Names?
Joe:  My full name is Joseph Michael John DePasquale or generator of things noise
Mike:  Michael Shrader......aka Arson Walker
Brian:  Brian

How much time do you invest in Fallout a month?
Mike:  Never as much as I should.

...a week?
Joe:  Well, the funny thing about $100 Fallout is that we are sort of a bi-polar band. Sometimes we'll get together and practice every day for 2 weeks straight and other times we won't even talk for a couple weeks. The best thing about it is that both have their benefits. When we get together after not meeting for a while, we usually come to practice very fresh and ready to rock. When we practice a lot, we iron out the little idiosyncrasies of our songs, things that usually get glossed over. I guess that since I'm usually running through songs in my head and thinking about music, I probably put a lot into Fallout per week - probably like 200 hours or so, not that I keep count or anything.
Brian:  Well, as a local band with no hired help, we have to apply ourselves quite a bit if we ever wanna play...Back in those carefree days of college and touring the Friends' Dorm Rooms Circuit, I never could have foreseen all of the busy, busy stuff you gotta do beyond the obvious musical creation and practice. There's booking, web design & upkeep, mailing lists, recording & mixing, instrument & equipment maintenance...I'm probably leaving stuff out...place a 9-5 or syllabus on top of that stuff and there's only so much you can do a week and still get sleep. Once your name is recognized and you have friends who help in landing us gigs (who get MAD props from me...THANK YOU, you know who you are), it gets easier.

How many hours?
Brian:  On busy weeks, as many as 15-20. When recording, you can triple that. Of course, there are plenty of weeks where other stuff is going on and you just can't get to it.

What role do you play in Fallout?    
Mike:  Guitars/vocals.
Joe:  I've never really given much thought to my "role" in the band. I guess I provide the "low end" to much of the songs. Now that I think of it, one thing that I really love is that Brian, Mike and I sort of fit together (gel as they say) as musicians. I kind of enjoy the role that I play in live performances. Being the bassist for most songs, I can just sort of hang back, lay down the rythm, see the music developing, sort of drift in and out of the scene - its all kind of low key. I like not having a prominent position in the band at times like that, which is part of why we, as a band, fit so well together. In practices I usually end up bringing a new (skewed?) perspective on songs that Brian and Mike have been playing for a long time in a certain way. Sometimes in practice, Mike and I will start playing some weird song or something totally out there and Brian will bring us back to reality, then other times Brian and I will see how much noise we can make with effects pedals and stuff and Mike will fall asleep on the couch or floor or wherever he can - practices are fun.

As one of the newer guys in the band, do you feel this is as much your group as say, Mike or Brian's?
Joe:  Well, honestly, at first I didn't really feel like a part of the band, but it was no fault of Brian or Mike, just me. I was just like this guy that was called up from the minors to fill in or something, I mean, I was grappling with learning the bass as an instrument, and learning all the songs; I sort of felt like it could have been anybody doing it. Then, somewhere along the way, things really started coming together, and I began to notice how we all played off of each other. I started writing things that I liked for different songs and I realized that I was actually becoming a member of the group, perhaps even a 1/3 of it. Now when I think about it it seems that the group isn't something that can be "mine." The group exists when we are all together playing. The group is a tangible manifestation of the musical energy that we have when we play - it's really cool.

Which do you enjoy, or get the most creative satisfaction: writing lyrics or music?
Mike:  Wow.....that's tough.......I'd probably have to say lyrics.  Music usually comes relatively easy, whereas lyrics are like a quilt that have to be slowly crafted.  I always give myself a big pat on the back when I write good lyrics.  

Which (music or lyrics) do you think blends best with the rest of the band's sound?
Mike:  That's the especially cool part about this band.....One of us will bring a song to the table, and the others can really adapt and mold it.  Just listen to songs like 'Gray Words...', 'Train...', 'Irish....', etc...these songs sound so completely different now than they did when Brian and I first started playing them.  I really think it's a testament to the talent in these guys and how well we're in tune with each other.

Which has changed the most in the last few years, your musicianship or writing?
Brian:  Easily, the musicianship. To be honest, the writing has always scared me, and without total comfort (or a disregard for the comfort factor), it's hard to really experiment too much. I still do my writing when my heart feels full...but the establishment of a "real" band (as opposed to the dorm thing) has made me more conscious of where a songwriter fits in on a collaborative level, and on a local level.

Do you feel your playing is more methodical or improvisational?
Brian:  Nice cop-out answer: both. There has to be some stuff that remains standard, play-every-time kinda stuff. Otherwise, you just end up sounding like an unrehearsed high school band. And I even have methodical patterns in my songwriting. But, I LOVE Fallout's improvisation...if you listen to our mp3 for 'read this 1st', and you hear that part after the solo where it breaks down, you're listening to a very shortened version...we've been known to drag that out quite a bit on stage, and it's never the same twice. Just about every song we have has some sort of up-for-grabs arrangement to it, something that we can mess around with and change in front of a crowd...and it's a cool feeling when you just know those people seeing you for the first time can't even tell.
Mike:  It's a little of both but definately favoring improvisational.
Joe:  I feel that my playing is both methodical and improvisational. This is part of what I really like about playing in the band. In practice, I usually come up with some skeletal form of what I want to play and then I usually mess around with it when we play it live. There are some songs, like "Train to Culver" that I never really play the same way twice; the songs are continually evolving. What is really cool is sometimes I write the best stuff when we're playing it live. I pretty much wrote what I do in "Grey Words" during a show and then some other stuff evolved out of practicing. We are definitely a lot more improvisational then some people may think. There is just so much energy on stage in the live situation, we each draw on eachother's energy when we're playing and some of the best stuff happens then.

