Thanks Robbie for doing the interview, and Kathi for setting it up.
Toxic: So what’s it been like being on tour after six months of recording?
Toxic: What are some of your favorite bands to play with?
Toxic: What is your favorite venue to play at?
Toxic: If you weren’t in the band, what do you think you’d be doing?
Toxic: Now who were some of your major influences?
Toxic: If you could meet anyone…dead or alive, who would it be?
Toxic: What’s your favorite song to play live?
Toxic: This sounds really stupid *laughing*, but what color is your toothbrush?
Toxic: How did the whole band meet and form?
Toxic: How did you come up with the name Autopilot Off? Toxic: When you’re not doing shows or hanging out with the band, what kind of stuff do you like to do?
Toxic: So what’s the craziest thing you’ve done on tour?
Toxic: What’s the last cd you bought?
Toxic: What should be expected about the new cd and how is it different from all of the previous albums?
Toxic: Why do you think people should go out and get it?
Toxic: And finally, what advice would you give anyone trying to make it big in the music industry?
Toxic: Thank you very much for you time.
For More Information:
Rob: It’s been cool you know getting back into the swing of things and everything. It’s nice to have the time off and it takes a few days to get back in the groove of things and that’s really in a nutshell what it’ll do, but its fun. I think we’re working out the kinks as the days go by and we’ll kick it back into shape.
Rob: Everybody really. We’re really good friends with the movielife on this tour. We’ve known them for a few years now and we just met further seems forever and anberlin the other day so I think that’s going to be cool. We’re friends with the ataris, we toured with them in the fall and we toured with snapcase and boy sets fire in the fall too. It was cool because we had never toured with them before. We really clicked with them and we still keep in touch with the guys from snapcase and stuff. Everybody’s been really good to us I mean we’ve played with a lot of different bands from snapcase to avril lavigne. The guys from sum 41 are great, and just everybody you know. We actually had the pleasure to play with social distortion last winter and that was awesome. We got to play one show with them out in L.A. They were really nice and it was cool to play with a band you really looked up to when you were growing and stuff so that was awesome.
Rob: I would say this place called the chance in Poughkeepsie New York because it’s the hometown venue for us so everybody’s going crazy. Friends and family are there and stuff so it’s cool to be at home doing that. Big cities are great but small towns are awesome too because the kids go crazy you know.
Rob: Well before I joined the band I was doing graphic design and screen-printing and stuff like that so I’d probably be doing something like that. I actually do all the designs and stuff for the band.
Toxic: That’s awesome, That’s actually the field I kind of want to get into as a matter of fact.
Rob: Oh really? That’s awesome.
Rob: I’d say as a band like U2 is a really big influence for us. Face to Face, Green Day, The Clash, Foo Fighters, Quicksand are some. We did these cover songs and we wanted to do some songs that were influential to us growing up and stuff. We did a U2 song, we did a Bad Religion song, we did a Quicksand song, and we even did a song by the cranberries… Kind of a wide variety of things.
Rob: Ummmm.. I don’t know actually. I guess I’d have to say, it might sound cheesy or whatever but I’d like to meet one of my grandfathers that passed away before I was born. I’d have to say that’s someone I’d want to meet. I’ve been fortunate to have 3 out of 4 grandparents in my whole life so my other grandfather is someone I’d like to have met.
Rob: They’re all awesome but its fun playing the new ones, even though people don’t know them yet. Even stuff off the EP like wide awake is awesome. I mean we open up with that so it’s just a rush at the beginning of the set.
Toxic: To kind of get people going?
Rob: Yeah, definitely.
Rob: Well I usually have a really lame toothbrush, but its kind of funny that you ask that because I just bought a realllly cool tooth brush before we left to go on tour. It’s like black and blue and orange and ya know a high tech toothbrush.
Toxic: *laughing* Is it one of those electric/motorized ones?
Rob: Nah its not motorized but I’ve had those before. I think I have one of those somewhere at home though.
Rob: Well Chris Johnson, our singer and Phil our drummer went to high school together and played together here and there playing covers and what not. They knew Chris Hughes through his sister and he played guitar and in time they went through a lot of different bass players. Then a couple years into it we met and my old band broke up and they were looking for a new bass player and in 1998 they asked me to join the band and it just worked out.
Rob: I’m not going to get into the whole history of the band but there was a time where we were called another name, but had to change our name because of some legal issues. I’m not going to get into the other names because we’re trying to get away from that but it was the name of a song that never actually came together at the time. It was called Autopilot Off. It was about the band always been about being in control of what we do kind of do it yourself sorta epic band and the whole thing was not to cruise along with the autopilot on its just like we’re driving this thing as we go along.
Rob: Like I said I do all the design stuff for the band so when records are coming around and t-shirts and tours, that takes up time. Its really like the band is such a big part of everything and everything revolves around it. Just hanging out at home with my girlfriend and stuff. We’re not home a lot and since my parents live a couple hours away so I try and get to see them. We all hang out together when we’re at home too. We all live near each other, our girlfriends are friends, and we’re just all part of the same group. We always hang out, go to this bar a certain night of the week. We can’t really get away from each other even when we are at home.
Rob: Everybody’s had their moments, but I think everyone would agree that I’ve probably done the stupidest things that have happened. I had an incident with a bouncer on the Sum 41 tour where the guys in the front row were being really rough with the kids and we were just like you gotta mellow out and stuff over the microphones and one of the guys is like flicking me off and like fuck you, so I kind of returned it to him and I spit in his face. The guy FREAKED out! and after the show was like gunna kill me and there were all these people between us. It was in a big hockey arena and the promoter of the show had like grounded me to our dressing room. I was just like “Oh shit I really fucked up and shouldn’t have done that”. I would say that’s probably crazy in a stupid way but we’re pretty low key. We’re definitely not all business but you know we have a good time.
Rob: The last cd I bought was the new Metallica
Toxic: How do you like it?
Rob: I’m a fan and not just a fan of the old stuff, I like the last few albums they did. The stuff most people weren’t into. The kind of bluesier, more rock sorta stuff. I’m not really into the new one. They’re a great band but maybe I just haven’t really given it enough listens yet. I haven’t bought a lot of records lately but that’s one I bought. That and the new deftones record. That is an awesome record! The metalica one is cool but the recording for me is just hard to listen to.
Rob: I guess as far as how it’s different will be for everyone to decide after they listen to it. I think it was just a natural progression for us. Like the EP was a little bit deeper into the style of things of what we do and just over time the band just finds out what works for you and what comes out naturally and that’s what we just went for. We went for whatever was coming out and it was cool because it could be something you may or may not expect. The thing you can expect is no matter what the song sounds like, it still sounds like us. Even if it’s a little different it’s undeniably us you know.
Rob: We’re very proud of it. We think it’s a great record and everybody says so about it. We spent a lot of time on it and we’re really happy with how the songs came out and the production of it plus we got to work with a lot of cool people. It’s a good flowing record and it’s a good record to hear all the way through. It just makes all sense all together, all 12 songs.
Rob: Just stick with it. It can be extremely discouraging you know. We thought we hit rock bottom with the whole legal situation we encountered a few years ago and it turned out to be the best thing that could ever happen to us. So much has happened since then but Just do everything you can…network with people, try and meet as many people as you can and just do what you like to do. Everything will come to you through that if you really believe what you’re doing.
Toxic: I’m actually looking to start up a band soon with some friends.
Rob: Oh cool. What do you play?
Toxic: Guitar.
Rob: Awesome.
Rob: No problem. Anytime.
• Official Site: www.autopilotoff.com