Sitting comfortably on the tour bus I got to grips with the punk pop giants bass player
J. you made it in 94, how have you been able to maintain your level of success?
E , it has a lot to do with the friendship and family atmosphere we keep around us , that’s what for us keeps it easy to do ,its sad to say be we are all closer with each other than our families , we truly have a love of what we do , we started all to have and drink beer .
J, how did you all get together?
E , we were all on the local scene with separate bands, at 15 I was given a tape, it was Chris’s band , it was awesome , so at 15 , I was like , I’m go'na be in a band with these guys , 2 yrs later I was in band with Chris, 4 yrs later BFS began ( laughs)
J, at what point did you realise you had made it or was about to ?
E , there was one show in particular, in Texas , we opened for a band called "The Hunger" , it was a big show sponsored by a radio station, that we came of age and we were a different band , we all walked from the stage and was like, what the **** happened there ? , something just clicked.
J., download, your 1st appearance, how did you get away with that ? (laughs)
E , (laughs) , I think the light hearted approach , the music in a day that’s so metal , middle of the day , here we come , we just had a great time which the crowd appreciated , what you see is what you get ….
J, does it faze you being famous ?
E , its weird , 15 yrs in , its still a little weird , you know, when we are not on the road, we all go home to a normal regular life, extremely normal , we have all managed to stay really grounded, we all made a conscious effort to do so, I love cleaning the house, mowing my lawn, it’s a special therapeutic time
J, are your lines on your lawn straight,
E, ( laughs ) oh ye man,
J, your videos, how do you arrive at the concept for them, is it a joint effort?
E , normally, someone within the group , either management , one of us etc , comes in with a concept, then we go from there, let me tell you man, the next video (laughs) I will tell you, it’s a treat !, outrageous, we shot it as a commercial, I love it.
J, does anyone have any beef with over you regarding your videos?
E , Fred Durst wont talk to us (laughs) we had Slipknot beat the **** of him in our video (laughs), Aaron Lewis from Staind fronted us , I think it was Reading , or could have been Leeds, 03, he came up and confronted Jaret , "why me man ? , what did I do ? " (laughs) we don’t pick on anyone personally, but, Aaron was huge at the time. (laughs)
J, who contributes musically and what?
E , our studio process is pretty intense , its kinda wild , we work really hard and have long days , its just the process of doing the same **** over and over , it gets to you , I equate it to taking tests all day, for 18 hours, it’s a mental drain, its till amazing, we did 25 songs in 27 days , jaret mainly co-writes the songs with other writers, then we get together and work it out .
J, whats life like on the road?
E , I love life on the road , (laughs), we have been described by a friend as pirates , we live on our tour bus, drink to much beer, curse to much ( laughs) it’s a pirates life for me, we are having the bowling for soup and every ****as invited……
J, have you ever met a fellow celeb who you thought, **** its????
E , ye , we played a show with Sammy Hagar, no, not him ( laughs), Duff Mckagan was outside of the venue having a cigarette , I was like , **** , its Duff Mckagan , my girlfriend at the time said to me, go talk to him, I was like, what on earth could I say to this man, (laughs), I worship the ground you walk on and you’re a total legend, (laughs), we met Gene Simmons like minutes before he went on stage, full costume, 7ft ****in tall man, one of the guys in the band who shall remain nameless, introduced him to me as Gene Simmons, (laughs) , I was like , no **** ……(laughs)
J, so, the new album, tell me about it?
E , "Sorry For Partying", which we are most absolutely not , its one of the best most concise albums BFS has ever done , this album reels it all back in, the best rock record wave made in several years ,
J, any track highlights personally?
E, my personal favourite is "I wish you wasn’t dead anymore”, it’s a song that Jaret with Tony Schalzo from fastbowl in Texas, it went through a couple of different versions, gets me every time.
I have to say , I had a great time with Eric, a real open conversation, he came across as you see them on the TV channels, life is a party, life is their friendship and family, level headed and grounded to fame and the pros and cons , they are the complete package …..