Let’s start off with your name and what you play.

I’m Joey and I play the keyboards and do a third of the singing.
I’m Gabe, I drum.
I’m J.P., I play bass and a third of the singing.

And we have a guest.

Hi, I’m Cody, from the Blood Brothers. I play guitar.

So how do you like Seattle so far?

Joey: Well, it hasn’t rained yet.
Gabe: I woke up, and it has been nice so far, a good time as usual.
J.P.: I like Seattle, always. It’s good.

How has the tour been so far with Dillinger?

Gabe: I think it’s been a really good tour actually. It turns out to be a lot better than I thought it would be. I didn’t really know these people, and I was kind of nervous about that whole situation, but it worked out great. All the bands get along; it’s been a lot of fun.
Joey: I think Gabe covered it.
J.P.: But we did have and accident. That kind of put a damper on the tour. Two people hit us, and totaled our van.

But everyone’s okay? You were able to walk away?

J.P: We walked away, yeah. But it was pretty rough, but it happens.
Gabe: I ran away. I thought it was going to blow up.

Where did that happen?

All: San Diego.
Gabe: It’s the funniest thing, because we had been on tour for seven weeks, in the most extreme weather we have ever been in, 35 below, blizzards, stuff like that, and we get in a car accident when we are five exits away from our house. Ironic.

How do you feel about the large volume of "grind-core" bands that are now forming?

Gabe: What do you mean now forming?

That are now becoming more and more popular I should say.

Gabe: I think it’s good in a way. A lot of those bands have cool politics, and talk about good stuff, so therefore if it is becoming something that any kid can get into, it’s kinda cool, you know?
Joey: Better that than pop punk.
Gabe: Or new metal.

What bands are you guys into right now?

Gabe: I don’t listen to music . . . just kidding.
Joey: Um, I have been listening to all kinds of shit.
Gabe: I just got the best of Sweet. That’s a great one.
Joey: The new Liars is great, and Fanny Pack.

Are there any mainstream bands that you guys are into?

Gabe: I listen to Radiohead sometimes.
Joey: Are the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s considered mainstream yet? I love that band. We all love that band.

What did you guys grow up listening to?

Gabe: The Beatles, Run DMC,
Joey: Public Enemy, NWA,
Gabe: Elton Jon, Carcass, Styx, Bob Seager,
Cody: Sweet Kiss, Struggle, The Locust
J.P.: He’s a youngster.
All: Billy Joel, Steppenwolf, Skynard . . .

If you could reunite any band, or bring them back to life to see them play, who would it be?

Joey: The Birthday Party. That’s it.
Gabe: This is a hard one.
Joey: That one’s easy for me.
J.P.: I’m in agreement with Joey, but I’m sure I could find a dozen other . . .
Joey: I’m sure there are a lot of old blues musicians that I would love to see.
J.P: I think that if The Birthday Party got back together now, it might not be as good as seeing them back in the day.
Gabe: Time traveling would be more appropriate.
J.P.: I think there are some bands that I am glad that I got to see, but then got back together and were just horrible. So that’s a let down, because then I wish I’d never seen them.
Gabe: I’d just be more excited about the time traveling.
J.P.: And going to Australia to see The Birthday Party.

How much do your uniforms cost?

Gabe: What is it, like $200 a uniform?
Joey: We paid in euros.
Gabe: They vary; it depends on which one it is.
Cody: Aren’t the costumes?
Gabe: Uniforms. (laughing)
J.P.: They’re not fucking costumes!
Cody: (laughing) I’m sorry.
Gabe: It just depends on the make and model.

Have you ever played without them?

Gabe: In the earlier days. Before we evolved.
J.P.: We were still human at that point.

Is there a reason behind always wearing them?

Gabe: It just feels right. Alter ego.
Joey: Visually . . . it’s much more interesting to look at than we are. (all laughing)

How much of The Locust is role playing?

Joey: Like as far as our personal relationships with one and other?

I mean more between on stage and off stage. When people see your live show, it is so intense, and many times they have a preset notion of what you guys are like. So does how you appear on stage resemble how you act off stage?

