(note: the following is a largely unedited transcript of a recording of a phone interview. JP and I started off the discussion, and Nathan joined in about half way through)
BAND INTERVIEW - ALL LEATHER
JUSTIN PEARSON: No - there's two release dates. There's a digital one, and then there's a physical one. I actually honestly don't even know. One of them's in July and, then, other one's, the physical release, is in August.
JG: I was hoping you could briefly trace the origins of All Leather and Leg Lifters. What was the force that brought you guys together and initiated the creative process?
JP: Well, Nathan and I both played in Some Girls and, I met Nathan through Sal, the drummer of Some Girls, who joined later on and toured with the band. And him and I got into certain kinds of music, like more electronic-based stuff, and we were talking about artists like Mr. Oizo and stuff like that. It was actually this Ida Corr song that prompted us to start a more - I don't know, straightforward, electronic thing? Actually, our current drummer Jung Sing has an electronic drum kit, while our original drummer who we were playing with, Tin Cagayat, she accidentally - something happened with her and her rehearsal space, and we ended up rehearsing in her apartment, with her electronic drum kit, and we were like, "We gotta do this!" The instrumentation is pretty simple, but having her play drums, and then, with all the effects Nathan uses, it sounds very electronic. We have more elements - it sounds like there's more than just three people in the band. But, you know, that's how Nathan and I started playing. Back then, our original drummer, Tin, was just a friend I knew from around San Diego, and that was that, but she ended up quitting, actually, and we got Jung Sing, who is the drummer from Maniqui Lazer who I knew from The Locust touring with his band.
All Leather's Original Lineup - from left to right, Tin (Drums), Justin (Vocals), Nathan (Guitar)JG: So, is this the first of your more heavily electronic and "beat-oriented" projects? Actually, I seem to remember you doing a remix for DAMAGE [Return of the Satisfuckers - Visit the DAMAGE MySpace to hear it, and check out the music video below]. a little while ago - the Satisfuckers remix - was there a similar process involved in creating that song to how you go about creating All Leather songs?
JP: Not necessarily. I think that the Damage remix is similar in the sense that it was remixed in the same way we recorded our album - in this studio, actually - but I think that writing in All Leather is just like writing in any other band. It's just the instrumentation and who's playing that determine the outcome. There have always been elements of typical dance music, especially in Holy Molar - I think we definitely verged on the side of more "digestible" or "typical" dance beats. I just think it came out more with All Leather. But, at the same time, not only did we, in a tongue-in-cheek sort of want to do a "dance-y" kind of band, and draw even from things like some of the Britney Spears type things. We would listen to them and be like, "Oh, that's a great riff, but the vocals are mediocre, or the lyrics are mediocre, or the bassline's too soft" or whatever. Then, we would naturally draw elements from where our roots are - say, something like Arab on Radar, or Wolf Eyes, where there's a more pronounced, heavy kick, a heavy beat, and just make it dirty and really nasty and more aggressive.
JG: You mentioned that All Leather could be considered more digestible, in terms of the overall orientation of the music. I guess I'm more familiar with bands like The Locust and Some Girls, and I haven't really ever heard the term "digestible" applied to those bands. In fact, generally, the descriptions of those bands that I hear, and my own interpretation is that they are constructed to be difficult to digest, which I personally really like about them. I am wondering, though, if you've had any negative response from your old listeners - is there any resistance or animosity to you doing things that might be considered a bit more digestible?
