May 11, 2007
Self Against City – Blake Abbey, Jack Matranga, Jonathan Temkin, Jeff LaTour, Justin Barnes

This interview was done with Sara of Shiny Silver Fords.

C = Cath, S = Sara, B = Blake, J = Jack, Jon = Jonathan, Jeff = Jeff, Justin = Justin

S: For the record, can you state your name and what you do in the band?
B: My name’s Blake and I play bass guitar for Self Against City.
Jon: I’m Jonathan, and I play vocals.
J: I’m Jack, and I play guitar.
Jeff: I’m Jeff, and I play guitar!

C: What’s the best thing, in your opinion, about being in a band?
J: Traveling and hanging out with my best friends, who hate me, love me, hate me.
Jon: There are a lot of things. Traveling is fun, and playing music everyday is unbelievable. I don’t know, I think that some of the best things about being in a band are not having to do other things, if that makes sense. But we all love music, and that’s why we do it.
J: Music, for sure – that’s our answer. We get to create on a daily basis the thing that we love so much to be a part of our lives. It’s like creating your own happiness basically.
B: We make a lot of money. -laughs-
Jon: We’re rich right now.
J: Rich!

S: What made you decide to play music as a career?
J: I didn’t want a career. I didn’t want to work. I didn’t want to have somebody be my boss. I just wanted to do what I wanted to do all the time, and when I heard about rock and roll – that you could make a money, or make a living, or whatever you want to call how we live… you can do it.
B: We picked music as a career for music. Plus, we all like singing. We love to write music, listen to it, and sing with our own instruments.

C: If you weren’t in a band, what do you think you’d be doing instead?
Jon: Probably nothing.
B: I would teach kids how to be in bands. –laughs- I’m a pro.

S: What do you want people to take away from your music?
J: Everything we put into it.
Jon: If that’s possible. I don’t think it’s possible, but it might be close.
J: Everything we do in our daily lives just to get the point where we can write a song that people hear is so much. There’s so much pressure – self applied pressure, of course. There are just so many different aspects, like when you don’t have a job because all you want to do is tour, you have to do so many other things to be able to make that your life.

C: Your most recent album has been getting quite a bit of notice lately by MTV2 and local radio. As an artist, how is it to finally be in the spotlight? Did you expect this success or did you just hope for it?
J: What radio stations? They’re playing our song? Really?
C: There are three, I think. I can’t remember which ones.
Jon: Wow, that’s interesting.
J: We were unaware.
Jon: Which song? “Tequila Moonlight”?
C: “Ready & Willing”.
Jon: Weird.
J: I don’t think we believe that we’re successful - I think that we’re on the way. We’re trying really hard and we’re working very hard for it every single day, but success in my opinion is not necessarily…Wearing dirty clothes and living in a van every day.
Jon: Success isn’t just being on the radio. It’s something that’s in our heads, like an idea of accomplishing something. When people notice what we’re doing, we love it because it really does help us keep doing it. It perpetuates what we do. But getting on the radio and TV isn’t necessarily our idea of success because we have something that we want to do sonically and musically that has nothing to do with radio or TV.
B: We like it, though.
Jon: It’s awesome.
B: It’s cool. But the Internet is more powerful than the TV and radio these days. You can get on the Internet if you’re just a little kid with a clarinet and call yourself a rock band. ProTools and GarageBand are also highly effective and used these days.
J: I think success is relative and we’re working very hard for it.

S: How was the recording process for `Telling Secrets To Strangers` different from your EP?
J: I don’t think it was. Was it?
Jon: The differences were that for `Telling Secrets To Strangers` we had about twice as much time – we had two weeks to record instead of one. With `Telling Secrets...` we also had about seven days to mix the songs, whereas `Take It How You Want It` was just done in a couple of days by the engineer we recorded it with. We just basically had a little bit more time to get our ideas out. That’s still not as much as we want or need for our albums but we’ll get there.
B: One was recorded on the east coast and one was recorded on the west coast.
Jon: True!
B: `Telling Secrets...` was New York, the other was California.
Jon: Coast to coast… can you hear it? –laughs-

C: How do you think your sound has evolved from when you released your EP to when your full length came out?
J: It’s hard to say. It definitely evolved – I don’t know where it went, but it definitely evolved. We grew up and we experienced a lot in life and that helped us write `Telling Secrets To Strangers`. It was a good year and a half where we were learning how to live with each other, learning how everybody works and how the world works. Obviously, the more experiences you have the more you can show that in your songwriting and recording.
Jon: We definitely showed our ability to mature, topic-wise. We spread things across the board a little bit more with the album. It was just us learning more about how to do that, like he said. Experiencing more and having more to write about.