J.P: Well Joey shoots lightening bolts out of his fingers when he is onstage. When he’s offstage he can’t do it.
Joey: Yeah, I’m still working on that one.

So is there a difference?

Joey: I don’t know . . . I mean, I guess there is a whole certain dynamic to us being on stage. Some nights things feel off, they feel not really together . . .
J.P.: We’re not Kiss.
Gabe: I am.
Joey: I don’t know, I guess sometimes things on stage are really funny and we like to laugh a lot and I guess that comes across when we play.

Will you ever record a ballad?

Gabe: We already have, the whole last record. The last record is pretty much an onslaught of non stop ballads.

What about a long song?

Joey: We’ll we’ve done something like that, but I don’t know, who knows?
J.P: The song on our last EP, Flight of the Wounded Locust, the song Flight of the Wounded Locust is kind of like a ballad.
Cody: How long is it?
All: Two and a half minutes.

If you had $5, where would you eat?

All: Pokie’s, a Mexican restraint in San Diego. For 5 bucks, definitely.

What are your thoughts on "The Passion of The Christ", the new Mel Gibson movie?

J.P.: I hate Mel Gibson. That guy’s a son of a bitch.
Gabe: Lethal Weapon is so rad.
J.P.: He’s a crazy homophobe.
Joey: I don’t really know much about it.
Gabe: I heard some funny shit though. I heard that when they were shooting the film there was this one scene where Christ is on the cross, and there is not a cloud in the sky, and he gets struck by lightning. And I also heard that when they were doing the nail scene, they missed, and hit his wrist, and it shattered his wrist. Which is pretty funny too.
All: I want to see the movie.
J.P.: I want to see how it is anti-Semitic supposedly.
Gabe: It’s real gory.
Joey: I really liked The Last Temptation of Christ. I guess Christ films that aren’t directed by Christian organizations tend to be more interesting I suppose.

Do you mind people taping your shows?

J.P.: As long as he can pay his rent off of making videos of us, I am all for it. No. It sucks actually.
Gabe: I am not into it at all, but we don’t stop people. I mean what if it was a horrible show for me, and I don’t feel I played well; I don’t want that shit floating around.
J.P.: Or if our equipment breaks or something. But the whole eBay factor is a drag. For someone else to make and ass load of money off of other people’s art is pretty pathetic.
Joey: While they (the artists) are not making much off of it.
Gabe: Here’s an example: We played a show in Minneapolis, at a place called The Triple Rock, and I didn’t know that they recorded it. And the last time I was at the club, some guy said, "Hey listen to this comp." Some guy had just put it together, you know, a burned CD of all these bands he recorded that had played there. Our song was fucked up. First of all, it started in the middle of one song, and it went to another song where we straight fucked up and stopped. And that was our song on the comp. It’s bullshit. That’s like here; listen to this band fucking suck. It’s not cool.

What is your favorite joke?

J.P.: I just learned a really good one yesterday. I’m gonna fuck it up though, I know it. Oh it’s so funny. Ok . . . What’s so good about fucking 28 year olds?
There’s twenty of them.
Joey: That wasn’t that good.
J.P.: Really? I liked it. I mean I like eight year olds, sorry.
Gabe: I like the one . . . I can’t remember, with the Harley and the dirt bag . . .
J.P.: What’s the difference between a Harley and a vacuum? The placement of the dirt bag.
Cody: I know some real questionable jokes . . . I don’t know if I can say them.
Gabe: It’s cool, you’re not in our band.

Do you have any major plans coming up?

J.P.: Tours, a bunch of touring.
Gabe: We’re going to try and write a record this summer.
J.P.: We have like three months more of touring planned, and then we are going to chill for a little bit.

How much down time do you usually get in-between your tours?

Joey: A few weeks. A month tops.

Is that enough for you guys?

J.P.: No.
Joey: Sometimes for me it is. I get a little bit stir crazy after a while.
Gabe: It is and it isn’t. I am totally torn between the two.
J.P.: I have a business I run so it’s a mess. When I am at home its just like crazy.

Do you guys read, and if so do you have favorite books, or any recommendations?

