The Music Snob Interviews: Local Beantown Rocker

When it comes to interviews, everyone wants to score that one big fish. Your Jimmy Eat Worlds, your Bright Eyes, your Green Day, every interviewer wants to shoot for the stars. However, I personally think it’s important to start at the heart and soul of the music industry. The grassroots, the foundation, the essence of the music scene: The Local Bands! I sat down with Eric Landry, the bassist and vocalist for local punk band, Almost Untitled, and shot the breeze with him for a few to get his insight on the local scene, Kelly Osborne, and various other kinds of things.

N: For the record can you state your name, what you play, and the name of your band?

E: Eric Landry, bass and vocals for Almost Untitled

N: How long has the band been together?

E: Since august of 2003 so, about 7 months.

N: How do you know each other? Did you grow up together?

E: ok I’ve been friends with Ketta, the guitarist for a long time. He and I had a previous band which i’ll get to later. That band went belly up and we wanted to do a punk band instead. Ketta’s cousin, Steven Vaiani, plays drums and went to school at Berklee in Boston. Ketta asked Steven to play drums for us and he agreed. I knew Steven because both he and myself were ushers for Ketta’s wedding back in 2000.

N: Aww cute! Can you hold on? I need a pee and smoke break

E: Already?

N: Sorry I should have gone before I went..

(Hilarity ensues while I do my thang)

N: And I’m back! Did you miss me?

E: yes 🙁

N: Aww 🙂 Yay!

E: Is this going to be in the article?

N: Yes, yes it will. And I will be asking the questions around here! So who would you say are Almost Untitled’s main influences as well as your own personal influences?

E: Our primary influences would be the Ramones, Rancid and the Misfits. As for me, personally and professionally, I love Nirvana, Green Day, and the Ramones. Simple fact that they were Gods of the Punk and Rock and Roll scene but still remained human and approachable too!

N: Ahh, a man after my own heart! Do you think Courtney is somewhat responsible for Kurt’s death?

E: Personally I think she killed him and tried to make it a suicide. Why else would the very first lyrics from her first albums after his death me “oh make me over that’s all I wanna be a walking study in demonology”, then she tried to go for the goods from his band? I would have just left it to Dave Grohl and Kris Novoselic

N: I agree, she is a heartless bitch in my opinion. Anywho, tell me about your first band, what kind of music and how long were you together?

E: We formed in august of 1998 and were originally called American Thunder. We were a mix of John Mellencamp, 80’s metal and southern rock. We tried changing the name to American catastrophe until 9/11 happened. We ended up going back to Thunder until it disbanded in April of 2003 when the vocalist quit because he lost interest in the band, and he was backstabbing all of us 24/7

N: Which band did you enjoy playing with more?

E: Easily this band! With Thunder we were trying to write in a style that he could work with. It was tough trying to write songs. In four years in that band we only made like six or seven originals. With Untitled, all of us know what we wanna play and we write what we feel. Already we have 12 originals!

N: Do you play any covers?

E: we try to emphasize the originals, I mean, no one makes it big and stays big with merely covers! For fun and laugh though, we do some covers, primarily Green Day, Ramones, Rancid and the Misfits. We did rockaway beach in our first show and it went over great! Joey and Dee Dee would be happy!

N: Yeah, it’s a good one. I bet they’re smiling down on ya! So how many live shows have you done with Untitled since you started playing together?

E: Well, oddly enough, this past Friday march 26th we just had our first gig. We did another show at Curly’s Coffee Shop in Amherst NH in February because of spontaneity. Steven’s other Band “For Your Own Good” was playing that night and another band was running late. Steven approached the woman there and said his other band was available to play. So, with the help of other bands to gather equipment, we had a show on Feb. 13. We have another show booked at Curly’s April 24th and we might have one for 4/3 but it’s tentative right now.

N: Very cool. So let’s say there’s a musician, we’ll call her Tina, and she names her instruments. Do you think that’s weird, or have you named your bass as well?

E: Well, Tina isn’t as cuckoo for cocoa puffs as people might think. Obviously if she has an affection and admiration for something like that she’ll do something like name it to show how much she cares for it. Me personally I haven’t named any of my basses. If someone told me to give it a name or else they’ll blow my head off ill call it “blackie”..I don’t know. I did actually give my first car a name before it got into an accident and get demolished.

