Angie Lalonde lives to serve, apparently, as she is serving up another spicy interview of hers from north of the border. This time, she got the chance to sit down with guitarist/vocalist Matt, bassist Joe, and saxophonist Steve of the Rx Bandits for a little bit. Click READ MORE for their opinions on strip clubs, Europe, Metallica cover bands, and more.



MATT- Okay I don't know if I can talk clear for your voice recorder put I'll talk loud, I'm a mumbler, that's what all the East-Coast people tell me. (Matt mumbles something)

ANGIE- Okay say you're name and something explicit into the recorder so I can differentiate your voices.

M- Okay my name is Matt, explicit. Something explicit.

A- You guys crossed the border when, last night? Or today?

M- Today, it was a rather boring experience we sat there for four hours and they made us count all of our stuff, it was cool though the lady that we dealt with was really good to us. We didn't get butt surgery or anything like that.

A- So the new album is out July 15th ('The Resignation'), heard you guys found the direction you wanted with this record?

M- Found our direction, I don't know, I don't know about that.

A- Well I heard you guys were all really happy about the way it turned out.

M- yeah we're pretty stoked on it, but I don't know if it's necessarily a direction that we found it's just music we made up, you know what I mean, the times in our lives and the influences in our lives caused us to create this part of music, it's like a snapshot of where we're all at musically and mentally

A- Is this the most comfortable record you've made together as a band; you have a steady line-up now?

M- It's just different, it's definitely comfortable though, we have a steady line-up it's been almost two years or no, not, almost a year and a half and that's pretty much the longest we've had it stay together except for when we first started the band.

A- So this is 'The Sell You Beautiful Tour' and ironically you've found yourselves in the highly publicized for good reason Montreal strip club stretch, plan on attending?

M- No I am not too into that really, going to strip clubs is kind of like a bum out, it's nothing I like. A lot of people get stoked when they go to the red-light district in Amsterdam and stuff but that just bums me out too, it's just seeing that dead look in their eyes, it's pretty intense, a striking look to stare a prostitute in the eyes. Sometimes you'll see a girl and I'll swear I knew her from High School, girls that look totally familiar, these people that would totally be your friend, it's just that place in their life that caused them to do that, it's just a bum out.  Stripclubs are sort of the same way for me, I feel like, it's just like a lower level but no we'll probably get tattoo's and stuff like that and last time we were here we ate lots of sushi and it was good so...

A- You guys just got back from Europe didn't you? I heard the kids out there are really receptive to different styles of music?

M- Yeah I think European audiences are just, I'm not saying as a whole because I don't want to generalize the Europeans but especially like main land Europe, Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, it seems people are more receptive and more appreciative to music, they're less jaded. In America it seems like we all have the opportunity to see bands every night so a lot of times people get jaded to new music, in Europe it seems I'm sure they have kind of the same opportunity but they just seemed as though they weren't jaded. Places like Switzerland we had about four hundred kids show up for the shows and only one hundred of the four hundred actually knew who we were, the rest of them just came because there was a show and that's what you do, you go see a band play, you know they're from America they'll go and help them out, cause they're probably not huge, they just want to be there and be part of it, it's really cool.

A- Drive-Thru Records definitely a good launching pad for major sales, would you want that success or prefer staying partially underground?

M- I personally would like to stay at the level we are now, as long as we have this many people at shows every night we're totally stoked.

A- Driving in a van.

M- Yeah, I just wouldn't want to go down from here, this is more than I ever expected so I'm cool with it.

A- And which one of you guys used to be in a Metallica cover band?

M- Whoa! How was that called dude! Pretty much Chris was in one and I was in one but we're all down.

JOE- We are Metallica!

M- yeah his name is Jason, except he quit!

J- Yeah I quit to join the RX Bandits and I changed my name, I'm now fucking Jose Quevro.

M- So yeah my first band was a Metallica cover band and so was Chris, but Chris's band played some Megadeth songs too but we didn't know each other then.

A- Weird.

M- Yeah weird right! Chris's brother is an extremely talented guitar player, his younger brother John. Yeah and they rocked together how's that man, Metallica was a great thing musically to grow-up listening to I must say, their first four albums. Now kids are growing up with like Good Charlotte and who else, bands like SR71 shit like that, it's easy to learn songs like that, it doesn't take much, not that it's a bad song it just doesn't take much actual musical what's the word I'm looking for?, I don't know it's just not intricate enough to cause you to be influenced to learn how to play it. Metallica for me was like a video games, it was like "whoa this solo is a level nine and this song is only a level two." so yeah that's my way to describe it.

A- What's been the hardest part about the industry for the Bandits?

M- I don't know; Steve Borth you take this one.

STEVE- umm, I don't know, I feel like right now it's been a very productive time for us, we're going on a good thing right now but I would say personally for me, I wish that we could find bands that were more well suited to play with us far as bands that have different influences than a lot of the stuff that's out there right now. That would be my first thing to find more bands that we can play with and that are trying to take music to another level.

M- I definitely agree man, commercial music is so stale right now. There's so few bands that are actually doing anything with music. It's more like music is a tool, well it's not like it's anything new but it seems like right now well now more than ever especially the scene quote, unquote. It's just like more of a tool for financial gain as for creative expression.

A- You guys got two Chris's and two Steve's in the band - ever get confusing, mix up paychecks?

M- Paychecks! (laughing) That's so funny.

S- No we just call each other by our last names. Usually when you get in a group of people that you hang around for more than a few weeks in a row you can tell who's talking to who, hopefully.

A- How do you guys stay in-line on tour partially sober and on time for shows, ever forget a member somewhere?

S- Ah, yes, well actually we didn't we've definitely forgotten articles as far as instruments and back-packs and other stuff like that.

A- No codes of conduct on tour?

M- No we try to work it like straight direct democracy, almost like working anarchy in a way that everyone's opinion and say is completely equal and we try not to make decisions unless we can convince the entire band and talk things out, mostly I'm not saying it always works but for the most part it works out, you have to.

A- I heard The Police were a big influence to the RX Bandits and so if you guys are bandits what criminal activity would you love them to catch you doing?

M- (laughing) That's so huge... Umm, I don't know what to say to that.

S- I'm sorry, I'm not feeling too creative.

M- We've got nothing for ya, sorry.