JP: I think that, unfortunately, there's a large amount of unconstructive criticism in all aspects of art. Especially for me, it's like: "Hey, I have this new band," and everyone's like "That sucks," or "You're faggots," or this or that, you know? Or, "I could do this better..." Even with The Locust, we got that all the time. That was the most common feedback we got: "you guys suck." Especially when we signed to ANTI-, which was a major label (a subsidiary of Epitaph) and, not only did we have people who were already our fans thinking we'd sold out, but we had people that listened to your typical Epitaph stuff who said we were "fucking garbage" or just "bad music." But it was still a vehicle that we wanted to use for our music. I think it's the same thing with All Leather - we're not doing our music for other people, we're doing it first and foremost for ourselves. So, it's not like we're really concerned that other people will look at it and go, "Oh, you did this?" I mean, I'm sure that some people are like "Oh, you signed to Dim Mak, that's label sucks, Steve Aoki's a bad DJ," or something, but those peoples' opinions are irrelevant, and it's the same kind of thing with The Locust signing to ANTI-: when All Leather signed to Dim Mak, I was like, "That's my friend, I've been in touch with Steve for over 10 years, since when The Locust first started touring out, so it makes sense." Granted, his label is submerged in the electronic and DJ culture, and that's cool with us. I guess why try to subconsciously bridge the gap between punk and hardcore elements into the whole dance world. Not only is our EP coming out, but there's a whole other Remix EP coming out with remixes by all these different artists that I think are pretty awesome. It's all kind of foreign to me. There are all these people doing remixes that are kind of on Steve's side of the camp, and of course we're like, "we're gonna get Otto von Schirach and DJ Urine and all of these kinda weirdo, more avant-garde DJs" and stuff, too - once again, bringing the two worlds together, you know?
JG: So, is Otto Von Schirach actually going to be contributing something?
JP: Yeah.
JG: Excellent! I found out about him through you guys and I've been listening to Oozing Bass Spasms a lot recently. Actually, most of the artists I've been listening to recently are people I've found out about through various communications on the 31G Forums.
(The interview was interrupted momentarily by a rather vocal puppy)
JG: Oh! What kind of dog do you have?
JP: A cocker spaniel.
The canine in questionJG: Nice! I've got a puppy I'm raising myself now, too - she's going on 2 years. She's a German Shorthair!
JP: Oh, nice!
JG: Do you have trouble taking care of her when you're on tour? Is that a concern?
JP: It was a concern before I got her, but when I got her I was persuaded because she has a mom, too, if I'm on tour. I live with my best friend who also is her mom, so she's got another parent in case I'm on tour. I was really hesitant about getting a dog. And then my mom - my real mom - she's a super grandma to my dog. So, it all works out.
JG: I'm glad to hear it! I was a little worried about that myself, with my dog - I'm hoping to tour sometime in the near future, and I don't have anyone to take care of her yet. I'll try and work something out. Well, I was going to ask about the 31G Forums. I know you get a lot of flak on there from various forum members and I'm very curious as to what motivated you to open that up to the public in the first place, and what keeps you going with that despite all of the useless negative feedback that can come out of it.
JP: Honestly, I've kinda trained myself to avoid a lot of the negative feedback and to focus on not paying attention and just doing what I do because I enjoy it. I have to admit, it's pretty defeating - I literally pay to run 31G and don't really make money, ever. I pay to run the label and with all the negativity that's out there... well, I guess that's just how it goes, you know? It's a drag, but, at the same time, there are so many things that are rewarding about it. Those things are few and far between, but they are definitely worth it. So, a lot of those things on the forums, I will just purposefully avoid. There's gotta be a certain element for me to even look at a topic on there. Even if there is a good topic, it always gets bastardized pretty quickly.
JG: Yeah, I'm all too familiar with that. Well, you mentioned before that people tend to call you faggots, and you've got that song, "I don't hate fags, God does." I was checking out the Dim Mak website earlier today, and I noticed that the word "Fags" in reference to that song is censored - it's replaced with a bunch of random characters. I was just wondering if that was a conscious decision on your part, or on Dim Mak's part - have All Leather or Leg Lifters ever been hindered by censorship concerns?
JP: No, not really. I mean, that was the distribution company for Dim Mak that was hesitant about having that word appear. I'm not really a fan of censorship at all, but, at the same time, I didn't try to justify it, like "Ok, fine, I'm gonna compromise." It was more like - I don't really care, first of all - it's a word, and I really don't care that they took Fuck out of a title, too. I mean, ironically, they were like "what song is clean for radio airplay on your EP?" and I was like, "Uh... nothing." I guess I'm some kind of potty mouth because everything's got something offensive on it. But, ultimately, either way, if it says fags, if it doesn't say fags, it will still make you think about it. If you see the title as it is, someone's gonna say "Why is that censored?" or "What is that word?" The title is meant to be offensive, or maybe comical, or whatever - it's meant to be whatever it is, but it's definitely made to make people think - that's the point. So, either way, the word fags being censored or not being censored, it's gonna make people ponder. So, in some way, my job's done at that point.
