Band: The Starting Line
Label: Geffen Records
Official Site: Click here
Date: July 3,2005
Conducted by: John Frank

TMF: You just put out a new record, how’s the success of that? Are you happy with it?
TSL: I’m happy with how the record came out, definitely. I think that some people still don’t really get it. There are just some people that are kinda stuck on our old ways and they can’t really accept it. That’s kind of cool that it left some people behind because we’re down with taking ourselves musically to wherever we can go. I’m very happy with how the record came out and it seems like it’s getting a pretty good response.

TMF: What inspired you to do the movie theme?
TSL: I guess I was just watching a lot of television or watching too much television. When I was writing songs I’d have the TV on all the time and there’d always be celebrity top 100 countdown lists of worst hairdos or worst fucking things, born on the red carpet or whatever. Then I’d wind up on that station and it’d always be there. It was driving me nuts. That was the only thing that we could really think about for a few of the songs so we figured it’d be the theme of this one.

TMF: Do you feel like it’s a more mature record than the last one?
TSL: I think so. We weren’t playing down to anybody or trying to make it understandable for younger fans. We were trying to do what we were capable of now that we’re this old.
TMF: I really like some of the lyrics on there. There are a couple references to the girls on the last album. You talk about friends in hell; I don’t remember the song name. It’s very sharp.
TSL: Right.Yeah, thanks.

TMF: “Bedroom Talk.” How’s that song go over with fans? Is that the most popular one?
TSL: It’s the most popular and the most unpopular. I mean, I think that it’s funny. I don’t know if funny is the word, but I think the chorus is clever and nobody has really kinda touched on that kind of thing in our scene. I think it kinda threw people for a loop so I expected the kind of controversy it would have.
TMF: Before I heard the song I just kept hearing that there was this really dirty Starting Line song and I heard it and I didn’t think it was all that dirty.
TSL: It’s kind of like “where there’s smoke there’s fire.” People blew it way out of proportion. It’s funny that bands can talk about slitting their throats and slitting wrists, but I’m talking about having a little bit of fun in the bedroom and all of a sudden it’s not appropriate or something.
TMF: In rap songs, they talk about that all those things.
TSL: Yeah.
TMF: The video on MTV, they edited the chorus line. Did you know that would be edited? The chorus line “I’m gonna tear your ass up,” they don’t say that in the video.
TSL: Oh they don’t? I’ve seen it on Fuse and they show all of it.
TMF: Yeah, I caught it once on MTV…
TSL: and they just deleted the whole thing out?
TMF: Yeah, they have your mouth moving and nothing coming out.
TSL: Really? Wow. I didn’t know. That’s the first that I’ve heard that they’ve edited it out. They did a radio edit but it was just the word ass that they took out. I’ve never seen it played and everytime we’ve played it, we’ve never had a problem at a show.

TMF: For you, what is your favorite song off your record?
TSL: For me, “Ready” is probably my favorite because it has a message that I really wanted to send as clearly as I could through the record. I feel like that song is where I’m really most vulnerable and where my intricacies really come out. It’s not a straight four chorus, first chorus, formula it’s more of starting out small and getting as big as you can possibly get by the end. That’s where I want to go musically.

TMF: You guys had the acoustic ep, do you think you’re going to head more towards an acoustic sound or mix it up?
TSL: We’ve been writing a lot on acoustic and I thought of having an additional record like the next one where it would be acoustic songs that we had left over. I’m writing, but I think instead I’m going to translate it to electric and just try to pull it off doing that instead of just having guitar. I think it was cool for that record, but I really just want to have a lot more going on.

TMF: What are your plans after Warped Tour?
TSL: I think we’re going to Japan and Australia with MxPx and probably doing a week full of UK shows. Then after that, we’re going to be going out in the fall for a US tour with Fall Out Boy. That’ll be big.

TMF: You’re going to be traveling in the UK and Japan, do you like going overseas or would you rather tour in America?
TSL: I’m anxious to get overseas because it’s been a while since we’ve gone to those places. The first time we ever went to Japan was 2 or 3 years ago and it was an amazing experience. I couldn’t believe how many people actually knew us over there. I’ve been getting word second-hand that people have been asking when we are going to come back and stuff like that so I’m definitely anxious to get there. And Australia is a place I’ve always wanted to go since I was a little kid so it’s going to be awesome.

TMF: Even though you just put out a new record, do you have a target time of when you might want to put out a new record?
TSL: I’d like to have the next record recorded by the end of next year, so the next record I’d like coming out by 2007. It seems so far away, but it’s definitely a lot quicker then this one came out because we’re getting a head start.

TMF: Do you like the bigger label (Geffen)? Is there much of a difference really?
TSL: There’s a big difference and that’s kind of what a lot of the album is about. It’s all the stuff that came along with the struggle of getting used to the big label. It’s kind of impersonal. When you work with an independent label like Drive-thru you only really have to deal with two people in order to actually get something done. You can talk to one person and say we need “blah blah blah” or “we have to do this this and this” and it’d actually get done because that’s the person you go to, but with a major label there’s so many departments and so many people working. People you do know won’t be in charge of this thing and nobody really claims responsibility if something doesn’t get done. They’ll just shovel you off to some other department that you’ve never talked to before. I’d rather work with an independent label, but as long as I can make music and people are listening to it, I can’t complain.

TMF: What are the different bands you have on your wrist?
TSL: This is Iowa State, some kid who gave it to me. I’ll probably gonna replace it with something that actually means something. This is S.Carter from Reebok that says, “Can’t Knock the Hustle.” This is Jay-Z’s shoe and this is Tsunami.
TMF: There are so many out there now. The only one I actually know is the yellow one.
TSL: Yeah, I used to have one, but it fell off when I was leaving.

TMF: Do you feel like you’d like to continue doing Warped Tour for as long as you can?
TSL: Yeah, as long as they want to have me back. It’s an awesome tour to be on, but I love playing club shows and I love playing with guitar bands.
TMF: Do you think Warped Tour has helped add to your success and fanbase?
TSL: Definitely. I remember in the early days when we didn’t even have a record out, there would still be a lot of people watching us at the Drive-thru stage. They wouldn’t know the newer stuff that we played because I don’t have the material, but just because there were so many people watching I feel like that was where a lot of our fans came from when we went back for the city tours.

TMF: Do a lot of fans cling to the older stuff?
TSL: Yeah.
TMF: I know the first time I heard you was on the Atticus compilation, “Greg’s Last Day.” That song is so much different than now. It sounds like a totally different band.
TSL: Yeah, totally. Fans do cling to the old songs and I guess I was probably guilty of that when I was going to see bands that I really liked. When I was going to see Face to Face, I didn’t want them to play “God is a Man,” I wanted them to play fucking “Disconnected” and everything on Big Choice. Coming from the other side of that and being so anxious to show people the stuff that I’ve been working on and thinking it’s such an improvement. It’s tough to find a middle ground where they’re happy and you’re happy.

TMF: Do you have any closing remarks or anything you want to leave the readers with?
TSL: If you didn’t like the record, listen to it another time. Then if you don’t like it that time then give it to someone that actually likes good music. Click here to see photos from the interview!