PRP:Lets start with the basic questions, how did you guys get together?
Freedom: Joe, Myron and I were going to university in the middle of
Michigan about 6 years ago. Just got together drinking beer and playing and just started jamming. Later on
Cornbread was like a fan of ours and he ended up joining and Pete joined a few years later.
PRP: You guys have released an album and an EP through
Overcore/Overture that went over quite well in the local Michigan area, did the fact you guys had
already been into the studio a few times take the edge off of recording what could be considered your first "major label" release?
Freedom: We did our fist record on our own, we produced it ourselves, engineered it ourselves, and funded it ourselves, so it was all us. So When we went to the studio it was definitely easier to get our ideas out. Getting the sounds we wanted to get and obviously we had a lot more time to do it.
PRP: Does Cornbread ever get mistaken for a member of ZZ Top?
Freedom: No, not much anymore since he cut of his beard but people use to fuck with him about being
Amish.
PRP: Your latest record "Sons Of The Pioneers" has a interesting concept of
almost a tribute to each band that has influenced the band, was this a set idea to begin with or something that evolved out of the songwriting sessions
for the album?
Freedom: The whole record is paying homage to bands that we like and that we grew up with. As far as lyrically, that's
Myrons bag and whatever he comes up with.
PRP: Esham appeared on the track "Traffic" on the new record and is also
coincidentally a label mate through Overcore, is there a good sense of unity amongst the local acts signed to the label, or was it more of a friendship between you guys that sparked the collaboration?
Freedom: Yeah, at the time Esham had just signed with overcore and we were a big fan of his from a long time ago because his stuff is really cool hard edged rap. He just came in and we asked him to do a couple verses and in just a few minutes he came up with a whole tune verses. We wrote it really fast, it was really cool.
PRP: How do you guys feel about comparisons to bands like
Clutch on this record?
Freedom: I love clutch so that's cool.
PRP: Some people are quick to write off your sound as a cross between stoner rock
and rapcore, anything you'd like to say to describe your sound?
Freedom: The best way I've heard us described is someone called us
kiss-hop one time. I don't really care, people that make up descriptions basically do it to tell their friends to buy the record or not to buy the record. I don't give a shit, Makes no difference to me.
PRP: Black Sabbath and Bob Marley are obvious influences for the band, who else
would you say had a heavy hand in shaping the bands sound?
Freedom: It doesn't necessary have to be an old band. We grew up on rock bands like
Zepplin and things like that, but anybody even new who's doing stuff inspires you. You go see them live and it makes you want to jump around more. Inspiration is everywhere, its not just
necessarily old bands
PRP: What modern bands would you like to tour with?
Freedom: I would love to tour with a band that helps us sell records. I wouldn't necessarily say that's the right band to tour with. Id love to tour again with
One Minute Silence as they are really cool guys. Id love to tour with Kings-x
myself but that probably wouldn't help us any, you know. Basically anybody that's cool to us. Nothingface, amen - I'd love to go out with them.
PRP: The band was on this years Tattoo The Earth bill which some bands have
spoken negatively of due to short set times and an unorganized nature, how was your experience on the tour?
Freedom: I can speak negatively about it, it was
organized very badly. It was like a circus, from the venues being shitty to the order of the bands, it was basically who put in more money here and there. Overall the bands all got together really well. It was a really unified thing, especially the b stage bands like us,
Amen and One Minute Silence everyone was real tight so it was a good experience that way and their was a lot of people but it was very poorly run, definitely.
PRP: Does Cornbread ever smuggle things in his beard?
Freedom: haha somebody's asked that before, I swear to you. But no,
because he doesn't do any drugs, he just drinks.
PRP: With every artist and their mother stating their opinions about
Napster and
mp3's and Roadrunner being a fairly mp3 supportive label, how do you feel about the whole situation?
Freedom: I really don't care, I download mp3's so fuck it.
PRP: What would you say is the meaning behind the band name?
Freedom: To go deep into it, there's a section of the book
"The Electric Coolid Acid Test" where there in a hippy commune and they used to blare music and messages out of these speakers and one of those messages was workhorse and intercourse, which is working hard and feeling good. Workhorse came from that and we put the movement on as we started touring more just to spice it up I suppose.
PRP: Just what exactly does the Sabbath Dream entail?
Freedom: Pretty much just being a kid your whole life, that's what the song was written about. It pays tribute to Sabbath but also the way Sabbath lived their life and most good rock bands did, where you get older but you still act like your 14 years old.
PRP: Do you still get nervous before shows, particularly as tonight is your fist overseas headlining show.
Freedom: Not really nervous, you get flustered I suppose. There's so much hype surrounding so much stuff and for us there's so much running around before we even play that are minds are going a million miles a minute. It's kind of the same thing for us though. There's no ritual for us, we have a few beers then get on stage and hope everything works when we get on stage. Its nervousness but its like a good anxiety that makes high energy.
PRP:What are your plans after this European tour.
Freedom: I think we are going go home and take a little time off. We've been on the road since March so we haven't had much time off. We haven't even rehearsed since February. So we're
going to go home maybe just drink beers and be a band again and try and get inspired again. You play every night and its fun but sometimes you lose track of originally why you do stuff.
PRP: What records have you been listening to of late?
Freedom: Billy Halliday, Miles Davis,
Jeff Buckly,
Bob Marley, Tom Waits and the Pixies. Pretty much anything that's not really heavy. We tend not to listen to heavy stuff for the sake of being able to relax.
PRP: Well that's about it, any shoutouts or shameless self promotion you'd like
to throw out?
Freedom: Sona Fariq have been really cool to
us on this tour, 20 Dead Flower Children back home, their on their way. There's to many bands to list, to many good bands. Nothingface, Amen, Relative Ash.
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