an interview with Crissie Verhagen

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* * * The 9th of July, 2000 - If you’ve heard ‘Future Plans Undecided’, the debut of Element 101 on Tooth & Nail Records, you will probably agree that this album contains 12 great songs in a poppy punk rock style with a really original sound and a great singer. Originally, this album had an independent release. Now it’s been re-released on Tooth & Nail Records. The album was produced by Mike Herrera, known from MxPx and Arthur. 

At this moment, Element101 has just finished recording their sophomore album on T&N and they are heading for a tour which will last several months. If you would like to book them, contact their booking agency The Militia Group. Since 'Future Plans Undecided' had made such an impact on me, I decided to contact Crissie, Element's singer, to learn more about her and the band. You can find a review of 'FPU' in the reviews section of this page, or by clicking here * * *


Original Cover of 
'Future Plans Undecided'

What’s the current line-up of Element 101? Could you give a short description of each person, like how old are you, which instruments does everyone play,  what do you guys do in ‘normal’ life?

Well, Chris Mizzone plays lead guitar. He is 21. Danny Papa plays rhythm guitar and is 22. Sal Ciaravino plays bass and he is 19. Nick Acocella is 19 and plays drums, and I, Crissie Verhagen, am 20 and sing. We just all like to have fun doing whatever we can, from the beach to just hanging out or watching movies. some of us really enjoy art and painting, classical music and some others like to follow sports, so we are pretty diversified in our hobbies.


Where are you guys all from? We all hear that you’re a Jersey-based band, but the real Q is: are you all from Jersey?

Yeah, we are all born and raised in northern New Jersey. We live like 15 miles outside of New York city, so it's really cool. jersey is all we know!  

Crissie

Verhagen


Where did you guys meet? I guess it isn’t a coincidence that you all have Italian ancestors…

Danny and I knew each other from church and our families who were friends. We started the band.  i met Chris Mizzone in high school and he originally played drums and we had another bass player at the time. Sal is Chris' neighbor and they had been best friends since they were kids so when our bass player quit, Sal was in. We met Nick through some friends and got him on drums and Chris moved to guitars. We aren't related at all, but we are all Italian... I think everyone in north Jersey is at least a little Italian!


Why the name Element 101? What’s the 101st element anyway?

We were just called Element, but when we signed with Tooth and Nail, we had to change it in order to own the right to the name, since Element was already taken. We figured 101 is a familiar number because people are used to having classes such as "History 101”, or “English 101" so it changed the name enough to own the rights, but without being too drastic. I think the 101st element is something like mendelevium... We looked it up once in case anyone ever asked, but I can't remember exactly!


Can you tell us how you got signed with Tooth & Nail Records, because of course we’re all dying to know what’s the secret!

Well, we had sent them some of our early demos but they really weren't too into them. so we kept recording and growing. Then we met Brandon Ebel at Cornerstone last year and he had heard our album ‘Future Plans Undecided’ and said he was interested. He then saw us play at Purple Door Festival in Pennsylvania and offered us a record deal. The secret is to never give up if it's something you really want. We really prayed about everything too and thank God for the opportunity He gave us.


When you started the band, did you guys decide to play punk rock or did that just happen? How would you yourself describe ‘Future Plans Undecided’?  

We actually started out as a really mello, slow band. Then we just thought it would be cool to pick it up and do something different, since there wasn't that many bands with girl singers that were more rock or punk. From then on our style has just progressed. ‘Future Plans Undecided’ is pop-punk with some pop and rock influences. Our new stuff, like our new album 'Stereo Girl’ is a lot more pop-rock. We are really excited about the progression we are making in our style to develop it as our own.


Who writes the songs and the lyrics? The lyrics all look quite personal and real to me.

The guys write the music, mostly Chris and Nick, and then they give it to me and I write the melodies and lyrics. The lyrics are all really personal to me. I always want to write lyrics that are personal and relatable to other people, but most of all that are real, so I appreciate you saying that. I think it is so important to be real and transparent with people.  

Which bands have influenced your song writing? In my opinion, your songs are really original compared to most new school punk rock bands. There’s only one second on the CD that has this sound that could be from MxPx, but that’s the only thing I could find that looked like another band.

