J
Page is a band that a lot of people have yet to hear of. But soon
enough, you’ll be hearing all about them. They’re
so good, there’s only one way to describe them – think
THE BEATLES meets THE ROLLING STONES. That’s right –
J PAGE has the talent and ability to become the greatest rock
and roll band that has ever lived. Ok, that’s not true at
all. I just think that’s a really fucking funny description
from a punk rock band from Gainesville, Florida that the general
public will never even know exists, and I think Mike would agree.
So fuck that description. These guys have got that Gainesville
kinda sound, but do it their own way, with an ample dose of energy
and fun. Everyone here at AMP is truly psyched on this band. So
go get yourself educated about the rock that is J PAGE –
head over to MySpace, make them your friend. Download some music,
or pop in this month’s AMP sAMPler and listen to a track
off their soon-to-be-released EP, “Goodbye Chapel Hill.”
But seriously, we hope you’re as psyched about these guys
as we are. They deserve your support, so get your asses out to
see them when they’re in your town. Buy them a beer, let
them sleep on your floor, because they’ve got no money.
Interview
with Mike, vocals/guitar, and Sal, drums.
So what’s the name J Page mean anyway?
Mike: It’s the result of Floyd and I sitting in his room
drunk, having no clue
or care, really - what we wanted the name of the band to be. We
had the songs written, and our first couple shows booked…but
no name. So we were tossing stupid names back and forth, and I
suggested we name the band after our friend, J. Page. We knew
it would bother him, and thought it was funny. He’s fairly
well known around these parts...for, umm…being difficult,
you could say. I described him as an asshole in another interview,
and he wasn’t so stoked about that. I personally think it’s
part of his charm. I meant asshole in a good way…but whatever.
So, J, if you’re reading this, rest assured that I didn’t
call you an asshole in this interview…asshole.
So
you guys are outta Gainesville, the birthplace of just about every
cool punk rock band ever. What’s it like coming from a scene
that is so supportive of local music?
Sal: It’s pretty good. I personally was born and raised
in Gainesville, so I’ve seen its good points and bad points.
But the music scene here is on an upward movement and is going
to explode in the future years to come.
Mike: Every cool punk rock band ever???? I don’t know about
that, but I do love it here. It’s kind of like a punk rock
Never-Never Land…lots of 20 to 40 year old children playing
in bands and hanging out, watching the ‘real world’
pass us by. It’s funny, Sal is one of the few people I know
who is actually from Gainesville. No one’s really from Gainesville,
people just seem to migrate from other places. I moved here from
Chapel Hill, NC…which is very similar in many respects,
but could be a bit too hip for my blood, from time to time. I
haven’t really seen much of that shit in Gainesville, which
is refreshing, and it’s just more punk rock friendly here…not
to knock Chapel Hill, I miss it like crazy…but it was hard
being in a punk rock band there.
How
does being in a place like Gainesville influence the sound that
you guys create?
Sal: Well to me, Gainesville just has this vibe to it. It’s
very hard to explain, you almost have to live here to get it.
That vibe comes out in the music, and I think
thats why a lot of Gainesville bands sound kind of similar.
You
guys were all in bands previous to J Page, quite a few of which
were pretty well known within the scene. Who were some of your
previous bands?
Mike: I was in THE SCARIES, from Chapel Hill, NC. We were around
for about 7 years, released a bunch of records, played a bunch
of shows, and had a lot of fun. We toured quite a bit with a band
called GUNMOLL. I moved to Gainesville when THE SCARIES called
it quits, to start a new band with Derron and Jon from GUNMOLL.
It didn’t work out because of some personal shit they were
each going through at the time…but we’re still great
friends. Anyway, Troy was in BLACK COUGAR SHOCK UNIT and Floyd
was in AS FRIENDS RUST, which is probably the most well-known
band any of us were in. They toured Europe a bunch, and put out
records on some really well-known indie labels. Floyd was also
in MOURNING AGAIN and CULTURE, 2 pretty big straight edge bands,
which is hilarious if you know Floyd now. Floyd is our little
star.
