It seems only a few years ago that ska music was a foreign cultural phenomenon that nobody would admit knowledge of, let alone have love for. Bomb The Music Industry has helped make it acceptable to listen to punk rock with horns again, but don’t start the fourth wave jokes yet. BTMI isn’t exactly a ska band. From their DIY approach to making t-shirts to booking all of their own tours, Bomb has a lot more in common with Fugazi than Reel Big Fish. I got the chance to speak with front man Jeff Rosenstock recently about a plethora of things some of you will care about and some of you won’t. Whatever, form your own opinions.
“So when you write the opening paragraph for this article, could you say that I would like to say that I don't only get my political information from Perez Hilton? That would be crazy.” –Jeff
Bryan: Jeff Rosenstock from Bomb the Music Industry, are you a terrorist?
Jeff: That’s a really weird first question, Bryan. I’m not going to lie to you.
Bryan: So no further explanation needed, you’ve never been involved in any terrorist activities?
Jeff: Nope. The bombs that we drop are hit songs, son! Bomb that shit, for real. From 2008 to the fucking future, bomb!
Bryan: Where did the name come from?
Jeff: The name came from a time when you couldn’t say bomb. At the time it was like, shit you can’t talk about this. Around the time of the 2004 elections I was watching “Style Wars” a lot. I really like the idea of bomb being used as a positive word
Bryan: Let’s start at the beginning.
Jeff: That seems like a good place to start.
Bryan: “Album Minus Band,” tell me about the magical powerbook mic you used on that record.
Jeff: Alright, there was only one song from that album where I used that microphone, “Sweet Home Cananada.” My old band had broken up or went on hiatus or whatever, so I’m like, “fuck it, I’m never writing songs ever again!” Then I wrote that song and put it out to see if anybody wanted it. That was how it started, people showed interest and I like recording stuff. It’s amazing how you can take demo versions using bad microphones sound as good as it should using very small means. I’m surprised that anybody can make it through all of the horrible, horrible recording on that album. It was like everyday I was writing a song. I’d stopped drinking for a month, so I was very productive. I wasn’t going out at all and unemployed at the time, so I was trying to figure it all out. Trying and failing but eventually putting out these failures as songs.
Bryan: I never heard about this guy that killed himself at the WTC site that you talk about on “Blow Your Brains Out On Live TV.” It’s funny how things like that fall out of the media focus.
Jeff: That was weird; there was a lot of stuff going on. Around the time of the 2004 elections, that was like the biggest bummer ever. I try to make sure that Bomb the Music Industry isn’t a politically preachy band, but when that happened I was like, “This sucks, I’ve got to say something.” I heard about the guy killing himself at the WorldTradeCenter site. I thought it was very crazy how people were willing to make statements that big about how bad things are. That song was like a thought put together about how people aren’t able to deal with situations, whether they’re beyond their control or not. How was that answer? Pretty good right? I had it written down. Brian from Cheeky is holding up cue cards with all of the answers.
Bryan: So you’re hanging out with the kids from Cheeky?
Jeff: I’m hanging out with Brian and Laura Stevenson from Bomb The Music Industry. Brian is also in Cheeky, Laura Stevenson does her own solo project and Mike is from the band Beardlift.
Bryan: Beardlift! You’re hanging out with some good folks.
Jeff: Some good folks for sure. We’re driving up to New Hampshire now to visit our keyboard player Neil who lives in a secluded cabin where he’s a groundskeeper over the winter.
Bryan: Someone once told me that Bomb the Music Industry was ska for smart people. What do you think about that label?
Jeff: That’s nice of them to say. I think that ska bands for awhile there just weren’t doing anything. They were just making the same fucking record over and over again. I like ska music but I’m also into a lot of other stuff. So you could call us ska music for smart people or indie rock for dumbasses at the same time. That’s nice that somebody thinks we’re smart. I think there are definitely some ska bands that are stepping up now. The new Mustard Plug album (In Black And White) was amazing. Maybe ska bands at the time that person said that were leaving them emotionally devoid.
Bryan: What’s your opinion on bands with crimpers and fashion accessories in their vans?
Jeff: Well, you know sometimes girls need to crimp their hair and put on necklaces. I’m cool with that. If you’re talking about dude bros with hair that they flatiron, fucking whatever right? It doesn’t bother me, I don’t care. It has nothing to do with anything we’re doing or any band I like is doing. They’re kind of in 1985 Back to the Future and we’re in 1985 Prime. We split off and said we actually like music and playing songs. They’re mostly like wait a second, this is a job. Isn’t it a lot easier to be an accountant if you want to make money? Shit. The answer is yes. It’s a lot easier to be an accountant if you want to make money, shit.
