Interviews

Hot Rod Circuit

Interview with Andy, Rob and Shannon on May 18, 2007 by Archive Bot

You don’t get to interview a band that’s been around as long as Hot Rod Circuit everyday. Of course, to be able to interview the lead singer of Hot Rod Circuit as well as the lead singers of the other bands on tour with the Hot Rod is an especially rare treat. Lucky for me, I got to talk with Andrew Jackson (Hot Rod Circuit), Rob MacLean (Limbeck), and Shannon Burns (The Forecast) all at the same time in the foyer at Chicago club Subterranean after they played to a packed house. What transpired was an alcohol-fused funfest, with everyone sharing their thoughts on multiple topics and everyone being honest. Needless to say, it was an honor and I owe Jon Cheese big for hookin’ it all up.
 
By: Ian Lashbrook
 
First off, we gotta introduce everybody cause we’re doin’ a fuckin’ 4-way here!
 
Rob MacLean: This is gonna be wild, it’s gonna be wild!
 
Andrew Jackson: Sounds dirty!
 
RM: Hey, my name is Rob and I play in the band Limbeck.
 
AJ: I’m Andy, I’m in Hot Rod Circuit.
 
Shannon Burns: I’m Shannon, I’m in The Forecast.
 
AJ: And she rocks!
 
RM: And we are on the best tour in the world!
 
SB: In the woooooooooorld!
 
AJ: I totally agree.
 
Do you have a name for the tour?
 
AJ: “Kick ass tour.”
 
SB: Yeah! That works.
 
RM: Limbeck’s callin’ it “The Bears” tour.
 
Everyone: The Bears tour!
 
AJ: I think we’re all gonna get a bear tattoo at the end…
 
SB: Yes!
 
RM: Most likely.
 
SB: We are.
 
RM: But I don’t have any tattoos…
 
And you sing about it too, I think.
 
RM: Yeah, I do, I do.
 
AJ: I don’t know if I do or not [have any tattoos].
 
RM: [To Andy] Do you have tattoos?
 
AJ: Not at all.
 
None that you can see.
 
RM: [To Andy] You have tattoos!
 
[laughter]
 
Well, you guys are four days into the tour, right?
 
RM: Yeah.
 
AJ: It smells like a beer.
 
RM: It’s four days in and it’s four days of…
 
AJ: Beautiful times!
 
RM: Four days of letting us know we’re on the best tour ever.
 
[laughter]
 
Well, it’s a different kind of bill but it’s not terribly different. What do you think makes it hold together cohesively?
 
AJ: I think all three bands really complement each other and we all kinda hit some areas sometimes that are the same, so I think it kinda helps out. Like, we all have a little bit of country twang in our band somewhere…
 
RM: Sure, yeah.
 
AJ: It’s hidden somewhere. [Limbeck] have a little more!
 
SB: Yeah! You guys have got a little bit more!
 
RM: Maybe, maybe…I don’t know.
 
AJ: But, all together, I think these guys are rockin’ it out really hard - that is The Forecast, by the way - and they have a little bit of a country feel every little while. Same with Hot Rod and [Limbeck is] just fillin’ it out, rockin’ the night away.
 
RM: And you know what? The biggest thing for me is the camaraderie on this tour; it is just insane! Everyone loves each other. It’s a, you know, it’s a dream tour.
 
It seems rare to have a package tour in today’s music scene where everyone gets along.
 
AJ: I’ve been doing this for ten fucking years, on tour with the greatest bands in the world, and this is by far, hands down, my favorite tour and…I just spilled my drink all over Shannon.
 
[laughter]
 
SB: It’s okay! And I agree, I agree. And I think this is the best tour we’ve ever been on.
 
AJ: I don’t care if there’s five fuckin’ people here, the fact that The Forecast and Limbeck are here, that’s all that matters to me.
 
RM: And you know, the truth is, no, on every tour you don’t really love every band, you don’t really wanna watch every band and, regardless of getting along with bands…because, you know, at the end of every tour, everyone gets along; even if they’re assholes, everyone gets along.
 
