Interviews

Interviews: The Impossibles

The Impossibles were a ska-rock band straight out of Austin, Texas. After Four years of being together, the band broke up last year, never to be heard from again... until now. Rory was one quarter of the Impossibles, the secondary vocalist, guitarist, main songwriter and lyricist. Rory was born in Alabama, raised in Austin,and was quite the portly young lad. After kissing a girl for the first time at fifteen, he started a rock band (presumably in the hope of kissing more girls), quit school two years later, and never looked back. Interview done by Jimmy



Smother - Rory, you were in the highly acclaimed (by those who knew about you guys) ska/punk group the Impossibles. To much dismay, you guys broke up a while back. Can you talk a little bit about why you decided to split up?

Rory - Most of the break up just had to do with the fact that we never anticipated how far the impossibles would go in such a small amount of time. Don't get me wrong, I know we weren't huge by any means, but we just didnt expect to be touring all summer with bands like MU330 (who we are huge fans of). It's almost like we knew that was our goal, but when it came so suddenly there were members who weren't ready to deal with it. Gabe, for example, really wanted to finish school and have a normal life, which I dont begrudge him at all, and he just couldnt see acheiving that goal and being in a working rock band. Basically it came down to two things, Some of us didn't want to be full-time rockers, and the rest of us weren't willing to try and replace them. Personally, I feel like if I had tried to keep going with the impossibles with new guys filling in, it wouldn't have been right, and I wouldn't be happy.

Smother - What were your writing responsibilities in the Impossibles? Did you do any lyric writing?

Rory - I wrote almost every lyric in the impossibles... and I hate writing lyrics... for me, I can write music all day long, but when it comes to writing words I clam up, and that has alot to do with why we only wrote about one song every month. The music was more of a collaboration, but the main ideas were always mine... I hate to sound like a bill corgan type, because I dont think the band would have sounded the way it did without Gabe, Craig and Pat. They definetly added alot to the final product.

Smother - To those just checking out the Impossibles, can you answer the question: "Which singer is Rory??? There are two singers and I don't know which one he is!"

Rory - I was the one who starts Plan B... 'push pinned my picture to your wall..' that's me... we used to always say that gabe was the choir boy vocal and I was the screamer.... I think it usually made for a good mix.

Smother - What's the story behind Francis, the bear? Or is it pretty much summed up in the song, "Francis," on your "Back 4 the Attack" CD EP?

Rory - FrancEs (he's a boy, so it's spelled with an 'E') did indeed come from thrift town for 65 cents... The part I left out is that I acctually bought frances for my girlfriend at the time, but I fell in love with that bear. I still gave him to her, but I acctually ended up stealing him back at some point. She was actually really mad about it at the time. I feel kinda bad about it, actually, but what can I say? I'm a man in love with a teddy bear. I guess the whole 'oh, why'd you take frances away' part is more fictional, but I was kinda anticipating him being taken back by my ex.... but to this day he still sits their in my room, big neck and all. A funny side note is that I acctually had a friend in Colorado make frances his own Impossibles Jersey, with the number '65' on the back.... it's adorable.

Smother - From what you know, and in the time period you guys were together, how much of a following did you get? If I'm not mistaken, you guys really didn't do too much extensive touring while you were together.

Rory - We basically did about 3 months of touring... we did the west coast up to San Francisco, the mid-west, the south, and florida... I was always amazed at how good of a reaction we got, because we were basically nobody's on tour with great bands. Our following in Austin was probably our largest, and it was simply amazing. I still dont fully understand how those shows got so big, but I'm glad I got to experience it.

Smother - What was your favorite part about being in The Impossibles?

Rory - Definetly playing in Austin. There's just something about really being able to rock your own hometown that just makes you feel a certain way. We also got to play amazing hometown shows with some of our favorite bands like Animal Chin and the Hippos. Our crowds were so great... I think there was really a feeling that everyone was there to have fun, and it was such a positive experience I'm glad I got to be apart of it.

Smother - Can you talk a little about the Impossibles Anthology CD coming out in April on Fueled By Ramen records?

Rory - The Anthology started out as an idea for selling CD's in Japan. Basically Japanese Distribution companies dont want to take EP's, because they cant sell them for enough to justify the cost of shipping them. Since my favorite songs are on the EP, I proposed the idea of just putting both records together and including all of the outtakes from our first demos and our two covers we recorded. John figured this would work out for the best, so we just decided to stop pressing the old CD's, and put out the anthology. I'm super happy with the way it came out... the artwork looks very classy and it's been re-mastered as well. It's very much how I would like for the band to be remembered, and I hope people are happy with it, especially if they couldn't find the old releases. It should be out April 20th, so check it out!

