For a band that supposedly was on the verge of breaking up at this time last year, Crime In Stereo is doing pretty darn well. In fact, they seem to have undergone a complete 180. The band’s latest …Is Dead has been well received by new and old fans alike, new tours are in the works, and they’ve finally found a label to call home with Bridge Nine. It wasn’t surprising to find Alex Dunne (guitars) and Kristian Halbert (vocals) in very good spirits when Late Night Wallflower got a chance to talk to them after their set at Philly’s First Unitarian Church. No, really. It was at times difficult to transcribe the interview because of all the giggling.

I’m really into the new CD, I’ve been listening to it nonstop since I got it. I noticed it’s pretty different from your older stuff, and I just wanted to go through how that new sound came about, and what made you guys decide to follow that route.

Dunne: Well, there’s really no way to word this properly so I don’t sound like a complete douchebag. But, we love our fans. We love everybody that loves our band, even if they only like the first record or whatever. But anybody that has supported our band in any way, we love you. So let me put that out there.

Halbert: Hallelujah.

Dunne: Aside from that, we all kind of have this opinion like, “Fuck everybody.” And not literally like “Fuck the people who like our band,” you know, we’re very grateful. But as musicians, musically, we have a “fuck you” attitude. We don’t wanna do what people want us to do. We don’t wanna do what people think we’re going to do. Everytime we go to write songs or make a record, it’s really about personal growth. Unfortunately, we can’t take into account the opinions and judgements of every single person that likes our band. It was like “What kind of record can we make?” We thought we really stepped it up on The Troubled Stateside (Nitro), we thought that was some next-level shit. And thats where we were at, and it was time to do some more next-level shit.

Keep reading for more of Leah’s interview with Crime In Stereo after the jump.

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Tags: Interview, crime in stereo, interview by Leah
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I had a chance to talk with Brooklyn-based illustrator and designer Steak Mtn., AKA Christopher Norris. Over the years, he has made a name for himself through projects with bands, including The Draft, Atom & His Package, and Fake Problems. You’ve probably, however, seen most of his designs through Against Me!. Chris has built a creative relationship with the band that includes doing artwork for 7-inchs, tour posters and most recently, The New Wave Collection, a line of t-shirts that represents every song on the band’s most recent album New Wave.We chatted about drawing and design, how his relationship with Against Me! began and what he has lined up for Steak Mtn.

Why did you move to New York from Florida five years ago?
Chris: I came here with a girl I was dating. She wanted to go to school. Right about that time, I started taking what I was doing a little more seriously. I didn’t have a college education. I was just in crummy bands and toured and I ended up laying out and drawing pictures for records. You’re not really world-weary until you get into a big city and see that you aren’t the only kid that draws pictures.

Read more of my interview with Steak Mtn. after the jump!

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Tags: Interview, Steak Mtn., interview by Matthew
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About a month and change ago, I had a chance to sit down with Chris McCaughan of Sundowner and The Lawrence Arms.

Let me preface this by saying that this was most the most drunk I’ve ever been during an interview. I wasn’t like face down on the table but things were a little looney tunes. In fact, I was afraid to listen to the tape for so long because I figured I made a complete ass of myself. Two dollar PBRs will do that to you. After getting over my cowardice, I realized I had some decent stuff on this tape. It was mostly me and Chris rambling about music and life, not that different from any other bar room conversation.

Chris had just played a show with Chuck Ragan at NYC’s Knitting Factory and he was winding down his 2007 touring schedule at this point. Although he admitted he was exhausted going into it, the show was incredible and it was obvious that he was pretty speechless because of the whole experience.

It’s been a huge year for you. You had the solo thing really take off it seems.
Chris: I’ve been fortunate and lucky to go out and play shows by myself. It’s a small record and that’s fine but I just got some cool opportunities.

You went into this thing as it being your own thing. Separate from the Lawrence Arms and all that. Has it come to a point where you think you can do this by yourself?
Chris: I started this initially just doing some acoustic shows around Chicago. I played some of the songs that I had that weren’t Lawrence Arms songs, but I played a bunch of Lawrence Arms songs also. I talked to Toby from Red Scare and he was like ‘man, if you make a record, I’ll put it out.’ I needed a kick in the ass to be like ‘hey, I’m actually going to finish this record. I’m going to write these songs.’ I had no necessary aspirations about where it would go. I always wanted to make an acoustic record. It’s a whole different experience playing by yourself on stage. It’s cool when I have Neil [Hennessy. Drummer, also in The Lawrence Arms], Eli [Caterer. Guitarist] and Jenny [Choi. Cello and keys] playing with me because it feels like a band. I don’t feel quite as exposed. It’s different than anything I’ve ever experienced honesty.

Read more with Chris after the jump!

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Tags: Interview, Lawrence Arms, Sundowner, interview by Matthew
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Raw, dirty, straight-up. A shot of vodka or Kissy Kamikaze? Who knows. Either way, this New York punk band, including scene veterans Andy Shaw (formerly of INDK, Morning Glory) and Tibbie X (formerly of the X-Possibles), are ready to kick ass and not even bother with taking names afterwords. That’s cause names are for suckers.

The band were recently nice enough to take some time and answer my annoying fanboy questions about punk rock in NY.

So when and how did Kissy Kamikaze come together?

Tibbie X : I took some time off after X-Possibles broke up and then decided ‘ok, I gotta have an awesome band again.’ Posted on Craigslist. Suzy posted something about looking for a female singer and I was looking for female punk guitarist. Carrie is the only non-suckass female drummer I know in NYC so I Internet stalked her. Andy was a gift from Carrie.
Suzy: I realized I knew Tibbie, or at least knew of her ‘cause our old bands played a show together once.’ So it was less of a strangers hooking up thing.

 Read more of the interview after the jump.

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Tags: Interview, Kissy Kamikaze, News, interview by Costa
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A lot of Bouncing Souls fans were surprised when they found out lead singer Greg Attonito was releasing a children’s book with his wife, singer-songwriter/actress Shanti Wintergate. I, however, thought it was a totally logical step. I have a vision of Greg and Shanti on PBS thirty years from now, singing songs and sparking the creativity of children, on a larger stage. Whether that happens or not, the duo’s book I Went For A Walk is an inspirational tale that not only provokes the imagination of youngsters, but also the youthful spirit that exists in everyone. I had a chance to talk with Greg, while he was visiting family on Long Island, about his experience with creating the book.

How did you and Shanti come up with the idea for the book?
Greg: We are both musicians. She does a lot writing, music and all sorts of creative stuff. She had started writing this story when she was at a restaurant, just hungry and I guess that kind of spurred her on. Within about a week or two, it was obviously a children’s story. [Shanti was] not really intenting to ever be a children’s book writer; she is just more of a musician and an actress. We both loved [the story]. We kicked it around for a while and we thought that this would be great [and] how were we going to illustrate it. I thought I would give it a shot. Shanti gave me a little prompting too and said ‘you should do this too.’ I did two or three drawings and thought they looked pretty good. That began the job creating an entire book that was cohesive and that is when it became kind of hard. I had to make it all work as opposed to making one or two drawings that look cool. It was a long process; it took about five years. I would just do it when I had the time. Most of it when I was traveling on tour and I had a minute here and there.

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Tags: Bouncing Souls, Greg Attonito, I Went For A Walk, Interview, News, Shanti Wintergate, interview by Matthew
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