J - How would you describe the music to someone who hasn't heard it?
T - well if they liked Danger Danger..they
would certainly like it.. and its a little more mature but better written..but
its rockin fun.. its not trendy or what's happening now.. I guess you can
say..hahaa.. it aint creed or Britney Spears...hahaha.. that's for sure..it's
closer to Journey or Danger Danger.. that sort of stuff..sorta picked up where
Danger Danger left off in 1992.. and I think they will like it.. its just good
melodic rock..
J - Any touring plans..?
T - Right now we are still touring.. we started in England in October.. and just the States as far as we can get here, we don't get to cross over to California.. cause we are unsigned .. well we are signed to Z Records in England.. but that doesn't help us much over here, haha.. so we do it our selves, and sell c.d.'s and all kinds of things.. we go out and meet the fans and do it at grass roots level.. which is actually kinda fun.. cause you get to actually meat the people that are enjoying your music.. which I love..so we have been on tour since October and we will be on tour indefinitely till... I'm looking at.. retiring January 2004.. so right now we are on till then..and getting out as far as we can, but based in out New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania area..
J - I was gonna say.. no Florida shows?
T - Well Id like to try to get down there once, before I give it all up.. but um.. maybe go down there.. and work my way back up the coast or something.. but as far as getting out to the Rockies out west.. it gets pretty expensive.. I can get out to Ohio, West Virginia, maybe Florida.. but for now we do this area..within a few 100 miles.. and it's going very well.. then we go to Europe.. which is kinda weird.. we can afford to play here.. and Europe... but that's where we get the crowds, so that's where we can play.. they are still into this kind of music.. around here we get a few 100 loyal fans that we love but it doesn't sell a million records anymore.. so its' tough to tour.. no more tour busses.. ya know.. you get out there and you drive, so it's grouling to tour these days..
J - What's the biggest crowd you have played for and where?
T - Ummm.. probably on the Kiss tours.. and we did a gig in the middle of Columbus Ohio.. for like the whole city, in there town square.. that was cool... maybe 50,00 or something.. Actually the biggest one.. it was live.. but not in there face... I did a... the day after we signed a contract in England.. I had to go live on the BBC and do some acoustic songs.. and that was like 4 million listeners.. hahaha.. that was a little scary.. But it's not about the numbers. I don't mind if there is 10 people there we don't care.. we have a great time..clubs are great.. but arenas are greater..hahaha.. I'm not gonna kid ya..we would rather play arenas.. but we have just as much fun in clubs..hahaha..
J - What's your favorite tour you have done? as far as package tours?
T - Oh Kiss.. Kiss.. you can't beat that.. cause when I was a kid.. they were the greatest.. I loved them.. I used to go to there concerts.. when I was kid.. and saw "Detroit Rock City" when the bombs went off..and thought.. that's a cool think to do for a living..so I'd have to say Kiss had to be the highlight, cause those guys were always total rock stars.. but we went out with a lot of really good bands.. like Extreme..
J - Ya I saw you guys with Extreme.. it was really cool..
T - Oh cool.. in Florida? Was that when I fell off the stage and hit my head..?
J - Umm I don't recall that happening..haha
T -Ya I don't remember much either.. but it was somewhere in Florida.. and I
recall it was a very hard floor.. I went up to shake somebody's hand..and they
pulled me off the stage.. hahah..
J - well this was an outdoor show..
T - Oh outdoors?..
J -Well its technically half covered.. at a place called Jannus Landing.. and it was before "Screw It" came out.. cause I remember you guys doing songs from the album.. before it came out.. great show.. you guys were one of my favorite bands.. and you as a performer were amazing..
T - Well thank you.. we are still kicking ass..and giving it our all.. that's really nice of you to say.. thanks..and that's what really put us over..cause there were a lot of "hair bands" at the time.. and a lot of them couldn't really play that well.. and some of them were just too into there looks.. we really had to prove ourselves.. cause we had a pretty good looking band.. so everyone thought here comes a bunch of posers.. and we had tours with like Warrant.. that was the first tour.. then we had a huge tour w/Alice Cooper.. and you can't go out in front of Alice Cooper's crowd and not kick ass, or they will kill you..so we definitely honed in on our live skills..live is definitely heavier then the album... it's a lot more energetic.. cause we went out with some heavy bands.. Alice Cooper.. with Kiss.. in the arenas so we really learned how to do it..and it was great cause we could show the people that we were a really talented band..and hopefully as good as or above some of the bands, that looked the same..
J
- Well Andy Timmons is an amazing guitar player..
T - Yes absolutely.. well the thing is ..the whole band.. Bruno, great bass player.. and that was the thing.. live..cause I think that's why we survived.. people saw us live from the Kiss tours..and the arena tours.. a lot of the people saw the countdown stuff on MTV.. but there were a lot of bands on there..but what really put us over was when they would come see us live..and have a good time.. that's why I still like playing live..
J - What was your favorite video to have shot?
T - With Danger Danger.. hmm..well the one that no one ever saw which was "Monkey Business".. have you seen that?
J - I love that video..I have that on tape..
T - Oh do you..cause that was the end, like the day after we filmed that..everyone started wearing flannel... ya that video was out of control.. it had the biggest stage, biggest lights.. biggest bombs.. its got actresses.. actors.. monkeys on motorcycles.. that's a good video.. I like that one..
J
- What's the craziest thing a fan has ever done to meet you?
T - Ummm.. I don't know... well some of the craziest.. a lot of them tell you they have cancer and they don't..hahaha.. stuff like that..
J - That's what I hear a lot of.. I would have never thought of that..
T - Oh ya.. there is this one girl.. recently.. cause on the internet.. they can all get in touch with you..and I'm happy to hear from her.. but I'm wondering why she's not dead.. hahahah she was like 2 days away at the time.. so I took extra time with her and was hanging out.. ya know, trying to do everything possible.. and ya know you don't hope they are gonna die..hahaha.. I'm hoping they get better, but I kinda doubt a miracle happened when I look back now.. ya know what I mean. I feel like a sucker.. but the things that I like I'll play.. in Pennsylvania, New Jersey.. and I have people driving all the way from California, and Canada..some people from Rhode Island.. and even one person came from Germany just to see our show.... not just cause they happened to be here.thats the stuff that's more important. and that impresses me, that I think is really cool.. so I make sure we hang out, and have a good time.