Bryan: Is it weird being in such an upfront band with your politics on tour?
Jeff: It depends on what you mean by our politics. Like not having merch and stuff like that?
Bryan: That, and your song lyrics, what you’re saying compared to a lot of other bands.
Jeff: I don’t think it’s weird with our song messages because they’re all really personal. Talking about songs like “No Rest For The Whiny” where we’re talking about the economy is still us talking about being a person who can’t find a job. I think trying to make the songs more personal makes it easier to swallow for people whether they agree with the messages or not. We’re not trying to tell anybody what to do. Everybody feels weird about certain things and I think just being honest is the best way to go. If somebody wants to talk to me about it that’s cool. These songs are just the way that I feel. As far as the merch goes, from day one it was Bomb The Music Industry doing its own thing. We have a bunch of friends who sell merch in bands. O’ Pioneers, who are some of our best friends, run a screening company and have a bunch of shirts. That’s fine, whatever. I definitely think that the way we do free music is really cool, but I don’t think it’s the only way. When we started asking kids to bring their own shirts and us spray painting them, it was so reactionary to so many people. Out of eighty different t-shirt designs at every show, it was like c’mon guys. Let’s remember that we’re playing music for people to hear the music, not just so the people who hear the music will buy a t-shirt from the band they just heard live.
Bryan: Do you ever see a time when you will sell merch on tour?
Jeff: We’re selling vinyl and CD’s now. That’s still really weird and I don’t know how I feel about it. It’s nice though because mp3s really suck but CD and vinyl sound really good. We’re never really pushy about it. People have the choice if they want to pay for something that sounds a little bit better for money or not. As far as shirts go, we’re going to spray paint them until we can’t do that anymore. Then I guess we’ll reassess our situation. I don’t really see us growing so popular that we won’t be able to do that so, lucky us!
Bryan: What do you think of the idea of a band as a product? The mass marketing of Paramore for example.
Jeff: It’s weird. I know quite a bit about Paramore, but I’ve never heard any of their songs. I try to avoid Paramore every second of my life. Yet, I still know who they are, what they look like and shit. I was watching something on MTV and the interstitials between each episode were like Boys Like Girls eating condoms out of an ice cream truck. I was thinking, wait a second, is this a band? Aren’t they supposed to play music or something? I just don’t get it and it doesn’t affect where we’re coming from. I know, as far as the record label Quote Unquote goes, that I have really good bands that I want people to hear. It’s this line between good honest publicity and shoving something down peoples throats. Hopefully eventually people will be smart enough to make their decisions themselves and not devote their lives to those type of bands. It’s not necessarily Paramore, I’m sure they’re all nice people, but when you’re a band not because of your music you’re kind of missing the point. Those bands are not going to be the next fucking Phil Collins.
Bryan: Yeah, they’re not going to be the next Genesis! There are some artists who are able to sell albums but still retain their dignity.
Jeff: Yeah, you know. Genesis has greatest hits records. Fucking Will Smith has greatest hits records. They made music for like 15 years and people are still interested. I think when it’s just marketed as a product, people are going to lose their interest in it just as quickly. I guess I feel bad for those bands. They probably feel bad for me because I’m broke so I guess we’re even.
Bryan: What about mainstream magazines? For awhile you wouldn’t do interviews?
Jeff: Oh! We never wouldn’t do interviews, nobody would talk to us! Nobody had any interest in us. Scott, the music editor at AP likes us a lot. We’ve been very fucking fortunate that magazines have wanted to write about us. I think it’s great to have a public discussion about this stuff. It’s just been us booking the shows for years now. It’s cool seeing that people are interested in us enough to give us space in their magazines. Maybe somebody will read a Bomb The Music Industry interview or a review of an album on Quote Unquote and think, wait, you can do things differently. Fucking major magazines, whatever. They can write about whatever they want. You don’t have to read them. I think that essentially all music magazines are trying to put forth one opinion. Whether that opinion is saying you should find yourself and shit or trying to tell you that beards are cool, it seems like magazines are kind of singular, so I don’t think it’s fair to knock a mainstream magazine for that. Independent magazines are giving you the same shit. Basically, I miss Punk Planet.
