As most everyone knows by now, the many many members of Five Iron Frenzy have collectively decided that the band has lived out its purpose and must now end. You've seen the letter to the fans; you've been to the website. We wanted to dig just a tad deeper and see what some of these folks would say when pried.
The interview you are about to read was conducted over a month ago. All the answers could be completely outdated, wrong, and ridiculous. But you expected that, didn't you?
A = Andrew Vercehhio
M = Micah Ortega
K = Keith Hoerig
1. what will be the final thing you say or do at the very end of your very
last show? (why?)
A = I would love to let our fans know that we appreciate their support.
That?s the whole point of the last tour, Just to say thanks.
M = i'll probably be emotional. the end of the tour usually is for me but
the end of the last tour...yeah probably really emotional.
K = We don?t really plan stuff like this out in advance, because we try and do what God wants us to, rather than have a set agenda for the night, but I
would immagine the night will end with us somehow giving thanks. Thanks to
God and to our friends for supporting us for 8 years.
2. how does it feel to give something up that you've worked with for several
years?
A = It?s kind of weird to think that this was my life for the last seven or eight years and now that part of my life is coming to a close. I would be a
liar to say that I wasn?t bummed at all, but I?m not bummed because of the
band breaking up. I?m bummed because of the fact that we will all be doing
other things after this, and who knows who will keep in touch and who won?t.
It?s kind of like graduating from high school, you wish every one the best of
luck, but you have to move on w/ your life. I don?t want to be one of those
guys that never get?s over the ?glory days?. I will always look back on FIF
positively, but the future is so much more exciting than the past.
M = it feels like it does when you are about to move to another city. scary and exciting.
K = I agree a lot with the graduating analogy. It?s fun and exciting, because
the future holds so much. But it?s also sad and scarry.
3. what are 2-3 stories of ridiculous and bizarre events from your FIF
experience that you'll always remember?
M = There was this one time way back in the stinky van driving days, that it was snowing in Denver the day that we were leaving to go on tour. I
think it was Scott who was backing the van and trailer up into the
alley to load up gear, which was tough to do because the trailer
blocked your vision pretty bad and all, so he was relying on us behind
the trailer outside of the van for vocal cues as to whether it was
alright to proceed backwards or not. well we either didn't know about
this or we had just forgot and it was really cold so i think it was
andy that started asking us if we could feel our feet and we all
answered yeah in unison, unplanned of coarse. That in turn caused a
spontaneous chant that went like this.......can you feel your (fill in
body part) (group responds in unison) YEAH! etc....over and over again.
so Scott was asking us if he could keep backing up...... and are you
sure i'm not going to hit anything...... and like questions each of
which were responded with an enthusiastic "YEAH!" Well eventually we
were all surprised when he hit the garage. He got out and was mad at us
for telling him to keep backing up and we were wondering why he kept
backing up. it was pretty funny at the time.
Sonnie has some pretty bizarre sleeping habits too and that is kind of
funny. You got to remember the hotels are pretty dark except for the
little bit of light that gets in under the door and from behind the
curtains. Well he woke up one time in the hotel and was totally
disoriented which is fairly common when your on the road as much as we
are....not knowing which city your in, what day it is,....what month it
is. Sonnie thought he had been buried alive in an egyptian pyramid! He
Scrabbled up and proceeded to run around the room looking for a way out
when he realized of coarse that he was on tour.
4. what are 2-3 stories of wonderful and "God's hand is evident here" type
events from your FIF experience that you'll always remember?
A = I don?t know about the whole ?God?s hand is evident? thing, but I met my wife through FIF. That?s the most wonderful thing that?s happened to me
yet.
M = One of the first times that we led worship at one of our shows had an impact on all of us in the band. it was pretty amazing.
K = There are so many. I think that most of the last 8 years has been an example that. Being more specific, I would agree with Micah that there have
been several times where we have been worshiping and the whole audience is
worshiping along with us, and it is just this amazing thing. I can?t explain
it, but I know that God is there at those times.
5. what are 2-3 stories of terrible, awful and trying events from your FIF
experience that you'd just as soon forget?
A = I don?t want to forget this because it?s funny to me now but, Reese and I got into a fist fight once. We were both uptight that night, and there was
some tension between him and I over something that had happened on stage that night. I went up to Reese as we were walking up to the hotel to talk to him
about it. I should have let him cool down first, but I think I wanted a fight
that night. Any way, push came to shove, shove came to punch, and before you
know it we were in a full on street fight complete w/ colorful language and
all. It sucked at the time, but in hindsight I?m glad it happened. Reese and
I are better friends for it. Just for the record, I kicked his butt.;)
M = There was this one tour that we were on that just started out bad. It was nice and sunny in Denver when we left and right when we crossed the state line it started getting cloudy and stayed cloudy and drizzled for like the
first two weeks. on top of that the i think we had a flat tire or ran out of
gas or something like that. Also I believe Reese was dealing with a defunct
engagement and i think there was a fight or two also. Well, we had
gotten out to the east coast and were driving through west virginia I
think and just then the clouds finally broke. It was the first time
we'd seen the sun in 2 weeks. i pulled out my journal to mark this
occasion remarking at how beautiful it was to finally see the sun and
how it lit up the surroundings, when a van that was driving near us
with a family inside lost control and went off the road throwing the
driver out of the vans passenger window and then rolled him over
killing him. We stopped and I called 9-1-1. Reese ran back to see if he
could help and watched him take his last. The rest of the family was
fine though. That was a pretty bad time.