JG: So, in general, do you like to cultivate a sense of pondering or thinking on behalf of your audiences? Do you like to try to leave things more ambiguous - to encourage people to think for themselves about it?
JP: Sure! I mean, here's your obvious punk element: "Fuck the Police," or "Stop Police Brutality!" OK, everyone can agree on police brutality sucking or whatever, but it's like - it doesn't really resonate, you know? It's kinda like the quintissential, run-of-the-mill agenda of a pseudo social-political band. So, I think it's like - OK, I'm gonna use two bands as examples, and I think that both are fantastic bands, and this is totally constructive criticism because I respect everyone involved in these bands, but if you compare Born Against song titles and lyrics to, say, Seeing Red song titles and lyrics, Born Against has this tongue-in-cheek, sort of comical aspect added to it, whereas Seeing Red is really specific and more like "this is our agenda, here's our manifesto." I think what happens is that Seeing Red is preaching to the choir, and not really pushing that boundary of "let's be creative or think out of the box," or "let's open up an internal progression." I guess that's what I'm more drawn to.. not that I'm copying Born Against, but that whole element of how they deliver their product, their art.
JG: I was wondering: I know you have All Leather, and The Locust and, now, Leg Lifters, and I assume that it would be a challenge to manage all of those things simultaneously, plus running 31G, and any other endeavors you might be involved in. Is it indeed a struggle to try to balance everything, including your family concerns and your puppy? Is there a sense of strain associated with trying to micromanage all that different stuff at once?
JP: I think I am still kind of young, so I can do all of it, but it definitely is tiring. I mean, I work six nights a week at two different jobs to pay the bills to do all the things that I really want to do because, unfortunately, all the musical elements don't really cover that. If I did somehow alleviate the fact that I go to work every single night, it would be fantastic, and I could probably take on a lot more. When I rehearse with The Locust, we have a set date for rehearsals, and I go, and we write, and I generally write on bass, and when the music's done, we start working on the lyrics, so, for me, when I go to All Leather rehearsals, I just sit there with my computer and a dictionary and a thesaurus and just go over the song in my head and I write and I rehearse, obviously, with singing, but it's two different elements that don't really necessarily clash. The thing is, I do have set days to do those rehearsals. And then, the Leg Lifters thing is very new. It's kind of an all-encompassing element: it started off as a radio show, and then we started doing videos, then remixes, and now it's an all-encompassing production company sort of thing, and that's where we're falling short on time, because there are all of these things that we want to do that we don't get to do, like, "We want to do another radio show," or "We have all this footage and want to make a video," or we won't get around to remixes that we want to do because we just don't have the time for it. I mean, eventually, it will happen. In the meantime, I try to do as much as I can and, at the same time, I try not to look back at it and say "Is this going to hold water," you know? Because, a lot of people churn out shit.
JG: Well, one a similar note, I was talking to Chloe, from the band AIDS Wolf about a week ago, and she mentioned that she wouldn't "delude herself into thinking she could ever have a career doing difficult music." I also remember an interview you did with Vestal watch a while ago in which the interviewer asked you a question related to your career, and I think your response was "I don't have a career, look at me." But, that all being said, I get the impression that you do take your music very seriously and really endeavor to put out quality music. So, do you really not view your music as a career? Have you always had to maintain other jobs on the side in order to support your music?
JP: Yeah, I have, and everyone I've ever played with has too - everyone in most of the bands I've been in do that. They have a job on the side - I mean, when you think of a career, in American culture, you go through the setting of, like, College, and a degree, and then, career - that's your life, and I think that, to some people, it does have a negative connotation to it. I guess I would pick a different word. To me, Career sounds so "I work in a cubicle, I wear a suit."
