Band: The Kinison
Label: LaSalle/Atlantic Records
Fearless Records
Official Site: Click here
Date: November 8, 2003
Shoutout: Click here
Conducted by: Brad Wagoner

TMF:We heard you guys were highly influenced by Sam Kinison for your name. What are some of your favorite comedians right now?
The Kinison: Probably, Sam Kinison, Andy Kaufman are probably the only ones that-As far as recent-there's a guy-Eddie Griffin that I really like.
TMF: Undercover Brother, right?
The Kinison: Yeah. I don't really like that movie but he did a movie with Master P called Foolish that was really good. I actually sat next to Eddie Griffin at a Bright Eyes show. I looked over; and he was sitting this close to me. There's not too many good new comedians. Eddie Murphy, but he's kind of really like way downhill.
TMF: Cool, cool.

TMF: How do you handle negative press?
The Kinison: Laugh.
TMF: Laugh? Sweet.
The Kinison: Laugh. Press is press. It gets our name out there. It looks like they're fucking-yeah they're like meatheads. They just really don't know-they read someone else's reviews. Some people have different views like you know they don't know what they're talking about. They say good stuff. But, we wish everyone actually knew. We've gotten really bad reviews; one of two of them making fun of us. And, it's like everything that they're making fun of us about is not true.
TMF: We're really excited about the show and everything. I was reading on the net, which is actually not a good source anyway. But, they were like-they said you had a boyband image.
(All laugh)
The Kinison: Really? That's bullshit!
TMF: Hey that's cool,though. It gets you the ladies.
(All laugh)
The Kinison: Yeah, exactly. We can't help the way we look. We're a rock band, not a boy band.

TMF: Name a band you admired until you saw their live show.
The Kinison: (laughs) Hm..I can't actually think of a band off the top of my head. I know I've seen some shows; seen a lot of shitty bands. I've seen some shows that I really liked the cd but I saw them live, and they were really bad.

TMF: What was it like recording in Travis Barker's house?
The Kinison: It was actually really cool! It was awesome! The vibe was great! Amazing backyard. And, the living room was great to write songs in.
TMF: Awesome. Everyone's seen it on Cribs.
The Kinison: We got there; and like, "This is the coolest house on Cribs!" Yeah, we knew.
TMF: And that cabana?
The Kinison: Yeah, it's all there. We turned the pool on and everything. But, beyond the luxuries, it was a really comfortable environment. Absolutely great to write songs. That was the main point.

TMF: Name a cd in your collection that you recently converted into a coaster so I guess that means a piece of shit cd.
The Kinison: These are pretty good questions. I usually only listen to my favorite new CDs over and over. If it's a coaster, it means it's scratched, basically.

TMF: What are some of your thoughts running through your mind before your show and during the show?
The Kinison: Just that we're stoked to even play. What's the reason to do it if you're not gonna have any fun? It's our job. We go out ready to rock! We're always excited-stoked we're about to go play a show.

TMF: What have some of the sacrifices been that you have made for your career?
The Kinison: Everything. You got to let it go. These guys are from Oblong, Illinois so they left their whole family to move to California to be able to play music and write. You have to sacrifice everything otherwise-if you don't give your all, it's not exactly real. It's like you're holding things back which holds your career, artistic career, everything. We're excited not to have to worry about jobs anymore. We have no money, no place to live-we're homeless. The whole band is homeless. It's not like something we regret. Hell no. This is what we want to do. This is the only thing that matters. This is the only thing that we wanna do. We don't care about anything else. We play music and express ourselves the way we do.

TMF: If you were a statue, how would you pose?
(all laugh)
The Kinison: Naked. I would never wanna be a statue so I don't know. A boner.
TMF: There you go.

TMF: What's the most disgraceful thing you've seen on MTV or tv in general?
The Kinison: Disgraceful?
TMF: Yeah, on MTV.
The Kinison: Every video they show. They called us a hardcore band on MTV News. It's totally any of those fucking-the beachhouse shows where they have stupid crap people doing retarded things.
TMF: Oh, I hate that show.
The Kinison: Spring Break.
TMF: How about the one where like the parents and ex-boyfriends follow around?
The Kinison: Oh yeah. That one's pretty funny. The girls are pretty stupid. I like MTV Guru. We're all about Rich Girls, Newlyweds. It's like MTV-they understand youth and culture; and they fucking play bad videos. They don't play good music. The music is horrible. The TV shows are brilliant.
TMF: I agree, man. We're in college so that's what we do.
The Kinison: That's all that's on dude.

TMF: What's the best tour prank you've heard of or witnessed?
The Kinison: We're not into pranks. Actually, the Strung Out Tour, 18 visions was also on the tour with us. And, it was their last show with the tour like they were breaking off the tour earlier than the tour was over so it was their last show. So, we all dressed up just like 'em cause they wear all black but ties. So we dressed up just like em and ran on stage with like ironing boards and guitar cases and pretended to play the set with them on stage while they were playing. They were super metal-
TMF: How did they feel about it?
The Kinison: They loved it. They were like, "That's cool!"

TMF: If you were elected President of the USA, what would be the first thing to change about our country?
The Kinison: I'd never be president. I don't know. We're really unpolitical. Probably give some free beers. That'd get me an extent of the votes.

TMF: If you could go back in time to view one event in rock n roll history, what event would that be?
The Kinison: I'd wanna be at the hotel when Keith Moon (The Who) drove a car into the pool from the third floor. That'd be great. The Monterrey Pop Festival-that or Woodstock. I'd like to just see the Ramones play. I don't care what show it would've been. What was it-Wembley stadium? The very last show.

TMF: What's next after this tour?
The Kinison: Going to tour with Stretch Armstrong an The Bled. We just found out today.

TMF: What do you want your fans to walk away with after seeing you live?
The Kinison: Just..to put a good show on. We gave it our all. I just want the fans to-even those who aren't fans-to know that we love what we're doing. Hey even if they didn't like the music, they know we're passionate and serious about it. If they'd open their minds, they can realize that they can dance and do whatever you want. Even if your best friend isn't dancing, doesn't mean you couldn't. We're all dorks. I see kids who want to dance and then they look at their friend. And, they can't express themselves like an open minded person could so that's what sucks about it. Kids these days can't let go because they're too afraid of what their friends will say or what the person behind them would say or even what the band will say (laughs)... in our case.

TMF: How have you evolved musically in the last couple of years?
The Kinison: Fucking a lot. Constantly. I think we have ten songs? And, we wrote five more? We wrote five songs in a week. And, now we're in production for the ten songs. It's like if you're a band, you have to constantly be involved otherwise you might give up because there's no purpose to being in a band. You'll be stale and boring. We want every album to sound different from the last record but still be able to know that it's us.

TMF: Do you share any musical tastes with your parents? What bands?
The Kinison: Oh yes. Classic rock. Fucking big hair 80s.
TMF: Any specific bands?
The Kinison: My parents grew me up on fucking Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Rolling Stones, Duran Duran.

TMF: What's the biggest misconception about your band?
The Kinison: The whole boyband thing. Our stage presence, our songs..no one can pinpoint us. And, that's great but you probably shouldn't believe it unless you hear it from us. No one gets us. We're not the same people that we are on stage.

TMF: In 60 seconds, tell fans why they should come out and see you live or buy your album.
The Kinison: Because AJ will rip his fucking throat out and bleed over fucking everything. (laughs) Come out for a good time. We give it our all every time.