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Hey everyone! TEEN WEB ONLINE's president, Billy Hallowell recently caught
"BLESSID UNION OF SOULS" member C.P. Roth for an in depth interview!
Check out the interview below, and visit www.blessidunion.com for tour dates,
and info on the band BUOS! Don't forget to get out and buy BUOS's new CD,
"THE SINGLES," in stores now!

BILLY Hey CP!!! What's up? How is life treating you?

CP I'm FINER than the hairs on a froggy's BUM!!!!

BILLY Let me start by asking you how the band is doing...give me a little update on each
member...

CP Weeeellllll.......Right now we're flying to Denver for a one off show with (for once)
NOTHING but hard rock bands. NOT A TRACK ACT IN THE BUNCH!!!! Everyone's getting along great and the show's this summer have really been the best we've sounded! The BIG news here is that we have gotten a few steps closer to closing a deal for Elliot's SOLO album. We have HALF of it recorded already and it's NOT entirely what you'd assume a SOLO project from El. Eddie and I, as well as 3XL are all involved with it. Jeff is continuing to write and co-produce a new band out of Cincy called PAY THE GIRL, who are about to be signed ANY MINUTE NOW and are ALREADY getting airplay at pop and alt. stations! Tony's still working out. Eddie's playing on just about EVERYTHING we're working on in and OUT of the band. ME? I'm just happy to have the WORK, tho right now I'm racing the CLOCK to get an HOUR of expanded orchestra arrangements together for a gig we're doing with the NORTHERN KENTUCKY SYMPHONY on Sept. 1st. IT's a LOT of work lemme tell ya. We WILL be recording this but for WHAT?? I JUST DO NOT KNOW!

BILLY Man it sounds like you guys are keeping really busy! How are things going with the new CD, and touring?

CP "SINGLES" goes...well we're selling it, and it's giving us a chance to get people more farmiliar with what we've been doing but we're really in a frame of mind right now to look towards the future.

BILLY Well, as all artists do, you must have a favorite song on the new CD! What is it?

CP We ALL likes "STORYBOOK LIFE," but it didn't sit too well at POP radio for some reason. "THEN SHE HIT ME" is actually sounding better live then it does on the CD!

BILLY Well, now that we have checked in with you and the band, let's shift gears a little bit, because I have a few questions for you comcerning the media and it's role in the lives of teenagers. In the past two years violence in our high schools, and among teens in general, has reached the attention of many people. Many blame entertainers, and the media for these problems. What do you think?

CP Yeah EVERYONE's a frikkin VICTIM ain't they???? Look, I take a hard nosed view of this. I think MTV should just become "THE JACKASS NETWORK," and show that stuff 24/7. Then...let ALL the STUPID kids try that stuff til there's no more of them left, and then the REST of you can have a moron free existance!!!! I've been in the biz a while now, and every time SOMETHING happens "they" find SOMETHING to blame, because of stuff "THEY" can't sufficiently regulate. Remember Tipper Gore and the PMRC??? They found this (until then) TOTALLY UNKNOWN song by a metal band called IMPALER that had something about "sniffing anal vapors" in it. Before the hearings this CD had sold like 6,000 copies, but old Tipper insured that the number increased TEN TIMES by bringing it to light. THAT'S SHOWING 'EM!!!! This country was FOUNDED with violence by a group of people who were thrown OUT of ENGLAND for being TOO UPTIGHT (THINK about THAT!). So what do you expect? Combine that with the current concept that NOBODY is RESPONSIBLE for their OWN ACTIONS and you end up with the situation that we have now. But lemme also say that I was VERY lucky when I was in school. I had supportive parents and my MUSIC. Back in the day, when geeks and punks like ME were getting beat up by jocks and preps, that just made us wanna ROCK MORE. Now of course we just blow away our problems!!! Swell...

BILLY Wow, CP. I totally agree with you, because it is important to not set the blame for the actions of teens and people in general totally on others. It's 99% the person's fault, but their envioronment can make them much more prone to violence. Singers such as EMINEM, and MANSON are just two performers that have been targeted for "unsafe lyrics." How do you feel about these accuasations?

