the No-Fi "Interview"
with

conducted by Quin, November 2002

Another interview and damn, I think I got it right this time. These guys are great. Super nice and I couldn't get Gabe to stop talking. In case you haven't heard them on No-Fi "Radio" yet, The Imperial Way are four guys (Eric the bass player is absent from the interview due to allegedly being passed out on his couch) from Torrance, California who play some of the greatest and catchiest indie pop emo power math violence melodics in the area. They love to play music and they love to talk about music as you can see here in this interview that took place at my house in Redondo Beach. They also recorded a few songs for the No-Fi "Sessions" so be sure to look for it on No-Fi "Radio" the week of Thanksgiving.

Q: (To Jeffrey) Well, this interview is centered around you because as they (Pat and Gabe) know, you've been a hero of mine for a long time. So...Jeffrey...I want to hear all about your experience in rehab.

(Quin's note- when I interviewed Dios, Jeffrey was in the band, but he was absent for the interview and the show they played that night. The reason they gave was that he was in rehab. Obviously a joke.)

J: Well, they tied me up...I don't remember most of it, it was all black.
Q: But are you better now?
J: People think I am but I still got devils in the closet. (Gabe laughs)
G: It's one day at a time, dude.
J: I've been hanging out with Elliott Smith a lot though.
Q: What is the story behind the bands name?
G: Well, me, Pat and Jeff used to be in a band called the Junior Maxwells (named after a teacher at Torrance High School.) And we broke up because we just weren't into power pop music anymore. We wanted to start something a little more aggressive. We were called the Imperial Highway (after a street in Los Angeles) for the first month of it. But we figured that would be too much like this punk band from around here called Interstate 007. So we were looking through eBay for something with the word 'imperial' and we found this Japanese book about the Japanese being the supreme race and it's called "The Imperial Way," so we figured that would be kinda cool. We didn't have to change it that much. So we are just called The Imperial Way. We are for the Japanese being the superior race. That's our shtick.
Q: Interesting. (silence)
P: Quin went to interview school.
Q: Hey this is the most comfortable interview I've done so far. You guys are very cooperative. So who is Cochese?
P: He's like...I don't know, the gum on the bottom of our shoes. (laughter)
G: We just can't get rid of him. He's a friend of ours that we met in High School. He became part of the Enzors, the brothers in the band, he became part of their family basically...forced himself to be part of the family kind of.
P: I got a Playstation 2 and he likes to play it...so he came over al the time, and we needed a keyboardist and since he took a beginning piano class...
G: We plan to get a real keyboardist if we ever have real keyboards. We have this song called 'Dilate Your Pupils' which has a really spooky organ in it and we needed someone to play it and he took a class, it's just kind of a scale anyway, so he learned it...he plays shows when he can with us.
J: And now he's my math tutor.
Q: REALLY???
P: Yeah. Mom said he's here anyway and he's like a math major.
Q: (surprised again, I mean, I know Cochese and he just doesn't seem like the type) HE'S A MATH MAJOR???
G: Economics, which is basically math.
Q: Voodoo Economics.
P: What's that?
Q: Haven't you seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off?
J: You didn't recognize that?
P: No.
G: Anyway, we love Cochese.
Q: What's your favorite venue to play a show?
P: We always play Sacred Grounds.
Q: But is it your favorite?
G: Uh, Chain Reaction. The sound there is fantastic and they treat you really nice. They give you water...
Q: Water? What's that?
P: Chain Reaction is a real venue.
J: They learn our songs like halfway through and get the lighting down to match it.
Q: Have you played Mr T's?
G: No. We don't want to play any over 21 clubs.
J: I have...
G: Yeah, he has with Dios.
Q: That's right, Jeffrey did play drums for Dios for a while.
G: But, uh, we don't like those Silverlake clubs, we think they're kind of elitist. And we don't sound like Beachwood Sparks. If people accept us they accept us. We're not going to go out of our way to play for a bunch of scenesters. I like a lot of those bands, but we're different. People that have heard us on the East coast have liked us a lot better than those on the West coast.
Q: What's your favorite band to play with?
G: Playground Warfare for me, they're kinda like Thrice.
J: Like Andrew WK's band without Andrew WK.
G: They're like Iron Maiden mixed with New Found Glory and they are just the nicest guys to play with.
J: But it's always great to play with the Rolling Blackouts too.
G: Yeah, they're one of our favorites.
P: I heard they have an EP out too.
G: Yeah, they have an EP out on Oedipus Records...uh the Masque Opera is also great. Freddy is like one of the coolest guys in the world. We love playing with them.
C: Do you guys hate it when you shave but later you find a long hair that you missed?
J: I just started shaving about a month ago. (laughter)
Q: How old are you now Jeffrey?
J: I'm 16. I just got my driver's license.
Q: (looking at the license) He looks like a young Brian Wilson in that photo.
P: He was going to be Brian Wilson for Halloween.
Q: That would have been great. He should have worn a fireman hat and a bath robe.
G: Just put on a bath robe and act like J.P. (from Dios)
C: I have the Brian Wilson rap song "Smart Girls".
Q: His crazy psychiatrist/manager that made him do a rap song?
C: Yeah.
J: I got "Rappin' Rodney." Nothin' beats that.
Q: What bands are you guys listening to these days?
J: I'm listening to a lot of Q And Not You, a band from DC produced by Ian MacKaye. The last Orchid album is really good.
J: And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead...
G: Yeah.
Q: A lot of hard stuff.
J: Yeah. Q And Not You is more like No Knife...kinda mathy melodic stuff.
P: The new Missy Elliott.
Q: It IS good, isn't it?
G: Badly Drawn Boy... Ida's one of my favorites.
P: Sleater-Kinney.
G: We like them a lot as you can tell on the recording. (They covered "Good Things" for No-Fi "sessions")
Q: We're going to send them a copy of that by the way.
G: Please do. We would like to hear what these girls think of us. We're big fans.
J: I still like Beck and Elliott Smith and Eels a lot.
P: Lately I've been listening to a lot of Queens Of The Stone Age and The Mars Volta. I've really been getting into the production of albums. I'm taking a class in that.
G: THe new Sigur Ros is rad.
J: You've heard it?
G: It's out. Um, we like At The Drive-In a lot and Superdrag. And "Pinkerton" by Weezer is one of our favorite albums.
(silence...someone said the "W" word.)
C: You know you're wrong according to Rivers Cuomo.
G: Fuck Rivers Cuomo.
C: He's making the good time music he's always wanted to make.
Q: Two words for Rivers Cuomo...Kurt Cobain...KaBoom! (laughter)
J: No more Kevin Rydell for you.
G: Two words for Rivers Cuomo...go back.
J: Try again.
G: You know it's pretty bad when Ozma is outweezering Weezer.
Q: Pat and Jeff, tell us about your dad's musical career?
P: Well, he was in a punk band in the 70's called The Scabs and they almost got on a label. They were doing pretty well, then their lead singer died. Then my dad did some cover bands...
Q: Yeah, the Guided By Voices cover band...
P: Yeah, he's in that now. They were called Gaping Blue Vagina then they changed their name to The Forget and they don't do GBV covers anymore. They have an EP out that's 48 songs and under 10 minutes.
J: It's called "The Pizza List." It's just a bunch of ridiculous titles turned into songs. I think one is called "Wolf Underwear."
G: Mr E as we like to call him, he likes some pretty cool stuff for his age. He's the only 45 year old that I know who owns Fugazi's "Repeater."
Q: This is the part of the interview where I say the name of a band and you describe the feeling you get when you hear the name. You know, the only one who has ever done this right is Todd from Toys that Kill. Everyone else just does word association, but his answers were great.
G: Todd is a brilliant man, a really cool guy.
Q: Here we go...