JG: I am curious as to what inspired you to dedicate yourself and put all that effort into music. What was it about musical performance or composition - or whatever aspects of music most appealed to you - that really motivated you to put all the sweat and blood and tears into it that you have over the years?
JP: Well, I think it's just one of those things, you know? For me, when I was a child, I just listened to all sorts of music, and then, for whatever reason, I felt myself being drawn towards all this weird shit that trickled down into the avenue that I think I've gone down musically. I remember being a child and being into Kiss and, then, at some point, realizing that Kiss really sucked - on the radio, they sounded like crap - and I was only drawn to the way they looked. But then, I started focusing on, I don't know - weird stuff - and, through skateboarding, I got into Thrasher skate comps and, luckily enough, I was a 12 year old kid listening to Septic Death, which is, I think, kind of rare for a 12 year old kid, but Iw as so grateful that I was able to not waste my time with, I don't know, whatever a 12 year old kid might be exposed to - like New Kids on the Block or something. By the time New Kids were around, I was already listening to Carcass and, therefore, going back to your previous question, developing my "career" at an early age.
JG: Do you feel as though you've had to make a lot of sacrifices in order to get to where you have gotten musically, and do you feel like it's been worth the effort invested over the years?
JP: Sure. I mean, it's kind of like a joke, you know - I always say "look at us. We ruined our lives to do what we do, to play this kind of music." Some people have, like - I think it's like a class situation, you know, they'll come from the other side of the tracks - and some people luck out. All of us have made sacrifices - and it's one of those things, it's like, at the end of the day, what pays off. And it sucks, because we're all working our asses off on every aspect of trying to create this art and, like you said, people will just shit on you on the forums, or have their opinions. But, at the end of the day, we know we did rad shit, and we did it on our own, on our own time, and what we did got us to travel the world, and play to people that are cool, and see things that are also, in a sense, inspiring. And I mean, if we didn't do music, what would we do? We'd just be those people with "careers," in those cubicles, you know - living a mundane life. Yeah, we chose kind of an obscure and sort of obscure career, in a sense, but, at the same time, we kind of are able to live life in conjunction with that - and a lot of people don't get to do that. I think it does hinder a lot of things, like, we can't hold steady jobs, and a lot of people are faced with the element of having a relationship and having to leave for months on end, which is kind of difficult - and that whole thing you brought up about having a dog, and leaving on tour, that is a huge concern. It's difficult- family structure, or lifestyle structure, it's not as good. You find yourself spending a good chunk of the year living out of a suitcase, and even when you're not on tour, you're at home in a rehearsal studio for six hours a day. It is a weird lifestyle, but, at least for us, it's what we do - what else would we want to do?
JG: I just remember reading an interview - it may be outdated at this point - with The Locust, and the way you described it, it sounded almost as if you felt stuck, as though you didn't have another option, in terms of pursuing things outside of music. Like, you'd just been doing music so long, you couldn't imagine what else you could do. Is that a correct perception? Do you ever feel trapped in your style of living?
JPI don't think any of us would say that we're trapped. I mean, it's like, "what else do you want to do?"
NATHAN JOYNER: It just happened, you know?
JUSTIN: I don't want to sound cliche, or cheesy, but it's kind of like we were born into it. I don't know - at some point in my life I just realized, I wanna play music, and it just happened. Granted, when I first started thinking about music, when I first heard the Sex Pistols, I didn't think like "Oh man, I wanna be like them," I just felt like, "I wanna play music, 'cause this is cool stuff." At the same time, I'm shocked that I got to the point where I'm at, and I'm also like, "well, it could be better." They key is not to focus on that. The key is to say, "this is what I'm going to do," and just keep doing. I don't really know what else any of us could do - it's not really a concern. I just get up, and I'm like: "I'm going to go play music."
JG: So it just sort of comes out naturally?
JP: Yeah.