Gabe: I just started reading Galapagos, by Kurt Vonnegut. Mad magazine. My favorite book is magazines.
Joey: Yeah we like to read. We read lots of shit.

If you could choose the lineup for your ideal tour, who would you play with?

J.P.: That would be rad if we got a tour together and we didn’t play.
Gabe: We were offered to do this tour but it kinda fell through. It sounded like the dream tour to me. It was Fantomas, Melt Banana and us. And that would have been really good but it kinda fell through.
J.P.: There are so many good bands out there, it is hard to decide.
Gabe: We kinda have done dream tours in the past.
J.P.: Pretty much every tour we do is great.
Gabe: The Oops tour, we toured with these guys (The Blood Brothers), Arab on Radar, Lightning Bolt . . .

What is the most rewarding part of being in The Locust?

Gabe: Getting to play, hanging out with these dudes all the time.
Joey: Writing songs.
Gabe: Just the freedom to do whatever we want.
Joey: I just really like being in this band. It’s great.
Gabe: It’s my best friends, and we are all playing music.

If you could interview any band, who would it be?

Gabe: A time machine band?

Sure.

Joey: The Birthday Party. Well, I don’t know actually, let me think about that one.
Gabe: Maybe T-Rex.
J.P.: There are so many bands. I would love to interview The Crucifucks . . .
Gabe: That question is just impossible to answer.

Where do you find inspiration for your song titles?

All: From everything.
Joey: We don’t really keep too many barriers up there.

What are your parent’s thoughts on your music?

Gabe: My mom and my step-father were completely supportive. I had nothing but push and support. I was lucky.
J.P.: My mom doesn’t like the music so much, but she loves that we get to do this, she goes to our shows, and she likes everyone, she likes watching us.
Joey: Mine finally just gave up and accepted it.

What would you guys be doing if you weren’t in this band?

Gabe: Probably a stock trader or something.
Joey: I’d be rich.
Gabe: Sailor, stock pirate, stock pirate . . .
J.P.: I don’t know what I would be. I would run a record label. And I would probably work at food company too.
Joey: I’d be a jet pilot.
Gabe: I’d breed dinosaurs.

What is your scariest memory?

J.P.: The accident we were just in.

What’s the craziest thing you have ever seen a fan do?

Gabe: Once someone shit in the mosh pit. We saw a girl pass out. We had a kid die at our show. That was probably the worst thing that has ever happened. It was in New York. Like two tours ago.
Cody: He was in the pit?
Gabe: No, he had a heart condition.
Joey: It was during our set.
Gabe: It could have been anything, but in those conditions, it was real hot, shitty air. That was the worst memory.

Is there anything about The Locust that you want your fans to know that they probably don’t know already?

Gabe: A lot of people think we are super dicks, but I think that we are only kinda dicks.
J.P.: I have some problems because I was on Jerry Springer and everyone thinks that I am really like that, but it was a joke.
Gabe: Yeah, I bet you wish you never did that just because of that fact that everyone asks you about it.
Cody: Do people take you seriously?
J.P.: Yeah, people think that I’m really like that and shit.

There was a fan who wrote that on your newest album, it seems a lot less aggressive and harsh than your previous work. Do you have any comments for that, or do you agree?

Joey: False.
Gabe: They don’t know what they’re talking about.
Joey: I think it probably just sounds better.
Gabe: It doesn’t just sound like crap like our other records do.

Is there any change in direction you see yourselves taking?

Joey: It’s always changing and it always evolves.
J.P.: The new stuff we're writing is changing, it’s different. I mean who wants to write the same stuff?
Gabe: We’re going in reverse, and then left a little bit.

And for the last question, if you could change anything about your band, what would it be?

J.P.: Should we answer this one?
Cody: Haha. I bet I could answer it.
Joey: No comment.
J.P.: Yeah, we can’t comment on that, sorry.
Gabe: I wish we were all fat. Tall and fat.
Joey: Yeah, tall and enormous.
J.P.: People would respect us more if we were tall and fat.

Thanks again to Joey, Gabe, J.P. and Cody for taking the time to talk with me. If anyone reading this has the chance, check out The Locust when they come through your town. I can only describe it as a religious experience.