Piebald

Simply put, Piebald rocks my world. My friend Nic turned me on to them a few months ago, and their newest CD, "We Are The Only Friends That We Have", has barely left my CD player since. If you are a fan of dance along pop punk with choruses that make you sing at the top of your lungs, Piebald will be your new favorite band. I finally got to see them live, and was lucky enough to speak with Travis, the lead singer, after their amazing set.

First question is, if you were going to be stranded on an island, and you could only bring three CDs, and three other things, what would you bring?
I would bring my acoustic guitar. How big is the island?

I don't know man, that's up to your imagination.
If it was big, I would bring my bicycle, my acoustic guitar, and uh, hmm... and a Frisbee. And for records, I would bring The Beatles – The White Album, Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street, and Pavement – Terror Twilight.

Would you rather watch a porno movie with your parents, or starring your parents?
Starring my parents, ‘cause then I could just shut it off. Yeah, I guess I could just shut it off while I was watching it with them, but I'd rather not even have that happen.

What's the craziest or funniest thing that's ever happened on a Piebald tour?
One funny thing happened a few tours ago, it was actually a couple years ago. We stopped at a gas station. I happened to be sleeping at the time. But, some strange guy came up to Aaron and handed him an envelope and said, "Here, you need this more than I do. If you guys want a place to come take showers or whatever... " They started talking and found out that he was a musician. So, the guy handed him the envelope, and Aaron saw there was money in it, and he was like "Uh... I can't take this." And the guy said, "No, take it." So Aaron's like "Ok." And he went and got back in the van, and there was $1,100 in the envelope, and the guy just gave it to us.

And you never heard anything else about it?
Yeah, nothing else. Strange... it was very strange

How do you feel about MP3s, and people listening to stuff online?
Um, I don't know too much about that stuff to be honest. But I feel that people still buy records. So, I mean, if people will get music that way... there's gonna be ways for people to get music illegally or whatever. But, there are people who will always buy CDs or buy records. I don't know, even the people who get MP3s, they probably still buy CDs, I don't know. I don't know what I think about it. I know it's a weird subject, and I don't really know how to feel about it. But, in my nice guy head or whatever, I just say whatever, if they are finding out about music, then all power to ‘em.

And, if you could be anyone for a day, who would you be?
Anyone for a day... oh boy, that's a tough one. Anyone for a day? I'd be Michael Jordan when he was playing basketball, because I can't imagine what that would be like. That would be an amazing feeling, knowing that you're the best basketball player ever.

So, are you a first grade teacher?
Not really. I worked at an after school program. The whole beginning to that song was kind of like a lie, a look from the future or whatever? At least that's what I thought I was doing. But I did work in an after school program for a long time, and when I was in school I was trying to be a teacher but didn't really finish.

Ok, if you could just give some closing comments, and maybe list some bands that are up and coming from Boston, and tell people how to get in touch with you.
Damn Personals, Cancer Conspiracy, Recover, but they're from Austin, Texas. Minus the Bear, they're from here though. I don't know, I should probably think of a lot more bands, but not off the top of my head. Oh... American Nightmare.

BW