AJ: This is different, though.
 
RM: This is different! I actually stay inside the show and watch every band.
 
SB: I’ll have to remember that.
 
RM: It’s a lot of fun, it’s a lot of fun.
 
Well, I’m curious, and we’ll get one of the hard questions out of the way, everyone here is on a label that has at least some drama attached to it. [Limbeck] is just finishing up a contract…
 
RM: Yup.
 
[Hot Rod Circuit] is just starting out on Immortal and [The Forecast] is on Victory…
 
SB: Yeah…
 
So, how are your relationships with your labels? We’ll start with Shannon. How does it feel to be on a label that’s getting a lot of flack lately and catching quite a bit of controversy?
 
SB: It’s a hard question, but…everybody who works at Victory, who is an employee of Victory Records, is absolutely amazing. They try and do everything that they can for our band and every band on that label. There’s flaws, just like I’m sure every label has its flaws.
 
RM: You know what, every label has flaws, honestly…
 
SB: Yeah, yeah. We’re gettin’ through it though.
 
RM: You can’t make everybody happy and, you know, when you choose a label, it’s like wow, there’s good things and everyone’s got their pluses, but it’s the lesser of evils, to be honest.
 
AJ: I mean…
 
Well, with [Hot Rod Circuit] starting out in Immortal, you guys are starting all over again…
 
AJ: We’ve been doing it for ten years and seriously, it’s like starting all over again, you know? We went from fuckin’ Triple Crown to Vagrant to Immortal and Immortal’s awesome, they let us do everything on our own terms. I recorded our record. We totally laid it out on the table and said we’re not gonna sign unless we get to record our own record and they let us do that and I think that’s awesome. That’s the best thing I can say about Immortal; they let us have complete control over our record. Not many labels will do that. Not shit talkin’ Vagrant, but I know for a fact they would have never done it. And, uhh, I’m just really excited for where we’re at right now.
 
RM: Can I give a little plug to Doghouse Records?
 
Go for it. You wanna get signed again, huh?
 
RM: We’re finishin’ up our contract with Doghouse and my positive thing to say about Doghouse is that…we are…I don’t think that there’s been any other bands in a long time - I’m gonna say the past three or four years - that have put out two records and three records, this is our third record with Doghouse, and they’re stickin’ with us. And we’re not…you know what, we’re doin’ really well and it’s a constant up but it’s a very slow up and they are…
 
AJ: Baby steps, that’s what we call it.
 
RM: Baby steps.
 
SB: Baby steps.
 
RM: And they are still about puttin’ out our records and even though they have other bands that have the potential to really blow up, they are still with us and still puttin’ out our records and, you know, there’s somethin’ to be said cause so many labels just drop the bands that they know aren’t gonna blow up…like BLOW UP! And they’re still stickin’ with us and puttin’ out our records and givin’ us decent budgets.
 
AJ: And [Limbeck] has fans every night, singin’ their songs; it’s awesome.
 
SB: It’s crazy!
 
Well, I talked to Rocky Votolato a while back…
 
RM: Ohh yeah, we all know him.
 
And he was talkin’ about how record labels deal with the “long tail” now, how it’s not about singles any more, it’s about pushin’ a band over long term. And I think Vagrant almost started that back with the Get Up Kids…
 
AJ: When we signed with them, they told us that we were a shelf-life band and it was like “what does that mean?” They basically think that you’re gonna sell records ten years from now because kids are gonna think that you’re The Ramones. And that’s cool in an aspect of things, but, it’s like, if you believed in our band enough to pay twenty or fifty thousand dollars to make a record, then why didn’t you put that into budget and pushing a band? They know we’re gonna go tour, no matter what the end of it is. Tomorrow, if Vagrant said “We drop you guys,” they know we’re gonna go tour, so they know we’re still gonna sell the fuckin’ record. And it’s just like they didn’t believe in the band anymore and, not to shit talk. I love Vagrant, there are good people there, like [Shannon] was saying with Victory. But, at the same time, they really didn’t believe in who we were and that’s why we left the label.
 