Bryan: For sure. That was my favorite magazine for the longest time. It was so sad to see them go. On the topic of surviving as an independent, as the first All Donations based Digital label, how does Quote Unquote Records do financially? Do you think physical recordings are dead?
Jeff: Well, I think the thing with Quote Unquote is we don’t spend much money. We don’t do advertising. It’s pretty much a word of mouth, grassroots thing. I think it was trying to be honest about putting records out on the internet. It’s so overblown so this was like, hey these are records some of our friends made that I think are good. The donations that come in are not huge, but since we don’t spend that much money they pile up. We can spend a couple hundred bucks for a band to go into the studio when we need to. Our friend Joel, who recorded the latest Bomb The Music Industry record, has always been very fair about the prices of our bands to record because he really supports the idea. I guess it’s a mixture of those things that make it work out as the little community we’ve got here. We probably have about 1300 bucks in the account that we’re holding on to until we find a good reason to spend that money.
Bryan: Do people very often donate more than the $5 suggested price for the albums?
Jeff: Most people donate more than the suggested donation. Especially, Bomb the Music Industry has gotten some crazy sized donations since we have so many albums up there. It’s cool because that money actually goes back into building something. They help make Quote Unquote better. Not bigger in a bad way but bigger in a way where more people will know about it and maybe, shit. Do it themselves too.
Bryan: What are some of the releases that you’re most excited about right now?
Jeff: Well, it may be kind of weird since I’m sitting right next to him, but I’m really excited about the Cheeky EP (Choke on a Cheeseburger). It’s really, really fucking good. I’m psyched because I think it sounds good. That record is six songs that are all good. I think that may be the first time with one of our releases, so I’m stoked about that. I’m excited about all of the bands. I thought the new Matt Kurz record (Impending Doom Is No Excuse) was awesome and The Riot Before record (So Long, The Lighthouse). Really good, people liked that one and Pegasuses XL (The Antiphon) is always a lot of fun. We’re about to put out this Laura Stevenson record, which will be the first really acoustic thing we’ve done. That should be interesting to mix that kind of energy with the punk rock on our label.
Bryan: You guys are really developing a diverse mix of bands.
Jeff: It’s funny because we really still don’t have a ska band on Quote Unquote Records. Just because we’re always waiting on the right people to do it with. So many of our friends are musicians. The Riot Before are a really good punk rock band to play basement shows with and Cheeky, for lack of better terms, were a really good way to bring a female element into Quote Unquote Records. I thought they were the right band to do it. Rick Johnson makes some really good electronic ipod music and Matt Kurz does a great job as a one man band with his bluesy rock and roll tunes. He’s a really good songwriter. I listen to a lot of music, but I try to keep the bands on the label as the best bands I listen to and am fortunate enough to be friends with.
Bryan: Let’s switch gears over to politics.
Jeff: Okay, you switch those gears; let’s go into politics. I’m really uneducated on all of this by the way. I just want to confess this to any kid who’s reading this trying to find a good opinion and good facts. Everything I know is hearsay from what my girlfriend tells me from Perez Hilton. It’s shitty, it’s like a copy of a copy of a copy until it turns into a piece of shit in a Xerox machine. I like how you’re saying things that make it sound like I know what I’m talking about. I just want to stress again that I have my own opinions and they’re probably misinformed, that’s all I’m saying. But they’re misinformed in a different way than most.
Bryan: We’re obviously in the same boat with not being able to afford health care.
Jeff: Yeah.
Bryan: For the few months I did have insurance, I felt like I was being scammed. Every time I went to the doctor, it was like that doctor was trying to send me to another doctor or to some lab, then back to the first doctor who sees nothing wrong and wants you to see more doctors while paying a fee every time. How do you feel about the current state of healthcare in America?
Jeff: I don’t really know. I don’t have health insurance. I know that if I get sick I’m pretty much fucked. If I start getting seriously sick, my mom will go to the doctor and pretend that she’s sick like I’m sick so she can use her $2 copay. Isn’t that nice of my mom to do? But that doesn’t seem like the way people should be getting medical attention. That sets off a little alarm in my head that something’s wrong when my mom has to go to the doctor for me because I don’t have an insurance card. I had a job where after like 3 months you could get health care. I left right before but had made a decision to not get health care. It’s really expensive and you don’t really get much. The options they gave us were really shitty and expensive. You’re always so fucked. Whatever though, that’s health care, I guess people just need to stay healthy. Fuck it, right?
