C22: Hey. What’s up? Ok my phone is going to cut out in a minute so if I hang up on you sorry and if not its going to be kinda staticky. Ok so who am I talking to?

DDE: Ok, it’s me and Tiffany who are going to be doing the interview together.

C22: All right

DDE: Ok so do you want to get started?

C22: Ok we can try, but it’s going to be tough valence for the next minute or two.

DDE: Did it just cut off?

C22: du di du du du di du du dur du….

DDT: So what are you currently up to?

C22: I just got my passport photo taken.

DDT: All right. How about with Catch 22?

C22: Oh, that’s what you care about. I see, you’re not interested in me just my band. Well any way. We’re going to Europe soon, this has to do with the band, really soon to play with some bands like Dropkick Murphys and Bouncing Souls. Stuff like that.

DDE: How do you feel about that? Are you excited?

C22: Oh, Lord, I’m excited. That’s why I’m in such a good mood right now. I just got my international driving permit.

DDT: What are your favorite places to play at?

C22: Of course anywhere in New Jersey. We love Chicago, Detroit and Pittsburg. We really love Pittsburg.

DDE: What about Canada?

C22: Oh and Canada, all of Canada.

DDT: When you first started the band did you ever think that you would go this far?

C22: No, not at all. I thought that we’d be playing little clubs and stuff. I never had any intentions of getting bigger. I was really happy with it from the beginning. I was happy with just getting to travel around the country a little bit to see different sites.

DDE: So what is your purpose for making music?

C22: Purpose for making music is that I love playing instruments of any kind and I love being able to communicate with people on any level.

DDE: For sure. So what else do you feel the future has in store for Catch 22?

C22: Well, besides this big, fat Europe tour, probably non-stop US touring. We’re going to be writing some new material soon. So within the next year we will be having a new album coming out, hopefully. Cross your fingers.

DDE: What keeps you focused on tour?

C22: Lot and lots of beer. No I’m just kidding. Focused as in what? Like staying on tour and doing it?

DDE: Yeah, to keep you going and everything.

C22: There is a little thing I like to call love. It’s definitely the love of just going out there and going to and getting to the next city. It’s tough because you’re on a constant time deadline every single day. You have to get somewhere that’s further away than the time you are allowed to get there, but you have to do it anyway.

DDT: Do you hope to do this for the rest of your life?

C22: Um…in some form or other. As long as I’m playing music for the rest of my life I’ll be a happy, happy man.

DDT: Do you have any good tour stories to share or has anything really embarrassing or strange ever happened to while on stage?

C22: Oh, while on stage has anything embarrassing ever happened to me? Um…do you want me to make up something?

DDE: Sure

C22: Ok. Well, one time on we were playing a show in uhh…..Uganda and our merch guy, John, was coming up on stage and messing around and he pantsed me in front of the whole audience. And all these little girls were laughing at my…umm…small genitals.

DDE: What were you feeling at that moment?

C22: Well, I’m a tough guy to embarrass so I laughed really hard and then I cried later < DD laughs>

DDT: dum dum dum dum….

C22: Is any of this useable?

DDT: Yes, every word of it. So, what is the local New Jersey scene like?

C22: ok, you’re going to have to yell because my phone is cutting out hardcore. So just like scream your head off.

DDT: What is the local New Jersey scene like?

C22: The worst seed?

DDE: What’s the New Jersey punk scene now?

C22: Ohhh, all right. Well, the New Jersey scene is always thriving in some way or another. There’s always lot of fans and the scene is really fallen back, but it always does that. There’s always some genre that takes over. Right now hardcore metal seems to be the biggest part of the New Jersey scene.

DDE: What are the names of some local New Jersey bands that are worth checking out?

C22: That are around now, because a lot of the bands that we used to play with have broken up. Well, I can give you a list. Like back in the day you’d play with bands like One Cool Guy, Boxcar, I think they are still around, they’re still around somewhere. The Derringers, Losing Ground, Professor Plum, they’re still around, Adam’s Not Funny. Those are the old New Jersey ska fables from back in the hay day of the Jersey ska scene. Yeah, there was a Jersey independent label called Rude Girl Records. You know all the old school stuff that the Jersey kids know. Now a days there are a lot of emo and hardcore bands. There’s this band called Thursday that’s doing great, they just got signed to Victory as well. Midtown, definitely Midtown and of course Saves the Day, but these are less local.

DDE: Yeah.

DDT: You guys have gone through quite a few line up changes. Does a line up change effect the band and what kind of struggle is it to keep going?

C22: We. Everybody who’s in the band now and everyone who’s joined are the people that really want to be in a touring band and make the band successful by working hard and playing a low of shows. Everyone who quit just couldn’t face it. There’s a lot of people who can’t handle the stress of having to be in a different state everyday. It’s a rough life and it’s something you have to make happen. A line up change always effects the band because everyone listens to a different style of music and everyone brings their own aspect and point of view to the band.