K = Why focus on the negative, Doug? Just kidding. I think Micah and Andy got some of the worst times we?ve ever had covered.
6. how do you balance good clean, goofy fun with the seriousness of the
Great Commission?
A = To be honest I don?t think we?ve ever looked at it that way. I think
that we just try to be ourselves and be honest about who we are and that is
what comes out in our songs. It?s not like we sit down and say ? we have to
have this many funny songs and this many serious songs? and ?oh, we don?t
talk enough about god on this record yet, we have to fix that?. We are who we
are and that is what comes out in our music.
M = I think the key is not to balance them but to integrate them. Then when the time comes you'll know when it's right to be serious and when it's
right not to. I think the worst thing you can do with the Great
Commission is to have that be this little nook in your life that doesn't
interact with anything else in the same way a lot of people make Sunday
the little corner of their lives set aside for God. As long as all other
time is theirs. I think God wants to be involved in every little bit of
your life from the good to the bad to the funny. I think it's when you
do that...when you give him license to be in all areas in your life that
he begins to change you from the inside out thus making you more
relevant in the Great Commission.
7. tell us about this b-sides release, "Cheeses of Nazareth." How easy or
difficult was the song selection process? From where did the recordings get
culled from?
A = It was easy, it was just a matter of compiling all the stuff we could
find and picking witch ones were so bad they could never be released, but
there?s tons of crap on there from when we first started. It?s pretty
embarassing, but there is also some stuff on there that is fairly good. Some
of the songs that didn?t make it on other records were simply because they
didn?t mach the all around feel of the record, or we just had way to many
song?s to fit on the record and one or two had to be cut. None the less, I
think our fans will like it.
K = The songs came from old demos, 7 inch records, outtakes, etc. Picking the songs was easy, although, like Andy said, much of it is embarassing. Still, I think our fans will be interested in seeing our humble beginings. In addition to the 10 or so demos and b-sides, there is a bunch of short funny songs on ?Cheeses? sort of like ?Kitty-Doggie,? or ?Godzilla?. A lot of people come up to us at shows and ask why we don?t play those songs. We answer ?Because they are dumb songs we made up on the spot as we were recording!? They usually respond that they like them, often because of the fact that they are
improvised. It is for those people that we made this record.
8. how does brave saint saturn factor into the decision that FIF was over?
A = It didn?t weigh in my decision at all.
M = It doesn't. That's it's own entity that always took back seat to Five
Iron. The biggest factor in the decision was that we prayed about it.
K = Not at all. Brave Saint has always been a side project.
9. when you look back at the mainstream attention that Christian music has
been getting the past few years, what are some things that, perhaps, the
mainstream media "doesn't get" about this scene? what sort of changes to the
scene and industry have you seen that you're either excited about or
disappointed or greived about? (or both)
A = It?s hard for me to talk about the Christian music seen because there are so many aspects to it that you cant comment on it as a whole, but in our area of the seen I think that a lot of people don?t get is that most Christian
musicians don?t even want there to be a exclusive seen for Christian music.
Christians need to get out of this mind set that they belong to some
exclusive club, and they can only go to Christian concerts, Christian movies,
Christian restaurants, and so on. I think Christianity has lost it?s
relevance on our culture because we?ve alienated ourselves from the rest or
the world. So often I here things said by Christians in the mainstreem media
that make me cringe, and that?s the only side you hear. I remember right
after 9/11 Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell came out and blamed it on
homosexuals and abortion, and no one spoke out against it because they are
afraid of pissing off their Christian friends, or their youth pastor. So that
is what the world sees when they look at Christianity. It?s no wonder the
mainstreem media never gets it, they only see one side of it. However, there
are some artists are breaking away from that mentality, and that is a great
thing to see. Artists like Bono and David Bazan should be role models for
every Christian musician. I think if more Christian artists were like those
guys then we would see a revolution in not only Christian music, but in all
music, and that would be awesome to see.
K = This question has far too many facets for me to try and discuss. I do agree with Andy, but there is just so much. I guess ideally I would like
there to be no Christian music ?scene? or ?industry?. That being the case,
it is hard to answer a question about something you really didn?t wish
existed.
