Interviews

Interviews: As Friends Rust

Smother: How was the Keepsake and Further Seems Forever tour back a while ago?? I kick myself for not making it out to any of those shows, it sure must have been great! Also how was your European tour near the end of '01?

As Friends Rust: That tour was really great. It was our first chance to really get acquainted with each other on the road since forming the new line-up, so it was a cool experience in the sense that we finally truly met each other. The shows were the best that they'd been for us in the States, and we had the privelege of touring with two awesome bands that have good fan-bases.

The European tour was phenomenal, and by far the best tour we've done in Europe. The response to the new album was overwhelmingly positive, we had mad publicity and promotion, and toured with today's best hardcore band, Strike Anywhere for the 2nd time (1st was summer 2000 in the States).

Smother: Do you think that this new lineup will be more permanent? It must be very difficult to go through as many lineup changes as you guys have undergone.

AFR: Yeah, I think this one will last. It's not that our line-up changes are frequent (the last line-up lasted 3 years), it's more the fact that we never just lose one person at a time... it's always like 3 people in one fell swoop. We also have never been more "on the same page" as with the new dudes. We really understand each other now.

Smother: Being from Florida how did you guys feel during the 2000 election crisis?

AFR: Like embarrassments.

Smother: Do you guys think you'll be doing another split any time soon? Who would be your ideal band to do a split with?

AFR: We have spoken about doing a split EP with Strike Anywhere, though neither band has extra material now, and we have no label in the works. I would love to do something, anything with Propaghandi.

Smother: What are your upcoming tour plans and what would be your ideal tour?

AFR: We are just now starting to get booking (East Coast and Mid-West) underway for Spring Break and for many of the weekends following. I am in school full time this semester, so no big tours will happen until May, at which time we want to do a full, extensive US tour, probably alone.

Smother: How is the writing for your next EP out on Equal Vision going? Are you guys still going to go with the name "A Young Trophy Band in the Parlance of Our Times"? That's a pretty funny title. Do tell how you came up with that one.

AFR: It's coming along incredibly. I think people will be even more thrown than they seem to have been by the album. It's another total departure from the expected style, and is very playful.

The title comes from a line in the greatest film ever made, The Big Lebowski, where Walter, referring to Bunny Lebowski, says "Think about it, Dude... A young trophy wife in the parlance of our times, owes money all over town." and so on. Floyd, our guitarist, thought it would be a good twist and an interesting title, so we stole that fuck shit.

Smother: What has been in your CD player lately? Any new influences that you're going to take into the studio with you?

AFR: Lately I've been listening to a lot of The Herbaliser, Citizen Cope, Clouddead, Jets to Brazil, Peter Tosh, Spoon and that new Burn EP. I don't really know if any of those bands influenced the new songs in any way, or if they will be apparent on the recording if they did.

Smother: In each interview we do we like to ask a particular question that always generates a pretty unique response. What would you do or say if you met someone named Carbomb?

AFR: I would probably just have the person repeat it, for clarification, and then just remark that I think it's an interesting name, ask how the name came about, and ask whether or not they get a lot of shit for it.

Smother: Well that pretty much wraps this up. Do you have anything else you'd like to close out with or let our readers know about?

AFR: Nope, that's it. Thanks for the interview. Check out our new album "Won" on Doghouse Records and the upcoming EP on Equal Vision Records, due out in May 2002.