Also, [The Forecast] aside, you are all supporting fairly new releases. How do you feel about performing songs from the new releases versus past releases?
 
AJ: I fuckin’ love it.
 
RM: You know what, every band loves to play the new songs.
 
SB: Ohh yeah.
 
AJ: I don’t ever…!
 
Maybe we should talk to [Andy, he’s] been workin’ on it a bit longer! [Shannon,] how do you feel about playing old and new stuff?
 
SB: Well we’ve been playing [In the Shadow of Gunmen] for almost a year now, so…I never get old of anything we play. We’ve played “These Lights” a million times and I’m fine with that, it doesn’t bother me at all.
 
Ummm…okay, I gotta think…I had all my questions prepared for [Andy] and now I’ve got all three of you!
 
AJ: This is way cooler.
 
RM: This is the first time I’ve done an interview like this and…
 
AJ: This is how they all should be.
 
RM:…it’s a brilliant idea.
 
I’m curious as to where you each grew up, musically. As I said before, everyone’s sound is different but still ties together with basic aspects of rock music. Where did you each grow up and what has influenced you to arrive at where you’ve arrived at now?
 
RM: Well, we’ve been a band for almost ten years now. We’ve known a lot of other bands, that we’ve toured with…we’ve known them for two bands, you know? We’ve known their old band and we’ve known the new band and we’re still the same band, and yeah! You go Google that shit and you’ll see everything that we’ve done and you’ll see where we came from. When we first started out, we were really into that East Bay, pop-punk sound. We loved Green Day, loved Mr. T Experience, the Groovie Ghoulies, the High Fives, all that shit. That’s definitely where we came from…Screeching Weasel, being from Chicago and all. All those bands are great and that was a time in the nineties and from there, we’ve gone a lot of different directions. It’s just basically growing up with our band. We’ve all grown up a lot. We play music that we like and we’ve been a band for so long that there’s a lot of different music that can be heard from us.
 
As Rob is speaking, Shannon and Andy can be heard in the background loudly discussing the amount of “douche bags” that are in Subterranean’s downstairs bar, which is more like a club.
 
RM: And now with this record, we’ve been influenced by a lot of 70’s Beach Boys, like Carl and the Passions, The Flame, which is a South African band which is really a great band. You know, Big Star, Electric Light Orchestra, T Rex, all that stuff is goin’ into our new record and it’s great.
 
And at this point, Adrianne Verhoeven of defunct indie/emo rockers The Anniversary, shows up to see Andy. There is much rejoicing.
 
AJ: Does anyone know who this is right here?! You know the band The Anniversary?
 
Ohh yeah!
 
AJ: This is my girl right here! [To Adrianne] Gimmee a kiss! Ohh my god!
 
[To Andy] Okay, your influences; where did you come from?
 
AJ: Archers of Loaf!
 
SB: Fuck yeah, dude!
 
AJ: Umm…Superchunk, Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, The Pixies, Tom Petty, Guns n Roses…
 
SB: Keep going, keep going.
 
AJ: Jawbox, Chicago, Smoking Popes…
 
RM: Smoookin’ Poooopes. Nice one.
 
AJ: Bauhaus, Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine…there ya go.
 
[To Shannon] Your turn. Step up!
 
SB: Jesus, I don’t think I can follow that…
 
AJ: Wilco, Wilco!
 
SB: Wilco, there ya go. Fleetwood Mac…
 
RM: There ya go, nice one.
 
SB: Rainer Maria…
 
AJ: Beach Boys, Beach Boys!
 
SB: Beach Boys…
 
AJ: That’s my heart right there, Brian Wilson.
 
SB: The Allman Brothers, Patsy Cline…that’s all I’m gonna name, that’s it.
 
Uhh…ohh fuck, man, I’ve had too much to drink.
 