Bryan: I got my social security information sheet recently. It said when I’m 62 I’ll be eligible for $500/month in the year 2035. Do you think privatizing social security is a good idea?
Jeff: I think social security is weird. I think that everybody our age has kind of come to the understanding that it’s just some bullshit thing that is being taken out of your check before you get it. Obviously in the future none of us are going to receive social security because people would’ve already squandered that money. Privatizing social security seems like a pretty shitty idea. Maybe some people think that’s a smart idea. It doesn’t seem like they’re right to me, but fuck it, right? They’re the ones in charge, all right guys, whatever. I think that we’ve consciously realized that we’re not going to get that money. We’ve come to the understanding that we’re throwing some money away each week. You know though, I like gum and gum doesn’t last that long. So it’s kind of like buying a lot of gum every week except you never get the fresh feeling in your mouth.
Bryan: Nice analogy, Jeff.
Jeff: That’s like the worst analogy that’s ever been made in the history of analogies.
Bryan: Are there any of the presidential candidates that you like in the least?
Jeff: I like Barack Obama. I don’t really know why anymore, but I know that I kind of like him. I think he was a good guest on Letterman or The Daily Show. I’m just like fuck yeah, I’ll vote for him.
Jeff: I have this friend who works out of town, I don’t know if I can tell this story.
Bryan: Why can’t you?
Jeff: Fuck it, I’ll tell it, but my friend might get bummed out. Ah Jesus. Okay, so Hillary Clinton was planting trees with kids and my friend is involved with the press and he’s hanging out watching. There was this one kid that just couldn’t fucking figure it out. He had a shovel but just couldn’t dig. So Hillary Clinton goes over to him and says,”Well you can put it in my hole!” So my friend starts hysterically laughing and had to leave the area. Later, Hillary Clinton goes up to my friend and says, “That was pretty inappropriate what I said right?” He just said, “Uh, well I think my reaction was a little bit more inappropriate!” So yeah, Hillary Clinton interests me because that story is funny. Mike Huckabee interests me because he’s fucking insane and I think it’s hilarious. He’s probably going to be our next president because our country’s fucking dumb. Whatever, fuck it, this is like a terrifying fucking roller coaster we’re all on it. Mike Huckabee would be like the biggest bummer. All of our friends will be sitting around like oh I didn’t vote and you know what, Mike Huckabee is going to be our president. That’s sad. We’re fucked, we’re so fucked, and most people don’t even care.
Bryan: So what are your feelings on voting?
Jeff: I don’t know man. I guess we should vote right? I don’t know what my thoughts on voting are. On one hand, I don’t want Mike Huckabee to be our president, but on the other hand it’s like what am I going to do, vote for someone else who shits all over the place?Like John Kerry ate piles of shit all the time but I still voted for him just because Bush is so fucking bad. I really just want a good president, and it’s not going to happen. Bummer dude. That kids is why you should vote. People should vote because they care, right?
Bryan: What do you think about the war in Iraq?
Jeff: I thought it was a mistake from day one. It seems like people are finally realizing it was a mistake and are jumping onboard. I can’t help but feel like well shit, we could’ve used you six years ago. I don’t know anymore, I mean, what do you do? It doesn’t seem like any of the protests have made them stop. I guess by plugging away at the Iraq war, people now are starting to understand that we went there on bad information. We were lied to and now people understand that. That’s good.
Bryan: Along those same lines, The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act was passed by an overwhelming 400 to 6 margin in a House vote last month. It is basically written to shut down the protests and the ability to label Americans as terrorists. Do you think we’re getting to that point where our voices truly do not matter?
Jeff: I don’t know. I don’t think we’re in prison, but I think they’re trying to make us feel like that. I was arguing with my dad about this. Like most punk rockers, my dad is a republican. We talk about these types of issues a lot. I think if you have an opinion it’s very important to say what you’re thinking. It’s very important to feel strongly about your opinions. I don’t think that if you know nothing you should sign up to a fucking cause just because you think it might be the right thing to do you know? They can’t really be trying to take our right to protest away. There’s some things I believe will happen because our administration is so fucked up that it can, but I don’t think that’s one of those things. They can’t take away our freedom to assemble. That’s some constitutional shit you know. I don’t think they’re going to attempt to do that.