JG: I think I can relate. I've been playing cello since I was 5 years old, and it's just so much a part of my life now, it doesn't feel like an obligation necessarily - it doesn't feel like I'm trapped in there. But, every day, when I think of, you know, "what do I really want to be doing right now," or I have "free time," I just tend to naturally gravitate towards producing music in some form, usually with that instrument.
JG: All right, moving on - I was wondering about your live performances. Earlier today, I was looking through some live performances on the Three One G YouTube account, and I noticed a bit of a contrast. For example, in the old Holy Molar videos, it's not uncommon to see the audience members knocking over your equipment, getting in your faces - I even think there was one clip of somebody riding on Bobby's back while he was playing synth. Then, in the videos of All Leather, the audience seems detached and contemplative. Would you prefer people to be more active, maybe physical, or do you like people to be more distant, or is that not even a concern?
JP: Well, for me - I don't know what Nathan would feel like, but I don't really care what the audience's reaction is, and the comparison between Holy Molar and All Leather feels... well... First of all, Holy Molar was a joke band, and the more absurd situations we could get that band in, the better. I think we weren't necessarily very concerned with musicianship. With all Leather, we're dealing with elements that none of us have ever dealt with. One of them is having all synthetic instrumentation, so there's no acoustic drums, and we do rely on a good PA and monitors for everyone to hear the different elements of the music, so that would require us being in more of a club environment, with at good sound system. I mean, we've done shows that have been a little more aggressive, like smaller places, and it loses an audible aspect - you kind of have to compromise: do you want to sound really good and play in a club with a good PA, or do you want to play in someone's living room and have it be super intense, and have it be a more party-like atmosphere. Both of them have pros and cons, and I think they are what they are - and I guess it's to your disadvantage to just go with what you see on the Internet. We've played in Tucson, where it was absurd: people were picking me up and throwing me across the room. I think, ultimately, we're really concerned with sounding good. We really rely on a lot of the drumming and a lot of the synthetic elements that come from that for the outcome of the songs. And that can be harder to achieve in some of those places where Holy Molar played. In some of that footage, we played at the Che Cafe, and I love playing at the Che, but it's really difficult for us to play there.
Leg Lifters "NOTHING" from Leg Lifters on Vimeo.
JG: You mean, just for the overall sound setup?
JP: Yeah, because the PA speakers are in front of the band, so when we're playing, our drummer's sitting there, playing his drums, and you don't hear them right there, because the sound's not coming from the drums, it's coming from in front of the stage, out of the PA. So, all you hear is the guitar. Even with the vocals there, you don't hear them unless you're up at the front. We're not a typical punk band, where we can just get up and play, and nothing really matters - we're trying to work with elements that, I guess, reflect more actual musicianship. It's about musicianship, not just about playing fast riffs. That's how Some Girls was, it was more stripped down.
NJ: I don't think the crowd is contemplative, I think they just don't understand what's happening. They will see us and they'll notice that the guitar doesn't sound like a guitar, and JP's standing there singing. I mean, with the YouTube footage, at the Moving Units show, you know, we're on top of a stage. We're elevated. We're above peoples' heads, so there's not much room for them to jump up there and jump on us - the security guards are just gonna kick 'em off. Of there. There have been shows, like JP said, where people respond really well. And I think the times where people don't seem quite as into it may be because it's something new.
JG: I see what you mean. Given the choice, though, would you prefer to get a more visceral reaction from your listeners, or is that not of concern to you?
NJ: I don't think it's as much about the reaction, I think it's more about the fact that we ourselves are trying something new. If we're happy with it, then we're happy with it. If there are shows where we're not happy with it, but the crowd is happy with it... well, those aren't the best shows for us, really.
JP: I mean, I think, for us, we just take what we've got, and say, "OK, this is the show," and we make the best of it, be it on a big stage or in a living room, and just deal with whatever aspect that the show is. Like I said before, both have their pros and cons, and we're just like, "Well, it is what it is."
NJ: It's almost the same as when we were in Some Girls, too, when we played Deathface. Deathface is a ten, fifteen minue song. Sometimes, we wouldn't even play our whole set - we'd just play Deathface for a half hour, and it was the same reaction. At first, they'd be really into it, but, after about fifteen minutes of the same riff, they'd be like, "what the fuck is happening?"