RM: I feel really bad takin’ so long to answer my questions.
 
[laughter]
 
RM: I was like, “Alright, I’ll tell you about us in the late 90’s.”
 
Just like last time with him, it’s all Rob Rob Rob Rob!
 
[laughter]
 
Alright, alright. If the three of you weren’t playing music, what would you be doing?
 
AJ: Karate. Professional karate tournaments.
 
RM: [To Andy] Would you really?
 
AJ: No.
 
SB: That’d be sweet if you were.
 
AJ: But I do have a black belt in karate, by the way. Not many people know that…I think I just made that up.
 
RM: [To Shannon] What would you be doing?
 
SB: I think I’d be doin’…
 
AJ: Dishes.
 
SB: No! I hate doing dishes. I do not do the dishes, by the way. No. I will vacuum and wipe down tables but I will not do the dishes.
 
RM: [To Shannon] I’m never gonna live with you. Ever.
 
[laughter]
 
SB: I hate doin’ the dishes! Wait, what was the question?
 
[laughter]
 
What would you be doin’ if you weren’t playin’ music?
 
SB: I think I would be doin’ something with music.
 
AJ: I’d be, like, smokin’ pot, livin’ in a ditch.
 
[laughter]
 
RM: You know what, this might sound bad, but if I wasn’t in this band playin’ music, I don’t know if I’d be doin’ music. I have so many thing that I get interested in, and umm…sewing, electronics, like I’ve been really pumped on…
 
AJ: Sewing’s great!
 
RM: No, c’mon, gimmee a break!
 
AJ: You get really drunk, rip your jeans, and you know how to patch’em.
 
RM: Exactly. Basically, makin’ shit, that’s what I’d be doin’. I’m into electronics really bad right now and, uhh, recording. Okay! I take it back! One of my big hobbies is recording music, so if I was not playing music, I would probably be recording music.
 
AJ: I have a studio and I produce and record bands, so that’s what I would do.
 
Alrigh. Okay, everyone’s favorite alcoholic drink on tour?
 
AJ: I like vodka and red bull a lot.
 
SB: I like fuzzy navels.
 
RM: I like whiskey and 7Up.
 
AJ: [To Shannon] I’m buyin’ you a fuzzy navel.
 
SB: Alright!
 
Don’t those come in a bottle now?
 
SB: I don’t know. My grandma makes fun of me for it.
 
Alright, If your band could open for any four bands, dead, alive, broken up or together, who would your band open for?
 
RM: I would love to open for Electric Light Orchestra. I would love to open for T Rex.
 
AJ: He’s goin’ for it! You might as well put David Bowie in there!
 
RM: I would love to open for Big Star. And, uhh…let’s make it more current; I’d love to open for Wilco.
 
Alright. [To Andy] Four bands.
 
AJ: All I’m gonna sy is we already did it. We did a tour with Superchunk, that’s all I gotta say. And we fuckin’ closed after Superchunk and I wanted to kill myself cause that’s the reason I play music and those guys have a fuckin’ big place in my heart and if I could do it again, I would do it in a heartbeat…except that I would play before them, not after them.
 
SB: Honestly, I think that we could play on this tour for the rest of our lives.
 
But that’s only two, we need two more!
 
SB: Okay! Uhh…I got nothin’, man…I just wanna tour with these guys forever…
 
AJ: The Forecast, Limbeck, we’re set.
 
RM: Fleetwood Mac.
 
SB: There ya go! I’d fuckin’ tour with Fleetwood Mac!
 
RM: Fleetwood Mac, Tusk era.
 
AJ: And if Brian Wilson wasn’t a crazy motherfucker, we could bring Brian Wilson along, too.
 
RM: You know what though? Honestly, I love the Beach Boys and I love Brian Wilson and his music. But honestly, don’t you think that if we were in the 70’s, that he would just be a fuckin’ asshole?
 
[laughter]
 
RM: Gram Parsons, too. Don’t we all love Gram Parsons?
 
Everyone: Fuck yeah!
 
