AFI vs. UOD

Union of the Dead: Been together for two years.
AFI: Been together for nine years.

UOD: Plays to some people at Mr. Lucky.
AFI: Plays sold out shows at SF’s Warfield and Fillmore.

UOD: Sells an occasional shirt here and there.
AFI: Holds the record for the most merchandise sold at the Fillmore.

UOD: Recorded with Miles from Whitewall Slicks.
AFI: Recorded with Deftones’ recording engineer.

UOD: Three-day tour with Team Chico. (Hit By A Semi, Inverted Nines, and Whitewall Slicks).
AFI: Toured with Danzig, Rancid, Sick of it All and Offspring.

You know, it doesn’t really matter who’s done what in the music world, right? I’m pretty sure that no one is in this for the competition; however, it is pretty amazing that a band can accomplish as much as AFI has with little-to-no MTV play and very little radio support. God, weren’t those the days when you could see them for $5 at Berkeley Square or Gilman St. every other weekend? Well, now their popularity has grown at such an intense rate, kids are paying $150 on eBay to see them at sold-out venues such as the Fillmore and the Warfield. All I can say is that I’m truly happy for them. They’ve been one of my favorite bands and a huge influence for the past six years of my life. So it was an honor for myself and Union Of the Dead drummer Fred Telles to sit down and talk with lead singer, Davey Havok, before their last show of the 2000 tour with Rancid at the Warfield in San Francisco.

Did you ever think you’d be playing here when you started the band?
No, not…

Or even selling out the Fillmore?
No, no. Neither of those things, ever, even could I dream of when we started. I mean, when we started the band, we lived in a small town…you guys are from Chico, right?

Yeah, well, no. I grew up in Concord.
Oh, you grew up in Concord. Well, I mean, Ukiah is…

Yeah, we were just there a couple of months ago.
Oh, you guys played there, that’s right. So you saw it. There’s fucking nothing to do there. And you know, we were bored, so we started the band out of boredom and our love for music. I still remember putting out our first seven-inch ourselves and thinking, ‘Oh my gosh!’

Dork, right?
Yeah. When we put that out ourselves, I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh. I didn’t think we’d make it this far. I didn’t think we’d be able to put out a seven inch. It’s so cool.’ And now, nine years later, I still can’t believe it’s real to sell out the Fillmore, to chart on Billboard, to play the Warfield. I mean, I remember going to shows at Slim’s and thinking, ‘These guys are huuuuuge. These guys are huge…’

Now, you’re playing Warfield.
‘…They’re playing Slim’s.’ You know? I still think that. It’s just really odd.

Do you get nervous at all?
I get nervous here. I get nervous at home. I get nervous in Hollywood a little bit. Just that they’re kind of like home shows and I know that everyone’s seen us a million times and there’re standards to live up to and we know half of the people personally, so it’s like…(laughter).

Well that’s how it is playing Chico for us. We know everyone we play for every single time. It gets a little old, but it’s fun. We try to make it interesting for them.
Right. Yeah, that’s the only time I get nervous. There’s the strong feeling that makes you, you know…right before you go on. We’re feeling a lot of energy at that point. It’s not always nerves.

What’s Son of Sam all about?
Son of Sam is a project that I did with London May, Todd Hughes, Howie Pyro, and Steve Zing. Joey Z and Glenn Danzig also play on it.

Does Danzig play instruments on it or does he sing?
He plays instruments. He plays guitar and I was told he plays organ on it, but I don’t recall hearing an organ, but it’s very possible (laughter). I got the finished copy before I left. It was just a project. London called me up and said that he and Todd and Steve were working on bunch of songs and they wanted me to sing, and you know, I freaked out.

I could imagine.
So they sent me tapes over the period of four weeks…one tape with five songs on it.

Just instrumentals?
Yeah, they recorded it in their rooms. I had to write words and melodies to these songs and go down there and sing them cold for those guys. I was nervous. I was like, ‘if there is anything you don’t like musically, lyrically, just tell me and I’ll change it.’ They were like, ‘No, no, It’ll be great. It’ll be great.’ ‘Just tell me if it’s not.’ And they were really happy with it and I was really happy with it. I really like it. It’s really dark, death rock.

Right on. Did you do any singing with Danzig.
No. No, Glenn doesn’t sing on it at all. I wasn’t even in the studio with Glenn. They recorded all the basics in two days. I flew down, recorded all the vocals in two days. This stuff was just one take stuff, because there was no time. The whole project was only in the studio for eight days. I was there for two days, because I had to fly back because we had the record release show at the Fillmore. So I was really stressing.

