home    news/reviews    editorials    new talent     interviews     randumb videos     discussion board     info/contact
 
     
 


THE AQUABATS
members present:
MC Bat Commander
Crash McLarson
conducted on:
July 2005
by: Nevra Azerkan
extras:
official website
shout-out to PZO




 
 

PZO: As a band what are your best qualities?
Crash: Our hair. We all have really good hair.
MC Bat Commander: We're really focused on our hair products and hair in general.
Crash: In the past we've focused on our music, our show---
MC Bat Commander: being in shape. Now it's just like no matter how you look as long as you have the hair. So we are all in the process of growing out our hair. I'm winning.
Crash: I had to start over.
MC Bat Commander: There's too many chemicals in the air. The sun is very unhealthy for your hair.

PZO: What event on your life had the greatest impact on you?
MC Bat Commander: Probably the movie Deep Impact.
<laughter>
Crash: It just showed mankind in it's purest form. It makes you realize we're nothing.
MC Bat Commander: and Morgan Freeman was the President.
Crash: That's the way it should be. <laughs> He's so comfortable about Morgan Freeman being President.
MC Bat Commander: He's the type of guy you can feel free to talk to.
PZO: Have you met him before?
MC Bat Commander: [lying] Yeah. <smiles>
Crash: He comes to our house a lot.
MC Bat Commander: We shoot pool and talk about politics.
PZO: Is he good?
MC Bat Commander: No, we call him butterfingers.
<laughter>
MC Bat Commander: Anyway, Deep Impact has had the biggest impact in my life because it showed me how insignificant I really am.
Crash: That's true.
MC Bat Commander: Any moment we're done. It just made me want to dedicate my life to what's important and that's my hair. I'm leaving behind a legacy.
<laughter>

PZO: What keeps you grounded and optimistic?
MC Bat Commander: Morgan Freeman.
Crash: Kevin Bacon. The youth. I believe children are the future. Let them lead the way.
MC Bat Commander: The world is in good hands. Look at all the kid outside the club.
Crash: After all, we are the world.
MC Bat Commander: We're the good hands people. We're like an insurance company.

PZO: What's the worst advice you've ever been given?
Crash: Go to college, get a job.
MC Bat Commander: All the colleges are run by corporations: Exon and Mobile. They're just trying to teach you so you can pump gas for them. Oh wait a second, do you know any college grads that pump gas?
<laughter>
MC Bat Commander: Okay, so maybe they own the gas station.
Crash: That's actually a good question.
MC Bat Commander: That's a tough call.
Crash: The problem is these questions are good--
MC Bat Commander: and our answers suck.

PZO: What is a common compliment people give you as a band and individually?
PZO: Besides the hair.
MC Bat Commander: Maybe "You guys rock", "Way to go, Dudes".
Crash: They love the live show, our albums are amazing. I think just the fact that kids come to our show to me is a compliment.
MC Bat Commander: That is a great answer. See we are on a roll here. The fact that kids come to see us play is a huge compliment. The fact that we could go to Nebraska and people show up and go we love The Aquabats.
Crash: We're not on MTV, we don't really have a lot of press, never been on a huge label, no one is stuffing millions of dollars down our pockets, but for some reason the kids come.
PZO_Friend: It must be the free water you guys give out.
Crash: You know, you'd think more bands would pick up on that.

PZO: What's something you'd like to get done by the end of the year?
MC Bat Commander: I'd like to see Deep Impact again.
<laughter>
MC Bat Commander: Téa Leoni is in it. She's nice. She's a horrible hockey player, just street hockey. She tried to body check me into a Volkswagen, she went right through the window. You know why? No fat. She's super skinny.
Crash: We're trying to get that through kids.
MC Bat Commander: Don't be afraid to be fat. What are you afraid of?
Crash: They don't realize all the benefits they have.
MC Bat Commander: It's not a bad thing. That's what we want to do before the end of the year. That's what we want to change. We're taking it to Washington. We're going to Washington. We're going to march for our right to be fat. All I'm saying is if Maroon 5 wore our costumes they'd be twice as big as they are right now because they're skinny. Because we're fat we're discriminated. It has nothing to do with our songs.

PZO: What's the most difficult aspect of your job that a typical music fan wouldn't be aware of?
MC Bat Commander: All the drug abuse.
PZO: I think we all know about that.
MC Bat Commander: Just seeing all the different tragedies in our cities. It's always sad. I don't take drugs, so I feel the pain.
Crash: I can see why people take drugs sometimes. They just get bored.
MC Bat Commander: It's boring. Tour is boring.
Crash: You get to the club at two o'clock and you sit here until eight.
PZO: That's why you have an interview.
MC Bat Commander: That's right! This is exciting.
Crash: Wish you were here from when we got here.
MC Bat Commander: Yeah, where were you?
PZO: We didn't get the memo.
MC Bat Commander: That's okay. Let's just blame it on the rain.

