County. It was a mutual dumping, I didn't dump them.

Matt: What is your goal as a band, do you want to be a popular underground band, do you want to be on MTV, or what?
John: We actually want to rule the world, that's my goal. I can't speak for the rest of the band.
Jeremy: I would say I would rather be a popular underground band then be a MTV band and sell out. I would rather make music that's interesting and challenging that we can share with other people and I think we can accomplish that better with an underground band.
Chris: I don't really think we'll be doing stadium tours anytime soon, due to our style, but if there turns out to be a market for it then....
Melle: We just want that fanatical fan base for us, that-
Jeremy: would kill themselves for us
(Laughter from all)

Matt: If you could play a show with any band, what band would that be?
Jeremy: Well besides Queensryche, I would love to play with Fugazi, because they are my favorite band.
John: I would have to go with Fugazi or Radiohead.
Matt: Who are some of your influences?
Chris: Like a band collective one?
Melle: Well, that's not going to happen, you got 4 different people that listen to four different things. That's what makes our music so unique.
John: I really like Brittany Spears (laughs).
Chris: I do like Fugazi and I do like Radiohead very much. But I use to really rock to AC/DC and Van Halen.
Melle: Well that's because you're a guitarist.
John: For me, currently I am listening to Fugazi, Death Cab for a Cutie, Josh Rous, Jonatha Brooke.
Jeremy: My influences would be Fugazi, like everyone said, Jawbox, The Nation of Ulysses, Botch, Drive Like Jehu; a bunch of other bands too.

Matt: How important are your lyrics in the process, when your developing music, how does it work?
Melle: Well first they bring the music, and they work it out.
John: Well, how we write our music varies. Sometimes I will come up with something on the drums, or someone brings something in and we go from there.

Matt: Melle, do you listen to a song and make lyrics, or do you already have lyrics, already written, and then match it to a song?
Melle: I already have a backlog of lyrics which I have already written, then I take a song and match it with whatever lyric I think goes best. Sometimes I do write lyrics just for the song though.

Matt: What song do you play that gets the best reaction from the crowd?
Melle: "Sliding". Except we have a new one called "Ugly & Unsincere".
Chris: I think people have gotten into "Slip Away."

Melle: Alright, what's the difference between live and studio, and how do we like it or not?
Chris: Melle is interviewing herself now. (Laughter)
Melle: Well, studio work, I don't really like studio work, because you can feed off the people live and the dynamics are so different then when your in the studio, where its really sterile and everything.
John: I actually like studio work, but that's because I am twisted, and-

Melle: Alright guys, what's it like having a female singer??
Jeremy: It's different from other bands I have been in where it's all guys and your playing testosterone fueled hardcore music. Most of our fans were white guys with shaved heads. Like when girls hear, " Oh your girl's a singer? I mean, your singer is a girl?" they're like all excited about it.
Chris: We have a girl singer? I thought Melle is a guy's name.
(laughter)

Matt: On your bios, most of your influences are old bands, do you like older bands better, or do you not like the way newer bands are forming?
Melle: For me, I listen to all kinds of music, I don't stick with one style of music, I don't really care, as long as the singer says something that I am interested in hearing, I just haven't heard anything lately that is interesting to me, it all sounds like the same kind of sound.
Chris: There is good stuff coming out. I have been excited about the last two Radiohead CDs I have been excited with coming out. I really do like Rocket From the Crypt.
Jeremy: The big part of it too is were all old, I am 26 and I am the youngest person in the band, plus at least for me, I'm pretty much a nerd and don't get out much.
John: For me, I have heard some things that I have been really stoked on, like Radiohead, the new Fugazi is killer, like a lot of the stuff they play on radio stations just sucks.
Melle: I know they play the same stuff every hour. No song is meant to be heard 30 times a day.