Bryan: You see it all over TV and print now, there’s this huge “Go Green” movement happening. Do you think people are adapting to this sincerely or that it’s just a media fed movement which will fade as soon as it stops being on corporate logos?
Jeff:If it’s a media fad, who cares. What they’re telling you to do is just an ad campaign. Who gives a shit? People are going to go green just because of that? Fuck yeah, whatever. People in our position have felt that way for a while, but now you have people saying, “I’m going to Go Green and buy a hybrid car.” If it encourages people to live cleaner and people actually adapt to that, fuck yeah. I think it’s a good thing. If Oprah tells everyone to Go Green and everybody is listening to Oprah, then that’s good. That’s positive. At the same time there are like twenty people in Bomb The Music Industry so this is just my opinion.
Bryan: Did graduating college work out for you? How has your experience been, having a college degree?
Jeff: I always did really well in school. I like learning. But has the degree helped me to get a job? I don’t know. At the same time, I walk in and say hey I want a job, but I’m planning on leaving a couple of weeks out of the year every couple of months and fuck you, I’m going to do it because that is what I want to. It’s really hard to be creative and have a job. There are just some people who have to make music. That’s why Bomb The Music Industry exist, it’s one of the few things we can do. Like The Fad are one of those bands. They do what they do because they have to. They can pour you a drink at a bar or press CDs for you, but their hearts are in playing music. The job market is really fucking weird right now. There really aren’t that many jobs out there that I can see. I don’t know if college helps or not. My degree is in Music and Communications. Fuck yeah, right? I didn’t think in college about majoring something that I could get a job with. I think one day I might want to go back and get a Ph.D. in Music so I can be an expert witness at trials. That would be fun. It would be like, “does this Nickleback song sound like that Seether song?” I could be like, “Kind of.” Then they’d pay me money. How good would that be?
Bryan: How did the Asian Man Records release of Get Warmer come about? Did you listen to a lot of their releases growing up?
Jeff: At the time when I was growing up, Asian Man was the fucking best. Some of my favorite records they released were all of the MU330 records, The live Blue Meanies album was great. The first three Alkaline Trio albums were bomb. Mike from Beardlift would like to yell out Slapstick. The Broadways’ Broken Star was so underrated. I love when I bring that up to people I didn’t know at that age who were all into that record. I’m glad that record has a legacy because it’s so solid. That record was so good, so being on Asian Man is still sort of crazy to me. The records they’re putting out now are really good. The Andrew Jackson Jihad album (People Who Can Eat People) is amazing and the Shinobu record (Worstward Ho!) is great. The new Queers record is rad. I’m so happy to be a part of what they’re doing.
Bryan: Shinobu’s Worstward Ho! has had a steady place in my rotation for a long time. It’s a bummer that so many people are missing out on that band.
Jeff: I think people will eventually discover Shinobu as that gem of a record that passed them by. I try to tell people about their music as much as possible. (Whole car screaming Shinobu! Yea!)
Bryan: What bands are you listening to the most right now?
Jeff: The Ergs! I love that band right now. I think they’re one of the best pop punk bands going right now. Battles is awesome, Toys That Kill, The Hot New Mexicans are one of the best punk bands in America and most people have never heard of them for some fucking reason. I like The Arcade Fire and think they’re really underrated by the punk rockers I know. They don’t get a fair shake because they’re such an indie darling. Deerhoof is good. The new LCD Soundsystem record was really good too. Sorry cynics.
Bryan: This one comes courtesy of Mitch Clem. Bomb The Music Industry is often shortened to BTMI; did you know there is another organization shortened to BTMI?
Jeff: What organization is that? I did not know.
Bryan: The Blessed Trinity Missionary Institute. What’s your affiliation with BTMI?
Jeff: The pendulum swings both ways. It’s like Elton John saying it’s good that Eminem shit talks gay people because that gives gay people the right to do whatever they want. See, the pendulum swings back and forth and that’s how I feel about the Blessed Trinity Missionary Institute.
Bryan: Have you ever trained a missionary or taught a missionary class?
Jeff: The only missionary I know is the missionary position! There you go.
Bryan: How was it bringing new members into Bomb The Music Industry? Who are the current members?
Jeff: I was surprised anybody wanted to get involved. I’m eating Corn Nuts, I need my sustenance for this interview. There’s too many current members to list. Once you’re in Bomb The Music Industry, you’re in for life. Somebody quit once and I’m like, “no, you’re not quitting,” and ended up playing a bunch more shows with us. I like the open door policy. It’s sometimes stressful when you’re touring because you don’t know who’s going to go exactly, but it definitely beats telling someone that they can’t work to pay their rent.
