Interview with The Kinison

Interview with Christopher Lee Lewis and Mikey Rivera . Muenster . Muensterlandhalle . 2004 . interviewer: Christian

The Kinison - You'll never guess who died

Punk76: When and where did you start your band?

Mike: The band was formed in Southern California. We've been around for 2 years now.

Punk76: Have you played in other bands before?

Mike: No, we messed around in garage bands for fun and stuff, but nothing real.

Punk76: Is this your first time in Europe?

Christopher: Yeah, first time overseas.

Punk76: Do you like it here?

Mike: Yeah actually it´s a lot of fun. I like the fact that the countries are very close to each other. France, the UK, Germany and all countries beneath- it´s strange, it´s a Euro-Tour on just two continents. But I really like it here, because everything here is so nice and old. Compared to the United States where we don´t have those pretty old houses and such a long history, which is pretty impressive.

Punk76: Is there something different between the European crowds and American crowds?

Christopher: It´s kind of hard to say, because we´re on a Blink 182 tour which is a totally different kind of music for us and stylistically we are very different from Blink and Sugarcult. So its kinda hard to judge on that, because its like if we´re on a tour in the US, with the same line up, we'd get the same reactions, because we´re so different, you know? It's kind of hard to judge, maybe if we come back a few times, with different bands we can answer that question better.

Punk76: How would you describe your style of music?

Mike: Hm, its kinda hard. Although we write the music, we´ve never been able to put it in a certain category.

Punk76: What are you´re favourite bands, to what are you listening to?

Mike: All kinds of stuff. I listen to everything to from Indie to Hip- Hop - Bright Eyes to The Faint, to The Clash. Music includes so many intersting styles. Everyone is listening to everything, and our favourite bands differ from each other so much. You know? We all like different stuff!

Punk76: Why did you change your new record so drastically? "Mortgage is Bank", which is your very first EP is very different compared to your latest release.

Mike: It´s just a growing process. I wasn´t even in the band on that EP and our drummer Mikey has just recently joined, so it was a totally different band now.

Punk76: And our next record will not sound like this one - that´s how we want it to be. We don´t want to recycle the same record over and over again. That’s the way I want it to be in a band. We all have the idea of growing every record and being a different band on every record - that keeps this interesting for us. Your first EP was on Fearless Records. Why did you change to LaSalle records, which is run by Travis Barker?

Christopher: We had an demo that was remixed and Fearless just put it out for us. We never signed anything with them, so we were still free and so Travis found us. We sign to them. Travis is a better oppurtunity for us and more freedom. He gave us all the freedom we needed and some big tours.

Punk76: How is it to be an artist on the Label from Travis Barker?

Christopher: He gives us a lot of support and he opens a lot of doors for sure. He is putting us in front of a huge crowd. All these kids have never even heard of us, and they are gonna see us for the first time. Travis gives us the oppurtunity to do stuff like this and opens a lot of doors.

Punk76: When did you sign to LaSalle/Atlantic?

Mike: We signed last July or August.

Christopher: August I think.

Punk76: Do you know Travis Barker before?

Mike: On a personal level not really. He is a really good friend of our manager so we met him at California shows and stuff. It wasn´t like he signed us because he knew our manager though. He signed because he likes our music.

Punk76: I saw you video for “You´ll Never Guess Who Died”. Was this your first video?

Mike: Yeah, the first video ever.

Punk76: Who was the director?

Mike: It was Christopher Sinn. He´s not very big but he´s really good. He does a lot of hardcore bands like Eighteen Visions, Bleeding Throughand Poison the Well.. like he does all that kind of stuff.

Christopher: It was really cool to work with him

Punk76: Where did you shoot that video?

Christopher: Somewhere in Orange County, California.

Punk76: Let´s talk about the tour. What was your favourite city/show to play?

Mike: Last night we were in Paris. That was actually a lot of fun. The kids were out of control! It´s kinda hard getting into band when you first see them and never heard from them before. But kids there are going crazy. And the second night in London was really good.

Punk76: What is it like to play with Blink and Sugarcult?

Christopher: I'm having a blast. We did the “Dollar Bill Tour” in the states. I grew up with listening to Blink. It was one of my favourite bands when I was in middle school and early high school, so being on tour with them is awesome.

Punk76: Do you like the latest Blink release?

Mike: I think the new record is probably one of my favourite records they ever put out. On the new record they grew so much from the last projects. And they have become good songwriters.

Punk76: What do you expect from the gig tonight?

Mike: I hope the kids will like us. You know, it´s good playing these big shows and being a “nobody-band” because there's a good chance you'll get at least a hundred kids that like your band which is perfect. In the United States we are used to playing for like 15 people. Its funny because a lot of people think we´re a big band just because we´re on this big tour but in our hometown where we live we´re lucky if we got 300 kids at a show. We sold 3000 records in the United States. We are such a small band, it's weird being on this huge tour cause everyones thinks we´re so big but not at all.

Punk76: So you don´t have five cars and stuff?

Mike: No I still live with my parents. when I´m not on tour I work in a mall. Its funny cause we´re just poor ass American people.

Christopher: Me, Bob and A.J share a room.

Punk76: What are your future plans?

Mike: Just fucking touring and making more music. That's all we want to do-make enough money to live and just keep going.

Christopher: I'd rather do this then get any other job any day. And so as long as my bills are paid and I can still do this I´m fine.

Punk76: Do you have any touring plans for the next year?

Mike: Hopefully! Nothing is really planned so far. The UK seems like it´s gonna be the best market, so we might be over here quite a bit, like we have a lot more things going on in the UK than we ever had in the US. MTV Europe just added the video and our label Atlantic is doing a lot for us in the UK.

Punk76: So, thanks for the possibility to do the interview and I hope to see you soon back in Germany.

Mike: Thanks!

Christopher: Thanks, I hope you enjoy the show tonight!

The Kinison - (live)

Check out our Reviews of The Kinison

Write something about The Kinison on the board

Buy this CD at: