The Alternative Star.com

Chiodos 

Debuting high on the Billboard Charts and gracing the cover of Alternative Press are just some of the great opportunities Chiodos got to experience when they released their sophomore effort Bone Palace Ballet back in 2007. Ever since then, the boys have been on the road and their gruelling travels have finally taken them to western Canada. On the evening of the band’s co headlining stint with Protest the Hero, I had the chance to chat with the band’s drummer Derrick Frost about his love of Canada, the band’s music videos and what the band hopes to accomplish in the future. Special thanks go out to Chris and Bari Lieberman for making this possible! 

You guys are finally doing a proper tour of Canada. What do you like most about touring this country?

Frost:  Canada’s awesome because it’s so similar yet different from the States, it just makes it really cool. Everyone here is so nice and people are outgoing. I don’t know I just really love going to Canada for different reasons really, like there is certain food that tastes better to me. I always have a good time coming up here; every person I’ve met from Canada is beyond amazing you know?  It’s actually cool to get to do more of Canada than we’re used to. We usually just play big festivals, we haven’t really built up a following here. We were actually talking about that yesterday, we need to come here more and play smaller shows and get to know the fans so they’re not like “Who’s this band?” But yeah, it’s amazing, I love Canada! The bands from Michigan and I was there for three years and I was like we should move to Canada! When we talk about it, we’re just joking around, obviously we can’t afford it, we’re not citizens or anything. I don’t even know how that really works.

 It gets really cold here though, around -30.

Frost: Yeah but same with Michigan. It gets pretty cold as well, it’s like neighbouring Toronto.

You mentioned you liked our food. Which foods do you think taste better?

Frost: The Wheat Thins are better.  The salsas better, which is actually weird because I’m from Texas but just the general jarred salsa is great! Tim Horton’s is way better. It’s really weird, Canada has really different liquor. For instance, we’ve never seen white Captain Morgan liquor.  I’ve never seen 3 litre bottles of liquor because the biggest you can get in the States is 1.75. But yeah, it reminds me a lot of Europe too which I like because I grew up overseas with my family, my dad is in the air force. So yeah, I like it. It makes me feel more at home than the States ever does. It’s bad to say, I’m an American and I’m like fuck the States. I always talk about how I’m never going to raise a family in America, like no way.

Is that just because of the politics?     

Frost: Not really that, just a lot of different things. I grew up overseas so I’m not very Americanized I guess you could say. Like a lot of the shows my friends grew up watching on TV I’ve never even heard of. The only fast food restaurants I ate at until I was 13 was McDonald’s. That was the only fast food restaurant I ever heard of. So I don’t know, just a lot of different things, it doesn’t really matter. We’re not a political band so we don’t really talk about that.

You guys played huge venues with Linkin Park earlier this year.  Do you prefer playing small clubs or arenas? Why?

Frost: It’s hard to say if I prefer one or the other. I prefer smaller shows for how intimate they are but I prefer bigger shows because they aren’t as sweaty or hot. You don’t have to change things like socks and everything constantly everyday because you’re dripping of sweat. But it’s hard to say, I like both and I just like playing in front of a lot of people really. But I think I’d have to go with smaller shows over bigger shows. With bigger shows there’s so many people its crazy but they’re so far away, you know what I mean? Like 15 feet to the kids is pretty far especially when you’re used to only a foot away.

Do you find the crowd is still as responsive?

Frost:  They’re still pretty responsive. With arena shows, you’re about 4 times as loud as you’d be at a small show. So you can definitely get into it and feel the music, it’s loud. But I don’t know, playing drums I never really paid that much attention, I’m off in the back anyway.

So I read awhile back that Chiodos were doing an online show.

Frost: Yeah, yeah! It’s a new thing they started in Vegas, it’s called a Rock Drive and they’re just basically trying to get bands on there. Right now, you pay for the service but they’re trying to get it so you can actually watch one of your favourite bands live there for free. And there’ something that it goes to charity wise but I’m not totally sure but I mean it’s for a good cause, that’s why we did it. It was interesting; you’re playing in front of all these cameras and TV screens and people are flashing lights, it’s like an MSN messenger. You know what I mean, they’re just flashing all these messengers at you and you’re like what the heck is going on. But it was cool, it was cool.

So you’d do it again in the future?

