Greg Kriesel Interview

First off, where are you right now?
We're at home. We got some time off, so I'm at home in Huntington Beach, CA.

You just finished 3 month touring overseas, how did that go?
It went good. We Just got back from Japan, which was a really good tour. Um, we were in Australia before that which is always fun. And we did Europe in January, where we had some good shows. Some of the biggest shows we'd ever had, headlining.

Great!
Yeah, paris had like 15,000 thousand people. And a couple good shows in London, with like 12,000 people.

Wow, thats awesome. Have you noticed if the crowds in different countries react differently to your music?
Some variations. I think in some of the Latin countries, like Italy, Spain, South America, they like to chant more .They like to really kind of sing along. And clap more. Japan they'll cheer during the song, you know, they'll jump around, but when the songs done it's just...a cricket. I don't know if it's us, but I get the feeling when we talk to people, it's more of a polite thing.

How do you think touring has influenced your evolvement as a band. As a musician, do you learn a lot from touring?
I think we get better as musicians. After we first toured exstensively in ‘94, when we were recording the next album it just seemed like we were better together. We played better together in the studio. I think in that sense, when you play 100, 200 shows over the course of a tour..your gonna get better...

Your gonna be playing a few dates with AC/DC this summer, how did that come about?
Those are gonna be in Europe, yeah. I think they just asked. They wanted to put together a really big show. I don't think I know all the bands...I think Papa Roach [is going to play]. I think like Megadeath or something. I think just a bunch of good live bands. And they asked if we wanted to do it and we were gonna be there anyway, it seemed like a cool thing to do.

Are you guys big AC/DC fans?
Um, some of the other guys I know a little bit. I never bought one of their albums. I just always knew their music though. When they play something, there's probably 10, 20 songs that I'd recognize. They've always been a band I think I've admired.

My next question is a question from a fan. He wanted to know whats most influenced your music?
I think the early orange county punk bands. Like the Adolescents. When we started that was the sort of music we were playing. The style we still play today.

What kind of direction do you think the band will take in the future? Do you think your going to experiment more with different styles, different sounds?
Well I think with every album we've always kind of thrown in different sounds.

You have.
I think we'll keep doing that, but we don't have any specific goals as far as ‘okay, next album we're gonna put this kind of song in'. It just sort of happens. Dexter pretty much writes all the music and I think he just starts messing around with something and it just kind of comes out. There's a couple things he's done that we haven't used..so I think it's kind of evolving like that.

Great. Okay, here's another fan question. What are your thoughts on punk/rock bands such as Greenday and Blink 182?
Well, I think Blinks cool. They just seem to have fun with everything they do. They have a good attitude. You know, Greenday we kind of took off at the same time as they did. So we've kind of had a close connection to them...so I like they're music. I don't really know what else to say about them.

Now your on the road a lot, especially this year. What do you like to do on your time off? Just hang out at home?
Yeah, I have a 2 yr. Old son. So, I'm kind of spending time with him. And I like to play golf. So that's pretty much it with me. We have two weeks off so It's either staying at home with him or going out golfing. That's my day.

Do you ever take your son out on the road with you?
No, he's gonna turn two next month so I think he's a little young for that. But we're gonna go to Florida for a few days so I might take him to Orlando and go to Disney world or something. But he's not gonna go on the tour bus or anything.

Yeah, so you guys are also going to be playing the Beale Street Music Festival, which we're (utopia-music) going to be covering. Are you guys going to be able to have any time to check out the other bands...cause there's a long list of people that are playing.
I think so, though I'm not sure what the schedule is gonna be like when we're in town, but usually we're in early enough we can go see other bands.You see who's playing, whats going on.

Alright, that's it! Thanks so much for doing the interview!
Thank you!

By Sharon, from "Just Push Play" magazine