Was Splashdown the idea of one person, or did everyone all have the same idea? Kasson: Well, Adam and I were in another band before Splashdown. When that wasn't going in the direction we wanted it to go, he had met Melissa, who was singing on some other projects. He had heard her sing, and he was talking to her about possible setting this type of band up. When our other band fell apart, that's when we hashed out the concept of doing something more electronic based, with three primary song writers. How often do you play in Boston compared to other cities? Adam: Every couple of months. Kasson: Sometimes it's even more. We've played as much as once a month. I would say probably between 10 and 20 times a year we'll play there. We make the normal round of local clubs, but every now and then a bigger show will come up. We played a show with Moby this last fall, which is not something we normally do. In means of Rochester, we've played here 4 times now. You play in Rochester fairly often. Is there a different feel to the city than others? Kasson: People are NUTS here. Melissa: People are crazy. People are so receptive here, and it's great. Adam: They treat us like big stars, which is really shocking to us every time we come here, because in Boston we're just another local band. Have you found any other stations like WBER where you play? Adam: There's one in Cincinnati called WOXY; it's very similar in format to WBER. Kasson: I think they're actually a larger station than BER. They're actually a commercial alternative station, and BER is more of a community alternative station. There's one in Omaha, Nebraska, and there are these little stations that are exactly like BER that picked up on our music, and people were really receptive. So when we played shows in both of those cities, and the shows are great. And then we'll go into a city like Detroit where we don't have a radio station like WBER, and you'll be building your fan base one or two people at a time; where as here it's like building your fan base several thousand people at a time. Does recording for a soundtrack feel different from recording for an album? Melissa: Yes, it does a little bit, because you're sculpting a song to fit something specific, rather than something than coming from something that's naturally inside of you. Adam: They gave us the scene from the movie that we were going to do the music for, so we could see it. The time was very exact, and there was a new set of constraints to write within, but the writing process is still the same. You just have a couple of guideposts you have to follow to make sure the beats of the song happen at exciting times. Melissa: Which is also helpful too sometimes, because you've got a structure to work in. Kasson: The song we did for Titan AE was very much just a normal song, and we would take portions of it and put it into the movie, slide things around and say Yeah, this section works out well. And when the song was done we actually altered it so that there were sync points in the song that hit with the exact scene changes, and a lot of bands don't get that detailed. A lot of times, their publishing company just submits there song to the movie people, and they find a good place for it, and that's it. We got to actually tailor the song for the movie. Do you plans for any remixes in the near future? Kasson: If we ever get an album out, I would love to get a companion CD to come out of all remixes of the stuff, some of my favorite music is done by remixes anyway. So I'd like to get everyone from unknown people to Fatboy Slim or something like that, that'd be really cool. For Adam: What effects do you use live? Adam: I have an amplifier that digitally models other amplifiers, it's a Line 6. So it's got around 20 different amp sounds, and I can switch them around with the pedal board that comes with it, plus the pedal board has a wah and a volume pedal on it. For each song, there's a button I hit for that song, and it sets me up with that amp. For a rock song I'll use a Marshall amp, and effects like a compressor or an echo. So it's tailored for each song; the echoes are timed to the beat of each song. It's a little self-contained system. What came first in Mayan Pilot, the music or the lyrics? Adam: The bass line. We spend months on the vocals in LA, trying to get it just right. The music was written in about half an hour, but we had to spend a lot of time making sure we just… Melissa: Actually, I think the vocals took about a week, we just had the music for a while, I just hadn't touched it. Adam: I remember we had the chorus part for a while… Melissa: It was a week. I remember being locked up in the apartment. Kasson: We locked her in the apartment. Adam: That song started with the bass line, then Kasson wrote a drum part that I had to speed the bass line up to match it, then the guitar line came out, and then vocals came last. Are there any plans for a return to Rochester in the near future? Adam: We find out about shows the same time that you do, so… Kasson: I'm sure we'll be back here again, this is the fourth time in eleven months, soevery three or four months we come back here. It'll be hard to top this show though. How was it different playing outdoors instead of at Milestones? Adam: We are not an outdoor band. Kasson: Especially not an outdoor Day band. Adam: We're not an outdoor band, but we seem to be constantly playing these outdoor shows, whatever we can get. Kasson: Even if they're at night, you can use the lights and fog machines. Did you ever expect to have such a large fan base? Adam: I think in Rochester, it's all Joey Guisto's doing. One day he just decided he was going to play our stuff on his station (WBER), and if other program directors took that risk, we'd probably be this popular in more cities, too. What are your plans for your next "single"? Adam: We were talking to Joey about that today, and we're actually not sure what it's going to be. Melissa: I think we opted for the weirder ones, like Waterbead or The Archer. Adam: The Titan AE soundtrack is coming out soon, maybe they'll be playing Karma Slave. We have a whole album chock-full of goodness, but nobody is going to hear it for a long time, apparently. They could have played something from that, but I guess it's just not going to happen. How did tonight's show go, from a technical and personal standpoint? Kasson: The show was a blast, except for some weird feedback problems on the stage. Melissa: It's a good thing I didn't stage dive. Kasson: One time in a rehearsal, my whole keyboard stand fell apart, so I was holding my keyboard while my stand was in eight different pieces. It's good thing that didn't happen tonight. Adam: It was a good show, it reminded me of some of the Lillith Fair shows that we did. Outdoors, and a lot of people.