Interviews

Whippersnapper

Interview with Andy on Nov 30, 1999 by Archive Bot

This interview was done via phone by Joeri Voogt back in April 2001 with Andy from Whippersnapper. 

I assume most visitors of punkbands.com already Whippersnapper, but for those who don't, introduce the band. Hi, I'm Andy and I'm the singer for Whippersnapper. Whippersnapper is ..... on guitar, ..... on the drums, ...... on bass and Mike ...... on guitar. We're like, a melodic hardcore band or new school punkrock band or whatever you wanna call it.

How did you guys get signed to Lobster Records, 'cause it's not a really wellknow recordcompany ??
Yeah, well.....Shawn Dewey from Lagwagon put out a sideproject on Lobster Records called Buck Wild. Shawn Dewey was the original guitarist from Lagwagon who wrote Mr. Coffee and all those tunes. We heard about the label who put out his sideproject and we went out to California on our own, like, we just got out of highschool and we started touring. So we got out to California and Lobster wanted to see us. We played a couple of shows and Lobster was really cool about getting back to us and after a while we just kinda build a relationship with them and they signed us up. It was pretty much after that trip to California, 'cause it was basically a band who was just willing to work they were happy to have.

It's been a year and a half since the Long Walk came out, are there any plans for a new record in the near future ??
Yeah, totally. We've got four new songs and we've got three that we already recorded. I'm not sure exactly when the record's gonna come out, 'cause we're gonna put the rest of the songs together, but we're hoping to record in the fall of this year and have it out either in the winter or at the latest I'm hoping it would be in the beginning of next year. It's just that we've been doing all this touring and we're about to do a bunch more, in fact we're coming over to Europe in June all the way through July.

What were your first musical influences ??
When I was really young I like thrash and metal, like DRI, Metallica and Sepultura, anybody who was just "balls to the wall" basically. Plus, when I was young I loved Zeppelin and my parents liked fifties popgroups like the Beach Boys and stuff, so I had that around. Plus, they liked country and truckdrive music, so I heard that a little bit. When I was a kid, I think it was mainly the Descendents, DRI and Dag Nasty, stuff like that, who made me wanna play "hardrock". Everyone kind of had different influences, as far as when they were younger, but I know the drummer was totally into Primus and all the metalbands, all that kind of stuff. I think my first rock-n-roll band was "Joan Jett and the Blackhearts". 

Whippersnapper's music is a lot more technical than the average punkband. Another band who plays a more complex and technical punkrock style is Propagandhi. Did they have any influence on the band's music ??
Oh man, we wore out "How to clean everything" [Propagandhi's debut album] when it first came out. I know Jason [........] loved that record and I loved "Less talk, more rock" [Propagandhi's second album]. I haven't really heard their new one yet, but they definitely rip it up, so I would say they were definitely an influence who we were all listening to. They're probably one of the best punkrock bands who came out of the whole Fat Wreck Chords.

Do you play any instruments yourself ??
I can barely play the guitar and piano, but I'll leave it up to the people who know what they're doing.

Have you had any vocal lessons ??
I did a little bit, but I never really had vocal lessons. I was in the chorus or whatever in school, 'cause it was a way to sing at school and sort of practice that at school, plus it was an easy class and there were always chicks in there, it was great.

How do you guys write songs ??
The other guys write the whole song and then I write the vocal melodies after they're done with the song. So I try to kind of fit it to whatever they're doing. We'll change things around so that it fits the melody better a little bit here and there, but for the most part it's like a two step thing. You know, they write the song and all and what they're thinking about and I'll work of off that.

Do you have a favorite Whippersnapper song and if so, why that particular song ??
Well, every time we write something new it's my favorite for a little while, because it's new and totally different. My favorite song from the first record was probably "Bottom line". We still that one, 'cause it's really fun to play and it's so like a second nature that you can just go off while your playing. And "The long walk".........I think "Blinded" was one of the better ones that we did. It was a little harder than our other songs and I kinda like that. Right now, my favorite song is the one we just wrote. I'm pretty excited about it.

The new songs you wrote, are they a different style or whatever ??
It's a little bit different than "The long walk", because we lost a guitarist after "America's favorite pastime", this guy Dan and than we picked up a new guy named Mike. We also had a different bassplayer, although he has been with us since "America's favorite pastime" came out. So we got these new guys and we're all trying to proof to each other what we can play, what we can do and just making these songs [from "The long walk"] with lots of crazy shit, but it's not like we've alienated whoever was listening to it from getting what was going on. These new ones are a little less crazy, but still complex in a very "cookie-suit' way.

So more "song-oriented" stuff ??
Well, more "song-oriented", but at the same time we're trying to make sure that the song rocks, as much as possible. It's not at lightning speed like it used to be back in the day, 'cause these guys have been listening to lots of different stuff. It seems like our musical taste has blown up. Everybody listening to jazz, even hiphop a little bit here and there. We're not gonna incorporate that, it's mainly gonna be rock and stuff, but if you listen to different stuff, you wanna do different things. 

Do you have an overall message that you are trying to spread with Whippersnapper or is it just about having fun ??
Well, I sort of have a message, but I don't really think of it that way. We just write songs and I tend to say the same things about not accepting what people tell you and about living this passive life that you, supposedly, have to take, especially over here [US]. 'Cause you go to highschool, you gotta go to college if you want to make more than a certain amount per year and if you don't go there than your a bum. You gotta find your own path and that was kind of the whole focus on "The long walk", find your own way and think for yourself. I don't want to be a message-oriented band. We just play because it's great and than I can hopefully say the things that I wanna say.

What inspires you lyricwise and what's more important to you, lyrics or the music ??
I think they're both pretty damn important, but it seems like a lot of people are neglecting lyrics these days, 'cause I've heard a lot of bands that are great bands, but their lyrics are just crap. They're just about toilet humour and whining about your girlfriend or something. I think that you got to go beyond that sometimes, I mean it's good every once in a while to do that, but not all the time. As far as inspiration goes, I just go with people I know, people around me and what they're going through. I put myself in their position sometimes, just trying to write from other people's perspective, that kind of thing. So it's basically like "living" is the inspiration for lyrics, I guess, what else is there ,really ..??

Do you do anything besides the band like a job or college ??
In Atlanta I was working on these roadcrews where these big shows would come through. It's not like it was really cool, 'cause you do like AC/DC or somebody, but usually it was Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears or some of that pop crap that's popular right now. It was basically setting up stages and soundsystems, that was really cool, but I moved to Athens recently, which is a pretty cool little town in north Georgia, so right now I'm telemarketing, which is call people up and try to get them...well, actually I don't even call people up, they call me and order creditcards, which is pretty ridiculous. I hate it, I'm looking to try to find something else, which is hard to do it all at once, 'cause I do the band all day and than go to work at night, get off of work and go to the bar.

Do you like other music besides guitar-oriented stuff, like techno or whatever ??
You know, I've never really gotten into the dance very much like techno and stuff like that. I've got friends who are into that, they let me listen to it a lot. I like some of the drum and bass stuff a little bit, but I'm more like a rock guy. I have been listening to some classic stuff like The Who, a little bit here and than and definitely jazz. Jazz is great, 'cause there are no lyrics and there are people who are doing insane things with the music from a long time ago. It's a shame that nobody really cares about it, but I also like some Johnny Cash, I don't know, all kinds of stuff.

Well, that about wraps it up, thanks for the interview !!
Okay, thanks for the interview and everything.