Frost: I guess so yeah. It didn’t go bad and it turned out better than we thought it would. It was different but it was still like a show.  I mean, as a band we’re getting into all these weird things as we progress, like acoustic shows even though we’re not an acoustic band. It makes for an interesting situation. It makes you step it up and try something new basically. It was fun and easy, we just had to go to Vegas for 3 days to shoot it and we played a festival as well. But yeah, it was fun, it was fun!

 What’s the concept behind the video for Lexington Joey Pea Pot with a Monkey Face?

Frost: Aw, man. Well, usually there are different people who throw out ideas and we go through them and add in our own suggestions but that video definitely didn’t turn out like we wanted it to turn out, like at all. We’re pretty disappointed with it. We never get a video where we’re all like “This is amazing!” And that’s what every band wants, to have an amazing video because that can push your career and your band so far. And we haven’t gotten that yet so it’s kind of frustrating. It’s just like so much money that we spent on this for no reason. No one’s going to play it; it’s not getting played at all.

Not even on Fuse? Not that I know that much about Fuse but from what little I’ve seen of it when I’m in Denver, they seem to support bands like Chiodos.

Frost: No, we’re banned from Fuse actually.

Why?

Frost:  We did an interview on Steven’s Untitled Rock Show and we were just joking around and he took the joke too personal and he kind of doesn’t like us anymore. We just goof off, that’s the type of people we are. We’re not too serious, we’re just having fun with the opportunities that are given to us. I mean, there are billions of kids who would kill to do this, you know what I mean? We don’t take it for granted, we try to have fun with it, enjoy it, and it just didn’t work out well that day.

What did you guys say if you don’t mind me asking? Do you even want to talk about it?

Frost: Yeah, I’ll talk about it. I don’t really mind. What happened is our guitar player doesn’t speak very much so we play pranks on people and tell them that he’s deaf and he doesn’t speak, you know? We brought our friend, he’s actually from Canada, he’s from Toronto but he lives in Montreal, and we said he was his translator. But he was the spokesperson of the band you know what I mean? Like the originator, making all this shit up. So he’s tapping on this dude’s shoulder and the he’s like “Oh, Pat says...” And I guess he took it really personally because he had a deaf brother but we didn’t know and we just found out like after the interview had happened and it was just like a huge ordeal. We didn’t mean to offend anyone at all. We were just being light hearted and let our personalities shine through but it didn’t work out well, we’ve had better days. And it was ridiculous, during his breaks he was like “What’s it like being on the greatest rock show in the world?” And we were just like this guy is a tool, you know? I mean oh my gosh, really!?

Moving onto a lighter hearted topic, do you guys have any plans to release another single off of Bone Palace Ballet?

Frost: We’ve talked about it, obviously we want to make a good video but it’s all in the air right now. But obviously it’s a big thing to us so we’ll probably do something as soon as we possibly can.

What defines a good video?

Frost: That’s hard. Obviously, every band wants a good concept video but then there are people who want a good live video too. I think it’s a combination of both. I don’t know, there are very few videos where you’re like “Man, that’s amazing!” you know what I mean? And I think the first one I was impressed with, for a modern band, was My Chemical Romance. Their videos are incredible! To us, that’s a video we’d want to have. Not that we want to be like them, we’re not My Chemical Romance. But they have the most unbelievable videos. So it would be nice to have a video where you’re blown away like that, where everyone knows it’s incredible.

You guys have some pretty crazy song titles. Which one is your favourite and is there a story behind how you came up with it?

Frost: There’s a few that I like, like There’s No Penguins in Alaska. That’s because Craig used to drink tons of Snapple and they had Snapple facts written inside of them. And he was like “Hey, did you guys know that there’s no penguins in Alaska?” and we were just like that’s a song title right there.  From the new album, the last track the Under Taker’s Thirst for Revenge is Unquenchable, it’s a wrestling thing. It’s so cheesy and it’s from how we used to watch it as kids. They’re really all random and have a certain significance in their own way. For instance, Lexington is where we recorded our album at and completed the song. That’s actually the longest song we’ve worked on; we worked on different parts of the song for three months until it finally came together. And Joey Pea Pot with a Monkey Face, that was Pat’s first dog. We don’t really care if the song titles have any significance to the songs, the music will speak for itself so titles never matter.

