Bullet Train To Vegas is an angular Southern California-based indie rock / post-hardcore band who mixes the
styles of well-respected acts like At the Drive-In, The Blood Brothers, and Q and Not U. The band put out
their debut EP Profile This in 2003 as well as a self-titled two-song 7″ in 2004 before signing with Nitro Records

INTERVIEW WITH BULLET TRAIN TO VEGAS
Interview by Carlo Gironi | carlo@staff.truepunk.com | with Dan Sena.

Hi there! How ya’ doin’?
I’m great.

Can you introduce the members of Bullet To Train Vegas and a story of how you got together? I know you’ve been together for some years by now.
I’m Dan and I sing and play guitar. Erik bailey plays guitar. Greg Horton plays bass, and Marty cornish plays drums. The band started as more of a project 3 years ago. It was about 6 months into it that I wanted to get serious and start touring. So I got a new line up and started touring.

Where did you get the name Bullet To Train Vegas from? It sounds weird that anyone would want to take a bullet train straight to Vegas, yet it’s original…
It is the name of a Drive Like Jehu song. A very big influence on me.

I know you are a band that plays post hardcore with moments of melodies. At the same time your music is very intimate, with catchy guitar riffs. Today this is a very over-populated music genre, don’t you think it is hard to be noticed by kids? Or do you just not care about what kids say?
I really don’t care what kids say when its negative. You have to realize you can’t make everyone happy. But what makes it worth it is those few kids that really appreciate and enjoy what you’re doing. That alone is reason enough to keep playing.

What would you consider as your biggest influences? Both musically, lyrically, whatever…
To name a few, Dinosaur Jr, Drive Like Jehu, Stone Roses, The Clash, Unbroken.

I know you worked with Alex Newport for your new record? How was it to work with him and how is he in the studio, did he give you lots of adivice? Also, how did you feel knowing he worked with At The Drive-In, and other bigger bands?
Alex was incredible. He’s a good friend. It was really productive working with him in the studio. He would let us know when something sounded wrong or right. There was nothing intimidating about him at all. At the drive in was a great band as with a lot of the other bands he’s worked with. That’s what made it so perfect to work with him.

How much long did it take to write and record all of the disc?
Well for me I had been writing songs for the record for 2 years before we recorded it. The line up changes is what held the record back. But it was a good thing because it forced me to keep writing songs until I had enough that I was happy with. We’re all happy with the results.

Do you consider yourself an emo or punk or hardcore band at all? What do you think of the music scene of nowadays?
I don’t really feel we fit into either of those genres. Although we all grew up with that scene in the early 90’s, there was so much more music I discovered since then that influenced my writing. As far as the scene goes, I think it definitely has become more corporatized. The diy ethic is almost non existent. I think a lot of bands these days have no soul. They have all have found a specific formula and are running with it. In other words the music is safe.There are only a couple bands nowadays that are really taking risks and suceeding because they believe in what they do. Our friends bands like pretty girls make graves and planes mistaken for stars are some to name a few.

How would you describe your band to a person that has never heard of you?
Well I would describe it as really noisy indy rock like fugazi, ink and dagger, and les savy fav.

What about your new lyrics? What do you sing about in general?
To be honest my lyrics are fairly abstract. But they are really just social comentary. They’re rooted in either personal experience or observation.

Is there a concept behind “We Put Scissors Where Our Mouths Are”?
I basically got the idea from a flyer I was going to design. It was to be a picture of george bush with a pair of scissors in place of his mouth. Its symbolic of the bush administration feeding the general public half truths and bits and pieces of information rather than telling people what is really going on.

The group initially sent a demo to Equal Vision Records and a representative from the label flew out immediately to sign the group. Since the release of Right Now You’re in the Best of Hands… the band has toured the United States extensively headlining & opening for other major acts such as Coheed and Cambria

Interview by Carlo Gironi | carlo@staff.truepunk.com | with John Gaviglio.

Hi! How are you doing?
I am doing fine, how are you?