PZO: Given the opportunity, who would you kidnap for a day?
MC Bat Commander: Maybe Michael Jackson. I think because it would be fun to just see how he would react if you kidnapped him. Put him in a bag and see if he would cry or something.
Crash: Put him in a bag and put him over your shoulder. I'd kidnap Carrot Top. He was my personal trainer.
MC Bat Commander: He's gross. He's all shiny and buff. I would like to kidnap Carrot Top like force him and torture him, but not hang out with him. I'd make him eat candy and junk food all day long and wipe chocolate cake all over his face and slap him a bunch. It's just a fantasy it's never really going to happen.
<laughter>
MC Bat Commander: I'd like to hang out with Bill Murray. He seems like a nice guy. He seems like he could make fun of you, but you would still like him.
[Discussion about Bill Murray]

PZO: What was the last good deed you did?
Crash: That's a good one.
MC Bat Commander: Well, last night we were in Santa Cruz and our tour manager got punched in the face by a security guard, so Crash jumped off the stage onto the back of the security guard and pulled him off Nate.
Crash: Then his friend jumped on me, then one of The Phenomenauts jumped on him, and then another security guard jumped on that guy, it was like a train--
MC Bat Commander: I ran outside to the parking lot to make sure the cars were okay.
<laughter>
MC Bat Commander: That was my last good deed. You know when there's a fight the next thing to go is the cars. We can't afford a new car. So I was making sure everyone's cars were okay during the riot.

PZO: Are there any fairly unknown bands you think other people should check out?
MC Bat Commander: The Phenomenauts.
Crash: Yeah, they're pretty cool.
MC Bat Commander: There's a band called--
Crash: Bad Credit.
MC Bat Commander: Bad Credit and no one knows about them.
Crash: We took them on tour last year. They're pretty good.
MC Bat Commander: There's a guy called That 1 Guy.
Crash: He's a genius.
MC Bat Commander: He's one guy and he plays all these crazy instruments. He has a boot with a pick up inside the boot. It's pretty cool
Crash: Look at his website. It's called. That1Guy.com It doesn't sound that interesting I know, but it is.
MC Bat Commander: There's also a band called The Aggrolites.
PZO: Yeah, we know who they are.
MC Bat Commander: Then they don't count if you already know them. They're dirty reggae. Not only do we like their music, but we like them as people and that counts. Because you can like a band a lot as people, but not like their music like Maroon 5. I'm just kidding. I love you guys and your music!

PZO: Is there a band that you wish would call it quits?
MC Bat Commander: There's a lot of bands that we wish would call it quits. We wish we could call it quits. We're not going to say. That's the unwritten code of the entertainment industry.
PZO: Everybody tells me.
MC Bat Commander: Really? Has anyone said The Aquabats?
PZO: Not yet.
Crash: Dang it.
MC Bat Commander: 'cause if they say us, we'll say them.
<laughter>
Crash: Would you like me to tell you the bands that want us to quit? That might be easier.
MC Bat Commander: Bands that want The Aquabats to call it quits:
Crash: Eve 6
MC Bat Commander: Eve 6. They don't like The Aquabats.
Crash: Blur.
MC Bat Commander: Blur doesn't like The Aquabats. Radiohead doesn't like The Aquabats. Goldfinger--
Crash: doesn't like The Aquabats.
MC Bat Commander: Who else, who else can we say?
Crash: Bad Religion. They don't like The Aquabats.
MC Bat Commander: This band called Minor Threat used to be my favorite band in the world when I was a kid. There's a guy named Brian Baker he's in Bad Religion now he doesn't like The Aquabats. But you know what? I don't like you either Brian. Just kidding, bro. You're awesome!

PZO: What band would you like to see get back together?
MC Bat Commander: I'd like to see The Misfits get back together. I'd like to see The Vandals back together. I'd like to see The Specials get back together; because all of the three things going on right now are different. What else? I'd like to see Bad Religion get back together. I'd like to see The Aquabats get back together. But see we never really broke up, so it doesn't really count. All those other bands broke up at one point they got back together, but they were different.
Crash: Honestly, if The Smiths got back together it would be it.
MC Bat Commander: Okay, The Clash. I wish I would have seen The Ramones more when they were alive.

PZO: What's one thing you would not do no matter how much money you were offered?
Crash: I got to hand it to you, these are pretty good questions. It's not easy to do an interview with these types of questions. It's easy to do an interview when the questions suck.
MC Bat Commander: It's harder when you actually ask good questions it's harder to throw your questions away. That's a backhanded compliment.
Crash: We get a lot of questions like: "Who's your favorite super hero?"
MC Bat Commander: "Who's your favorite band?"
Crash: "What's your favorite cereal?"
MC Bat Commander: "Is Travis Barker really in the band?" "My friend said you know Travis Barker, do you know him?"
Crash: "How's the tour?"
MC Bat Commander: "Where are your horn players?"
Crash: "What happened to Prince Adam?"
MC Bat Commander: "So if you're from Aquamania, where is it?"
<laughter>
MC Bat Commander: There's a lot of things I would not do for money and there's a lot of things I would do for really cheap. If someone spit in a cup that's two hundred dollars.
Crash: We have standards, but we can be bought.
MC Bat Commander: It just depends. But no one is going to pay me a million dollars to do anything.
[Fear Factor and new TV show ideas are discussed]

PZO: What are you most proud of on the new album, "Charge"?
MC Bat Commander: I think the fact that against all odds we made a record in our spare time.
Crash: In our spare time.
MC Bat Commander: Every album we've done we've never been a hundred percent--
Crash: but this album we're like 78% happy with it. That's high.




 
 
back to interviews