If someone never listened to Chiodos before, which song would you have them listen to? Why?

Frost: It depends on what type of music fan they are. I think for our band we have a ton of different influences so we have a lot of selection. Are they more into rock, something mellow or heavier stuff? I’d have to assess the situation first so I would get the right song out and they’d be like “Yeah, I’ll buy this for sure!”

Bone Palace Ballet debuted pretty high on the Billboard Charts. Are you thinking of moving onto the majors anytime soon?

Frost: We’re happy with what we’re doing now, how we’re doing it so that’s good enough for us right now. We’d probably sign with the majors if they gave each of us a million dollars. We do this because we love it but we have to eat as well. If we were going to go to that kind of level and have that kind of push and not necessarily have as much say as we want to, which we like about where we are, then we’d have to be totally set for the rest of our lives. Then it’s like OK, they fucked us so hard but at least I can go home and know that I’m OK.

What does Chiodos hope to accomplish in 2008?

Frost: Obviously, get a video. Play in front of more fans and just be able to have a good time and enjoy our lives. I think in 2008 we won’t tour as hard as we have been in the last couple of years because it does take its toll and you need your break. We’re definitely not trying to over saturate ourselves as well, we don’t want kids to be like “I just saw them a month ago!” We just want to keep people involved in our band and let them know that if you ever need to talk to someone about anything, we’re just people too you know? A big accomplishment would be getting our record pushed more and maybe even getting some radio play to get some new fans. You know, whatever we can possible do to progress forward and keep that momentum and drive going. I think that’s all any bands wants really. You don’t want to be top album and then drop down like a jet crashing. I can’t even imagine how horrible that must feel, like Avril Lavigne and Sum 41!

Haha, Sum 41. They were the first show I ever went to and it was on the stage you’ll be playing on tonight.

Frost: They were massive at one point, massive and now it’s like they aren’t even here.

Yeah, I’m not really a fan anymore. Their last two records weren’t that great and Dave left the band, which didn’t help matters I’m sure.

Frost: Yeah, it’s all what you do and it’s hard I’m sure. I can only imagine. I mean we’ve only recorded two albums and I don’t know how many they have but yeah.

They have 5 but whatever, Green Day have way more and they are still going strong. I just think all you can do is be positive and be true to yourself. I don’t think that will happen to you guys but who knows? You never know.

Frost: Hopefully not, I hope not. I think we have a lot of ideas, I think we’re going to go back to more of a high energy, to convey to a live show. We want the so called maturity of the new album to progress to another level but we want to bring back the higher energy songs because this albums much slower. We’ll still have a few slow songs here and there, I’m sure we’ll have some on the next album. But the focus will be on high energy, in your face songs. We’ll be working more with weird time signatures, like in Teeth the Size of Piano Keys. I’m excited to see where it goes but there’s plenty of time to make it happen.

Yeah, you just released it in September.

Frost: Yeah, it seems like such a long time ago. As you get older, life goes slower!

I know Craig and Bradley will be out with Cinematic Sunrise soon. What will you be doing during that time?

Frost: For me, I’ll be home in Texas. I live there when we’re not on tour. I’ll probably be hanging out with family and friends, really relaxing and enjoying being home. I recently started playing guitar and I’ve been jamming with my little brother, he’s been playing for three years so he’s obviously 50 million times better than me. But yeah, Jason will be busy with King so he’ll be doing that, Matt will be at home with his wife and Pat will be sitting on his computer with his girlfriend at his apartment and doing nothing. I know that’s what he’ll do, he lives on the computer. But it’s crazy, because he doesn’t go on Facebook or Myspace ever but he knows anything you’ll ever want to ask him. Like if you have a question about anything, he can look it up within five minutes, which is insane. He’s insane like that which is cool to have a friend like that but he doesn’t talk unless he drinks. The Protest guys were making fun of him and saying “You better put that beer down Pat before you end up saying more than 2 words!”

Do you ever plan on doing a side project?

Frost: It might be fun eventually. I mean, Jason’s his heavy side and Craig’s his pop side. For me, I don’t know, I’ll see how it goes. I don’t want to play drums in another band though. But yeah, I’m not planning on it anytime soon.

-Interview by Deborah Remus

Check out a review of the show here!