Well we have a lot of influences but we make sure not to rip anyone off or imitate anything. We want to be really original in everything with do. We have influences that we draw from like Elvis Costello, The Cars, The Go-Go's, The Descendents and All, Blondie, The Clash and The Ramones. Mostly older stuff actually.  


Could you give us some insight into life when you’re touring? Do you normally tour by van or with another band?
 

We have a van and trailer that we travel in. Actually we just had to have our engine replaced too! It is usually the five of us and my friend, Ronee. She keeps me company and helps out with the merchandise and keeping everything organized. We always go out with other bands. We are going to be playing a lot of shows with other Tooth and Nail bands this summer like Hangnail so it is going to be cool to see them and meet new bands as well.  

Is it hard to be a girl in a band with guys only? Does it have disadvantages or are there more advantages?

Well it has been really cool because I am good friends with everyone in Element and they really look out for me. Sometimes it gets hard because I just need someone to talk to or to be with who isn't a guy and who can just understand a little better! That is why I try to have someone come with me just to even things out a little bit. Like I said, my friend Ronee comes and she is good friends with everyone too, so it kinda takes a lot of pressure off of me that way. It is really fun though to be with everyone and we get along well.


Do you have Future Plans regarding yourself and Element? Or are your plans still Undecided :-)

Well, I just graduated college with my associates degree and am devoting this next time to doing Element full-time. This is the first time that we are all out of school and we just want to go full-time with it and tour as much as possible and write new songs all the time. I am really excited to see element grow and what we can do in this upcoming future. I mostly am just trusting in God to bring everything into where he wants it to be, where it is best. I am confident in that. Even if things are undecided to me, i know that God knows what the future holds.


How did you get in touch with Mike Herrera, since he’s the one that produced your album.

We met him at a few MxPx shows and just started talking to him and becoming friends. We then gave him one of our independent albums we had made and asked if he was interested in producing it since we really looked up to him. He said that he was and he flew out to the east coast for over a week and helped us out so much. He really was awesome to work with and we learned a lot from him and enjoyed getting to know him more. He's a really good guy and we look up to him a lot.  

What’s your view on religion?

Hmm... it’s hard to sum that up in a few sentences! Well we are all Christians and believe whole-heartedly in the Bible and in God as our Creator and in Jesus as our Redeemer and Savior. We take the Bible as truth and regard morale as very important. We don't really see it as a "religion" but as a relationship. Religion is such a strict code of rules and regulations without an intimate relationship, but to us knowing God as a friend and as a Guide and protector is our relationship to him and that makes all the difference in the world. To have Jesus there to understand you and to help you makes the impossible, possible. We will never preach to anyone to force anything down anyone's throat, but we will always try our best to show the love of God to everyone and be the best examples of what we believe in.


Do you have an Element show that you particularly won’t forget, and, if so, what’s the reason you will remember it?

Oh I am trying to remember every show right now, to come up with a good one! Well we have had some really bad shows obviously… I suppose every band does... You know the ones where you drive about 6 hours and there are only 3 kids there and you are so tired and hungry and then it starts snowing! But those are the ones you learn from and keep with you and reminisce about. However, there are a lot of good shows too... We played with MxPx in New York City a while back and that show was really awesome... That is one we probably remember well. Any festival we have played is really cool too, because everyone is so excited to be there and there are so many people who are all excited too so the atmosphere is really energetic.  


When can we expect the new album? Do you have new songs already? Or a title for the new album?  

We just finished recording it actually! We recorded it in Colorado at the Blasting Room and it was produced and engineered by Bill Stevenson and Stephen Egerton of the Descendents and All. We really enjoyed being out there and working with those guys. There are 12 songs on it, and it is called "Stereo Girl". It should be out by early fall. We are really happy with it and we hope you guys all like it too.  

Do you have anything, anything at all, you would like to say to the visitors of our homepage?

I just want to say thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for being interested in my band. I appreciate that so much and it means the world to me!

 

* * * I would like to thank Crissie for answering my questions! You're so nice! 

Because we’re located in Holland, we won’t be able to go to many Element shows, so I would like to ask all of you to just go see them when they’re in your neighborhood. If you’re not doing this for yourself, please do it for us and let us know what you think!

Well, now the time has come to wait patiently for the release of "Stereo Girl". I’m sure it will be a great album and I can hardly wait! * * *

Martijn

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