Huntingtons Founding Member Interview
As the Huntingtons wrap up their ten year career with a retrospective CD and a final performance at this year's Cornerstone Festival, I thought that it would be a good idea to interview the three founding members. I originally just wanted to do this interview for myself, but it seems that many other people were interested in reading it as well. Perhaps some fans will learn something that they did not previously know as well as what has been going on in the lives of the band members. The Huntingtons have meant a great deal to many people (myself included) over the years. This is my tribute to them. I'd like to thank Chris Powell for guidance and support as well as Mikey, Cliffy and Mikee for agreeing to take part in this interview. Additional thanks are in order to Cliffy for assisting me w/ editing and to the infamous Ropodope for always being around.
Here's the interview:
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO LATELY, IN TERMS OF MUSIC AND/OR LIFE IN GENERAL?
MIKEY: The Huntingtons have been on a sort of unofficial hiatus for a year now, so most of what I've been up to has been in the "life" department. During that time my wife and I had our first baby, Petra Elise, and we bought a house. As far as music goes, I've been on and off working on songs for a new project that I'll hopefully be starting with Rick (current Huntingtons drummer) and Steve from Tantrum of the Muse. We've been bouncing around the idea for a while now, but the "life" thing seems to be difficult to schedule around.
CLIFFY: In terms of music, I've been busy with THE STIVS (www.thestivs.com). In terms of life in general, I've been busy celebrating five years with Cate, getting my mastering business off the ground (www.steinmaster.com) and embarking on my new career of dog farming (aka breeding) wiener dogs (aka miniature dachshunds).
MIKEE: Basically I have been working and spending time with my three kids and my wife. I just bought a new house in October of 2004. I work for a company called Uniqema and have been there for about five years. I run chemical reactors. In May of 2003, I got second and third degree burns from an accident at work that left me in the hospital for about two and a half weeks.
WHAT ARE YOU FEELINGS ABOUT THIS LAST SHOW?
MIKEY: I'm excited and nervous. Excited, because I really feel like this is the best way for us to call it a day...bringing Cliffy back and playing the songs that we built our career on and nervous, because I know how easy it is for young people to jump from one thing to the next, so a lot of the people that helped make our Cornerstone shows so awesome over the years might be hanging out at the "hardcore" or "bring your tissues" tents. I'd like those people to be there for us one last time, but honestly, if they're not, we're still going to have a great show.
CLIFFY: I'm really looking forward to it. Standing on stage next to these guys and playing these songs is absolutely natural for me. I've been away for too long.
MIKEE: I feel pretty good about it. I am glad they’re doing a final show at a festival and not just ending it with a local show.
DOES IT BOTHER YOU THAT YOU ARE NOT PLAYING THIS SHOW?
MIKEE: Not in the least.
WERE YOU ASKED?
MIKEE: No, I was not.
WHOSE VISION WAS THE BAND? WAS IT A GROUP DECISION OR DID ONE PERSON HAVE MORE INFLUENCE?
MIKEY: Originally, this whole thing started out as Cliffy crashing at my parent's house for a week at a time to record songs he had written for his girlfriend on my 4-track. I think I was probably 15 or 16 then, so I wasn't really envisioning anything. Anyway, the Huntingtons was a group thing. We were all pretty much on the same page when "Sweet Sixteen" came out as far as where we wanted to be musically. Cliffy was always the go-getter...handling business stuff. I guess you could say he did the stuff that nobody else really wanted to do. But he was good at it and he didn't mind. I think we all stayed on the same page (original members, that is) for quite a few years as far as vision goes...there wasn't really one person guiding the rest of us or making us do things we didn't want to do. We were where we were cause that's where we wanted to be. Obviously some things changed later down the line. I wanted to go more in the direction of albums like "High School Rock" and "Song In The Key Of You" and Cliffy was very much still into the faster, more Ramones-ish side of the band. At that point, we were still in the same chapter, but definitely not on the same page.
WHILE USING ANOTHER NAME, YOU WERE THREATENED WITH A LAWSUIT UNLESS YOU CHANGED IT. WHO CAME UP WITH THE HUNTINGTONS NAME?
MIKEE: I did. My church was about 150 feet from a development called Huntington. I wanted to call the band the Hilldales after the development that Marty Mcfly lived in, but we did not go with that for obvious reasons.
CLIFFY, DO YOU REGRET LEAVING THE HUNTINGTONS?
CLIFFY: I regret how I did it and I regret many of the ways in which I conducted myself in regards to the fallout of it. In the long run, I believe that my no longer being a part of the band was conducive in repairing the relationship between myself and the guys (in particular, Mikey and his wife, Jenny...who is a girl, but was always a very real part of "the guys"). I also don't regret this band I have now (THE STIVS), which began as a direct result of me no longer being in the Huntingtons.
DESCRIBE THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT LED TO YOUR BEING ASKED TO PLAY THIS SHOW.
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