Names of members, and what they do: Dave: well, Parry is the singer, Steve plays drums, Justin plays bass, and I'm Dave - I play guitar. Me: Four of you then? Dave: Yes, we actually used to be a three-piece originally. Me: yeah, I remember a music video of you as a three piece. Dave: right! And then I joined later on, partly because they wanted to.. well, mostly because they wanted to add to the live sound. And Parry, when he was playing, was more interested in jumping into the crowd rather than singing and playing guitar. So my role in the band is to play the guitar so he doesn't have to worry about playing guitars.. And he can drink more too that way! Me: clever idea! Dave: leads to a better show. Background on Nerf herder: Dave: ok, well basically it totally started out as more of a hobby, Parry and Steve were playing in a band. And I know they weren't very serious about it.. and they're probably still not that serious about it now <laughs> But, they made a demo tape and Joey Cape (who's the singer of lag wagon), wanted to start his own record label. So he thought, as his 1st band, he wanted to put out Nerf Herder and so like, Parry and Steve were happy to put something out, cos they didn't think it would go anywhere at all.. But Joey sent this demo off to fat wreck chords, and they really liked one of the songs.. it got played on the radio a lot. So then there was a buzz about Nerf Heder, then labels tried to sign them, and one label did.. And then everything went down hill..<laughs> so now we're not on the major label any more, which actually is a good thing! Me: so you were originally on fat wreck? Dave: we were originally on My records, then went to Arista.. THEN to fat records. Who/what inspired you to take up your instrument in Nerf herder? Dave: Well, I got into playing guitar cos in high-school I was like a total dork, I was really shy, had no friends & people made fun of me.. So I started playing guitar and it gave me something to do and I actually enjoyed it.. I think it's helped a lot of people in bands who were like, loners in high school. They've just spent more time with guitars than playing football or whatever.. I think you'll find that's true with most bands which were not very popular in high school. Me: awww, sounds really sad Dave: well I mean... that's ok, you can feel sorry for us if you want. But it works out better. It's funny, cos now when I walk around town I see a lot of people who were like really popular in high school and used to make fun of me and now they're just like working at pizza places and stuff. Why the name Nerf Heder? Dave: Steve was a BIG star wars fan.. it's just a line from the empire strikes back. Now that's another thing, Steve was an even bigger dork than me, he even memorised all the dialog from star wars. That probably qualifies Steve as the biggest dork in our band.. Me: I'll let him know you said that. ha What your local scene like? Dave: It's interesting because, I don't think anyone who lives there would describe it as a good scene. There's not many places to play, but for some reason, a lot of bands seem to come out of Santa Barbara! Like, we're from there, lag wagon, The Ataris, Mad caddies... it's really quite strange, super boring town, there's really nothing to do... and maybe that's why, people end up playing music cos there's just nothing else going on. A lot of bands coming out of there, even though there arent that many places to play. How long have you all been going for? Dave: I've been in the band since 1997.. so, I've been here for about 5 years.. But as the band its self, it's been going for about 7 years. It's kinda funny, just because I wasn't in the original line up, People still come up to me and say "oh you're the new guitar player!" as if I had just joined.. but I don't care.. How would you describe your noise? Dave: well, we get called a lot of stuff like nerd-core and nerd-rock, and we don't mind that at all, cos another band who gets called that is weezer, and we're really good friends with weezer. so, that's fine with us if people wanna call us that! <*captain everything questions blow off the wall*> so yeah, I don't know if that's because the drummer wears glasses, or if it's just because of the songs.. I hope it's to do with the music rather than the glasses. What makes Nerf Herder different from any other nerd-rock band? Dave: well, that's a really good question * clever me * .. ok, I think that a lot of bands who do get called nerd-core and nerd-rock get referred to that simply because of their looks and like, to me, I think that's kind of annoying, cos I think it's much more to do with the actual context of the music and the content of our lyrics. But I think we get called nerd-rock because of our music. So there's a difference to actually sounding like nerd rock, and looking like nerd rock. Weirdest thing that's happened on your tour so far? Dave: uh, ok.. well, we played in Derby, and this band called Lightyear came to the show because they were from that town. After the show they wanted to take us to a club to hang out.. so all of us ( being - Nerf Herder / lightyear / captain everything / vanilla pod ) all went to this club... well it turns out that the lightyear guys weren't allowed in the club because they had caused trouble there before.. so everyone else went in, except the lightyear guys.. but I happened to get their a little late and when I showed up it was just the lightyear guys outside complaining about the club because they weren't allowed in.. they said the club wouldn't let them in because they were wearing hats or something like that... and I thought, "well that's not very nice, I don't wanna support this place, so I'm not going to go in here either." *see, they didn't actually tell me they had caused problems here before.