S: Your two CDs were released kind of far apart. In the end, did `Telling Secrets To Strangers` come out how you had envisioned? Is there anything you would change about how the CD ended up?
J: I guess I’ll answer the second part of that first. I don’t think we’d ever re-record anything, there’s no reason to. We do what we can do at the time and do the best we can do and that’s our standard. So, at the time, that was as good as we knew how to do as musicians and songwriters. With our next one, we’ve obviously come a long way and experienced a lot and learned a lot so our standard will go way up. We look back on it as it is what it is and we wouldn’t change it. I can’t really remember how I had envisioned things going into the recording. Going into the writing, I definitely had visions for what I would have liked the album to sound like. Recording in such a short time period definitely placed limits on what you are able to do and how well you are able to represent your songs.
Jon: It’s a quality thing. Obviously the quality could have been better – we could have spent more time on the production, we could have done a shitload more things to make it sound badass or more produced and more digestable but we want it to be raw and show exactly what it is we’re doing, songwriting wise. We actually just wrote everything that was on the album. There was nothing created by a producer or anything like that – it was all written by us.

C: Right now, you’re in the middle of doing a west coast tour with The Higher, Over It, and Everybody Else. How is that going so far?
Jon: Awesome. More kids are coming out to see our band than ever. This is the first west coast run we’ve done since the album has been released.
B: All the bands are talented.
J: Somehow we always end up touring with bands that are kickass live, which is cool. All the bands on this tour rock it every night, and that’s been one of the coolest parts about the tour – there’s no fake bands.
Jon: It’s been going really well.

C: Do you have any interesting tour stories?
Jon: Every day is an interesting tour story.
C: Well does anything particularly stand out?
B: A lady lost her glasses and I found them in the crowd.
Jon: Austin from Everybody Else left his wallet at a bagel shop and about two hours later, Jack found it.
J: I found a random wallet on the ground and I didn’t even know they had been there.
Jon: It was on an eight-mile drive nonetheless. We both stopped at the same spot. It was pretty insane. What else happened? All kinds of stuff. What kind of stories are you into? Something happens to us in pretty much every category on a weekly basis.
C: Funny.
Jon: Funny? Alright let’s see.
B: Zach got knocked over by a big dog.
Jon: The dog’s name was Diesel!
J: Zach, our tour manager, got tackled by a dog while trying to catch a Frisbee. It was pretty fucking funny.
Jon: One of the sound guys called Jack a little shit.
J: Yea! One of the sound guys called me a little shit. That was last night. That guy sucked.
Jon: That sound guy basically tried to fight Jack on stage because Jack set something on top of a cable.
B: Some girls started talking shit to Jon, calling him a fag boy and stuff.
Jon: Some seventeen-year-olds hanging out in a Burger King.
B: They challenged him to an arm wrestle. That was comedy.
Jon: Ask me… I beat her, yes I did beat her.
J: Our director of apparel, Drew Hall, created an alter ego. His name is now Drew Holiday when he throws on the Everybody Else leather jacket and the Tom Cruise sunglasses. It happens maybe once every three days.
Jon: If you have the chance to meet Drew Holiday on tour…
J: You’re one lucky son of a bitch! –laughs- He’s like Tom Cruise, but only as the alter ego. And he’s a doctor.
Jon: Well, a neurosurgeon. Whatever. Neuro-sleep studies or something.
-Justin walks over-
Jon: There’s our drummer, Justin.
J: There’s Justin, rolling up on the side.
Justin: Hi!
J: Funny tour stories is the question. We’ve all told one, what do you got?
Justin: What did you guys tell?
Jon: Doesn’t matter. What do you want to tell? Give us your perspective on any existing story.
J: I’ve got a funny one! Justin learned how to text message.
Justin: Oh… -laughs-
J: He’s the new text master.
B: He’s getting endorsed by textmealot.com.
Jon: Cingular actually sponsors him now.
J: Now he comes up to and interview and gets jugged. Text McGhee is his nickname, actually.

C: What are your plans for after this tour is over?
B: We’re gonna be pilots. We want to fly planes.
S: My dad is getting his pilot’s license.
Jon: Really!? Jack was just talking about getting his pilot’s license. We have a little time off between now and our tour with Valencia so we’re just going to be rehearsing. We have a couple college shows to do.
J: We’re going to go home and get a place to live sometime this week. Finally, we’re going to all live together. That’s going to be pretty neat.
Jon: We’re just going to make our live show as badass as possible and work on developing our band while we have time off. We’re not going to take a break or anything. We don’t need breaks.
J: The last time we got home I think we had about two days off where I personally told myself that there were no responsibilities that day.
Jon: I haven’t been on vacation in a long ass time.
J: Well vacation in my opinion means going somewhere exotic.
Jon: Or even just camping or going to the beach. We don’t get out. We need to go on a fishing trip I think.
J: I’m into that.

S: What advice do you have for younger bands?
J: Be real.
Jon: Be yourself.
J: Stay true to yourself.
Jon: Stop copying other bands and write your own damn songs.
J: There you go.