Smother - Okay, so now you're in a new band and you also have a CD coming out this year. This is probably news to a lot of people who were Impossibles fans, so what's this new project, the Stereo, all about?

Rory - The Stereo is me and Jamie (the singer-guitarist-songwriter from animal chin). We're looking right now for a drummer, and Matt from another band I was in called Imbroco is playing bass. Basically I'm so excited about this project that it's hard to find the words to talk about it... it's far and away the best thing either me or Jamie have ever worked on, and I'm super excited about playing the songs live. The whole project was put together when Jamie and myself were both working on solo pop-rock projects after animal chin broke up. When the idea came up that we should work together, we both jumped at it, I think we've both had a lot of respect for each others songwriting... After hearing Jamie's stuff it was crazy how well it all went together, and the songs we collaborated on are some of my favorites ever. It's basically a very rock oriented record, with many elements of 80's style pop mixed in. I hear alot of journey, rick springfield, and queen in there, and we even have some Joe Jackson-ish piano songs. I really want people to hear it, so much so in fact that I already posted some of the rough mixes at http://www.soundz.com/impossibles/thestereo As soon as it's mastered I'll be posting the final product on the stereo site, which should be at www.fueledbyramen.com.

Smother - I've heard the two mp3s of the Stereo you have available on your site, and I think they're really great, but they're different from the style in the Impossibles. Was this the direction you wanted to head in musically after the Impossibles, or did you just find yourself there through experimentation?

Rory - Well, actually after the impossibles I was in another band called Imbroco that was kind of an emo-rock jimmy eat worldish type of band. We recorded an EP and then we broke up, but I think in many ways that kind of sent me back to straight up pop. I mean I liked being in imbroco alot, but I think being in that scene playing that type of music really reinforced the fact that I really like writing positive poprock songs as well. Also working with Jamie has changed the way I write, and I think everything changes the way you write, be it the people you're working with, what experiences you've had, or just where you're at in your life at that moment.

Smother - So how different is the Stereo from the Impossibles, atmosphere wise?

Rory - I think the Impossibles had a tendency to be kinda cutesy and funny, and I dont think the humor in the stereo is that blatant. like, I couldnt see us writing a song like 'eightball', but at the same time there's a song on the stereo record where I sing 'we'll play all your records, we'll knock knock knock on heaven's door, like G n' R Slash on guitar' which is by no means a serious dramatic line. There are still some elements that will be the same, like for instance we're not going to wear uniforms, but we definetly plan on making our stage dress uniform-like. I like the idea of a band that is striking visually, and so does jamie... so hopefully it will translate well.

Smother - What are your plans for touring and such for the Stereo?

Rory - Right now we're looking at our options for touring in june. We're a very new band and not very many people have heard us, but we are looking for an opening slot with someone we like and who likes our music as well. I'm sure by the end of the summer we'll have done at least a few tours, and hopefully it will become part of our routine. I'm a huge fan of touring and travelling, and I know jamie is too, so I'm sure it will happen.

Smother - If you met a guy named Carbomb, what would you do?

Rory - That's funny because one of my favorite bands is Carbomb. I guess I would say 'Goddamn, you got one bad ass name, carbomb'.

Smother - Do you have any weird hobbies or habits, like collecting furs or sleeping with hairdryers, fear of plastic, anything like that?

Rory - I think the weirdest thing I do is stay on the computer all day and all night long when there's stuff I should be out there doing and experiencing! get out of the house for christsakes! But instead I sit here and read books on dreamweaver 2.0 and get fat.

Smother - Personally, who has been the biggest musical influence on you?

Rory - I would say that if it wasn't for kurt cobain I probably never would have picked up a guitar. I know it's really cliche, and I'm sure there's a ton of people my age who would say the same thing, but it's really true. I really respected how he was a songwriter and not a guitarist. He barely ever used anything more than bar chords but he made some of the most beautiful songs and melodies ever. I also take alot from the beatles, but I dont think you can be writing music nowdays without listing them as an influence. Basically I guess I just have the same big generic influences most people do.

Smother - Who has been the biggest non-musical influence?

Rory - My best friend Vincent Perini has been a gigantic inspiration to me. He's in art school in florence italy right now, and I think he is the most talented motherfucker I will ever know. I miss him alot, and I think secretly my whole goal of being in a band is just to tour europe so I can visit him.

Smother - Is there anything you'd like to say to the readers?

Rory - The Impossibles really really appreciate everything that has come our way. People have been so amazing to us, we'll be forever in your debt. Thanks!

Jimmy