JG: I really regret that I never got to see Some Girls live, but I have seen some extended videos where people will just very gradually trail off, and their interest wanes over time - it's a shame.
JP: I suppose. Sometimes we would just get so pissed off with the audience - you know, there would just be some fuckhead in the crowd, and we'd just say to each other, "OK, let's just Deathface 'em." Our goal was to just clear the room...
NJ: And it worked!
JG: Do you feel inclined to take a combative stance with your music and with your performances? Do you feel the need to fight to get people to listen to you, or to make yourselves heard?
JP: I think that's a horrible thing to do, and NO - but, like I said, when you're given a circumstance or a certain situation, you have to deal with it in the best way possible that you can. So, it's not like we try to go piss people off, but if we're playing to people that are just being shitty, well, then, we're gonna be shitty back. I mean, Nathan and I both work at this bar that has horrible bands every night and, granted, sometimes we are a little vocal about our opinions on their music, but we're not up there being all "Shut the fuck up!" or "You suck!" or whatever. I'd like to at times, but I don't do that - it's just not appropriate. They've come from wherever, they're playing, they're doing their thing, so I just let it go. But if someone's gonna get up in our face, or throw shit at us, or call us names, it's like, well, you're messing with the wrong people, because not only are we all super witty, but we are, in a sense, a bit ruthless. We don't have reservations like a lot of people would in that setting. Even with The Locust, we dealt with that shit for years, where people would just talk shit to us, and it's to the point where you can sit there and argue back and maybe belittle them, but is that really progressive? And why are those people even standing there? That's the thing: if Nathan and I are someplace and there's a band playing, and they suck, we're not gonna stand there and observe them for half an hour. I don't want to hear shitty music - I'll just bail. That's the thing - it makes a spectacle for them, and if it isn't their show, they just need to shut up.
NJ: And they paid to get in to the show, so they must have had some sort of reason to be there, be it us or some other band.
JP: And the thing is, with people being aggressive or rude, or whatever, I can appreciate it when it's good, but the thing is: it's always the same shit. It's that lowest common denominator. They might not be actually calling us faggots, but they might as well. We're like, "come on, dudes, is that the best you can do? At least be creative about it. If you're gonna make fun of us, put a little bit of effort into it." You know, that definitely wins me over, if someone's gonna heckle us and get me to laugh about myself, then that's pretty good.
NJ: There was one show in particular - do you remember Jagermosher, JP?
JP: Oh, no...
NJ: We were in Cleveland - I forget, at the Grog Shop?
JP: Yeah.
NJ: And there was this dude... he was being such an asshole, moshing, punching girls, and shit like that - just being an asshole - so we just played Deathface, and I actually spit on him at one point, and it obviously pissed him off, but he never approached the stage. Then, we were done playing, he came up to me and apologized. I was like, "Well, I accept your apology, but, next time, don't be such an asshole." I think in those certain circumstances, when someone crosses the line, well, duh, we're gonna cross the line with them.
JG: Heh, makes sense. Okay, I've got a couple more quick questions. First of all, I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly All Leather appeared, expanded, and made its presence known. It just sort of seemed, at least to the uneducated internet public (namely myself), it seemed to sort of come out of nowhere and, within a month, you had an impressive amount of material available for everybody to see. Were you involved in an extensive preparatory phase for that? Did you plan things out elaborately beforehand? Also, how has the online medium, e.g. using MySpace, forums and such, helped you get the word out - have those been useful tools?
JP: Fortunately, I think they have been useful tools, but I don't think that things necessarily happened that fast. I think that all of us are seasoned musicians, so what happened was that we wrote a record, and we already knew a studio where we could record at. It's not like we were in a new band - we had the avenue laid out for us. I guess we'd already paid our dues: we'd already been in other bands, in all those other projects, so that first step had already been taken care of.
JG: So, you were familiar with the general process, which made things easier?
NJ: We'd already done a lot of the groundwork.
