This interview was done on May 3, 2003 before the .hopesfall. show with Tamora, The Beautiful Mistake, and Every Time I Die at The Scene. Thanks to Josh for taking the time out to do this. All the random stuff was put in just because.

Melissa: So which questions are you tired of answering in interviews, so I can cross those out?
Josh: “Where are you from,” “how did you start,” and “where did you get your name?”
Melissa: Okay, that’s three questions I can cross off right there. Just for the record, can you state your name and what you do in the band?
Josh: I’m Josh, and I play guitar, and just for the record, we started in ’98, we’re from Charlotte, and we just picked the name…yeah.

 Hopefalls (picture courtesy trustkill.com)
Melissa: How did the changes in your lineup affect your sound and the chemistry of the band?
Josh: Honestly, ever since we started the band, it’s always been a collaborative effort, so there’s been no, like, particular—
Jordan: Hey man, what’s up, how ya doin’?
Josh: Ah, come on Jordan, get in on this.
Jordan: Ah, an interview, huh?
Josh: Jordan’s our merch guy.
Jordan: Hey.
Melissa: Hey, what’s up?
Josh: Come on Jordan…Jordan! Answer some questions, dude.
Jordan: What is it for? (He looks at my question sheet.)
Josh: It’s for sandiegopunk.
Jordan: Is it for ESPN?
Melissa: Haha, no…it can be, though.
Jordan: Well, good luck with that, man. Do a good job.
Josh: Okay.
Jordan: Well, before I forget, how much do I owe you?
Josh: Five bucks.
Jordan: Five bucks?!
Josh: Yeah, dude. Alright, I’ll see you later. (Jordan leaves and the interview continues.)

Melissa: Uh…do you still deliver pizza?
Josh: Yeah, when I go home I deliver pizza. It kinda sucks, but I have to do it.

Melissa: So how’s the tour been going with The Beautiful Mistake and everyone?
Josh: Oh, it’s been really well; this is like the fifth week of the tour, so it’s been really long and tiring. Since Every Time I Die joined the tour, it’s been a lot better, a lot more fun… The only downfall would be in Salt Lake where, like, Celebrity kinda got jumped… They got beat up, so they had to go home. They got beat pretty badly.
Melissa: That’s horrible.
Josh: Yeah…

Melissa: So what are your impressions of the San Diego scene so far?
Josh: This is our fourth time…yeah, this is our fourth time here and every time it’s been great, we love playing here. Especially at The Scene. Alice, the lady who runs this place, is really fucking nice, so it’s cool. Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah, The Scene is one of my favorite venues.
Josh: Yeah, we played at The Epicentre one time, and it was cool cause it had like internet and stuff, but I think this place is way cooler.

Melissa: How’d you guys do in school? I know a couple of you graduated from college.
Josh: Yeah, I went to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and I graduated with Honors with a history degree. The whole reason I took history was, like, I figured if I was gonna pay for four years of school, I’d take something I enjoy. But, like, I have no idea what I could possibly do with a history degree.
Melissa: You could become a teacher.
Josh: Ah, I don’t know about that…I honestly don’t have the patience for that, not for me.

Melissa: Um, let’s see…how would you describe your music to someone who’s never heard it before?
Josh: Um…I don’t know, kind of heavy but melodic. Like rock with screaming and singing. I have no idea what to label it, though.
Melissa: Yeah, like…why do you think that people have to label genres as “emocore,” or “metalcore,” or “post-hardcore?”
Josh: I have no idea. Like, it’s just music, I can’t figure it out.
Melissa: How do you feel when you guys are compared to…I know a lot of times you’re compared to Poison the Well, sometimes Thursday.
Josh: I like both those of bands, I don’t think we sound anything like them, you know, I’m not going to be mad at people who do it, because they’re both cool bands and cool dudes. These are our friends Ashley and (I couldn’t hear the other name, sound check was going on.)
Everyone: Hey.

Melissa: So everyone has that one record that they listen to when they’re feeling depressed, or euphoric or whatever, and it’s always relevant and you can always find something new to appreciate about it. Which record is that for you?
Josh: Me and my friend used to have a joke that Siamese Dream by The [Smashing] Pumpkins…we called it “Old Faithful” because you could listen to it anytime and like, for any reason…and I also feel that way about You’d Prefer an Astronaut by Hum. Those are two of my all-time favorite records, I listen to them happy, sad, bored, tired…whatever, excited. Love ‘em, love ‘em.
Melissa: Do you like Billy Corgan’s new band?
Josh: Zwan? Oh yeah, we’ve got the CD. We listen to them.
Melissa: How do you feel when people say that one of your records does that for them?
Josh: It’s pretty cool. That’s a huge compliment. Like, you never really know how to take it, you know? Because I’m like, “why?” Sometimes I’m like, “yo, you need to find a better record!” But like…I don’t know, it’s pretty cool.