So you just did this?
Yeah. It’s coming out in March on Nitro.

So you worked with a voice coach, right?
I did and am.

How’s that?
It’s great. I worked with this man, who is one of the most talented singers I’ve even had the privilege of knowing and working with. He’s amazing. He’s trying to teach me how not to lose my voice.

Were you having problems with that?
Yeah, I do. I tend to sing improperly and hurt my voice. He’s helped me quite a bit.

You can really tell on the new album. It’s really controlled and sounds awesome.
Oh, thank you. Thanks. Thank you very much.

So, you were trained before, weren’t you? Like in high school musicals…
Yeah, I’ve been doing musicals since I was in the fourth grade.

What kind of plays have you been in?
You mean name the plays?

Yeah.
I was in Oliver Twist. That was the first musical I was in. I was in Little Abner, I was in Pippin, a whole bunch of dramas. I was in an underground film. I had about four lines. Stuff like that. I was in choir, but I still kind of hurt my voice. I’m trying not to, but tonight it’s a little tired after six weeks.

God, I could imagine. So, you’re pretty into musicals and I know you like Nightmare Before Christmas. Could you describe some of your ink?
Most of my right arm is from Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s the town, Jack’s house in the background, the fountain…

You just had this done recently, didn’t you?
(pointing to forearm/wrist) This is recent, down here. Lock, Stock, and Barrel, the graveyard, the bridge, Jack. I’ve got Jack as the pumpkin king on my left arm, some ghosts, the gate…

So, what’s up with the Fluffy Bunnies? (Laughter) Pete Geniella told me to ask you about them.
Pete did? Well, the Fluffy Bunny Click is the hardest click that’s been rolling for the…um…

That’s a pretty hard name.
…for the past couple of months. That’s all I gotta say.

All right. That’s all you’re going to say.
Mmmhmm.

Okay. He also told me about some drama that’s been going down at Buddyhead.com. What’s that all about?
I don’t know. Someone posted my phone number on one of their message boards and sent them an e-mail from Jade’s computer asking them to take it down, and then followed up with a phone call. When I spoke to them on the phone they were really nice about it, apologized, said they took it down, that they didn’t put it up. And then a few days ago we found out that they posted the letter I sent them so they could clown it.

And said, "Now we have your email" or something?
And yeah, I don’t…did you see it?

No, no. Pete was just telling me this morning…
They posted Jade’s email, because I wrote them there, so they had that address right when they posted that. So it’s just totally fucked up. It’s totally fucked up.

What have you been listening to?
I’ve been listening to A Perfect Circle, new Deftones, new At the Drive-In, new Radiohead, In Flames, Smiths, Rancid, Distillers, Cure. I’m getting into stuff I listen to all of the time. I think those are the current bands I’m listening to right now — along with the old stand-bys and the standards.

What would you be doing if you weren’t in the band?
No idea. I don’t know. If I were to have the guts to drop everything for acting…if it weren’t for the band, then I would probably be doing that.

Do you think you will do any of that.
If anybody ever asked me…I mean (holds out his tattooed arms), I can’t do much. I could be like the drug dealer, but I’m not very masculine, so I probably can’t do much of that either. But if I were ever offered…

I’ve seen you at shows like the Tiger Army show in Santa Cruz and there were these girls pushing me out of the way to get closer to you (laughter). It seems that you’re getting jocked a lot. I mean, how does that make you feel? Do you appreciate it or does it kind of annoy you?
No, it’s really cool. People could not care at all. I mean, it’s really just a display of their appreciation and it’s nice that people care. That’s the way that some people choose to show it. It can get overwhelming at times, more so if we’re actually performing. It can be overwhelming, but it’s cool.

Well, just for the record, are you single?
Uh, (laughter). Well, I’m not speaking just of females. It’s not only girls. There’s all sorts of different people. It’s not like girls are following me around like the Backstreet Boys or anything like that. (laughter)

No, that’s what it seemed like at the Tiger Army show, I swear to God.
Oh, well, there were plenty of guys, too. It wasn’t just girls.

Is that what that song is about? Number eight or nine on ‘Very Proud of Ya.’ You say, ‘So eager to say hello, but you don’t know me…’
Umm, hmm…Sort of. Not really. A little bit.

Sort of, not really, a little bit?
Yeah.

So…were you surprised about Chico when you played there?
Yes. The first time we were terribly surprised.

