How are you guys ?

Nuno : I'm good . How are you ?
Mike : good!

I'm fine. How was Resurrection Fest last night ?

Nuno : It was wonderful, we had a really good time. A ton of really good bands and a lot of really good people. Mike ?
Mike : It was great. Great way to start off the tour. Awesome show, great response, good to see old friends.

And how is Xtreme Fest today ? Do you like it ?

Nuno : Yeah sure, so far so good, I mean so it's just the beginning but we are gonna see a few bands. I'm really excited to see Berri Txarrak. Right now, we were just watching one of our buddies playing outside and later on NOFX, Converge and we are looking forward to it.

Sounds like a good plan. And tomorrow you will stay here too ?

Nuno : No, we're going to the mountains to...to think about life. (laugh)

Sounds like a great plan too! (laugh)

Let's talk about your new album. Your first music video for "Born A Wise Man" was posted by Rock Sound on youtube. How did this happened ?

Nuno : That came about, I think, right before the album, there was a dude that came out and said the people was excited about the new album. It was more or less for the promotion. Rock Sound is a great company to work with so we're more than happy to release that exclusively with them. I feel that Rock Sound reaches a lot of people and you now it's free. It's a free way for people to check out the new record so that's all, it was good too you know.

And they really came to propose you something ?

Nuno : Actually they came to Mike and Mike came to us with a contract proposal which was...what exactly Mike ?

Mike : The kind of proposal I made to them when came to me was : "You put in on a certain time in date and I will strip for you and we'll have a new video and it would be me stripping on "Born A Wise Man".

Nuno : Like a web cam, live strip tease.

Mike : Yes, live strip tease via web cam. Actually, they rejected that but I'm still working on it.

Nuno : We still have the idea for the next. It's gonna be a mega hit.

Can't wait for it! (laugh)

There are a lot of good reviews on this album. It seems like a lot of people was expecting this new one. How did you feel about that? What did you expect when you released it ?

Mike : I think people wouldn't stop to hear us I mean it was a lot of waiting to put it out, you know, but I was positive about what I feeled. That was a really great album, we all worked really hard on it and a lot of people seemed to really like it. And you know, that's a great feeling.

And that was your first album in 6 years, right ?

Nuno : Yeah that was our first full length in 6 years, we have done a few EPs and stuff like that but we haven't released a full length in quite a while so yeah it was nice to bring something out there and that we can tour steadily on and you know...it took a while.

And I saw that Punknews said "The kings are alive and well". What do you think about that ?

Nuno : I think they spot on. They nailed it. (laugh) Actually, I don't know...alive certainely! Well, I don't know.

Mike : I feel sick.

Nuno : I'm always feeling kind of run down to be honest. "The kings are alive and run down" I think it would be. If they really knew us that's they would have said. "The kings are alive and need coffee". (laugh)

We're happy to give people something to listen to. We don't try to change our sound to cater to a certain genre or a certain style, that's hot. And a lot of times when you do that, you can lose a lot fans, you can lose touch with what's going on or whatever. Or maybe you're not as important anymore, you know what I mean ? I was positively surprised to see that once we pulled out the record that a lot of people were happy, that we did and really apreciated for what it was and it shows me that, you know, if you stick to what you wanna do which playing music from your heart for people like you or just for yourself. That it can payoff in the fact that the people will wait 6 years for a full length and be happy than you putted it out.

You were pretty excited to put out your record ?

Nuno : It takes a long time when you're doing it yourself. Yeah I mean, when you're on a big label, you have a budget 200 000 $ and it gets pretty fuckin easy to bang out a record from the studio. When you're on shoestring budget, I mean no budget essentially and you're doing it yourself like recording with Mike whose engineered the record and Trevor who was also producing and engineering. It becomes a labor of love.

So that was the first you recorded the entire album on your own ?

Nuno : We did the EP as well, with James, our sound engineer, and Mike and Trevor as well. But the studio got completely reconfigured, so it was a new studio.

You're on No Idea Records, that's the first time you work with them right ?

Nuno : I used tu buy a lot of their records Now it's fine to sell records on their label.

But you're signed for something like 3 years on No Idea ?

Nuno : I don't remember signing anything.

Mike : It was more like a gentlemen handshake.

Nuno : Yeah, it's more like that. Mike would not sign without me knowing.

Mike : Of course, not! I wouldn't do that behind your back.

Nuno : Where is the money Mike ? Where is all the money ? Where is my lamborghini Michael?

Mike : I'm already driving it! (laugh)

You toured a lot for this album and with a lot of bands like The Flatliners, Counterpunch, Red City Radio, Get Dead, Direct Hit!. That was crazy a lot of tours.

Nuno : It was all one tour but each little bit has different band with us. That was a great tour, we met a lot of new people like these guys from Red City Radio, phenomenal. I didn't really knew them before and after a couple of days, we felt like really confortable. Like we knew each other for a long time, that's a really special thing.

Mike : I hate them, I really do.I don't even want to talk about that cause I hate them so much.

Nuno : What about The Flatliners ?

Mike : The Flatliners ? I like The Flatliners actually.

Nuno : He hates them. How do you feel about Red City Radio ?

Mike : I hate them.

Nuno : How do you feel about Single Mothers ?

Mike : Single Mother, actually I really like.

Nuno : How about Gnarworlves ?

Mike : Dicks!

Nuno : So many dicks! No, really, we toured with a lot of rad bands!

How did you managed to tour with so many bands in the same tour ?

Nuno : We sold our soul to the devil! Michael had to cut off his hairs..

You toured in Europe too. What's the difference between touring in Europe and North America ?

Mike : It's just different. I mean, I like touring everywhere. I definitiely different vibes when we tour in Europe, it seems like people are more...wouldn't say appreciative but more....appreciative.

Nuno : More a part of the scene, they care more about their scene, they seem more active in their scene. Not just like going to show and stay there. People go to shows, support venues here and support bands very well. Even if a band is coming through and they're not so popular, people come because they know the promoter and they know that this show will help a lot along the road. I see a lot of things like that in Europe. I don't see it in the States.

That's not the same in the States ?

Nuno : I feel like it's harder. People move the big cities and local scenes tend to die. They die and come back, die and come back.

But! European bathrooms are really strange, I much prefer the american bathroom. Call me the ugly american but I much prefer our bathrooms. You should come check it out sometime.

Do you have a band you really like in Europe ?

Nuno : Berri Txarrak, they are from the basque country in the north of Spain, they are phenomenal; Other europan bands, Gnarwolves are from the UK, they are fucking killing it, they're so good. They got a new video on Punknews site. Astpai, for sure!

Mike : Astpai, yeah! They got a new record out now. A band that haven't for a while but still good is Failsafe from UK.

Nuno : Other bands I'm super into...Straightaway. They are supposed to play today right ?

No, they cancelled

Oh they did? Is everything ok ?

I don't know

Nuno : Straightaway, if you listen to this and if you need help, clap twice.

(clap clap)

Mike : I've got to go, someone is in trouble!

So last part of this interview, we are about to talk about tattoo. What can you say about yours ?

Interview TATTOO

Nuno : Au Revoir Pee-Wee!

Mike : Bye!

Thanks guys!

Interview Yann
Translation Yann