Interviews

Saves The Day

Interview with Chris on Nov 30, 1999 by Archive Bot

PB: I totally was amazed by your performance at Lupo's in Providence, Rhode Island on The Vagrant Tour. How do you keep your attention even when fat girls are shaking their saggy boobs in your face? Also, how does it feel to play in front of such an insane crowd? STD: First of all I don't appreciate the snide comment about fat girls! Second of all it's wonderful because they show their appreciation that way. It can be weird... people get up there just to like demonstrate something about themselves to the audience like "this is my moment hear I am" and they bump you on stage and push you around. I don't care about that stuff. It can be a little funny ya know? It's funny to watch people get up on stage because they have no idea what to do and they're just like "wooooooooo" and they kinda fall back. It's cool!

PB: Please finish the following sentence. Here I am to say the day, ............................
STD: Here I am to save the day. That sounds like a complete sentence to me. Here I am to save the day, but anyone can save the day it doesn't have to be me.

PB: I do you think your new album "Stay What You Are" compares to your other two albums? What's behind the title?
STD: The title can be read an infinite number of ways. That's part of the appeal for us. We like the fact that it's got some complexity to it. It's just the natural progression from album to album. It's not like "Through Being Cool" sounds anything like "Can't Slow Down". 

PB: What was with the switch to Vagrant from Equal Vision? How has Vagrant aided you as a band?
STD: We got to spend a lot more time in the studio, and I think one of the biggest things is that they have better distribution. We knew our music could get out there to more people which is nice. It's not like why we do it, but at the same time I feel that we have something to say to people, so you might as well get it out to as many people as possible. It's not about how much money we can make or fame because that's all a joke and that's not going to make anyone happy. They also have a lot more people working for them so it's easier to get things done and look where we are right now.

PB: What are some of the influences that have really had an impact on your musical life?
STD: Well, the biggest thing are The Beatles. That's the only thing I've been listening to lately, and by far is the most important band of my life. Bob Dylan, Pixies, Talking Heads, Bjork, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Bob Marley, Chuck Barry, and the list goes on and on. There is so much music we listen to now. I think our ears have become decensitized to punk music. I just can't listen to it anymore, because it just doesn't do anything for me.

PB: The song "At Your Funeral" is about imagining a friends funeral in the future. What inspired you to write this song and is it about anyone in particular?
STD: That's like one idea of idea of death that we have. Like they die and then they are buried. There's also a more metaphorical way of thinking about it. You don't have to die phsyically, because there is this thing called an ego. Something we think we are, and that can be killed so to speak. 

PB: How was your mini-tour of Japan and did they teach you how to say "emo" is Japanese?
STD: To say emo you say emo. There's no special word. It was really amazing. It was an amazing trip and was the kind of thing where we got there and there were people waiting at the airports and train stations and hotels and stuff. It's not like we were playing to that many people, but they were just so enthusiatic and wanted to be at the shows. It wasn't like they were just there going through their emotions like so many people do here when they're at the shows.

PB: Please tell me about the first band Sefler some of you were in, and how you made the transition to Saves The Day?
STD: Sefler changed a lot. Sefler is just a continuation of the first band me and Bryan were in.....we just kept changing musical styles until finally we hit upon this one where someone actually wanted to release the songs. That's when we became Saves The Day. Sefler went through various faces of alternative music like the Smashing Pumpkins type stuff. Then there was a very pop/punk Green Day, Rancid, Jawbreaker kind of thing. Then eventually it became faster, faster, and faster. Sefler was just this term we made up. We were really fucking kids back then and we still are really strange people. Sefler was A. Sefler who was a person who had fantasies about having sex with Santa Claus so that's who Sefler was.

PB: If you were challenged to a jello wrestling match with the guys of Midtown who would win, and how would you overcome their super emo powers?
STD: Well...... we would definately lose because we're wimpy dude. We don't believe in that kinda thing. I've never been in a fight, but if someone come up and punched me I would have no idea what to do. I would stare at them and I don't know.... I wouldn't fight back. Lets put it that way.