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Pep-Rock: Hi, for the purpose of the interview could you please tell us your name and what you do in the band? |
| Chris: I’m Chris and I play bass and sing a little |
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| Pep-Rock: New Album "New American Saint" has just came out this month. What has been firstly the fans reception to the album and also the media reception to the album? |
| Chris: The fans seem to like it. There are a few kids that seem to like the older stuff off of our last album more just because they aren’t used to us playing slower or softer songs. But the media reaction has been great. We have gotten a lot of positive feedback and the record has been getting some great reviews. |
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Pep-Rock: Between the two albums what changes can you see within Tokyo Rose? |
| Chris: Well a lot of changes have taken place between albums. We have 2 new members and we really changed our approach to our songwriting. I think that we have become a lot more mature as musicians and we also are a lot more comfortable playing together. Also we expanded our musical horizons this time and drew from some different influences this time around. |
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| Pep-Rock: When listening to the new album a sense of maturity not found on the first album comes across. Is this something you guys were aware of or is it just natural progression in the writing? |
Chris: It wasn’t something that we tried to accomplish. It just sort of happened that way. Like I said we started to listen to a lot of different types of music and tried to incorporate a lot of different styles and instrumentation into this recording. Also, our producer Matt Goldman definitely helped to shape our sound with some great ideas and a lot of hard work. |
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| Pep-Rock: A varied set of influences can be seen across both releases. Narrowing it down. Name five bands, artists, writers or main inspirations on Tokyo Rose since the start? |
| Chris: The Beatles, Jimmy Eat World, U2, The Getup Kids, Jeff Buckley. |
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| Pep-Rock: On the album you guys did a track called "A Reason To Come Home" with Fred Mascherino of Taking Back Sunday fame. How did that all come about? |
| Chris: Well I used to play in a band with Fred called Breaking Pangaea for a short while, so I knew him from there. He and I became good friends and I asked him to help us out. He was all about it! He definitely helped us out and is a super nice guy. I am very happy for him and all that he has accomplished. Now all he has to do is take Tokyo Rose on tour with his band! Ha ha |
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| Pep-Rock: You guys have been lucky enough to have done some great tours already in your short career with some great bands. Also on top of this you have played the warped tour. Who was the number one band to play alongside? |
| Chris: Yeah we have gotten to play a few good tours and open up for some of our favorite bands. To narrow it down to our favorite is hard, but I would definitely have to say that opening for Copeland, Mae, and Early November were some of our favorite bands to play with. |
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| Pep-Rock: The above question leads onto, which band would you most like to do a tour with? |
| Chris: Hmm...Besides the Rolling Stones? Ha ha..... I think we would most like to tour with Jimmy Eat World or Taking Back Sunday.... or maybe both! |
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| Pep-Rock: On tour the shows can be memorable but so can the fun/jokes/laughs. Who is the practical joker of the pack? And also what is the worst prank played on someone on tour? |
Chris: Um, our drummer Sean is the worst practical joker. As far as telling you about the worst prank...I think its better we don’t discuss it in open forum. Ha ha |
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| Pep-Rock: Have the band got any international plans in the near future? Releases, Shows, Anything? |
| Chris: Yes our record came out in Japan on Oct 5, 2005. We also have plans to do a tour in early 2006 in Japan with the Rocket Summer so that will be fun. We also hope to come and tour the UK soon. |
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| Pep-Rock: What does the next rest of 2005 and the first part of 2006 hold for Tokyo Rose? |
| Chris: Basically a lot of touring to support the album, we also will be doing a video for our song "Spectacle" so that should be fun too. |
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| Pep-Rock: Any last words you want left for the readers of Pep-Rock? |
| Chris: Thanks for taking the time to do the interview with us. And hopefully we can come over to the UK sooner then later and play for all of you lovely people. See you soon! |
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| To find out more about Tokyo Rose - Click Here |
