Answered Questions:
“you guys should bring out Person L on tour. you guys cool with Kenny?”
we love kenny, that’d be a fun time for sure!
“I've seen you play in Charlotte nearly every time you guys have came, yet I've never seen you play A Drag In D-Flat, please for all that is holy play it next time. Beer for rewards.”
sounds like a fair trade.
“Are any of you guys psyched that The Beach Boys are finally releasing The SMiLE Sessions?!? I'm a huge fan, and I'd assume you guys are too!”
i’m a huge pet sounds fan, and i’ve heard stuff from “smile” in some form or another. i am glad there will be an official release, and that it will come out on LP.
“favorite song off of the rise and fall of ziggy stardust and the spiders from mars? also with the daybreak documentary come with the cd or is it just off the itunes version? thanks :)”
i love everything off that album, but standouts would be soul love, moonage daydream, and hang on to yourself. i believe the documentary is part of the iTunes release only.
“Have you ever met Elliott Smith?”
Yes. He was very sweet, kind, and petite.
“Claudio, I bet you're pumped to write the drums for the next album. In the meantime, what's your favorite STD drum part?”
definitely stoked for the future! i think “anywhere with you” is one of my favorite songs to play, but there’s cool parts throughout the entire catalog!
“Favorite tv show? Comedy and Drama?”
currently airing? for comedy, i like modern family, eastbound and down, and family guy. for drama, i like entourage, dexter, walking dead, and mad men.
“Hey guys! So I've been an STD fan ever since I was smaller than a baby, and ever since then have wanted to see you guys live. Ever consider coming to South Africa to play some shows? If you do, I'll give you a balloon in gratitude...”
our friends in alkaline trio just played some festivals there and said it was one of the most amazing experiences ever. i’m sure given the opportunity it would definitely be something that we would consider.
“I see Arun at almost every Detroit show I go to. What's the best band you've seen in Detroit, Arun?”
haha, i hardly go out anymore! i guess you just happen to be at the same places i am when i do. i’m assuming you are referring specifically to detroit bands, so here are a few that i like – dale earnhardt jr. jr, jessica hernandez and the deltas, the sights, K.I.D.S, the swellers, fireworks, and the glossies.
“As a loyal STD fan and HUGE blues fan, I love that you reference Howlin' Wolf on "Stay." What other blues artists are you guys into? Son House or Blind Willie McTell? A blues cover would be INSANE, by the way.”
i’m a massive blues fan, grew up listening to it. i know chris is a fan as well. robert johnson, son house, howlin’ wolf, muddy waters, bo diddley, BB king, elmore james, albert king, john lee hooker, just to name a few! i love 60s and 70s rock music that was heavily influenced by blues, such as rolling stones, led zeppelin, the beatles, and hendrix. it’s definitely been a huge influence on the way i play guitar.
“what is the single most beautiful thing you ever witnessed in your life?”
An elderly couple, at a wedding, slow-dancing to Jay-Z.
“I saw you in Detroit about a year ago with Motion City Soundtrack and Say Anything, you guys killed it. What is your favorite city to play? Don’t feel obligated to say Detroit.”
i’ll say detroit, it’s where i was born and raised. always love coming home. some of my other favorites are chicago, NYC, london, san francisco, and seattle.
“what are some of your favorite sci-fi films? have you ever seen Sunshine? one of my personal favs ”
star wars! i also think gattaca is really good. i haven’t seen sunshine, yet, but it’s definitely on my to-watch list!
“Claudio, I would love to hear you play "When I'm Not There." It's by far my favorite Saves The Day drum part. If you guys could play that the next time you're in Rochester, Buffalo, or Syracuse, I would be ecstatic.”
that song is pretty fun on the drums. i’ll see what i can do!
“Claudio, do you usually tune your batter and resonant heads to the same pitch or one higher than the other? Your drums always sound balla!”
generally, i tune to the same pitch. however, i’m less concerned with pitch and more concerned with tone. the most important thing is a nice, even, sustained tone on both heads. good luck!
“91311?!?!? What does it mean?”
Well, if you add all of the digits, it adds up to 15, which is DIVISIBLE BY 3. If you add up the digits in 15, you get 6, which is also DIVISIBLE BY 3. Now, if you add 11319 (the mirror image) to 6 to 15 to 91311, you get 102651, which again, is also DIVISIBLE BY 3. What i’m trying to tell you is this: i like soft cheeses.
-rodrigo
“Why do you guys play songs off Through Being Cool differently?”
not sure what you mean exactly. i personally feel like the songs are the same in spirit and vibe. sonically things might be different, our modern interpretation of it, if you will.
-arun
“what guitars, amps, and pedals do chris and arun use live? I'm dying to know!”
i use fender guitars (teles and jazzmasters) and chris uses gibson guitars (es-336, les paul.) for amps, i use a fender super reverb, and chris has a bad cat black cat. our pedals are by zvex, electro harmonix, analogman, and some other weird shit.
-arun
“Just wanted to say that new jersey's starland ballroom show was the best concert i've ever been to...Arun, not sure if you remember, but during one of the first songs I threw you a solid thumbs up...sounded fantastic guys...so glad you rocked jersey and i cant wait to see you all again...great stuff, we all will be talking about this one forever”
that was a fantastic show, we had so much fun. i vaguely remember someone rocking in front of me giving the thumbs up. if that was you, thanks!
-arun
“Any plans to tour Australia again when Daybreak is released? Please.”
we’ve heard about some things in the works, but once we know for sure we’ll post the info here. i can tell you that we really want to come back to australia, so hopefully everything works out!
-arun