N: (Gives a sigh of relief) Well good! It’s nice to see a young man who takes pride in their possessions! What kind of basses do you have?

E: I have this black fender p-bass with all these stickers I have on it. it plays like (expletive deleted) cause one of the bridges is broken but I don’t wanna fix it. I keep it as a memento though and also a practice bass at my house. The one I play now is an Ibanez SR300DX — much lighter and easier to play. I can play a lot faster now

N: You can curse, my publication is pretty rad like that! Infact..what is your favorite curse word?

E: oh all right.. I don’t have one specific curse word I like. I try to use all of them on a constant basis. Oddly enough though, I try to keep from using that sorta fucking shit in my music. Well in case our stuff ever becomes big, i dont want half the words bleeped out on the radio. I mean I’m not Limp Bizkit or something.

N: Yeah, you sure aren’t. My readers are dying to know, does being in a band help you get chicks?

E: Well (chuckle), it certainly does help. From last Friday, a couple members of FYOG came by to show support for us and they brought a few of their goth chick friends as well. After our set I was shooting the breeze with them, thanking them for showing up the whole nine yards, and out of the blue one of them gives me this big ass hug and I wasn’t even asking for one. I’m not going to advertise myself after a show to have some girl get all cozy with me and shit. If it happens it happens you know. If it don’t, as long as everyone left the place with a smile on their faces from our set it’s all great gravy. Oh and by the way, for the record, did I mention one of the women hugged me?!

N: Dually noted. So let’s say you had an opportunity to play a show with some famous band, regardless of what kind of band they are, alive or dead, who would you play with?

A: Hmm…. I would have to say if they were dead, the Ramones … duh! If alive, maybe Metallica, circa 1988, during their “and justice for all” days, or Black Sabbath. Yah know, join Ozzy on stage for a rousing cover of paranoid. SHARON!!!!!!!!!!

N: If you had to have sex with Kelly Osborne, would you do it with a paper bag over her head or without?

E: Definitely with! If she had a better face, then without.

N: Well that’s pretty obvious. She’s heinous. So how do you feel about the music scene in Boston?

E: well it seems like there’s a lot of bands just bubbling in the pot. There’s a lot of good talent out there and I’m surprised that very few bands can actually go to California just to see if they make it. Without the base of a major label in the Boston area, bands have to suffer through long nights in clubs and bars for chump change. Any band from today that makes it from Massachusetts (Staind, Godsmack, etc.) either needs to relocate to NYC or LA to have people listen to them or they have to have connections in the business.

N Are there any other bands, asides from yours, from Boston that we should look into?

E: If you’re looking for a good band to mosh to and punch someone out I’d say The Hound. The friggin’ solos they pull off rival Kirk Hammett from Metallica. Steven’s other band For Your Own Good always impresses me. The energy that quintet exudes on a nightly basis cannot be matched. I’ve seen the vocalist almost pass out a few times. Maybe that’s why they bring the girls: to give him mouth to mouth. HAHAHA! For other talent, Jonee Earthquake always can put a laugh on your face. And he don’t overkill the jokes either. I’ve also heard great things about the Rydells, Meat Depressed, Paint the Town Dead, and the Numbskulls.

N: Well thank you for your time. Before I go I’ve got some very important pressing questions id like to ask you. If you were being sued in TV. court, who would you want to be your judge, Judge Judy, Judge Mathis, or Judge Reinhold?

E: I’d say judge Judy … I know for a fact she wont leave any stones unturned. she dont beat around the bush, but she wont overstep her bounds. ive seen her on TV a few times

N: What cartoon character do you find yourself the most attracted to?

E: Most attracted to? Well I’ve always thought Daphne from Scooby Doo was hot. I got a thing for redheads.

N: And lastly, on a scale of one to ten, how hot am I?

E: well um … ((nervous chuckle))

N: Just answer the question, may I remind you you’re under oath

E: I’m under oath? Where’s the Bible at?

N: Quiet you, never mind. Thank you Eric!

To check out Almost Untitled go to http://almostuntitled.cjb.net/.