Band: High Speed Scene
Label: Star Trak Entertainment
Official Site: Click here
Date: June 22,2005
Conducted by: Julie Wagoner

TMF: Give us your dictionary definition for your band.
HSS Max: Dictionary definition. Kick out the jams and rock 'n' roll. That basically sums it up.

TMF: Describe your latest album to someone who hasn't even heard of your band before.
HSS Max: It is somewhere between straight up power trio rock and new wave. We love The Cars. We love Weezer and stuff like that- all kind of mixed up in there somewhere.

TMF: Tell us a bit about your live show. What could a fan expect?
HSS Max: We're a power trio so we're extremely tight. There's not a whole lot of jamming. It's just straight up -we're extremely loud. That's one thing. And, we just like to have fun. Sometimes we will say a lot of idiotic things on stage. Sometimes we don't. It depends! We like to play the songs all stripped down to the bare bones - keep the essence.
TMF: How about any bad injuries, bruises from your stage show?
HSS Max: There has been some of that. Actually, some of my friends are like, "Remember that time when you jumped into the drums? Why don't you do that more?" The moment has to be right.

TMF: What does each member of the band bring to the table besides their musical talent?
HSS Max: Domen is the technical wizard and bass player. He keeps it locked down within the group. And then, Adam is the drummer. He's definitely got the channeling with John Bonham (of Led Zeppelin) over there. He's really an insane drummer. He keeps us organized too. And me, I'm the flaky no-good lead singer. I'm the one who's late to practice and pisses everybody off. But, I'm the songwriter so they love me and they hate me.

TMF: Were there any skeptics when you became the first rock band to the Startrak label?
HSS Max: Oh yeah. I think there still are. It's an odd thing for people to meet a rock band on a primarily hip hop label. But, it's like basically do what we do. We haven't changed anything because we're on a hip hop label. None of us like rap/rock. We all hate Limp Bizkit and Korn and all that stuff. We are never gonna do that stuff. They (StarTrak) like us for what we are and that's the coolest thing about these guys.

TMF: You've noted an opposition to war, are there any other issues that your band has strong opinions about?
HSS Max: You could characterize us all for lack of a better word left-wing. It's kind of sad that George Bush is our president. But, at the same time, America is pretty cool. It's funny. We travel around. Everyone from all walks of life here are pretty awesome. Obviously, we're opposed to the Iraq war because we don't think it has anything to do with terrorism. In terms of other issues, people should just do the right thing. They often times don't. (laughs) What can you say?

TMF: You also mention the frustration of living in Los Angeles. Los Angeles can be so ingenuine. How do you manage to stay grounded?
HSS Max: It's really easy. You find your people. We definitely found our people at our scene. We stay away from the cheeseballs, the idiots who are sort of sick of fans and starstruck. It's really easy to stay away from that.

TMF: You've toured with many different bands, so do you have any crazy stories/pranks to share?
HSS Max: (laughs) We just got done this tour with The Futureheads. I'll tell you this, the other day, Jaff (the bass player) and I took on Ross and Nick. Ross is the guitar player for The Futureheads and Nick is a merchandise guy. We did some parking lot football in San Diego. It was all tied up. Jaff threw me a Hail Mary and we won! So, that was fun. It was really fun touring with those guys. It was funny because they are all kind of nerds. We're kind of jocks and kind of nerds. Jaff and I were talking about chess. Barry, the lead singer of The Futureheads, and I were talking about Stravinsky and other composers like Thelonious Monk. We are more on the nerdy side of rock and we know that.

TMF: Your songs have been featured on popular shows like Smallville and the nightly news, are you recognized a lot for your music's appearance on the programs?
HSS Max: People are kind of when people heard the song on Smallville, they are like, "Dude, we cannot believe it. You got a song with fuck in the chorus on like primetime TV." Hey, they wanted it. Go figure. In this day and age of 50 Cent being big and all, that's not that crazy anymore. It was pretty cool.

TMF: I was reading your history of news postings and came across a part that mentioned one of the members quitting their jobs to dedicate themselves to the band. What was the worst job that any of you ever had before High Speed Scene?
HSS Max: Let's see. I think Adam our drummer has had some crappy jobs. My worst job personally was a cook at this restaurant. The kitchen was in the basement of a water tower. It was an outdoor cafe. This is up in Davis, CA. The thing that pissed off all of us cooks that were crammed into this tiny little kitchen was that the second story of the water tower was air conditioned because that's where the wine was. Where we were, it wasn't. We were all stuck in this little tiny room and it was like 100 degrees during the day. Inside this room, it would be 115. We would be sweating, cursing, and stealing beer to drink because we were pissed off.

TMF: What's the greatest thing you feel you could accomplish as a band in your musical career?
HSS Max: There's nothing better than playing your best show in front of the most people possible and having a good time. It really comes down to the live show for us. We don't care about record sales or things like that. It's all about really winning over a crowd that's a great feeling.

TMF: So what's next on your schedule?
HSS Max: That's kind of up in the air right now. We just finished the tour with The Futureheads. We have to kind of figure out our next move. For now, hope the people check out the music and hope they dig it.