Interview w/ The Self Proclaimed Rockstars

Hey everyone!

Continuing on with my recurring feature of interviews with local artists that were featured as Artist Spotlight writeups here on the blog. This week, I have an exclusive interview with The Self Proclaimed Rockstars out of Wakefield, MA. This band has been featured as both an Artist Spotlight and I just reviewed their brand new album "Postcards From Purgatory" here on the blog as well which you can check out here: http://www.music-box-pete.net/2011/04/self-proclaimed-rockstars-postcards.html I recently had the pleasure of interviewing four-fifths of the band to get a little info about how they formed and what they have going on right now. Here is the full length transcript of the interview:

Give your names and what you do in the band? 

JOHNNY: I'm Johnny Malone and I am the singer.

MICK: I am Mick Greenwood. I play guitar, harmonica and sing just enough to make Johnny look better by comparison.

RJAN: I am Rjan. I guitar. I Rhodes. I producer.

JAMES: James Hogg. Bass.

MICK: If Steve were available he'd tell you he's our drummer and our head of recycling services. He would not be kidding about either of those.

How and when did The Self Proclaimed Rockstars form?

MICK: This version of the group started when Johnny and my old band (also called SPR) broke up at the end of 2009 and still had about 10 shows that we were committed to. We called the best kids we could find from our hometown and offered them temporary roles to get through the dates and then we figured we'd either shut it down or hold auditions. The shows went so well that everybody decided to stick around and make an honest-to-goodness run at success and now, here we are.

RJAN: A few years ago, Disney formed us as a "rockin boyband" to tour shopping malls around America, but abandoned the project before it ever got off the ground. We stuck together anyway and started writing our own songs. However, after all this time Johnny still doesn't realize that it's no longer a Disney boyband and constantly complains that the venues we play "don't have any good stores."

MICK: There's also that... 

How did you come up with the name The Self Proclaimed Rockstars? 

RJAN: We, stole it.

MICK: We did not steal it. I came up with it about 10 years ago. We all come from a hometown where, no matter how big you could ever become, they just weren't gonna care. We could make a platinum record and we would never be 'rockstars' back home. So, we figured we'd just nip that in the bud from the beginning and accept that we're self-proclaimed rockstars. It's funny because some people hear the name and think it's smug, when, in reality, we're making ourselves the butt of our own joke.

 What themes and/or subject matter does your music cover? 

RJAN: Drug dealers, making hay, our respective crazies, whisky, quantifying faith, sluts, qualifications for military service medals, cold war tensions, lost blankets, and boats (that are actually penises) 

MICK: Why do we keep letting him answer first? Our songs tend to describe all of the things that come with being unsatisfied with the "normal " environment we hail from, but we are almost perversely upbeat about it. We're the kinda guys who are far more likely to have a drink after a hard day and get up the next morning and try again. We're not so much the whiny types and we sure as shit don't write any of that "lovers' lament" bullshit. You wanna wax poetic about trying to get through your day-to-day while still working toward a dream? Give our record a spin. You wanna cry about your ex? There's still plenty of New Found Glory for everyone.

JOHNNY: Our songs are very tongue and cheek. We love to glorify the tragedy of the white middle class because it takes so much shit these days, but all well deserved. None of us have ever it very good or very bad so we're sort of trapped in the middle. I wish I could write some badass songs about getting shot then rising to the top, but the closest I come is a dart in the leg. We do however take the writing process seriously and every line is put there for a reason 

MICK: I like Johnny's answer the best.

If you had to categorize your music, what genre do you consider yourselves to fall under? 

JOHNNY: Gritty rock'n roll. We thrive on the essentials of what makes a good rock song and polish it up with dynamics

RJAN: Alternative rock. The sound of five guys who don't like a lot of the same music making music they all like. Led Zeppelin did that, they were all into different kinds of music that each of the other members weren't much into. They were Alternative Rock. But, when they started, Rock itself was still technically an alternative artform, so "alternative rock" would have been a tautology. They were an alternative to that. Fuck. Yeah.

JAMES: Somewhere between "butt-rock" and "genius".

MICK: You know, I have nothing to add.

How did you come up with the title of your latest album, “Postcards From Purgatory”? 

RJAN: You'd have to ask Mick, though I suspect he intended it as an allegory for the "liberal bias" in mainstream "Zionist" media, whatever that means.

MICK: Close! No, it's about being frustrated with and trying to escape from an environment that, at the end of the day, is still "home". You can't quite leave, but you don't quite fit. You're stuck. I think a lot of people feel this way, especially since pretty much everything we were taught about success in society turned out to be bullshit. This is a record for people like that.