Melissa: What do you think about bands like Taking Back Sunday, Coheed and Cambria (I gesture to his C&C shirt) that have some hardcore elements in their music with the screaming and stuff, but are…I guess lighter, so they attract a broader audience?
Josh: Honestly, I don’t know, like…we’re on Trustkill, so we have a lot of heavy parts, but we honestly really don’t consider ourselves a hardcore band. We actually, we did better on the Coheed tour than we did on like, the Shai Hulud tour. I don’t know, we love playing to different audiences. In the end, we want to draw a variety of different people, we don’t want just heavy kids. Um…really to me, the bigger the scene is, the more opportunities smaller bands get to spread their music around, and that’s cool. I’m into it.

Melissa: Do you have any tour stories you think you can share with us?
Josh: Like, what kind of tour stories? I got all kinds of stories, I think you’ll have to pick a subject.
Melissa: Um…do you have any funny ones?
Josh: Any funny tour stories…let’s see here…I’m trying to narrow it down to a good funny one. Um…hold on. Normally, I have an answer ready to go for this question, but for some reason I’m drawing a blank. Funny tour story, okay. We were on tour with Shai Hulud and Atreyu, in Orlando, Florida, and we pull up to the show, it’s like a matinee at four o’clock and there’s a line of like 700 kids outside when we pull up, like three hours before the show. We’re like, “yes! Our show’s gonna rule!” And then we find out that Good Charlotte’s playing right next door, and so we were like, “yeah!…aww.” So, you know, Benji and Joel are there filming All Things Rock and they come up to us and they’re like, “hey, you guys are in the band that’s playing the matinee show, right?” and we’re like, “yeah!” And they’re like, “well, we listen to Shai Hulud because Chad from New Found Glory used to be their singer, so we just wanna invite you and the whole touring package to see our show later and to come hang out with us.” So we’re like, “cool.” So after we play our show, which they came and watched, we went over with them, they got us into their show for free, took us out drinking like all night, paid for us, got us into all these like, bars with huge lines of people outside, walked us right in. And dude, that was really fun. We ended up hanging out with them ‘till like three AM; I ended up talking to Benji about like why he took a job at MTV and like, it was really cool.
Melissa: Whoa, imagine, it's Good Charlotte.
Josh: Yeah I know, they were really cool dudes, we were impressed.

Melissa: What’s one of the worst experiences you’re ever had on tour?
Josh: Oh my god, I think easily one of the worst experiences would’ve been like five days ago in Salt Lake. We were playing a show and they’ve got like uh…I don’t know, a lot of tough guys there, um…and I think they came out to the show with honestly the intention of just hurting people. And it was like thirty of them jumped Celebrity. Their drummer was asleep in the van; they jumped three guys, it was a thirty-on-three fight, they beat the shit out of them, kicked them in the face while they were on the ground…like messed up their jaws, sent them to the emergency room. They couldn’t finish the tour, they were supposed to be playing tonight, you know?
Melissa: That’s so fucked up.
Josh: Hands down, that’s the worst experience that’s happened on tour, it fucking blows. So we’ll never go back to Salt Lake.
Melissa: Ever?
Josh: Yeah… Which sucks, because there were a lot of nice kids there. It was a few losers, those thirty people who were being dickheads and ruining it for everyone. So the show got shut down, they called the cops came and shit, it was gay.

Melissa: Wow. Let’s uh, try to get onto lighter topics…I read in your bio that you guys set individual goals for each step of your career, like play a show, then play a show at an actual venue, then record a song. What’s the next step?
Josh: Next goal is, uh…try to get on tour with like, a really really big band. Right now, that is our goal. We got the Coheed tour, which was amazing. We need more tours like that, so our goal is to try to get on tours with like Thursday, Poison the Well, Glassjaw. That’s our immediate goal right now. To stay sane, cause we’ve been on tour for a year, and get on those tours, with big bands.

Melissa: So when you guys are on tour, I know bands put a lot of energy and emotion into what they’re doing, how do you try and cope with that?
Josh: Ah, dude, um… It’s really weird because it’s strenuous on friendships in the band and out of the band, especially with like, your girlfriend. I don’t know, it’s not easy, but I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything, but uh…it can get strenuous. I don’t wanna complain about it though. We feel privileged to be in the position that we’re in, but it’s not all fun and games. You just kinda… Each person kinda deals with it in their own way. Me, I just kind of don’t talk about the things that get me down, you know? Just try to keep a positive attitude about it. And I know that’s really fucking politically correct, and like, “I’m happy,” but I mean, honestly, it’s either that or cry (?) sometimes.