Sal: Well I was only in one real band that did something and it
was called THE WATERSHIP DOWN. We were around for about 4 years
and had several member changes after our singer/guitar player
Rusty Fuller left the band to play drums in COPELAND. The music
was much like 12 HOUR TURN, but a little heavier.
For
people who are familiar with those bands, how would you compare
the sound of the current band to that of some of your prior efforts?
Mike: I don’t think J PAGE sounds anything like our previous
bands. Obviously, it’s easy for people to draw comparisons
between us and our ex-bands…I sang, played guitar, and wrote
the songs in THE SCARIES…and I sing, play guitar, and write
songs in J PAGE. So no matter how much I think this band is different,
there are still going to be small elements that are similar. I
play guitar a certain way, and I sing a certain way, so it’s
not that odd for people to identify with what they’re familiar
with. Same goes with Floyd. We sound nothing like AS FRIENDS RUST,
but we get compared to them. Why? Because Floyd played guitar
and wrote songs with them, and he plays guitar and writes songs
with us. It’s no big deal, but I wish people would recognize
the differences, instead of the similarities. We’re a band,
not the 4 separate parts of our old bands. With that being said,
I know each of us has our own ‘vision’ of what we
want the band to sound like, and when we bring that all together,
it creates what we actually do sound like. I personally would
love to sound something like a trainwreck between JAWBREAKER,
LEATHERFACE, and SAMIAM…but that’s just me, and we
don’t sound like that, and all of the other guys would say
something different. So fuck it, I don’t know. Listen to
the EP and decide for yourself. I did not answer this question
well.
Sal: For me J Page is totally new. I’ve never really played
in a band this poppy, so it’s good to have a change, but
I think my style of drumming really adds to J Page
in a good way. Coupled with the new songs, it’s definitely
made the band sound heavier.
So
the EP is set to drop next month. It was originally schedule for
release in April. What was the reason for the delay?
Mike: Well, our old drummer, Danny, decided that he couldn’t
be in a touring band anymore…2 weeks before we left for
our last tour. We really didn’t want to cancel the tour,
so we scrounged to find anyone who could practice for 2 weeks
straight, then drop their lives to go on a 3+ week tour. Real
easy, right? Anyway, Sal was actually our first choice for that,
but he couldn’t do it on such short notice, so we kept looking
and met this young kid, Jim Jam, who was willing and able to do
the tour. It was his first tour ever. I’m not sure he really
knew what it was like being in a touring band that nobody gives
a shit about…but by the end, I think he got it. Anyway,
we all knew this was only a temporary situation, and when we got
home, we called Sal up again. We practiced with him once and knew
he was the drummer for us. So, without making this long story
even longer, I asked the label to push off the release date, since
I knew we weren’t going to be able to tour for the EP if
it came out in April, being that we were breaking in a new drummer
and all.
So
now that you’ve found a new drummer, how’s the touring
schedule looking?
Mike: We’re doing a bunch of stuff in the Southeast in July
and August, then we’re heading out west for almost all of
September. I can’t wait. If I sit at home for too long I
start to feel stagnant and uninspired. Hopefully California will
treat us well. I’ve had pretty bad luck out there in the
past.
How
important is touring to the band?
Mike: I think I can speak for us all when I say that touring is
the most important part of our lives. It’s what we live
for. It’s why we work our shitty jobs. It’s why we
spend weeks at a time on tour, barely making enough money to get
from show to show, hoping that we get free drinks at the place
we’re playing, and hoping when we get home we’ll be
able to pay our rent. It’s why I spend hours every night
on the computer and phone trying to get a hold of someone who
cares enough to book our band in their town. And let me tell you,
booking a tour is not fun. It’s definitely the most frustrating
part of playing in a band. I’ve never been on a tour that
I didn’t book myself, and the fact that every time we go
on tour, I’m willing to throw myself into the three months
of bullshit it takes to book 2 or 3 weeks worth of shows, must
say something about how much I love to tour. Anybody who’s
ever booked a tour knows exactly what I’m talking about.