Most bands are.
I thought, ‘This is going to suck.’ Pete was like, ‘Dave, you need to play Chico.’ ‘No.’ ‘I swear. No, I’m serious. Check it out.’ ‘Pete, no.’ ‘I promise you it’ll be good.’ I was like, ‘All right. Set up a show and we’ll play it.’ We did and it was great.

That was at Zocalo, right?
Yeah, upstairs. It was great. I couldn’t believe it.

Fred: You were the only ones to sell that out.
Really? No kidding? Wow. That’s amazing.

You guys have crazy records like that. Don’t you have the record for the most people at Gilman Street?
Um, I think we did. Maybe we did. I’m not sure if we beat Operation Ivy or not. We had like 700 and something people in there.

I was at that show, basically getting smashed. I lied down on the stage for like half the set. It was crazy.
Yeah, right. It’s just so crazy when they do that there. I’m not sure. We’re probably second to Op Ivy.

And didn’t you have the most merch sold at Fillmore?
That’s what they said! I don’t know if that’s possible.

I couldn’t even get to the table.
Yeah, it was insane. That’s what they said, but I’m not sure if I believe that. I mean, the Fillmore. You know what I’m saying? (laughter).

Fred: Especially on the last two albums, your songs have been just greatly written or whatever. How do you guys go about writing the new songs?
Jade’s constantly writing. Most of the songs, Hunter will write some fairly complete songs and he’ll give them to me. Most of the time Jade will be writing and he’ll call me up to his room and we’ll kind of put stuff together and come up with the melody and structure. I’ll go downstairs with the tape recorder and listen to it and come up with a melody for the whole song.

What’s been your favorite tour so far?
This is definitely one of them. This tour, so good. Life On The Ropes, so fun. The Offspring tour in Japan, those few days on the Warped Tour that we did…those were actually really, really fun. Touring with Danzig and Samhain.

I couldn’t even imagine that.
That was insane.

Fred: What’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you guys on tour. Anything crazy you’ve seen like explosions, car crashes, something you only see on the road?
Cliff: Or with Smith.
Fred: Yeah, Smith. Anything happen with Smith?
Usually. Usually something crazy happens with Smith. Smith’s constantly hurting himself.

Fred: How is that having him for a manager?
Cliff: It’s got to be entertaining.
It’s fucking great. He’s the best. He’s so good. He works so hard. He does everything. He broke his foot in Belgium, had to go to some hospital, didn’t want to go. Broke his hand stage diving at some show. Smith’s the best. Nothing crazy, though. It’s just everyday you drive, then play a show.

Fred: You guys still have your van, huh?
We still have a van. It’s not the one we’ve always had…and a trailer.

Fred: No crazy bus, yet?
Not yet. I’d love it, but it’s really expensive. It’s a lot of money. Hopefully, Nitro will kick down for that. They’ll have to for Warped Tour. They said they would.

Oh, you’re playing Warped Tour. Who else is playing that, do you know?
I don’t know yet.

Fred: Are you guys going to make a video at all?
Yeah, we really need to make one while we’re home. We’ll be home for a month and we’re going to be really busy, but we really need to make on for "Days of the Phoenix."

Are you going to record soon? What’s next?
We’re home until probably the 16^th of January, and we’re doing a bunch of stuff between now and then. A couple of those Wyoming shows, the make up Salt Lake City show, the radio show next week, trying to shoot a video. Then we go to Europe with The Offspring for a month, and then we come back and I believe we’re going to do the Snow Jam Tour in Canada. There was also talk of a short headlining tour, maybe, and then definitely Warped Tour.

Any plans for Chico?
Maybe, if we did the headlining tour we would probably be able to do that.

Everyone is anxious to have you back.
Yeah? I’d love to come back. Chico’s really fun…play Brick Works. The guy who runs that place is really really nice.

Justin.
Yeah, he’s rad.

Fred: Definitely. He’s awesome. There’s a few people in that town…it’s cool that they’re trying to do stuff for bands.
Cliff: Yeah. They play you on this radio station 93.9 in Chico. This guy Randall has this two-hour show on Sunday nights and he’ll play local bands. You just call him up and if he doesn’t have the CD, he’ll go get it, too.
No way.

We asked him to play Tiger Army and he went and got it.
That’s awesome. That’s great.

Yeah, he’s rad. He goes to the shows and hooks everyone up.
Radio would be awesome, if it were all like that.

Oh yeah. I can’t listen to that station during their regular hours.
Yeah. There’s really only a few good bands on radio.

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