Bryan: How was the short tour with Anti-Flag and The Code?
Jeff: They were really nice to us. Anti-Flag’s audience was kind of weird. They were really confused by us, which is fair. Here are two pretty big political punk bands that are telling them specific things they should think about. Then you have us singing songs about being fat and riding a bike as a metaphor for overcoming big challenges in your life. It’s a pretty natural reaction for their fans to be confused by a bunch of bearded weirdoes jogging in place and playing their instruments wrong. I think some people really liked it and I’m glad that we got to do it. I try to write songs that people are going to like and that doesn’t always connect with everyone. We were playing this big rock’n’roll show so I tried to spin my guitar around my neck. It’s always lame, but here was this girl Missy standing upfront watching when the strap came off my guitar. My guitar fucking hit her in the head. So here’s Missy outside with the ambulance with her friend’s dad. Everyone was freaking out and I felt so bad. She was a trooper though. She just wanted to see a show! She didn’t need me throwing instruments at her head. She was really cool about it and we took her and her friend to the side of the stage so they could see the rest of the show.
Bryan: How do you feel about the current hardcore scene?
Jeff: [Chewing on Corn Nuts] I was really excited because a lot of 1980s style hardcore bands were coming out. Now they all sound the same. I don’t know, I guess I feel about hardcore like I feel about everything in that there are some good bands and there are some bad bands. I think Fucked Up is awesome. Municipal Waste is really good, I don’t know about the state of hardcore. I stopped going to hardcore shows when I was 13 years old because somebody started pulling my hair and slapping my face when I was in the mosh pit. I was like, “well, I don’t want to dance like that so I’m not going to come here anymore!”
Bryan: Who are some of your favorite bands to tour with?
Jeff: Chotto Ghetto was so much fun to tour with. I love Chotto Ghetto. I love them so much with all of my heart and hope we get to tour together soon. It was their first tour and they were just so fucking positive about every single thing that happened. We Versus The Shark took us on our first tour, so I try to tour with them whenever we can. We try to go out together once a year. We love We Versus The Shark. We’ve had fun with basically everyone we’ve toured with. Mustard Plug fucking ruled. They took us to England and were so nice. Everyone we’ve ever toured with has been really nice and cool to us. Any band we’ve toured with has been our favorite band to tour with. I really want to tour with The Ergs! at some point just because I think they’re so good. Maybe after people read this interview, it’ll be one step closer to happening, shit.
Bryan: How was your first European tour?
Jeff: It was insane man. I got to go to England, for free. Not even for free. They fucking paid me to go to England and play music. That was really life affirming. I didn’t work for three months just because I knew I was coming back from England with $2000. Which is absurd. That is absurd. Completely. Everyday was like a holiday and I never thought anything like that could ever happen to me. I was with Rick Johnson and Mustard Plug and The Planet Smashers. Some of the most fun people to spend time with. It was great.
Bryan: It’s pretty awesome how far the band has come over the last couple of years that we’ve known each other
Jeff: It’s funny; we haven’t come far at all. That’s the thing, it’s all smoke and mirrors. Magazines write about us sometimes, and Alternative Press does stuff sometimes. People are like dude, that’s a big deal. But more people have not started showing up at the shows or anything. It’s still pretty much all the same. I’ll still allow you to hold our $300 million dollar guarantee, but get ready to get a stern stare from whoever is paying us.
Bryan: How was playing Fest 6?
Jeff: Fest 6 was awesome. I wish I’d had a camera so I could’ve taken a picture and sent it to my parents. I could be like, see! See guys! Fest 6 was like one of the best times I’ve ever had in my life. I was so happy the whole time.
Bryan: Are you going to play Fest 7?
Jeff: Yes. Definitely. I would always go back to Fest. It was the greatest town ever. They have a fucking swimming pool man. If you throw a swimming pool into any show situation, I’ll be as happy as a pig in a swimming pool.
Bryan: Justify your existence, why should anyone care about you?
Jeff: People shouldn’t care about me; they should care about what they want to do. I don’t know man, that’s a shitty question to ask someone who hates themselves as much as I do. Damn, don’t give a shit about me. Go listen to fucking Paramore and see if I care. Fuck you.