Interview with Minus!

-Whats up Minus?

M: Not much man. I'm at school at the moment in the library. Listening to Kickback, about to start socking computers. That's about it for now haha.

-Haha, Where did you guys come up with the name?

M: I'm trying to think of some interesting and deep story about how the name "MINUS" came into play, but... I got nothing. I guess half of it came from Breakdown's "Plus Minus" record, get it? All I know for sure is that once the name was discussed, Mr. Daniel Weinraub immediately went to work on designing our logo, which came out looking great.

-Haha What does Minus have under their belt?

M: I think we have only played 3 real shows to date, 2 of which were over last weekend. We played 1 show in Santa Barbara before that, and before that we hopped on before a Downpresser set and played 1 song at a show in SB with Forfeit and Backtrack. The 1 song show was hard, it might be my favorite Minus show to date. Aside from shows, all we have under our belt is a demo, which was recorded sometime in 2009. It took awhile to come out because we recorded with Nathan Zemke (Violation) who happens to be going to school in San Diego currently, so we would have to schedule our recording/mixing sessions around when he would be off of school and home. However, we do have a full 7 inch (at least!) written already. We might record this Spring, who knows. As for now, more shows, more shows, more shows.

-Do you guys have any upcoming tours planned? What do you all do when you're not with the band?

M: We don't have any definite tours coming up at the moment, but there are certainly a lot of ideas being thrown around. We might actually all be flying out east to this year's United Blood Festival in Richmond, VA, just to attend. But if that were to happen, we'd most likely hop on a show or 2 before or after the fest, we'll see what happens though. Other than that we're just looking to play as much as we can around the west coast. Outside of Minus, almost every member of the band plays in at least one other band, that's one thing that keeps us busy. Dan plays in Downpresser, Travi sings in a band called Fell to Low, Austin plays in both All is Fleeting and Fell to Low, and Butcher plays in Pressvre. As for me, all of the bands I was playing in died out, so I started Minus to fill that void. But aside from bands, several of us are full time students. Some of us work part time. Be sure to check out everyone else's bands if you haven't already.

-Out of the few shows you've played what we're your favorites? Why?

M: The first Minus show ever might be my favorite. It was at a place called Mike Jensen's Mainstage in Santa Barbara. The show was with Downpresser, Forfeit, Backtrack, and a few others. We hopped on unannounced right before Downpresser's set and played one song. It was wild. Noses were broken. Lots of friends were there, a good time was had.

-Ha, cool. What bands do each of you guys listen to on the regular? What are some of the bands that influenced Minus?

M: Well, I can't speak for everyone in the band but I know most of us are heavily influenced by NYHC. Bands like Outburst, Madball, Breakdown, Agnostic Front, Killing Time, etc. But then again I know we all listen to a lot of different music. A. Crane and myself might roll up to a show bumping Lady Gaga with everyone else in the van hating on us. But hey, it happens. As far as the music that influenced Minus, that's kind of a hard question. Most of the demo was written without any real direction. It's not like the band started with a definitive plan on trying to imitate a certain band's sound. I will say that my only real direction in Minus was that I wanted to make sure it didn't sound too much like any of our other bands. As much as I love bands like Merauder and 80's trash metal, I wanted Minus to sound entirely different than say Violation or Downpresser. The songwriting on the demo reflects that I think, in that the structures of the songs are rather simple when compared to our other bands. The newer material we have written shows a lot of growth from the demo though. Stay tuned.

-What is the toughest lesson you ever learned while being in music scene?

M: I guess my answer to that would be to always have your priorities straight. Whether they be family, friends, bands, school, whatever it may be, know your priorities and know your boundaries. I often have a problem saying no to things, especially if it's an offer to do something I love like playing music, so I found out the hard way what my limits and my priorities were. At one point I was playing for up to 4 bands all while attending school full time 5 days a week. Add friends and a girlfriend to that and life can get a little hectic, in which case some areas begin to diminish. Of course, my priorities have evolved and shifted over time, but music has always been something that's been very important to me. Here I am.

-What are some best and worst memories connected with the band? Or any other band.

M: That's an easy one to answer personally. Just last weekend we played our first weekend of shows outside of Santa Barbara. We played in Riverside one night and Chula Vista the next. All in all I think there were 9 of us in the van, since a couple of friends came along, so of course a good time was had. However, this also doubles as the worst, because on the second day I somehow came down with the flu. I woke up and threw up everywhere then had a fever the rest of the day. Being sick on the road sucks. But it was still an awesome time. We hit up some casinos, played some C-Lo, you know. We have a solid group of friends in and around Minus so I'm looking forward to future trips and shows.

-Haha, I was at the show in Riverside, loved it. When it’s all said and done what do you want as a band to be remembered for the most?

M: I don't have any real prolific goals for the band in general. Cheesy as it may be, this band started because the 5 of us were always together, going to shows, hanging out, etc. I guess you could say the lineup for the band just made sense. As far as what I would like to be remembered for, my only answer would be a solid hardcore band. So many bands these days have little niches that they fall into, like crossover merauder type, infest-worship band, Integrity-Clevo rip off band, etc. I wanted Minus to be just a solid hardcore band. Sure we have our influences, but I like the idea of being a straight up hardcore band, minus all the cliquey flare and bullshit. That last pun was unintended haha. This band wasn't started with the intention of becoming a hype band or using any experiences we've had in previous bands as a stepping stool, it started as the 5 of us doing what we love, and that's it really.

-Dream tour, now. Who would play with you guys? Where would you tour?

M: I've gotten this question before, and I'm going to stick by my answer. Rather than pick some insane tour of all of my favorite bands that never tour anymore, I'd much rather just do a solid tour with good friends. Minus, Backtrack, Cruel Hand, and Madball. The first two for good times and the solid hangout, and obviously Madball so I could pit with all of the aforementioned solid friends to Madball every night. Make that tour happen ANYWHERE and I'm down. But if I'm doing the routing, obviously it's a world tour, with some wild stops of course. I always thought it would be sweet to play Hawaii. I know a few hardcore bands have done it. I would just book like a week before and after the show to chill. Kauai is my favorite vacation spot. Tropical AMERICAN paradise, can't beat it.

-Haha sounds awesome man, well thanks for the interview it was tight. Any last words?

M: Thank you for the interview. This interview spanned over several days and I just noticed that it started and ended with me being on my laptop listening to Kickback. Book MINUS a show. We'll play it. Hardcore Lives!

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