Interviews

Further Seems Forever

Interview with Derrick & Josh on Nov 30, 1999 by Archive Bot

Thanks to the kindess of the band and their management for making this interview take place. 

PB: Ok. Your album, “The Moon is Down” I’ve been listening to it for quite some time now. Are there plans for a new album anytime soon?
Josh: Actually yeah. June 1st we go into the studio. But it takes a while to come out.
Derrick: Yeah. It’s scheduled for early January I think
Josh: Yeah. It’s pretty awesome. We’re excited.

PB: The members of this band have changed somewhat since the release of the last record. Are we going to notice a difference lyrically and maybe even musically on the new album because of this change?
Derrick: Well, I think that Steve, Josh and Chad are gonna bring a certain core back from the first album and then obviously Jason’s gonna bring a new vocal thing to it and then hopefully I’ll add a little spike here and there.
Josh: Definitely.
Derrick: We’ll see where it goes. I think it will be the same, but kind of different, I guess.

PB: You guys are often referred to as “the band that the guy from Dashboard was in.” Does this bother you or do you think it has helped promote and expose your music to more people?
Derrick: I think that now, we’ve been out on the road for about a year now straight without Chris so, I mean he’s been out even longer than that, but as far as touring heavily.... We used to get it at shows all the time. Oh you know, “what happened?” Now kids don’t even ask about it anymore. So I think we're kind of over that at this point, at least as far as the kids and the crowd are concerned.

PB: For the most part your label, Tooth and Nail Records, is known as a Christian label. Do any of the members of FSF identify with this religion, or did you choose this label for other reasons?
Derrick: No. Everyone pretty much is. I’m just new to the label, they’ve been on it for a while. I’m pretty happy with it so far.
Josh: I’m a Christian, so… But we're not like any sort of like evangelical force or anything. Except for Derrick.
Derrick: Yeah. Hahaha. 

PB: Recently a huge chunk of Tooth and Nail was bought by EMI. Have you noticed any difference in the way things are done—like band management, distribution, etc.?
Josh: No. We were just talking about that.
Derrick: We get a few more free dinners, but other than that no. Like it's rare reps show up at shows and are like, “Hey we'll take you to dinner,” and were like nice, but other than that no.
Josh: Yeah. I don’t think it’s a big deal. Like we didn’t even know it went through until recently, we kind of found out.
Derrick: Tooth and Nail still handles all the artist relations and stuff. EMI just like handles the money. That’s really the only difference.

PB: I read on your website that you guys are going to tour Germany in August. How did this come about and who will you be playing with?
Derrick: Well, how it came about I have no idea.
Josh: We’ve been supposed to… In the various bands that we’ve been in we were supposed to go to Europe about probably like 10 times so far and like the closest we’ve ever gotten was with Further and we had the money, but our booking agent never bought the tickets… this is our old booking agent. So this is the closest. I think… it sounds like its gonna happen.
Derrick: Yeah. It's cause the album’s released in Germany cause of EMI. We’re gonna play 2 big festivals and like 10 shows in between them. August 1st to August 12th I don’t know when it was released, but it was a while ago. We’re pretty excited. As far as I know we’re on our own. As Friends Rust is going to be in Germany from the 8th to the 12th so we might try to combine shows maybe. But that’s like reeeeeeeal sketchy. And they’re awesome by the way if you haven’t heard them.

PB: You guys have an amazing stage presence—its very powerful and emotional. What other “entertainment” experience do you guys have besides being in Further Seems Forever?
Derrick: Chad, Steve and Josh were in Strongarm. Steve was in Shai Hulaud. I actually come from a different background. I come from like a jazz background. That’s what I’ve been doing up until about a year ago.

PB: So this is a bit different for you?
Derrick: Yeah. Well, yes and no. Cause obviously being a guitar player I came through rock first. Then I kind of went to jazz. Now I’m kind of back.
Josh: He was lured in by the metal.

PB: Do you guys have any pre-performance rituals? Like, before you go on stage, is there something that you always have to do?
Derrick: I warm up like every night. That’s it.
Josh: Jason and Chad make out.

PB: You guys shot a video tonight. What song was it for and when and where can the fans of Further Seems Forever see it?
Derrick: "Snowbirds and Townies" and hopefully they’ll see it on MTV2 or MTV. We’ll see.
Josh: Yeah we’ll see. It’ll be fun, even if its just you know on a DVD or something. 

PB: Well, I think that’s it. Thanks a lot for your time. Anything you’d like to leave us with?
Josh: Somebody’s smoking it up somewhere man. I can smell it.
Derrick: Nope. But hopefully Josh will be out touring with us soon. He’s our secret weapon. We keep him under wraps for now.
Josh: I’m the dirty secret. I’m the dirty little secret.
[Josh just recently had a kid so he is home playing Dad. So for now, he only plays at home shows, but is still very much a member of the band.]