RM: Don’t you think he was a fuckin’ asshole? I’m sure he was, he was a rich kid! And I’m glad I’ll never meet those people because then I can still really enjoy the music and I don’t have to have anything against them. I bet you if they were fuckin’ here today, we’d be like, “You’re a fuckin’ asshole douche bag and I don‘t wanna spend any time with you or like your music!” Thank god we never met those people!
 
Alright. I find that when it comes to writing lyrics, at least in rock music, it’s either very personal or you’re writing about the people around you or you’re fictionalizing; where do you think your lyrics fall out of those three categories?
 
SB: I would say, for The Forecast, I would say it’s definitely about what surrounds us, our friends and family and what goes on. That’s what it is for us.
 
AJ: I would say, for the Hot Rod, pretty much all three. I’ve written songs after I’ve watched a movie, like “Stateside,” a newer song, it’s about a movie called Stateside, which you probably don’t know about. It has the chick that played Josie in Josie and the Pussycats, what’s her name? If you said it I would fuckin’ know, I just can’t think of it right now.
 
Jennifer Jason Leigh?
 
AJ: No, it’s not her. She was the lead character.
 
Yeah, wasn’t that Jennifer Jason Leigh?
 
AJ: No.
 
SB: No, no.
 
AJ: If you said it.
 
I’ll get it by the end of the fuckin’ interview.
 
AJ: Look it up! But, Stateside, was a movie, I was just sittin’ on my couch, so cheesy…
 
Rachel Leigh Cook!
 
AJ: Rachel Leigh Cook, that’s who it was! Smokin’ a blunt, watched the movie and five minutes later, I wrote the song about the movie, and that doesn’t happen often. Most of our song are about bein’ on tour and all the shit we’ve experienced and sometimes fictional shit comes across.
 
RM: For me, it’s mostly personal. I mean, all personal. And, uhh…I don’t know. Everything I write about is personal. It’s my life and whether it’s real or not…if it’s not real, it’s about a dream. I have a few songs about dreams that I’ve had and, you know, it’s really fucking limiting because when you get to a point in your life where you got nothin’ to write about…
 
As we’re discussing this question, the other members of Limbeck keep walking by, lugging their equipment out to the van.
 
I’d like to point out that Rob is not loading out right now.
 
RM: Rob is in an interview right now, ya know? But, all of the things I write about are personal things. I wish I could be more like Bob Dylan and be like “ohh, let me think about something I’d like to do and write about it like I did it.” But I can’t do that and I haven’t done that. Maybe I will in the future, but everything I write about is personal and it’s like, “ahh, man, that guy’s boring” or “that guy’s cool” or “that guy likes to talk about traveling” - well, that’s what I do. I don’t like to talk about it that much because I don’t want people to think that I’m pigeonholing myself, like, “ohh, that guy likes to travel, he likes to be on the road!”
 
SB: That’s what you do.
 
You write about every fuckin’ city in the States!
 
RM: And I really don’t wanna do that anymore. I wanna talk about…I’d like to be home more and talk about that.
 
[laughter]
 
RM: Ya know? And I think I did that a little bit on the new record. Still gotta couple cities in there on the new record, ya know? I’m workin’ on it. I’d like to lie a little bit but I haven’t done that yet.
 
What’s everyone’s current musical obsession? What can’t you put down right now?
 
RM: Doctor Dog!
 
AJ: Man, I hate to say it…they’re my friends, but I love Circa Survive a lot.
 
Hell yeah! I saw them at the Metro the other night…
 
AJ: Have you seen their new show?
 
Yeah, with the fuckin’ projection screen! I was blown away!
 
AJ: Anthony’s like my little kid brother or somethin’.
 
[To Shannon] What can’t you stop listening to?
 
SB: Right now?
 
Yeah, right now.
 
SB: Uhh, right now, I’m really into the latest Fiona Apple record, I think it’s really, really good. I think it’s amazing. It came out last year and I’m still into it.
 