And please understand that when I say I wish there were no Christian music
scene, I am not saying that I wish there were no Christians in the arts. I
wish there were MORE Christians in the arts, music included. But I think that
a lot of the separation between ?Christian? music and ?Mainstream? music
needs to stop. Christians need to live their lives in the world, so that they
have interactions with people who don?t know God. What we have now is
Christian musicians living their lives in front of Other Christians at
Christian music festivals, selling their CDs to Christians in Christian
bookstores. Sometimes it feels like a lot of people in this industry use
Chrsitianity as their marketing tool. Jesus is not a marketing tool. Jesus
didn?t come to earth, live a sinless live, and face the punishment that I
deserved for my sins so that we could sell a few more CDs. I am not pointing
a finger, because FIF has also been guilty of this at times, but we have
tried our best to not do this. We have tried our best to live like Christians
in the world.
10. going back to that last moment question again... if your last moment as
a band was now, take us to that place, if you can, and express your feelings
and any sort of message that's on your heart ... and please share that.
A = Don?t be afraid to question your faith. How can your beliefs have any weight if you?ve never questioned them? How do you know if it?s truth if
you?ve never investigated it? Strength comes from suffering, and it is a
dreadfully frightening and painful thing to challenge what you believe. But
you?ll learn more about yourself than you ever thought possible if you do.
K = Again, thanks. I am very thankful and that is one of the main things I want to say to people. Also, I would love to encourage people to seek (or keep seeking) God.
11. tell us a little about the last full-length studio album you will be
working on. are the songs written yet? tell me about any that are. how did
they develop? what sounds are you looking for? what messages are coming out? when are these songs/this album getting recorded? where? how long in the
studio? how many of these will you add to your live set in your "farewell
tour?"
A = It is still way to early to comment on the feel of the album and weather we will be playing any of the new songs live, but we?ve been working on the new material and I?m excited about what I?m hearing so far. I think it will
be good.
12. creed. do you love them or hate them? why?
M = I don't prefer them because of that voice. It's the generic rock voice now. It's three parts Elvis to one part Rob Zombie and it was old after
Pearl Jam threw in the towel.
A = No Comment.
K = I honestly haven?t heard enough to have an educated opinion. The one song that I have heard a million times I don?t care much for.
13. if anyone has FIF voodoo curse dolls that they repeatedly stick with
needles, what should be done with these dolls once the band ceases to exist?
A = You?d probably get a lot of money for them on e-bay.
M = They need to put it in a shoe box with lots of money. or they need to find Jesus.
K = I gotta go, I have this sharp stabbing pain in my. . .OUCH!
14. can you give us a brief description of what each member of FIF is
inclined to do once the band is over? and please share what cds will be in
each of their multi-disc cd changers as this transition occurs.
A = I am in a couple of bands now, that will carry over. I am now a permanent member of Brave Saint Saturn. Also I am in a secular band w/ FIF?s previous guitarist called Yellow Second.
K = I know that there is all kinds of talk of new bands, new businesses and new families happening in the FIF camp. I don?t know what everyone has
planned. I think I am going to go finish school, that should take about a
year.
M = I'll be trying to get into the recording studio side of things and
hopefully taking some classes on the subject to fill in any gaps in my
body of knowledge that i may not be aware of. I'll probably show up on
a few obscure Soul-Junk recordings playing the turntables or something.
In my CD player i'll probably have some mix cd's that i made with really
radio friendly stuff like John Mayer and the Beastie Boys mixed in with
really not radio friendly stuff like Aphex Twin and Kid 606. Probably some
mash ups in there somewhere too. Reese is thinking about starting a record
label. i may work with him in the future if both of our plans work out. He'd
have some cool jazz mixed with some old hip hop like KRS1/Public Enemy along
with some soundtracks to musicals. Keith has talked of starting an all ages
concert venue during the evening and a taco place during the day called rocko
taco. I may run sound there on occasion if he'll let me. He'll have some
really obscure old punk rock recording that was hailed a milestone in the
scene but was never recognized beyond that. He'll also be listening to talk
radio. Sonnie will be probably be doing real estate or working in a recording
studio and he will be listening to the radio scan endlessly through stations.
This will be book end by listening to the Vandals and Huey Lewis and the
News. Andy will be playing drums in local bands and doing the occasional
recording session while filling his spare time doing brick work. he'll be
listening to whatever he is listening to at a very loud volume. probably
something like Fantomas or a jazz legend possibly some calculator rock or
some classic rock. Dennis will be doing accounting for Glen Galaxy's and
Rafters studio from Soul-Junk. He'll be listening to Towns Van Zant or James
Taylor, or some other singer song writer. Leanor will be rallying subcultures
to unite and show the world what they can do. She'll be listening to some
demo that some one gave her. There will probably be a song on it that was
written for her. Brad will probably be working for the post office or doing
some sort of subculture out reach with his wife. He may also be one of those
guys that gets paid to test out new video games. He'll be listening to
dilinger escape plan, along with other underground bands that i can't think
of right now.
15. anything else you'd like to add?
A = Thank you to all our fans and supporters. You?ve truly made this an experience worth remembering.
M = Doug, thanks for continually doing this mag. i read it when i was a kid back when it was Heavens Metal and i know it's a place where kids can come
and feel like they are a part of something bigger. God bless you.
K =Thanks to everyone for supporting us for so long. We totally appreciate it. Thanks for the interview Doug.
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