I wish we made enough money to keep us on tour constantly, but
as it stands right now, 3 weeks to a month at a time is all we
can afford. And with gas prices as high as they are, it’s
made it even harder than it was just a few years ago. I envy all
the kids out there who live with their parents and can go out
on tour for endless amounts of time, I’ve never known that,
but I really respect those parents for being so supportive of
their kids.
Whets
the worst part about being on the road?
Sal: Being on the road doesn’t get bad until you run out
of money and can’t afford food. That, to me, is the worst
part.
Mike: Who needs food? I’d say it’s much worse when
you can’t afford beer, or when you’re in one of those
fucking States that doesn’t sell beer on Sundays. Seriously
though, I don’t usually think anything on tour is all that
bad. I guess the van breaking down really sucks, but usually leads
to some funny stories, ‘cause it seems like you never break
down anywhere near civilization, where normal people live. It’s
always Deliverance land. If I had to name a worst part of tour,
I suppose it would either be missing my son, or the drive home.
The
EP is coming out on a small label out of Cincinnati, Nice Guy
Records. How did you guys hook up with them, and how has the experience
been thus far?
Mike: Well, originally, we talked to Var at No Idea, who releases
a million records
a year and was too busy to commit to anything. At the same time,
I was talking to my good friend Ross Siegel, who released THE
SCARIES last record on his label
Law of Inertia Records, about releasing it, but he was too busy
with the sale of
Law of Inertia Magazine, so that was a no-go as well. When we
started talking about other labels that we might want to work
with, and I suggested Nice Guy Records. I knew Jamie at Nice Guy
from when THE SCARIES had a song on a comp he released lots of
years ago called ‘Pop Punk Fever”. I’ve always
respected how he runs his label, and I’m stoked to be working
with him. Though, we did call Fat and Epitaph, Mike and Brett
still haven’t returned our calls. Go figure…
Do
you guys have material written as of now for a full-length?
Sal: We are currently working on new material and it is awesome!
I personally love the direction the music is going.
Mike: Between the songs the band knows and the ‘shells’
of songs we have waiting to get bashed out, we’ve easily
got enough songs for a full length. We want to record more songs
than will actually be released, so we can pick and choose, and
try not to let any turds find their way onto our record. I’m
really stoked on getting back into the studio. I feel like the
band is finally taking shape and becoming something much more
cohesive and unique. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not
re-inventing the wheel or anything, and at the end of the day,
we’re still just a punk pop band, but the new songs are
turning out way better than I ever could have imagined, and I
can only hope they come across as well on tape as they do when
we’re playing them.
You
had originally said you were hoping to be in the studio for a
late 2005/early 2006 release date on a full length. Is that still
on schedule, or did the delay of the EP push that back a bit?
Mike: Originally, that was the idea. But once again, with the
loss of Danny, it set us back a bit. We’ll probably do some
demos this fall to send to interested labels, but no definite
plans as of right now. The other factor here is going to be money…none
of us have any. I paid for the recording of “Goodbye Chapel
Hill” on my credit card, and we can’t do that again.
We’ll be on tour almost all of September, and that will
fuck us financially as well. But oh well, if I played music for
money, I would have quit a long time ago. So, to answer your question…I
have no idea when we’ll record a full length, but we’re
working towards it as hard as we can.
So
where should someone go if they want all the latest J. Page news?
Mike: We’ve got a website that we never update…www.jpagerock.beetlenation.com,
but I probably fuck with our MySpace page more, so check out myspace.com/jpage.
And Jamie definitely keeps his page current…www.niceguyrecords.com.
Thanks Matt!