* So I was being nice to them and said, "hey - let's go back to the hotel and we can drink beer there." So we turned up at my hotel room (which I was sharing with Justin or Steve.. I dunno who it was) ummm, and then these guys got really drunk, and here's where the trouble started. Apparently this is really typical of lightyear. Me: my god... never let them get drunk!! haha Dave: no, do not ever invite them to your hotel room and let them drink with you!! so we got to the hotel and we had like, bread and butter (stuff like that) all left over from a show. 1st of all they took off all their clothes and got in the bath tub, and so I thought, well - this isn't SO bad, all this means is there are naked guys in my room and water on the bathroom floor.. But that wasn't enough for them!! They then started rubbing butter all over their bodies, their balls and butt cracks.. Pretty soon there was like butter everywhere in the room, I was like, trying to hide my stuff so butter wouldn't get on it!! And I could not keep them quiet! There was butter all over these three naked guys and the hotel desk clerk comes to the door because someone had complained about the noise - and I'm not supprised, I would have complained too! so anyway, this hotel desk clerk comes to the door and someone else opens it, so all he saw was like, these three naked guys covered in butter.. And I think he.. I don't know what he thought!!.. He must have thought we were filming some sort of gay porn video or something.. I was just stunned, I was so speechless the whole time. You don't really know how to react to a situation like that. all the years you've spent at school, they don't really prepare you for... Me: Buttered men? Dave: knowing what to do with three naked guys covered in butter. So that was strange! Me: haha, I'm so sorry! Dave: ha, Let that be a lesson to all of you out there who were thinking of inviting Lightyear to your houses tonight. High-Light of your tour? Dave: well, so far... this is only our 7th show. we have like, a month to go.. We are going to Europe and then we're coming back. well, the show in London was really great, a lot of people came and Kerrang gave us a CD review, so that was kind of exciting for us. Another high light I thought was.. one day we were outside our hotel and the driver pulled up, So that we could load our stuff into the van and the driver went in the hotel to go the bathroom. Suddenly a double-decker bus comes round the corner and couldn't make the turn because our van was blocking its way. so the 4 of us were just standing there, shrugging - we didn't know what to do. Maybe this wasn't a highlight, but I thought it was funny. Scariest thing that's happened to you so far? Dave: Last year we were playing in Italy to open for No Use For A Name. We had just played in Italy and we were leaving to go to Switzerland.. On the way we had stopped off at this convenient store kinda thing, you know... like little chef or something. So everyone went in and spent all their Italian money as we were leaving the country, and I happened to be the last one in there. Most of the guys had been smoking pot on the bus (like the "No Use" guys) and I was the last one to come out of this little chef place.... Everyone was gone..... I looked around thinking, surely the bus has moved!! And it wasn't there. So not only had the bus left, but I had no money on me, I didn't even have my passport or jacket because it was on the bus & it was like, the middle of the night. Apparently the guys had got on the bus and they were so stoned that no one even notice I was still there. This is actually really sad.. Sadder the story about being a loser at high school. And so like, I didn't know what to. I don't even speak any Italian, I was totally ready to cry!! I had no idea what I was going to do or how I was going to get to the show the next day. I think I then started asking everyone who came up to me if they spoke any English. But the guy who ran the convenient store thought I was some crazy person harassing everyone, so the cops showed up. Luckily the cops spoke a little French - which I knew from high school. And this has never come in handy for me except this one time, where I was speaking to these Italian police officers in French. So these cops said.. well, the truth is, they didn't actually help! <laughs> they kind of told me to wait until morning and go to a police station in town. I just think they didn't really want to deal with me. They didn't know what to do. And luckily, Finally, A bus driver showed up, he happened to have been the bus driver who was driving Limp Bizkit around on one of their festival tours. and he had just dropped them off at the air port. And he was heading back to Germany (where he was from) and so, I went up to him, cos I had recognised the bus as being a tour bus for a band and luckily he was a really cool guy and spoke English. He let me get on his bus and he actually drove me to the tour so I could meet up with the rest of the guys. so it actually has a really happy ending! Me: Woah thats amazing! Dave: I guess it was kind of amazing. it was kinda funny that I had such Bad luck, and then really good luck afterwards, y'know? What's your favourite song your band has recorded? Dave: ummm, I really like.. can I just name a couple from each CD, is that ok? Me: yep Dave: well I really like sorry from our 1st CD, Panterea fans in love - I'm not just saying that cos I wrote it. I really