The Kings Of America
So here we go. I’m walking into London’s coolest ‘rock star’ hotel, Shepherd Bush’s K West to interview 30H!3, probably the biggest band in America right now. They hit Number 1 for three weeks with ‘Dont Trust Me’ which also saw 8.5 million views smashing You Tube and er, get ready for this, their MySpace views pulling in 85 million. I kid ye not. So the guys are here to play some festivals at O2 Islington and promote their new single ‘Starstukk’ which is out in November. So I walk into the hotel foyer – where I have partied many a night before with various degenerate musicians, and see a band surrounded by pretty young things and photographers snapping away. Over I go to introduce myself, shake their hands and ask where we are going to do the interview, only to be met by blank faces. Yup, wrong band – AFI checking out the hotel after playing the Radio 1 stage at The Reading Festival. “Love to do an interview with DMC though one day” ringing in my ears as the lovely 30H!3 PR girl Roo dragged me away into the lift. Off we go…
“Hi guys. Welcome to the DMC World. So first up, what are your thoughts on Oasis splitting up?
Nathan: “To be honest, I don’t give a shit about them.”
“So a big gig in North London coming up, have you been to the UK before this visit?”
Nathan: “Well I came here first as a tourist and had a look around – as a band we have played in London and up in Manchester supporting Katy Perry which was just awesome, I couldn’t believe the crowd’s reaction. You guys are crazy. The Leeds and Reading Festival’s this weekend were off the hook, exceeded anything we expected, incredible. The weather was amazing and the energy was just insane. Some places where we go and play where we have press and radio play and stuff the atmosphere can be sometime be lacking a crowd vibe, but Reading and Leeds, the whole crowd were just jumping and going absolutely fucking nuts and that’s so cool to see that happen so far from home. Really looking forward to Islington O2 tomorrow – the venue is very cool.”
You met in a Physics class at The University of Colorado in Boulder. Can you remember your professor’s name?
Sean: “Ha ha – sure, a great teacher called Professor Paul Beale. You go away from school always remembering one teacher, and he was it.”
Do you think that your college radio Radio 1190 has ever played your music since you hit Number 1?
Nathan: “Definitely not. It’s your usual ‘classic’ college radio station, not cool, just mainstream.”
Sean: “However, I did DJ on there for a bit, I hung out there every Sunday and just freestyled it, which kinda helped learning the ropes for the music world.”
Did you ever attend the infamous Colorado ‘420 Cannabis Culture event’?
Sean: Yeah we’ve been there, but just as spectators. It was the weirdest thing we’d ever seen.”
Nathan: “I’d given up smoking Dope by then in my Freshman Year, but it sure was interesting. It was an amazing scene, a field full of 10,000 people going off the hook.”
A bit of a weird event – Amsterdam ‘tolerates’ the use of Cannabis and so it seems, your home town does for this event. But don’t the police take pictures of everyone to try and capture drug users and put them on line offering $50 a pop to identify them?
Nathan: “They sure do, ha. How much money have you earn’t Sean from giving them photos?”
Sean: “About $500 – joking!”
Nathan: “People like to smoke in every community you know, it should be legalised. But I think if you want to smoke Pot, go to your house where you can chill out and be away from everybody. I think the fact that it’s illegal, maybe some people want to show off that they are smoking it in public.”
Who were your early musical influences that developed your style, what were the tunes in your house growing up?
Nathan: “We were both raised on very diverse musical sounds. Anything from Jazz to Classical, Rap and Elecrtonica. We loved people like Chris Whitley, Robert Johnson and Sonic Youth.
At this point a beautiful chamber maid walks into their hotel suite to check the mini bar and we all have the same thought…so moving on…
After playing the Denver date of the Warped Tour in 2007, you signed up for the complete tour. Let’s jump forward for a moment to Warped 2009 and your song ‘Hit It Again’ – a tune about wanting ‘Another chance with a girl – what’s the story here, someone got hurt here?
Sean: “Well, Dan, I think it’s a universal thing with us boys, we all get hurt one time or another. I did get hurt and yes, it did fuck me up. The song is about how we want to rebound and find ourselves again and then try again. I can’t rub that experience out of my life but we all have to get on with things…”
Your huge, huge record that hit No. 1 in America ‘Dont Trust Me’ has been accused of misogyny which is the hatred of girls – I cannot agree with that for one minute, you mention the immense Helen Keller – an Advovate who was deaf and blind, a Political activist and author – one of the most revered womem of the 20th Century. Why did you include her in your songs?
“Nathan: “We were just aiming to play on the words. She used body language throughout her life, the abuse we have received is funny. Some people get it, some don’t.”
Some of your tunes have a real electro/synth edge to them – what artists from this side of music do you rate?
“Well it would have been cooler if our name had been taken from the Roland 303 instead of our Zip Code, but yes, we love that Electro feel. The whole French thing is brilliant, we love Justice but also people over here like your guy Paul Oakenfold.”
Who is the best live artist you have seen?
Nathan: “Tough one, though the gig we saw The LCD Sound System with Arcade Fire was immense.”
Which country that you have gigged in have
a) the prettiest girls?
Nathan: “Boston and Denver – unreal.”
b) the maddest crowd?
Sean: “Anywhere in British Columbia.”
‘Starstruck’ the next single out on November 9th with an incredible video – who’s idea was that?
Sean: “Thank you Dan, however, it was all our concept.”
And finally dudes, where were you when you heard you were Number 1 in America?
“Sean: The phone rang. We were in California. The sun was shining…”
