Whippersnapper have been on the unk music wagon since some years right now, after their debut quot;America’s Favourite Pastime" and the more mature "The Long Walk", the band gained more and more fans all over the world, not only thank to their music, but also to their hard work. Before the release of their newest album on Fueled By Ramen Records, before starting their endless toruings with bands like Less Than Jake, Inspection12, Recover, Hot Water Music,and many more, I got the chance to ask some questions to Andy, lead singer for Whippersnapper. He was kind nough to let me know all the latest news about the band, their plans, and a lot of stuff about their upcoming album, "Appearances Wear Thin", which is gonna be huge.

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

Carlo:Hello. How are you ?

Andy:Fantastic.

Carlo:You are releasing your third record "Appearances Wear Thin ", can you tell us how you feel about it and if you consider it as your best work yet ?

Andy:We’re really excited about it, we definitely feel like it’s the
best work we’ve ever done. Roger Lima from Less Than Jake came and
lived with us and produced the record and he really helped to bring
our focus together on these new songs. We were alot more in tune with
what we wanted out of this record.

Carlo:Is the new record as "dark" as "The Long Walk" or more happy ?

Andy:It’s a mix. Overall the record is pretty positive.

Carlo:The new album is your first on Fueled By Ramen . Why did you
decide to sign for FBR and leave Lobster Records ?

Andy:FBR seemed to have a great thing going, they were really excited
about the band and they have a good organization. It was time for
a change for us.

Carlo:Are you still in contact with Steve and the people at Lobester
?

Andy:Yes, Lobster gave us our start and we’ll always be grateful to
Steve for that.

Carlo:I think that "Amercia’s Favourite Pastime" and "The
Long Walk" are two great albums, that are unluckily very under
rated: do you agree with this ?

Andy:I don’t know if they’re underrated. We got great response from
the fans and critics who were into those records. For us, it’s easy
to look back and see where they could have been better, but that’s
the way it is for anyone who’s ever written music.

Carlo:I have not heard the new album yet : can you tell me what it
is about, how it sounds and if it is very different from your previous
stuff ?

Andy:I think it’s a good mix of the sounds of the first two records.
We really came into our own on this one, it still has it’s technical
elements like the Long Walk, and it has the pop sensibility of AFP,
but there’s also an added rock influence. I was really comfortable
in the studio so I got more of a vocal sound that I wanted and I feel
like the lyrics came easy and came out well. What the album is about
I’ll leave up to the listener.

Carlo:How did you record the new record , how much did it take and
who produced it ?

Andy:We recorded drums and bass on two inch tape at Chase Park Transduction
in Athens, GA with Andy Baker as a Engineer and Roger Lima producing
and doing alot of the engineering work as well. Then we moved to Rock
Central, Andy Baker’s home studio in Athens and recorded guitars and
vocals with protools and then we synced the whole the things up and
mixed at Chase Park. The guitars were recorded using a secret multi-amp
method that Roger came up with. We used a mesa triple rec, an old
vox, and a marshall JCM2000, and a Trainer all mixed onto one channel.
It ended up sounding great.

Carlo:Was it fun to record the new songs ? I ask this because a lot
of bands say it is boring to sit in the studio and record stuff, but
in my opinion it is a great expirience …

Andy:It was the most enjoyable time I’ve ever had in a studio and
I think all the guys would agree. Roger had tons of energy, and Andy
Baker was always there to make great suggestions. Everyone was so
into the project that we really got the most of the expierence.

Carlo:Have you already started touring to support the new album ?
If not, have you got some plans for touring ?

Andy:Well tommorrow we leave for a short Southeast run, five or six
show with the Sloppy Meateaters, another GA band we’re friends with
and then we’re meeting up with Less Than Jake, Hot Water Music, and
Recover for about five shows. After that we’re hitting the road with
Honest Don’s Inspection 12 for about a month. After that more touring.
All kinds of plans are in the works for keeping us out there on the
road. Hopefully we’re going top finally get up to Canada and possibly
do some warped tour dates and maybe get back to Europe. We’re still
sort of planning it all out.

Carlo:I know you have toured a lot in the past years … I have two
questions about it … which is the best band you ever toured with
and is there something funny or weird that happened to you while on
tour ?

Andy:Either Strung Out or Mock Orange. Those were fun tours. Strung
Out always plays a great show and we’ve always kind of looked up to
those guys and when they asked us to come along with them we were
totally into it. We had a total blast on that one. Mock Orange are
like brothers, they been through hell with us and we were in this
huge prank battle with them when we toured. We’d fill their van with
those horrible pine air freshners or once we pasted gay porn all over
the back of their van. We’d throw shit at each other while we’d be
driving to the next show. They got us back at the end of the tour
and good too. They covered our bus with soap writing, peace symbols
and punk and anarchy symbols and totally trashed the inside, tore
apart our seats and threw trash everywhere. It was war, so all was
fair.

Carlo:What do you think of the "punk community" or "punk
scene" nowadays ? Is it cool ? I believe it is a bit too much
"closed"…

Andy:It depends on where you are. I hate elitist bullshit, but I also
hate fashion show styled scenes. We just get up there and do our thing
and hope people get together and have a good time.

Carlo:Talking of the name "Whippersnapper", how did it come
to your mind ?

Andy:It’s an old southern expression for little insolent kids. It
just seemed to fit at the time. Steve used to say that we had already
set a record for being the punk band with the most "p"s
in their name.

Carlo:On the cover of your first CD , when I bought it, there was
a sticker with the writing "Friends of people who know people
who know NOFX" or something like this … why did you put it
on the cover ? to make everybody know how you sounded like ?

Andy:It was a total joke, "friends of people who know someone
who once saw a NOFX show" with the nofx all big and in their
logo. Luckily Mike was cool about letting us do it. It usually got
people to pick up the record and laugh. When we played with Good Riddance
at the 513 they had it on the back of their van. Steve had this thing
where everybody had to have a sticker on their record and thats what
we came up with.

Carlo:Which are your favourite bands and what are you listening to
right now ?

Andy:Right now I am listening to the new Pulley album which is rocking,
I was looking forward to see how Tony sounded with Pulley. Lately
some favorites that have been in the CD player have been Tomahawk
(which is Mike Patton’s new band with the guys from the melvins, jesus
lizard, and helmet), Tool, Braid, At the Drive In, System of a Down,
Johnny Cash, the Who, Snapcase, the old Weezer album, Pink Floyd,
the Ramones, Sublime.

Carlo:I heard last year you had to play some dates in Europe, like
at the Trashed Records Day Festival that took place in Italy, but
something went wrong and you could not be present … what went wrong
? I heard you were stuck in Spain with your van…

Andy:Well the Thrashed Day festival was so far away from the show
in Spain that it was physically impossible to make it. It was like
fifteen hours away, if we had left after the show in Spain we wouldn’t
have made until after the festival was over. It was a total booking
mixup and I was really upset that we couldn’t make it.

Carlo:One last question, the year 2001 is just passed. Have you heard
some cool albums that came out last year or have you got some advice
or records out last year to listen to ?

Andy:I’m not really sure, this last year we’ve been kind of working
on songs and working out who and when our next record was coming out
that I only heard most of the albums that people were talking about
in passing. I was buying albums that were alot older.

Carlo:Final comments ?

Andy:I hate to do it, but check out our webpage if u want to figure
out when we’ll be near your hometown. www.whippersnappermusic.com
. The new record’s out March 19 you can get it at www.fueledbyramen.com
. See You out there in the great wide open.

Carlo:Ok, I really thank you for your time, I hope to see you soon
live. Take care and good luck for the new album !

Andy:Thanks for talking with us.