Matt: When you play shows, and you have fans standing up front, do you expect them to just listen to the music, do you expect them to start a pit, what do you expect them to do?
John: Well for me I expect them to enjoy the music and if that means starting a pit, then go for it. If you want to sit in the back and listen to it, good.
Melle: Most 21+ shows wont let you start a pit anyway. But whatever the fans want to do is fine with me.

Matt: What band would be a good band for you to open up for, not like a big band, but a local band?
Chris: It might not be too good of a match up, but I would love to open for Rocket (From the Crypt) or Sprung Monkey.
Jeremy: We almost did play with Rollins Band, but we got bumped, he changed his plans to Street Scene.
Melle: I went to Street Scene, I went to see X, Rollins; ticket prices are getting up with those shows though. If I am going to pay 50 bucks I better see a "show".

Matt: Do you ever get sick of your music?
John: I haven't gotten sick of it yet, well, since I do the mixing and stuff, after hearing it 50 times a day, by then I don't want to hear it again that day, but I never get sick of hearing it, and I don't get sick of playing it.
Melle: It's awesome sitting and watching your band make music, and play music that we write, and I think what we write is a little more technical then a lot of what's out there.
Jeremy: I can see us getting sick of stuff, in time.

Matt: If you could be on any label what label would you be on?
Melle: Our own. Just kidding but seriously, it couldn't be a major label, probably an indie label, which gives us complete freedom.
Matt: What would the name be of your label?
Chris: We have a problem with names.
Melle: Yeah names aren't a good question for us.

Matt: What does your name stand for?
John: Absolutely nothing.
Melle: Yeah, Jeremy works at a law firm, and..
Jeremy: Hey can I tell the story? (laughter) Yeah, I work at a law firm, and I look at legal documents all the time, and each have exhibits attached, and I saw this thing that said exhibit A on it, but that's too generic so I went down the ABCs and I came to F and it sounded the best. I didn't think it was that good of a name but everyone else liked it.
Melle: We went through hundreds of names. We knew all of us would have to agree on the name.
John: The three guys wanted something with Jawa in it.
Melle: A lot of people think the F stands for female, or the f word, and its not. It's just what we came up with.
Matt: What were some of the band names that no one liked, that were just terrible and hilarious?
Melle: Estrogen Cowboys
(Lots of laughter from everyone)
Chris: Burning Jawas
John: Never Frozen
Chris: That lasted about an hour.
Jeremy: There was the Gargantuan Proportions.
John: There were a lot of Jawas, like Jawa Death Squad

Matt: What unusual things happen in band practices?
Melle: Jeremy becomes Rob Zombie.
Jeremy: I like to do rock star actions, like lick my bass. Shake my fists in the air a lot. Point fingers, when I point my finger at my girlfriend she gets really mortified.
Chris: Melle has to literally dodge Jeremy's bass.
Melle: Yeah he gets out of control.

Matt: What are your shows like, do you just play music, do you crack jokes, talk to the crowd...
Chris: Its not terribly unlike our practices. We just kinda chat a bit between songs, a lot of goofing off, playing our music.
Jeremy: I would like to see more interaction between us and the crowd.

Matt: OK, last question, what are your plans for the future?
Jeremy: I think we all want to sell out, join a major record label, and hit TRL by next year. See us in Behind the Music in 5 years.
John: More like where are they now?
Chris: They see the story and ask what the heck that was about?
Jeremy: What we're trying to record right now, it will be something like an album, will be out this year? It keeps being pushed back
Chris: We have almost all the songs written, but not recorded..

Matt: Do you guys want to tour, or just play a bunch of local shows?
Melle: Well, we wouldn't have the audience to play a tour, so we will stick with local shows right now.
Matt: When you do get big would you like to tour?
John: I would love to. I would love to travel the U.S. and do an European tour.
Melle: I think bands try to tour too fast, they don't even have their hometown crowd pumped, and their already going to different cities. We want to get the hometown crowd and build from there.
Chris: We wanna rock the house, party all night long.

http://www.exhibitf.com