Melissa: Let’s see…when I was doing my research for this interview I came across a lot of really good praise about your band, like “they’re one of the best new bands in the scene,” and “they put Eighteen Visions to shame.” Does that kind of stuff create pressure, or is it just like, “whoa, why are you telling me this?”
Josh: It’s weird… Like, I know this sounds shitty, but like, the only reason I’m in a band is because I enjoy it, and we make music that we enjoy and we have fun doing it. So um, people telling us… Oh, especially, I kind of take offense that “we blow Eighteen Visions to—“ those guys gave us our first break. They gave us our first big tour and we love those dudes. I don’t know, I don’t really feel pressure, I just don’t want our fans to feel let down by any of the music that we put out in the future. But then at the same time, it’s like… If we like the music, we don’t really care what anyone else thinks. That’s the whole reason we’re doing it: to satisfy our own creative needs.

Melissa: Are you guys planning on doing any recording?
Josh: (laughs) You know, we recorded last April, and mixed in May and then went on tour in June, and we basically haven’t been home for more than two weeks at a time. So we really haven’t had a chance. Cause when you go on tour for seven weeks in a row the last thing you want to do is practice and write songs when you get back home. So we’ve written a few little things here and there, but nothing substantial. We’re taking a two-and-a-half-month break this summer, and we’re gonna write a lot of stuff then and demo it. We’ll see if the creative process is fast, we’ll end up in the studio sooner, but we’re not gonna rush it. We’ll just take our time and write the songs that we want, and whenever it happens we’ll go to the studio.

Melissa: How would you compare The Satellite Years to your first EP?
Josh: Uh…to No Wings…I think The Satellite Years was a maturation of the ideas that we were doing on No Wings, a progression, and whatever the new stuff is, it’ll just be…I’m not gonna say it’s going to be like Satellite Years, it’ll be a progression from what we were doing on that record. There’s a lot of similar ideas as far as like being melodic but trying to be heavy at the same time. I don’t know, I don’t really know how to describe it. It’s weird.

Melissa: Besides things like being able to play shows but being away from your family, what are the best and worst things about being on tour?
Josh: The best and worst things about being on tour… Definitely the best thing is traveling and meeting new friends, it’s really fun, you go all around the country and there’s people that we know and like being on tour with your friends like Every Time I Die, we met them on the Eighteen Visions tour, we’re great friends. Every time we go to Buffalo we stay with them, and when they come to Charlotte they stay with us if we’re around, you know? It’s fun to go on tour with your friends, experience different things… That’s definitely the bonus. The hard part about it is when you’re sick and tired, like “ah fuck this, I hate the people I’m on tour with” and you realize “I have six more weeks to go,” and I can’t really think about it or I’ll make life harder for myself, so you just have to put up with it, keep your mouth shut and move on. So probably the worst thing about it is that it’s strenuous on your relationships, stuff like that.

Melissa: What bands do you think people should check out?
Josh: Celebrity definitely, the new Every Time I Die record comes out July first, it’s gonna be fucking incredible. Uh…new bands, new bands…Code 7, they’re playing here with Dredg not too long from now. Dredg is a really good band. I’m looking forward to the new Deftones and the new Third Eye Blind record. Scarlet, a band called Scarlet is amazing, they’ll be huge.

(Jordan wants to borrow a light, a conversation ensues that I’m too lazy to type up.)

Melissa: What band are you most embarrassed to listen to?
Josh: Most embarrassed to be listening to…um, my girlfriend made me a mix CD of like all these really bad 80’s songs that I really like. Like that song, what’s that one, with Meat Loaf and that duet with this girl, “and I need you now tonight/and I need you more than ever.”
Melissa: Oh yeah, the video where he’s the monster.
Josh: Yeah, that probably. But I like it. I don’t know, I’m not really embarrassed about it cause I crank it.

Melissa: Do you have any closing statements?
Josh: I don’t know, I don’t really… We’re bringing back hippy sports, so we’ll be…I think more people should start hacking and throwing Frisbees and stop beating up others. That’s my closing statement.
Melissa: Alright, thanks.
Josh: Thank you. I hope you get some good material out of that.

http://www.hopesfall.com
http://www.trustkill.com
Hopesfall interview by Melissa Ferrer.

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