CP Look, a FEW THINGS here.... First,these guys are SIGNED to record company contracts. RECORD COMPANIES are in the business of selling records, and what these guys do falls into a MARKETING SCHEME. that will appeal ESPECIALLY to pissed offteenaged guys (which is an
audience that NEVER goes away. Ask GENE VINCENT, MICK JAGGER, TED NUGENT, OZZY, ALICE COOPER, JOHNNY ROTTEN, BILLY IDOL, AXL ROSE, etc....). The labels are gonna feed this RABBLE to someone anyway. It may as well be two guys that are GOOD at it (which they are). SECOND...WHAT THE HECK IS AN "UNSAFE LYRIC?" Sounds a little ORWELLIAN t'me! There are UNSAFE people, cars, planes, and unsafe baby strollers. There are NO UNSAFE LYRICS!!!! Third, just to deal with the two examples you put in the question: Marylin is ALL show biz, and his records are really well done, and ground breaking on a lot of production fronts. EMINEM is very, very gifted, but he's also SMART. Look, he's a pissed off trailer park rat and he's kicking it from EXACTLY that place and speaking (no matter HOW screwed up) his HEART. Why wouldn't kids be attracted to that in the age of BOY BANDS, GIRL DIVAS, and all the other cookie cutter so called "alternative" acts that labels are serving up? Plus, he has the BEST producer in the music biz behind him so his CD's will NEVER EVER SUCK!

BILLY Wow, it's good to hear that from someone like you who has the experince and knowledge about the music industry! In my mind although talented, they are disturbing at moments! Do you feel that music, and the media have or has had a significant role in creating violence problems among teens?

CP NO. I think (like it's been since day ONE), that these IMAGES we all present are just a pallette for people to attach their emotions to. It works that way with HARDCORE RAP and it works that way with BLESSID UNION music too... And the more people you can get toidentify with what you are saying, the better of a JOB you have done. But again, without ANY WHERE else to turn to as far as a hope of
SOMEONE understanding WHAT they are going thru, kids will find these OTHER things to be a PART of. Some find US and that's well and good, but I don't fault anyone for liking something that would
APPEAR to be CONTRARY to what WE do. I stand behind the artist 100% of the time no matter HOW heinous the "message" is.

BILLY I totally can see where you are coming from. Performers should have the right to say and do what they want, but in my opinion to a certain extent. Sometimes young girls, and boys watch singers and try to be exactly like them. Then in my mind some of these messages can be destructive. If you could tell teens one thing to encourage them to keep the peace, and stay on track, what would it
be?

CP Well look, life DOES go on, even tho I still know folks who are YEARS out of high school and STILL going thru "issues." The Sicilians said it best: "REVENGE is a dish BEST served COLD." But if I could deliver the "ONE" thing they need to hear, heck I wouldn't have to be in a BAND anymore. I could just sell advice (like Miss Cleo!!! Call me NOOOOW fer mah free reedin!).

BILLY As a teen myself, looking back on my childhood, I can personally say that the media didn't turn me bad! Actually, I think the media is important, cause it keeps people informed, but I think like you said before that when something is highly publicized it can gain popularity (ex. Tipper Gore!). I mean sometimes people can become immune to what they see! What's your take on that?

CP I was a young kid when they FIRST started bringing images of Vietnam to America's HOMES at the dinner hour, and it was truelly HORRIFYING and a LOT of people reacted in kind and said, "THIS MUCH STOP." But now you can get a computer to SIMULATE blowing a buncha guys away and it's all wrapped up in candy like it ain't no big thing. But the one thing that NOBODY seems to touch on here is that there isn't necessarily MORE violence, but there are MORE ways to DOCUMENT it (ie: low cost video camaras, an ever "sensation" hungry media, etc..), so there's a LOT more ACCESS to it than there was back in the old 3 network dayz. BELIEVE ME, REAL violence is scary and grotesque. I do NOT believe that anything presented as FANTASY or urban FABLE needs to do ANYTHING to "clean up it's act," but I DO believe if this is the way we're gonna go, than (like they used to do in DRIVER's ed), let 'em see some examples of what REAL gunshots do to REAL people and what happens to the jerks that DO it. Might change some minds.

BILLY Well CP, thanks so much for taking the time out of your schedule (busy one I might add) to talk with me and give kids and teens the lowdown on BUOS! Thanks and GOD BLESS!

CP Billy, we wanna see everyone come to our shows!!! Go to our WEB SITE at www.blessidunion.com and check the TOUR DATES and REQUEST "THAT'S THE GIRL"!!! We LOVE YA!!!!

CP ROTH
OF

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*ALL PICTURES IN THIS INTERVIEW ARE PROPERTY OF BLESSIDUNION.COM, AND CP ROTH

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