C: Self Against City was the first band signed to Rushmore Records. Were you guys at all hesitant to sign with a label that had no history?
J: We didn’t know what the hell was going on. We were like young and eager. We hopped aboard and didn’t give anything any second thoughts.
Jon: We didn’t know it was such a business driven industry, doing what we do. It’s definitely been a crash course that we somehow survived and learned from. We’ve been able to transform ourselves into a band that can operate in both worlds – the business side, the record label, and the real side, which is the music.
J: And the music is in control. As much as people would like to think the business is in control, the music is in control.
Jon: Without the music there is no business and everybody knows that.
J: I think very few people realize that.
Jon: Well we’re going to say it in every interview so eventually people will catch on.
J: True.

C: The first band on a label that tends to set the bar for future acts. Did you feel any pressure with being that first band, representing Rushmore?
Jon: Why not? Bring it on, shit.
J: Since we got a glimpse of what the record business and music industry is about, we’ve come to the realization that labels and businessmen don’t define your sound. I think a lot of people have this false interpretation of us being on Drive-Thru meaning we have to sound a certain way. That’s definitely not true at all. We’ve come to that realization recently.

Jon: We just realized that.
J: The record label and the “track record” of releases on that label have nothing to do with our sound whatsoever.
Jeff: Business in general has absolutely nothing to do with the band itself. That’s definitely a realization that’s taken us a long time, but that we’re very happy and very content with learning. We’re very excited to expand on it as we go along.

S: Do you have any jokes you’d like to share?
Jon: I’ve got a good one.
J: I don’t have any jokes. I don’t tell jokes.
Jon: Can I go first?
J: You can go first and last.
Jon: Ok, check this one out. –Gets up and walks away-
J: Is that it? –laughs-
Jeff: April showers bring May flowers. What do Mayflowers bring?
S: Pilgrims.
Jeff: There it is! Learned that one in third grade.
Justin: What’s the best nation?
S: Canada?
Justin: No nation. They steal all your money.
Jeff: We heard that one from a guy in Philadelphia.
Justin: A homeless man in Philadelphia.
Jeff: We gave him some change, we thought it was very clever. He had a few that were really good, but nothing we can share on tape.
J: Conan O’Brien knows jokes. That guy is funny. He knows jokes.

C: Can you describe each member of Self Against City in 3 words each?
J: Not even close. The people that are in this band are so much more complex than three words are capable of describing.
Jeff: In a very good way.
J: It would be very difficult.
Jeff: We’ll go ahead and answer that one with a “no”.
J: No, that is impossible.

S: If you had 3 wishes, what would you wish for and why?
J: I’ll take one wish. I would wish for money to not limit my capabilities, because it definitely does. That’s my one wish.
Jeff: I wish I could fly! –laughs- Flying would be pretty awesome.
J: That’s only two wishes, we’ve got one left.
Jeff: Justin, what do you have?
Justin: I wish my traveler’s diarrhea would go away.
-lots and lots of laughs-
J: Did you get that joke? This guy’s got jokes today!
Justin: That’s no joke, homie. I’m just kidding, I’m kidding. Two in one!
J: Uncomfortable situations, that’s for sure.
Justin: I’d wish for three more wishes probably.
C: That’s cheating.
J: Three? Son of a bitch, you always want more, huh?
Justin: There was no contractual agreement to what my three wishes were.
S: I can rephrase the question, actually.
J: I would wish for some Mark & Monica’s breadsticks right now.
Jeff: With a pitcher of Guiness.
All: Yea!
Jeff: I think that’s pretty much all we can ask for at this point. Maybe a place to live.
J: We’re working on that, we’re working on that.

C: If you were stranded on a deserted island with no food and no one but your band members, who would you eat first and why?
J: I think that the ingenuity of the group… We’d find a way to not have to eat eachother.
Jeff: We’re pretty good fishermen.
S: Actually, there’s no fish.
J: I think it would probably be more beneficial, if we’re all going to die anyway, to go out with a bang and end it all together at the same time in unison.
Jeff: Find a good cliff to jump from and try a good dive.
S: Is there anyone who would be chicken and not jump?
J: I think we’d hold hands. –laughs-
Jeff: But if I got my wish, I’d be able to fly…
C: You’d be the one to save them. Carry them all on your back to safety.
Jeff: Yea, or get food or a plane.

C: If you had to state 1 sentence why people should listen to your band, what would it be?
J: We’re real and we love what we do and we think that reflects and I think people can connect to something like that. Is that one sentence? Does that work?
C: Sure. It’s a run-on but…
J: Hey, whatever.
Jeff: Real music for real people.

S: Closing Statements?
J: Come see us live because live music is what it’s all about. We’ll be everywhere, always. So you can’t miss us.
S: Like God?
J: Far from it.
C: Everywhere, always.
J: Well I mean we’re on tour every day, so catch us in a city near you.