You've done some solo writing...is the result different from the band work, the collaboration?
Mike:  Some of my solo stuff is similar to Fallout stuff......some is completely other side to the spectrum.....I think my influences are so broad that I could write 5 songs that sound nothing like each other.

Joe, have you written any lyrics?
Joe:  I pretty much suck at writing lyrics. I usually try not to plague the band with my awful lyrics. Actually, I haven't even tried to write lyrics since I was in a band in high school and they were bad then too. I just usually feel that my lyrics are so trite and they end up in the trash before I finish them. I really like the stuff that Brian and Mike come up with, and I am very content with working on the music end of things rather than lyrics. In fact, much of the music I listen to is instrumental, I generally pay attention to music more than lyrics.

Is music one of those things you have to do?
Brian:  ...yes, I have to do it in some way. Fran Healy from Travis has said it best...the act of singing really is an opiate...brings you up when you're down...it just makes me happy to sing, and that's a happiness that almost no one can replace.

What's your take on collaboration?
Brian:  The way I see it, you have your bands, and then you have your artists who are backed by a band...$100 Fallout is definitely the former. The way we've worked, Mike or I will write a song, play it for the others, and then we learn it, work on it, play around with different sounds, and then voila. Collaboration is definitely a virtue of Fallout...in fact, we haven't written too much for the band since Joe joined...we've just been elaborating on old stuff, kinda dressing it up. I give Mike and Joe the credit for that. They've made songs of ours that I like into songs I can really love.
Mike:  Collaboration is definately cool; not only does it keep you in a constant state of creativity, but it also brings other influences back to the band.  It's somewhat of a motivation factor.
Brian:  I also should bring up Greener, my band-on-the-side...There with my buddy Cliff, we're more of a Lennon/McCartney type of team (in nature, of course--I'm not as brash as to say so in stature!): Usually, Cliff will write a song and then we'll mess with it for a little while until we're happy with it...I guess the bottom line with collaboration is that you've never exhausted every cool idea until you've bounced it off of your bandmates or what-have-you...

What kind of gigs have you played recently?
Joe:  Our most recent gigs have all been benefit concerts at Villanova University where I currently go to school. In October, we played a show to benefit a mission trip to Ecuador and just the other day (Nov 16) we played a benefit for hunger and homelessness awareness. So lately we've been into philanthropy and stuff - its cool, we get to help other people out and have a lot fun doing it. They're fun gigs because theres not much pressure at all - we just go up and have fun playing - I'd love to do that all the time. We need to get more gigs though.            

What kind of venue/audience do you prefer?
Mike:  Smaller more intimate venues.....not that we've ever played anything big......actually, any venue that's not Marita's Cantina.  As far as audience, not that I don't love friends coming to see us, but I really prefer playing for mostly "strangers" to the band.  I think any show is a success if we get just one new 'fan' of our music.  

Admit it, you get all the chicks...
Joe:  Nope, I don't - Mike gets all the chicks in this band.
Mike:  No......I don't really have a plethora of chicks...plus, you never really get the ones you really want to be with.....at least I don't.

Another softball question: favorite drink?
Brian:  The blood of the nonbelievers.

Are the bands that influence you as a person different from the ones that influence you as an artist?
Joe:  Thats a tough one. Sometimes I don't even know what influences me as an artist, I just do things and someone will say - hey that reminds of so and so's sound or something without even realizing it. I'd have to say that maybe with a few exceptions the two are connected, I try to listen to a lot of different music and it is always on my mind so I would venture to say that it pervades both aspects of me. I would have to say that listening to Aphex Twin is the one case that influences me more as a person than as an artist. Richard D. James' ability to twist and contort rythms and construct musical soundscapes is beyond me and I love it, but I'm pretty sure it dosen't make its way into my playing.
Brian:  The more I learn about the persona of most signed bands, the more I feel as though I can't relate. There's something that happens when fame enters the picture that causes a lot of musicians to elevate every action and sentence within public view. I can't even read Rolling Stone anymore...it's the nature of the business, but everything is so INFLATED. If anything, it influences me not to think myself more important than I am. The very idea of an interview kinda contradicts this, and admittedly, this feels weird, but I'm just another Joe Schmo in the scheme of things. I'm sooner influenced personally by my peers and my teachers then some rock band...after all, rock bands are just dorks with guitars! People always forget this...
Mike:  I like to think that every band I really love influences me both ways......obviously some are far more apparent than others, but the list is probably endless.


