Interviews: Northstar

Emily Driskell writes "This interview was conducted on the back porch of Mary Jane's (Houston, Texas), on November 6th, 2002 after their sold-out show with Taking Back Sunday, The Starting Line, and the Reunion Show; with members of Northstar (Nick and Shawn) and one lonely member of the Reunion Show (Derrick) pretending to be a member of Northstar (Tyler)...genius."
Click READ MORE for all the goods, and click here to read a review of the band's debut album, out now on Triple Crown Records.

DERRICK (Reunion Show): Can I be Tyler?

NICK (Northstar): Oh godâ¦

D: Okay! IâM TYLER!

N: Might as well beâ¦

(Tyler was passed out, sick, and in the Northstar vanâ¦and Derrick was noticeably down for a laugh, so here we goooooâ¦)

EMILY: Alright, introduce yourself, position in the band, and your biggest vice.

N: Biggest what?

E: Vice.

SHAWN: As inâ¦.?

E: As in, guilty pleasureâ¦that sort of thing.

N: Oh! Alrightâ¦ My name is Nick. I play guitar and sing for the band, Northstar; and my guilty pleasure isâ¦ (Long pause)

E: You got to be honest.

N: Caffeine?! I donât know!

E: LAAAAAME!

N: What? Fine, okayâ¦I donât have a guilty pleasure.

S: My name is Shawn, I play bass, and I like to drink beer.

D: Straight up, nicely said.

E: (Looks around to both non-fake members of Northstar and motioning to Derrick) Should I put it on him?

(Both Shawn and Nick shrug their shoulders and laugh.)

D: (Quite enthusiastically) Iâm Tyler, I play guitar, I have a big drinking problem, and I love girls. (Looks around, quite pleased with what he just stated.)

N: Oh yeah! Can I change mine to girls? Caffeine and girlsâ¦there we go.

S: Yeah, same thing for me, too.

E: Look what you did, Derrick.

D: IâM TYLER!

(Laughs)

E: Rightâ¦So, Nickâ¦ How has the tour been for you guys, so far? Being able to hit up places youâve never been before, what has the reaction been like?

N: Itâs been amazing. This is our first time playing here, and there are like, kids singing along to all the songs, and thatâs really awesome.

E: I was singing along.

N: Yeah! I know, you were sitting up front, thatâs awesome.

(Meanwhile, Derrick starts messing with Shawn, who is obviously freezing his ass offâ¦I think we all were. This recording makes me sound really giddy and I think I can hear my teeth chattering, rock!)

D: (Mockingly, to Nick) Yeahâ¦yeahâ¦

N: (To Derrick) Yeahâ¦yeahâ¦I mean all these bands have just been so amazing: Taking Back Sunday, The Starting Line, Reunion Showâ¦ All of them are awesome guys; itâs a blast to tour with themâ¦ (nodding in the direction Derrick, who is bouncing up and down in one place)â¦obviously.

D: I would have to say the same.

S: I would say the same thing, but the shows just get better and better. Itâs a whole lot better than what weâre used to playing.

N: Hell yeah, it is.

E: Does it feel weird being interviewed? Yâall are relatively new to this stuff, I would imagine.

N: Not really "weird", I mean, this is only our second interviewâ¦

E: ALRIIIIIGHT! I feel special!

S: I think itâs kind of weird. We donât think weâre cool enough for interviews.

(For some reason, Nick and Derrick start laughingâ¦I still have no clue why, and that bothers me. Damn you guys.)

E: (Thinkingâ¦) I didnât have any questions formally written up, Iâm just making all this up and I feel retarded. (Oh, that sounded professional.) Okay, favorite place to play, and why?

N: Favorite place to playâ¦Well, so far, I guess itâs been a mix of playing at home, because everybody knows us; and Iâd say Long Island. Long Island has always been really good to us.

D: Helllllll yeeeeeaaaahhhhâ¦

(Laughs)

E: (To Shawn, who is still freezing his ass offâ¦thatâs what he gets for wearing a t-shirt in 40-degree weather.) What about you?

S: Actually, Iâve only been in the band about six months, soâ¦

N: Yeah, heâs pretty new at this. (Laughs)

S: I love playing at home, though.

(Around this time, the door guy for Mary Janes walked by us. I swearâ¦he looks JUST LIKE JESUS. Do I know what Jesus looks like? You bet I doâ¦you bet I doâ¦)

N: (Laughing) â¦And that is the door guy.

E: Craziest tour story? Ready, go.

N: We get kind of crazy, sometimes; but weâre really not that crazyâ¦the crazy ones are in the other bands. (Looks DIRECTLY at Derrick, who is mindlessly starting into space.)

E: What about that first tour yâall did with Taking Back Sunday?

N: Oh yeah, youâre right. We had just gotten done from doing a tour with the All-American Rejects, and had this HUGE likeâ¦ROCKSTAR party at this hotel. There were like, 60 people in the hotel pool at like, three in the morning; and the pool was supposed to close at 12.

D: And we were all drinking.
N: (Sarcastically) Yeah, because he was thereâ¦ (Laughs) Ummâ¦yeah, we were all drinking pretty heavily, and lots of people started getting nakedâ¦It was awesome.

E: (to Derrick) Got anything to add to that tour story?

D: Nope. He described it perfectly.