DDE: What aspect and point of view do you bring to the band?

C22: Rock and roll. Lots of rock and roll and drum core. You know like marching band kinda thing.

DDT: What’s your creative process like as far as writing songs?

C22: We have no special ways for going out and writing songs, they kind of just happen. Everybody has some sort of input in every song. But usually, sometimes somebody will write a song and have it almost completely finished and bring it to the band to show them. Other times there will just be one idea someone has and we’ll just build on it and create a song out of it. A lot of it is about the story in the song and what we are trying to do about that and that can help dictate the music as well.

DDT: Would you say that the inspirations for your music basically come from your everyday life?

C22: Absolutely. Every part of it is a part of our life, right there in the recording for you.

DDT: So you have any other influences other than music?

C22: Absolutely. That pertain to songs or just in my life?

DDT: In your life.

C22: Well, I’m an electrician so that’s definitely influences my life. Maybe the shocks have knocked out my brains a little bit. That’s all good. I love to draw and so art. And I really, really love to play Zelda: A Link to the Past on Super Nintendo. I’ve been doing that a lot lately. Cause Zelda has really influenced my life a lot.

DDE: Any other things?

C22: Any other things…well, come on I’m laying my whole life out. I went to college a bit and that influenced my life quite a bit.

DDT: What advice would you give to kids out there interested in starting a band?

C22: Don’t worry about finding the best musician because over time anybody can become a good musician. You have to find somebody that’s dedicated to being in a band, somebody you’re friends with and that just wants to do it and will just stick with you. More than anything it’s finding somebody who’ll stick with you because eventually anybody could get good at any instrument.

DDT: I like that advice. Well, I guess that’s it. Do you have any last things to say?

C22: Keep an eye out for Catch 22 in the future. A new album hopefully sometime within the next year. Our guitarist got a digital camera so we’re starting to post pictures from all of out shows now on the internet. So check that out if you’re looking to see what the tour life is like. He’ll be taking pictures of everything we do. I don’t know where they’ll be, but that’s why they invented search engines. And that’s about it. I have some questions for you guys now.

DDT: All right

C22: What do you guys like to do? Where are you guys from?

DD(E&T): Toronto

C22: Toronto!

DDE: You guys are coming here for SNO JAM like next month.

C22: I know I can’t wait. I’m all excited for SNO JAM. WE love Canada more than life itself. especially Canadian women are very attractive.

DDE: Yeah, we like Catch 22 here too.

C22: Yeah nice. Well you guys are going to have to come up and say hi at the show and bring all your friends. Tell them to come have a good time.

DDT: Most of our friends don’t like this kind of music.

C22: So what. Your friends don’t have to like this kind of music because they’ll like us, because we are great people.

DDT: Trying to get them there is the problem.

C22: You can get them to the show. I got a lot of my friends to get into the under ground scene and they didn’t even realize what was happening. I had to con them. I told them that they were going to see rock bands and rap groups. So just lie to them and make them come to the show. Do whatever it takes.

DDE: We’ll just have to say you sound like the Backstreet Boys or something.

C22: Yeah tell them to come to our shows…like when Third Eye Blind was popular I used to tell them that my band sounded like Third Eye Blind to make them come to the show.

DDE: That’s a good one.

C22: Ya you just ask people what kinda music they like and then you say ‘Oh my god, that’s exactly what this band sounds like’ and get them to the show.

DDE: And we’ll be like ‘plus they’re hot’.

C22: Do you even know who I am?

DDT: Yeah.

C22: Cool. Well that seems like it’s about it, right. Is there anything else that you want to know?

DDT: Nope, that’s about it.

C22: Nothing off the record? No questions you’ve been dying to ask Catch 22 about your whole life that you didn’t already ask?

DDE: Nope.

C22: All right.

DDE: All right thanks,

C22: All right well uh…I guess I’ll see you guys in Toronto.

DDT: Yup.

C22: So make sure you guys come up and say hi. You guys can say hi to all of us and we can hang out and do stuff and you know…I don’t’ know what are you supposed to do in a band? Destroy hotel rooms and stuff?

DDT: Sounds good to me

C22: All right it’s a plan

DDE: Remember that.

C22: I will definitely remember you. Well, just come up and be like ‘Yo! It’s fricken Elya and Tiffany here’ and I will say ‘Holy shit! Elya and Tiffany. Hot damn how ya doin’ ya’ll’ like that, just like that is exactly what I’ll say.

DDT: All right we’ll do that

C22: You remember that okay.

DDE: Okay

C22: All right then I’ll see you guys in a couple of weeks.

DDE: Thanks a lot. Bye.

C22: Bye