What are your favorite songs from the new album? 

RJAN: Pretty Baby, Dirty Momma, Fallout/A Cold Sleep

MICK: Haymaker and Fallout

JOHNNY: Haymaker and Let's Get Naughty, Baby (Let's Get Nautical)

JAMES: Pretty Baby, Dirty Momma and A Cold Sleep

What do you guys like to do in your spare time when not playing shows? 

RJAN: Write music, practice, drink coffee, smoke cigarettes, watch the History Channel when it's about aliens or the end of the world, orgasm when those two things overlap and it's a show about aliens ending the fucking world, then when that's done and that fucking Larry the Cable Guy atrocity comes on I flip over to the Discovery Channel hoping for more scifi hysteria only to find American Chopper is on, flip over to History International and it's some bullshit about Jesus, go outside and smoke more, then I'll go on eBay and CraigsList and look at guitars and pedals for when I have money. I love to read, Dostoevsky is my favorite author, also Voltaire, Kerouac and Kafka. David Hume and Aristotle are awesome, too, when I don't want stories. I have a lot of heroes as far as music goes, but Richard Feynman is my absolute idol as a human being, I want to go back in time and make him sniff glue so I can be just like him when I get older. 

MICK: I love performing, so when SPR doesn't have things going on I tend to play the occasional solo show and have even been trying my hand at stand-up comedy. The day job keeps me pretty busy, but I make sure I participate in the creative community every single day (it's the only thing that keeps me sane). I'm also the music producer on The Steve Katsos Show which is a lot of fun and has filled the void that was created when the open mic I used to host got cancelled.

JOHNNY: I teach good ol history in a public high school. Working with kids pushed my patient meter off the charts, but I do love the challenge. When Im not working or playing music, I love to box. I've only been at it for a year and a half but the science of the sport is fascinating. 

JAMES: Drinking, Eating, Playing Bar Games, Sleeping

What does the rest of the future hold for The Self Proclaimed Rockstars?  

JAMES: Good things I hope!

RJAN: So unbelievably fucking excited about the future. In the not-too-distant future, we've got Dewey Beach, then our October residency at Precinct, the last show of which kicks off the Annual SPR Holiday Trifecta: Zombie Rock All-Stars, ThanksDrinking Day, and Christmas Sweater Jamboree. And that's all well and good; but, what I'm most excited about is the new material we're writing. We actually set out to record in December despite James' "recording in the winter sucks cause it's cold and low light and Seasonal Affective Disorder..." fuck that shit we're recording in fucking December cause we can't wait until spring and fall is gonna be too busy. And really, I'm absurdly excited about this new shit. Granted, bands always say they're so excited for their new material cause it's earth-shattering even when it's fucking U2 coming out with their bland new "I'm sorry we tried to change in the 90s here's some pretty delay pedal riffs that remind you of when you listened to us in college" record. Whatever, that's not why I'm saying it. Ask anyone in the band, I don't get excited about things, I'm a very morose person, and I'm really excited about what we're gonna be releasing next year because everything we've written for it so far has been really interesting, engaging music that gets stuck in my head when I leave practice.

MICK: Annual SPR Holiday Trifecta...I like that. The Dewey Beach Music Conference is something I'm really looking forward to. I think it's gonna be a blast and I can't wait. 

JOHNNY: Our goal is to become full time musicians who don't live out of a van. The music industry is a vicious beast but we feel confident in our music and business plan to not come away from this empty handed.  

MICK: There goes that lucrative RV sponsorship...

Any words you would like to give all your fans? 

JOHNNY: The sincerest thank you for keeping this dream alive. I love to thank fans by supporting them in their endeavors. Our fans are self-proclaimed writers, directors, business owners, etc... trying to make a name for themselves. It is so important that we show them the same support they show us

MICK: If you have a passion, go do it. Life and society have been designed to put themselves in the way of the pursuit of passion. Don't let it. It's never easy and it's often unsuccessful but it's so much more rewarding then letting the days of your life slip away paying bills and checking boxes. We all have day jobs and 'normal lives' and it's not easy to keep a balance, but I don't think we'll ever quit because it's who we are. We embraced this part of our identities and we're always so happy to encourage anyone to do the same.

JAMES: Thank you very much!

RJAN: Hi mom.

 Thanks once again to Johnny, Mick, James, Rian, and if he could be here Steve for this interview. They are hilarious guys and deliver an absolutely amazing show. If you haven't checked them out in concert, please do so it's well worth the price of admission. To check out the music of The Self Proclaimed Rockstars and to get info about upcoming dates near where you are, head on over to their official website at http://www.sprband.com Keep an eye out for a couple more interviews in the days to follow.