E: Oh! Wasnât Double J on that tour with Taking Back Sunday, as well?

N: Yeaaahhh!!

E: Spill the dirt on Double J, Nick. Come onâ¦heâs a good friend of mine. I want dirt.

N: (Laughs) There is no dirt on Double J! Heâs so awesome, though. He designed some shirts for usâ¦

D: THAT GUY IS THE BEST and you can print it just like that. THE BEST.

E: Okayâ¦whatâs one thing you want your fans to know about you that they might not know, already?

(No responses, only blank stares. This interview was going nowhere fastâ¦or maybe our brains were freezing in our skulls, eh.)

N: Say something to the fans of our band?

E: (Ignoring Nick, but addressing Shawn) You have got to be freezing, child.

S: A little bit. (Laughs)

E: Oh, yeah. Say something to the fans, Nick.

N: I can only think to say "thank you." I mean, weâve had people that have supported us for a few years, let us sleep on their floors, cooked us food, itâs just been great. Our fans are amazing.

E: What do you think about Triple Crown?

N: Awesome.

E: Thatâs it?

N: Awesome. Fred has a lot of really good bands on that label, and thatâs whatâs so awesome. Good bands are awesome.

E: What would your dream tour be like? Like, if you could get any bands to go on the road with you, together or notâ¦who and why?

N: (Almost immediately) The Police.

E: Alriiiiiight!

N: Just because theyâre my fucking favorite band, ever. Letâs see hereâ¦The Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl is just awesome.

E: Do you have the new record?

N: No, I donât have it yet, how is it?

E: Soooooo gooooooood. Not as good as "Nothing Left To Lose", but definitely amazing.

N: Yeah, thatâs what Iâve heard.

D: (Randomly) Iâm cold.

S: Me too.

(Laughs)

E: Derrick kind of died there towards the end.

D: (Enthusiastically) IâM TYLER!

N: Yeah, he isâ¦and Tyler kind of died in the van.

E: Random question timeâ¦What did you eat when you woke up, this morning?

S and N: Taco Bell.

E: What time did you go to sleep this morning?

N: (Quite bluntly) Well, the hotel we stayed in last night had free pornoâ¦

(Everyone laughs)

D: Like you havenât stayed in a hotel room that didnât have free porno.

N: Well, usually we donât, thank you. Actually, it was niceâ¦wait. (Laughs harder) NEVERMIND! Iâm just going to shut up.

S: You know, we were just flipping through the channels and thenâ¦

D: (nods head) Free porno.

E: (Trying to change the subject as quickly as possible) Sooooâ¦what do you think about Texas?

N: (Laughs) Well, at first when we crossed the border, it was like, âWHOOOOA! Are we in Kansas, or something?"

(Everyone laughs)

E: I have a feeling I should wrap this up before it turns into a Texas-bashing fest.

N: Okay, Iâll finish this by saying: Listen to Motion City Soundtrackâ¦theyâre awesome, we just got off a tour with them -

E: They sound like Weezer.

N: A little bit.

E: I donât like Weezer. (Laughs) Sorry, go ahead.

N: And listen to My Chemical Romance.

E: GOOOOOOOD!

S: Can I say something?

D: No.

(Everyone laughs)

E: Go ahead.

S: If anyone wants to buy us a trailerâ¦feel free. Weâll love you forever.

E: Oh, really? When are you guys touring again?

N: Januaryâ¦with Glasseater.

E: Okay, ummmmâ¦ (searching for something else to ask)

N: (Laughs) Is this your first interview?

E: (Almost offended, but laughs anyway) NO! Itâs notâ¦thank you very much. I just canât think of anything good to ask you guys.

S: And Iâm sorry our answers suck, Iâm really cold.

(Laughing)

(Coincidentally, Gabe, the bandâs drummer comes walking up just about this timeâ¦)

D: Hey, look. Itâs the drummer.

N: Yeah, donât talk to him, heâs just the drummer.

GABE: Just the drummer, huh?

S: And you can tell Emily doesnât remember your name by the face sheâs makingâ¦

(More laughing)

E: Noooo! Actually, yessssâ¦ (laughs) Okay, give me some dirt on Nick, the worst thing you can think of.

G: Well, this one time he killed a hooker.

N: Oh yeah! Forgot about that oneâ¦

(Everyone laughs)

G: I mean, saved a hooker.

D: Yeah, saved the shitâ¦ehhâ¦Iâm not funny.

(Everyone laughs harder)

G: Actually, I donât think I have any dirt on Nick, heâs a good guy.

E: (To Gabe) Yeah, wellâ¦you missed the interview, man.

G: Yeah, wellâ¦I was hanging out withâ¦ (pauses)â¦chicks.

E: Donât lie. I know where you were.

G: (Hangs his head in shame) Alright, I was sitting behind the merch table.

(Everyone laughs)

S: Now heâs telling the truth.

G: Seriously, Iâm just the drummer. Nobody knows who I am. Me and Mark (drummer from Taking Back Sunday) are going to make t-shirts that say, "Iâm in the band, too."

E: That sounds a little desperate.

G: Yes, wellâ¦it is. But I need some lovinâ, too.

E: Donât look at me, thatâs why youâve got these three guys in the band with you.

D: Because Iâm Tyler. (Laughs)