Can you introduce the band’s members and a story of how you got together?
Bear Vs Shark is: Derek Kiesgen, Ashley Horak, Marc Paffi, Mike Muldoon, and I am John Gaviglio. We have been friends for a very long time and even started playing music together back in high school. We decided to start a band when we were in college a few years ago.

You come from Michigan, don’t you? How is the indie/punk/rock scene in the place you come from?
It’s ok, but I don’t really go to many shows since we are on tour alot, and when I’m not touring I’m kind of sick of hanging out at shows. But occasionally I’ll see a good one if I’ve got the time.

Where did you get the name Bear VS Shark from? It sounds like it has got a deep meaning, but I could be way off.
Derek made it up and we liked the way it sounded. It was either that or call ourselves Dr. Dracula.

Do you consider yourself an indie or emo band at all? What do you think of the emo hardcore scene of nowadays?
I don’t consider us an Emo band. I consider Dashboard an Emo band and I don’t think we really sound like them at all. I think the emo hardcore scene is pretty stagnant nowadays. Nobody’s really doing anything new.

You released your debut LP on Equal Vision Records; how did you get in touch with the guys at EVR?
We sent out a few demos to different labels and they responded favorably to it.

Have you released some other stuff before your new LP? I know you formed just two and a half years ago but already did some great stuff.
We made a 7 song EP as our demo, but also made copies ourselves for our shows. We don’t make them anymore but my in the future. We’re a little undecided on that.

Your sound is basically rock, and it has also some post hardcore influences according to me; where do you get your inspiration fro ? Other bands, music, books, movies, life …
I get my inspiration from music I listen to, from books I read; pretty much anything going on around me could inspire me or not. Who knows really what it could be. Maybe a concert, my dog, a finely crafted bowl of oat meal.

How would you describe Bear VS Shark to a person that have never heard of you?
Harder rocking dance spaz-out breakdown fun.

What are some of the bands that you guys in the band regularly listen to? I read in your bio you’re fond of The Clash, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Fugazi and Husker Du…what else?
Bjork, Fela Kuti, the Roots, the Beta Band, Radiohead, Modest Mouse, The Pixies, etc. Whatever is good I will listen to. I try not to listen to bad music. It is a conscious effort that I try to make - no bad music.

What about your lyrics?
I don’t write them but I like them. They make me think of mountains and lakes.

Have you got some plans of touring to support you new album? If so, where and with whom?
No, it’s too far off to tell.

Speaking of tours, I read that you are so strong to play even with broken teeth, bloody noses, torn cartilage and migraines… have you got some interesting thing that happened to you while you were on tour?
At the Indianapolis Warped Tour a few weeks back we played on a poor excuse for a stage. There was a gaping hole between the drum riser and the stage into which I fell after being run into by Mike. I thought my leg was broken for about 5 minutes. The fall has produced the largest two bruises I have ever had before, bruises which have achieved 5 different colors, namely: green, blue, black, red, and yellow. Is black a color? I’ve been documenting the progress of the bruises for a few
weeks now with my digital camera. It’s fun.

You played at the 2003 edition of the Krazy Fest: how was it? I know there were a lot of cool bands playing. What bands were you excited to share the stage with?
It was our fisrt festival and we had a good time. I didn’t really feel like we “shared” the stage with any bands because we didn’t know anybody there personally and we were the first band on a Sunday aftrernoon. But Andrew W.K. was fun to watch.

Do you think it is difficult for a young band to get hooked up by some label? I ask you this, because in the last year I saw a lot of unknown and untalented bands getting signed by major labels and all…how do you relate to this thing? Are you willing to get signed to some major or you just do not care?
I think it’s pretty hard to do, but I’ve really got no idea how it works. Bands can do whatever they want, and if they want to sign to a major that’s fine, hopefully they’ll use the money in a good way and make some great music. Or maybe they’ll just get really high on designer drugs and that’s cool too. People can do what they want. I like Equal Vision. They treat me nice and give me free t-shirts sometimes