like 5000 ways to die. On the new CD I really like the Mr. Spock song, I like the new wave girl song. I also like the song jacket - which I also happened to write.. hah, I'm not just being bias. Theres a song I really like called uhh, Second Best.. Weve never put it on a CD.. I really like that one! Me: you should do that! Dave: I want us to do that! I've been trying to convince those guys to put it on CD! Any plans for extending the members in Nerf Herder? Dave: ohh, we're pretty big as it is. If we added more people, we'd have to fight over all the free food that the clubs give us at each show. I don't think we'd want to do that. Best Venue you've played at so far? Dave: anywhere? Me: anywhere Dave: I'd have to name a couple, is that all right? Me: sure. Dave: ok, In America, my favourite place doesn't exists anymore. Theres this little tiny bar in san Francisco called the chameleon. It was really cool, it was full of velvet paintings it had like, an Elvis painting. An ET painting, it even had one of Big foot, and I think there was a Yoda one too, from star wars.. Like really tacky art and they had a downstairs basement where they had a record player and people could bring a long their records and they play it. it's kind of a cool bar. I also like the Victorian inn, in Darby. kind of a little tiny-old-fashioned sound place.. And I like playing in places with a lot of charm and character. Me: that's weird, most people prefer all these really huge reading festival type venues. Dave: nooo, I really like small little things, they're much more charming and interesting to play at. I also like playing anywhere in Madrid, for some reason the people over there seem to really like Nerf herder. Best band you've played with so far? Dave: oh man.. Me: well.. Maybe not the best.. But your favourite? Dave: well, weezer is probably the best. Although, bands that I really like are "A" - they're from England, super nice guys which we toured with in America. The Atari's, I love those guys! And the guys that we're on tour with now are really cool. Like vanilla pod.. Especially captain everything! We didn't even know them before the tour started.. They are so nice! I totally recommend to all your zine readers to go up to them at their shows and introduce yourselves to those guys, they're really nice! Which Band would you most like to play with? Dave: I'd love to play with Jets to Brazil, cos I'm a huge Jaw Breaker fan. I'd like to play with super chunk/junk..?!. And we've played with weezer, but I guess I'd like to play with them again. Limp Bizkit too.. Best CD/Record in your collection? Me: I have a feeling it's not van halen. Dave: No it's not.. Me: =laughs= Dave: gosh, well I really like.. favourite record.. maybe my jaw breaker 12", cos it's kind of rare, got a really neat cover and I love the songs. so maybe that. And your worst? Dave: ohh. probably my uhh.. maybe it's like umm.. worst record.. I think it's my WHAM cd - wake me up before you go go. I think I still have that. Worst film you've ever seen? Dave: oo, maybe that umm.. there are a lot of movies I really don't like.. thats tough. Why don't you tell me yours 1st? Me: cos, I don't watch very many films Dave: I try to forget all the really bad films... oh I know, I really didn't like that pretty woman movie. or COCKTAIL WITH TOM CRUISE! Where he's like, a bar tender.. And throws the bottles round behind his back, and everyone gathers round just to watch him make these drinks.. that's pretty ridiculous. Have you ever tried to kill someone? Dave: no, I'm boring.. Havent tried it yet.. Have you?! Me: no! Dave: has anyone said yes yet? Me: well.. no Dave: I bet if you like, interviewed slipknot or someone, they would say yes. Me: I might do that one day.. Where do you see yourself in five years time? Dave: well, I'd like to think that it would be Nerf Herder.. but unfortunately i don't think we'd be around then.. Me: of course you will!!! Dave: most bands don't have that long of a life. I'll probably be working in a subway, or in little Caesars pizza with the losers I went to high school with. Me: no no no, you can't do that! Dave: ok.. well, maybe some English girl will feel sorry for me and take me in, and I'll be living here.. Me: Yeah!!! Dave: You hear that all you English girls? Keep me from working at little Caesars! Me: I'll build you your very own advertising page! Dave: Take me in! Adopt me! What goes on while you're travelling from town to town? Dave: would you believe.. Almost nothing at all!! <laughs> there's a lot of time driving - it's really boring! a lot of time listening to CD's, reading news papers.. Me: fun!! You don't write any songs on the bus then? Dave: no, that would be really cool though.. if we had a tour bus and had more room, we probably would.. but we're travelling in a van.. so it's kinda hard.. Thats a really good idea though. Maybe I should bring an acoustic guitar on tour.. Really good idea! I might do that. Plans once the tour is over? Dave: umm, I'm not sure yet.. I've gotta go home, take a shower. Me: haven't you had one yet? Dave: I have. don't worry. let's see.. we're going to go on a US tour.. And then head line some shows. Me: we've already answered this.. but never mind! Van Halen video.. you've only got three members. when/why did you join? Dave: ok, let's say this.. Nerf Herder had a raffle.. and I bought lots of raffle tickets - then I won.. I won the raffle to join =NH= And they all lived happily ever after! Stupid People's Key: Me = Chess Dave = Member of Nerf Herder Visit: www.nerfherder.net Buy: Album containing the song "second best." Be sure to: Make Dave feel loved