[To Rob] What about…ohh, you already said it.
 
RM: Doctor Dog has been a very, very listened to record in our van…really good, like really inspiring. And also, for myself, Mojave Three, I’ve been a big fan of for a long time, their latest record is really great, I love it all the time.
 
AJ: I’m gonna be back in two seconds, I don’t see my guys loadin’.
 
RM: I wish I was as brave as him, to leave an interview mid-interview to load out.
 
SB: When there’s still two left!
 
Alright, are there any questions for me?
 
SB: What’s the best interview you’ve ever done?
 
Limbeck at the House of Blues, hands down. They just kept feedin’ me Budweisers. [To Andy] How bout you? Any questions for me?
 
AJ: Not at all. It was very nice meeting you and please go tell everyone to buy our record.
 
SB: Do it! Hot Rod Circuit’s record is amazing! So is Limbeck’s new record, buy their records!
 
RM: I’m curious. I was there for the House of Blues interview and we talked about how we were skeptical of you at first. Do you ever have any bands that are skeptical of you interviewing them?
 
Umm, I’ve never had band’s that were skeptical but I’ve had bands give me very short answers, almost like they were rehearsed.
 
RM: Like they didn’t want to be there?
 
No, it just seemed like they wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. And you guys felt that way immediately but then you warmed up, so it was okay.
 
RM: So we were the only ones?
 
Yeah…I’ve had bands that just run through and give me their quickest, stock answers that they can come up with, and I don’t want that. That’s not what I’m lookin’ for. I wanna learn somethin’.
 
AJ: Well, I’ve heard a lot of great things about you. [Jon] Cheese [Limbeck’s tour manager] says great things about you.
 
What does everyone think about Jon Cheese?
 
SB: Cheese is amazing!
 
AJ: Cheese is a badass!
 
RM: Everyone loves Jon Cheese.
 
Buy his t-shirts!
 
SB: Yeah, buy his shirts!
 
Okay, last words. Everyone put in your last…
 
AJ: Last words - we’re all a bunch of fuckin’ punk rock bands at heart, no matter what music we’re playin’ and we’re all here doing it because we love fucking music. It’s not about chicks or fucking muscles and Tang and bullshit! I read an interview with Anthony [Green] about Saosin and he said he left the band cause they were all a bunch of muscle dudes and all they cared about was bonin’ chicks and I thought that was pretty honest cause I know the guy and I thought it was really funny because these bands, it’s not about that. We’re just here because we love to play music. We all have families, wives, friends, ya know? Mothers and fathers, and we’re all here to just have a good time. That’s the only reason we’re here, not to make money, not to fuckin’ do bullshit. It’s not to make some fuckin’ stupid video, it’s about playing music and that’s all I have to say. Hopefully these guys will back me up on that.
 
SB: No, I agree, that’s perfect. That’s perfectly said.
 
AJ: I been doin’ this for ten years and we are not a huge band and I love what we do. If we get smaller everyday, that’s all that matters to me.
 
RM: My last words are that gratitude is very important. If you play in a band, any band, large or small, and you come to some city, don’t expect anything from anybody and be very grateful for anything that anybody does for you. Cause, you know what? Nobody owes you anything.
 
AJ: Nothing.
 
RM: Whether you’re a big band or small, nobody owes you anything, so please be grateful for it and, also, if you’re in a band, do shit yourself. Don’t expect anyone to do anything for you. Do it yourself, that’s the only way you’re gonna make anything happen is if you are not lazy and you do things on your own.
 
AJ: There ya go!
 
A big thank you to Andy, Rob, and Shannon for their time and company. Also thanks to J at Immortal Records for helping us score the interview. And to Jon Cheese for roundin’ up the troops for me.
 
www.myspace.com/hotrodcircuit
www.hotrod-circuit.com
www.immortalrecords.com
www.myspace.com/limbeck
www.limbeck.net
www.doghouserecords.com
www.myspace.com/theforecast
www.theforecast.com
www.victoryrecords.com