Q: At The Drive-In

G: Raw emotion, just pure great. Energy, that's what describes them.

Q: Sparta

P: Half raw emotion. (laughter)
G: At the Drive-In minus the artsy-ness.
J: A little repetitive though.

Q: The Mars Volta

G: Biting off The Birthday Party too much.
Q: Wait a minute...if I remember correctly, the first time you saw them live you were all excited.
G: Oh they're brilliant but...
J: They just don't take pictures well.
Q: Will Sabrina let us put that picture up on the site?
P: Yeah.

Q: The Beach Boys

G and J: Brilliant.
J: Yeah, I love Friends and 20/20. (Hey, both hit TV shows)
P: Musical orgasm.
G: We wish we could sing like them.
G P J and C: (in unison) I guess I wasn't made for these times.

Q: Ida

G: When you listen to Ida all you can imagine is just living in Greenwich Village, dating a painter in spring, watching a sunset. That's what their music is.
Q: I thought you were going to say watching a meteor shower and crying.
G: No comment on that one.

Q: Dios

J: They're good...shove the mic in my face.
G: J.P. is one of our best friends.
J: The next big thing.
G: They're made for Silverlake.
Q: haha...okay?
G: No, in a really really good way.

Q: The Rolling Blackouts

G: Boom sexy fantastic.
J: They're ten times better than a mixture of The Hives and The White Stripes.
P: They should be on the radio instead of The Strokes.

Q: The Masque Opera

G: These boys just ooze sexuality. Freddy Rupert is sex on stage. You gotta have them play on No-Fi.
Q: Yeah...if they'll do it. Freddy is always so shy and quiet. I get the feeling he doesn't like me.
G: He recently started opening up to me.
Q: Awwww. Did he give you a hug and tell you a secret?
P: He told him what kind of tree he wanted to be.
G: A weeping Willow...Let's just say that him and me, we drink some wine and just talk.
Q: By the fire?
G: No he's straight edge.
Q: What do you hate?
G: Dogs with sweaters.
Q: What about just dogs in any clothing?
G: People who put clothes on their dogs I fuckin' despise.
P: People who wear strappy shoes.
G: Shitty bands who show up late to shows, they're supposed to go on first and we end up playing before them because no one is there to see them yet.
(I ignored this answer, but I think I know who the band is...if you can guess, e-mail me.)

Gabe talks for hours about how much he hates Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. Then everyone in the room creates lies about how I predicted that the Santa Claus 2 will be a huge hit. (THANKS A LOT BIANCA!!) I am, however waiting for the sequel to 1985's Santa Claus: The Movie) So I get all huffy and threaten to end the interview which I do.

Q: Last question. Since it's November...what are you thankful for?
J: Music. I don't know, I'm not really thankful for too much. I'm thankful to be alive.
G: Family, friends, my guitar, my keyboards...
P: Just having my life that I have.
G: ...and for The Microphones and The Gossip and Pedro The Lion and any of the bands we didn't mention earlier.