Anthony:OK...So what band are you?whats your name mean?who does what in the band? Geoff:we're curl up and die. the name has no meaning but it sounds cool, so we decided to use it. i'm Geoff, i play bass. Matt plays one guitar, Ryan plays the other. Jesse hits the skins, and Mike breaks microphones on his face. Anthony:What factors influenced you toward the belief system you now hold? Geoff:every day i'm influenced by something that makes me want to change something about myself. i was once very blind to this. now that i can see what is going on around me and what harm or good other people's actions can bring, ive adapted my lifestyle to try to keep my life as simple as possible. a few years ago i lead a very self destructive lifestyle. one day i woke up and said to myself "why am i doing this?" at that point i realized that life is too short. Anthony:Was your value system at all shaped by things that happened in your family? Geoff:I've had a pretty rough family life. my father was a drug addict, it finally caught up with him. When i was 13, he died of aids which he contracted by sharing needles with other users. this fucked me up pretty bad, considering the fact that i had no idea he was using drugs or that he was sick until he died. as a result of all this, my mother was left with the responsibility of rasing my sister and myself all alone. we never had much money after that, and everything that ive wanted since then i've had to work to get myself, even to this day. I think life can get pretty rough after someone so close to you slips away and leaves you in a totally different world than what you're used to. one good thing that came out of this is my willingness to work for something that i want, no matter what it takes. it's something ive had to do ever since then, and that i will always do. Anthony:What is the cartoon character who has most inspired you? Geoff:one cartoon i still watch everyday is the simpsons. one thing i learned from that show is that there is a possibility that there might be a family that is as weird as mine. Anthony:What is your favorite song? Why? Geoff:i really cant answer that. my musical tastes vary with my mood. it just all depends on how i feel, and what is on my mind at the time. Anthony:What is the primary inspiration for your songs? Geoff:we have no inspiration, no formula that we follow when we write. Matt usually comes up with a guitar part, then he teaches us and we all take it from there. Mike's lyrics are mostly brought upon by an evil thing we call girls. girls sure can suck sometimes, but the end result is some good lyrical content, so we thank them for that. Anthony:What is your favorite venue to play? Geoff:i'm really into Chain Reaction, in Anaheim, Ca. the sound is good, the kidsare always fun. i cant wait to get back out there, it's always a good time. Anthony:Have you had a "nightmare" venue? Geoff:there was a short lived venue in vegas called club midian, we were booked to play the 2nd show ever there. we played with absolutley terrible bands. after painfully sitting there waiting for our turn to play, we started setting up. "you guys brought a microphone right" the guy asks me. this caught me off guard, because i'm the person the kid talked to about playing the show but microphones were never mentioned. he said he told every band to bring their own mics. well, it turns out that they just didnt want us using their mics, so they hid all of theirs after the band before us played. so at that point the show was over, kids were pissed, we were pissed, and everyone just went home. i think there might have been only one more show after that little stunt, kids arent stupid, they know who is worthy of our support and who isnt. Anthony:Where has been the best audience response you've gotten? Geoff:well in our hometown known as las vegas, we always get great responses from the crowd.. this is to be expected. other than here we get some pretty good responses in southern california. it keeps getting better and better everywhere we go so who knows how i'll answer this questions 6 months or year from now. Anthony:Who are your biggest influences? Geoff:we get influenced by just about all of the music we hear. we dont really pull the whole "lets sound like this band" thing because that would just be boring. we try to blend together a nice mix of everything that we like and come up with something that is all our own. Anthony:Where would you want to be musically say a year from now? Geoff:well one year from now i hope that curl up and die's new rap metal record will be out and we will be on tour with disturbed. no, actually we'll be about the same as we are now with about one years worth of evolution added. we've always had the same ideas about what we want our band to sound like, and what we are trying to achieve with our music. with every song we write, we raise the bar up a notch to see if we can improve on what we have already done. its a natural thing for bands to mature and change as they go along. without that, kids would really get sick of buying the same record over and over again. Anthony:How do you guys put songs together? Geoff:well like i said before Matt usually comes up with a guitar part, then he teaches us and we all take it from there. we just play that one part and come up with something that feels right to come after it. then keep repeating that process until we thing the song is long enough. mike usually adds in his voice when we are all done. that is the birth of a curl up and die song. Anthony:What do you like most about being an hardcore/metal artist? Geoff:first of all i love the music we play and the bands we play with. if i wasnt in curl up and die i'm pretty sure i would own the cd. i would definatley still be at all of the shows, and supporting the bands. one thing i love about hardcore shows is the energy. i get a great feeling inside seeing a bunch of kids rock out to a band, and an even greater feeling seeing kids rock out to my band. i just cant even explain how cool it is to see kids enjoying the music that we have created. Anthony:What is your favorite song on the radio? Geoff:well the only time i listen to the radio is at work and i share the radio with an older guy who loves classic rock. i always get a smile on my face when pink floyd comes on. im not a hippy at all, but when you take the selection that i'm given you will understand my choice. Anthony:What makes you and your band unique? Geoff:i always hear from people about how much we dont sound like any other bands. i think the fact that we dont fall into that trap makes us stand out a little. other than that, i think the fact that you never know what to expect from us, musically or otherwise, also could distinguish us from the rest. Anthony:What would you like to change about your city's local music scene? Geoff:right now our scene is in terrible need of a venue. one thing that has always been shaky out here is the status and existence of one or more venues. honestly thats about it. the kids in vegas are totally awesome. there are never any fights and there is hardly ever any bullshit going around. even with all of the new kids getting into hardcore there still is this feeling of being among friends, and that is a great feeling. Anthony:How do you like playing out here in So.Cal?any pros or cons? Geoff:i think so cal is a great place to play. let's start with the pros of playing out there. first of all there are stable venues out there, which is always a good thing when driving at least 4 hours to a show. the kids areal ways fun too, its nice to go somewhere that is somewhat unfamiliar andhave kids rockin out to your jams. the weather is beautiful, so are the girls. the only bad thing about playing so cal is that we have to drive so freaking far. thats that. Anthony:So how'd you get hooked up with revelation records? Geoff:in like october 2000 jason upright (former employee at rev) wrote me an email. he said he heard our cd and liked it. we kept talking, but he never got a chance to see us.. a few months later Ron Martinez (another former Rev employee) went to see us play a show at koo's cafe in Santa Ana, Ca. he liked what he saw and told me to give him a call when we got back from our tour. i called him, and we talked about some stuff for a few months. finally, in like april or may, we got everything worked out and signed some contracts. next up is our recording session in november. we're flying out to boston to record at god city studios, kurt ballou's (converge) studio. hopefully we'll see a new record out in like january or february. |
| okay this interview was done with CURL UP AND DIE by one of my friends Anthony Muccoloh, around the date of August 25th. So here it is. big thanx out to anthony for letting me use this and doind a good interview. Also big props out to CUAD for letting me put this on my page. |
| CURL UP AND DIE |