JP: And beyond that, it's been a whole, "Oh, those guys from that band have a new project," you know... "All Leather, Featuring EX MEMBERS OF..." that kind of helped us get our foot through the door, I guess.
JG: I've heard The Locust and Some Girls described as punk bands, and you've used the work punk quite a bit in this interview and in previous interviews in association with a variety of musical acts that you're a part of. I'm not too well-verse in what the current definition of punk is, or where the barriers are between different genres, or whatever, but a lot of people would argue that punk is dead, that it's a faded movement - but that doesn't seem to be the case with you guys. Could you give me some insight into what being punk means to you in this day and age - what the definition or importance of the term is to you?
JP: I think that a lot of people should step up the philosophy of punk. I think it definitely pays to voach for what has happened and why it's happened, but I would rather not just tell you - well, you said the word "being," and "being punk," and I think that it's more of a moral or ethical thing. For me, I would consider elements that aren't even musical to be punk. Like aspects of society that are challenging - like I have these friends that are part of this gay church, and I think that's pretty punk! They put up this huge billboard, apologizing for Christianity being narrow-minded and homophobic - on a billboard, promoting their church - and I'm not an Athiest, and I'm not religious, but that aspect of what they did is punk. It's not about mohawks or spikes or fast drum beats or anything like that - that's just a punk element.
JG: So it's more about progressiveness and more about a more challenging, forward-thinking attitude than any specific aesthetic or musical inclinations?
JP: Sure. Even in the 70s, when the punk explosion happened, they were just sick of society, they were tired of it, they were just over all this shit they had to face, and they were punks - they were the organizers. They took what they got, and they challenged it. Like, the new Green Day record, is that punk? Fuck no! That's not punk. That's pop music - it's not punk. So, yeah, it's dead, in a sense. I think it's come down to a lifestyle and opinions, and how you perceive things. It's one of those things that is open to interpretation.
JG: This question goes back to something we talked about earlier: Ida Corr and that song, "Let me think about it." Could you tell me more about the significance of that song to All Leather? Was Ida involved with the remixing process at all? Is she aware of All Leather?
JP: Well, we didn't record that song, it was just on our radio show - but she has no idea that we're a band. What happened was, I kept hearing that song at this place I worked at, and I told Nathan about the song, that it was killer. The funny thing, her part is the worst part of the whole song. He voice sounds really good, but there are cheesy vocal lines, and cheesy lyrics. They're so bad, I can't even sing them. I had to change them, 'cause they're so embarrassing. And some of her delivery, like in the breakdown and more of the sensual parts, I was unhappy about that. I think we were just drawn to the riffs and the way the hooks of the song were delivered - it had this really nice staccato on it, and the bass synth just kinda went through us for that song.
NJ: The producer for that song - that dude, Fedde le Grand - everything that he's done, well, you could use the word punk... it's not typical dance music. It's still hooky and poppy, with dance beats, but the chord progressions he'll use, the intervals - he's doing something different. I think Ida Corr just threw her vocal lines over it to make it more marketable.
JP: For me, I was at this bar, and I'd hear all these songs, all this shitty music, and then, the Ida Corr song would come on, and I'd be like, "Holy crap! This is that song!" You know, it stands out among whatever else is playing, and I thought, "that shit is tight," and it definitely had punk elements added to it. I mean, if I asked Fedde le Grand if he's a punk, or if he does punk music, he'd probably say no, but, ethically, I think that's what geared us toward that song.
JG: Alright! Well, just as a final, general question, I know you tend not to have parting words to interviews, but I would like to know what the future plans are for All Leather. What can fans hope to see soon in addition to the LP? Do you have any upcoming tours, or any interesting collaborations impending with other artists?
JP: We're waiting for our record to come out, then we'll be doing a bunch of tours in the States and Europe, and we've already started recording an LP. There are already collaborations with a couple of different people remixing it - Nick Zimmer. Also, with Leg Lifters, we're doing stuff with other artists as well. As far as All Leather, though: new album, touring.
JG: Well, that wraps it up. Thank you very much - I appreciate it.
JP: Thank you! Bye!
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