What's one song by another artist that just really affects you?
Brian:  "How To Disappear Completely" by Radiohead...it's so haunting. If in the past year, you've said something to the effect of "Man, I'm tired of all of these teeny-boppers and aggro bands," then buy Radiohead's Kid A. You'll most likely hate it at first listen, but if you want the evil LimpSpearsSync demons to go away, listen to the album until you like it.
Joe:  Well, this usually changes very often depending on what I've been listening to the most lately. Right now I'd [also] have to say "How to Disappear Completely" by Radiohead, and that's been since I bought Kid A on Oct 3. It definitely strikes a chord somewhere deep within me.

Explain how important $100 Fallout is to you as an artist...
Mike:  This goes hand in hand with that 'meaning of life' question... wow........well, what can I say, I love making music with these guys.  There's such a complete satisfaction from it that even my solo music can't touch.  
Joe:  I don't know if I can put it into words. This is definitely the best thing, musically, that has happened to me since I started playing music. Its the first time that I've really felt musically connected to other people in a serious way - for the most part we're all on the same musical wavelength. As an artist I really feel that this is the biggest outlet I have for creativity and emotions and stuff. There is just something about playing well with other people that really fills a certain void in me.

Which would you rather have: success with a strangling atmosphere, or relative anonymity with a relaxed one?
Mike:  I'd settle for standing on the middle of the seesaw.  I really don't know.  I don't want to end up bitter like Thom Yorke, but it would be nice to be able to support myself solely from music.
Joe:  I just want to make music and if it affects people in any way at all than thats just fine with me. If I had to choose I think I'd rather have relative anonymity with a relaxed atmosphere. Thats probably more an extension of my personality than anything else, I usually just like things laid back.
Brian:  For me right now, relative anonymity IS success. It is a triumph to find happiness in the release of that need for attention. When I was four, I wanted to be a rock star singer. As I grew up, people told me how hard it was, but I wanted to press on. Now at 24, I see the cramped lifestyle, the reality that one has to compromise in the biz just like a politician with his beliefs...and I am happy playing small venues right now with musicians I love to play with, for people who can appreciate thoughtful songs and uncompromising music. It's really been a brilliant time...

Think you could do a cool video game score?
Brian:  The closest I came to that was scoring a sort of video yearbook for a private school's summer program, but I'm not sure what happened to that in the end [Editor's Note: We don't know either.]...so, I have little idea of my capabilities there. Musically, I'll try just about anything once...
Mike:  Yes.......I'm waiting to get the score to Final Fantasy X.

How involved are you with $100 Fallout's internet presence?
Brian:  Mike and Joe are worthless. I've done it all, everything, every last html code. Haha. No, I did initiate most of the pages and built the horrendously pathetic site that you now see at www.angelfire.com/music/100dollarfallout, but the stuff to come is very much a collaboration. And the upkeep of the site and the e-mails has mostly been split up.
Joe:  I'd like to think that I do a good deal of internet stuff. Brian and I did a lot of brainstorming in the summer to come up with new website ideas and graphics ideas. We taught ourselves a lot of Adobe Photoshop stuff to make cool looking things. Some day we'll actually put those ideas into use - it'll be cool.

Mike, you're on a desert island and can pick out 5 of your CD's to take with you...but then that bastard Brian switches your bag with his...what are 5 CD's that Brian loves that you aren't all that crazy about?
Mike:  the 5 cd's Brian would put in my bag to piss me off are:
1. The "She's the One"single (World Party)
...and he would have 5 copies of it.

Joe, same for you but Mike does the switching...
Joe:  You know, that Mike really is a bastard. I can't believe he switched my bag. Ok well to be honest, these two guys have introduced me to a lot of new great music and so far I've really gotten into it all. I don't know if I could name 5 cd's that he has that I'm not all that crazy about - party because I can't remember the names of the bands that he shows me. So I'm sorry but I can't really answer this one [smles].

Brian, Joe gets to your bag...
Brian:  Joe has horrible taste in music and so I'm sure I'd hate whatever those 5 are. Joe, you're out of the band.

What's a song or artist that your bandmates would be surprised to learn influenced you?
Joe:  We talk about music a lot so I don't know if I could really surprise them. But they might be surprised to hear that when I was a kid my mom listened to Abba all the time and I have a secret obsession with them. Uh - wait. . .nevermind.
Brian:  REO Speedwagon, Foreigner, Styx...My dad had some of those albums when I was growing up, and I have to admit, there are some solid songs there. Just don't expect any covers from us...

Lastly, How long do you see yourself in a band? Is it one of those things you have to do?
Mike:  I see myself in a band for a long while......I see myself making music as long as I'm alive.
Brian:  It always feels great to play with musicians, but actually having a band isn't ALWAYS necessary...if I was stuck on that aforementioned desert isle, I'm sure I'd apply myself musically in other ways. Collaboration surely is rewarding, though...
Joe:  Forever - it's definitely the best source to get feelings and emotions things out and dwell in the land of musical possibility and creativity. I love it and I thrive off of it - it's like a drug, with no nasty side-effects.

Finis...Thanks guys.

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