Jester: How is the Vancouver music scene recently?
Tod: The scene really isn't that strong here. The reason why it appears to be is because of few bands that are located here they seem to be releasing the most material at the moment. They also all hang out together on the weekends and write music in their studio's instead of going out and partying. None of the bands are really that big in the city itself even if they seem to sell out all of their shows across the country.
Jester: Are any members of the band formally trained musicians?
John: I played classical piano for years so that helps when I do all of the writing for the keyboard parts.
Jester: Does that help you when you compose music to design something that is syntactically correct?
John: Sort of, but it is also a hindrance. Sometimes I feel constrained. It's odd when you play music for ten years in one manner and then suddenly change to another style of music.
Jester: Do you have any formal techniques you use to write new tracks?
John: Tod, Ash & I all come over to my studio and jam until they get bored. Ash will work on guitar riffs, I'll program electronics and Tod will work on lyrics. Then everyone will leave and I will work on the track by myself for a few days. Then everyone comes back and we work out all the the fine details about what they like and don't like about the track. The reason why we do it it because of the sheer volume of technical elements that we have to work with now. No one else in the band has the patience for that except me. That spare time also allows the rest of the band to acquire samples by renting and watching videos or allows Tod flesh out the lyrics in a manner that he likes.
Jester: What motivates you compose music for other people to listen to?
John: I enjoy pissing people off. I do it mostly because when I go and see most bands, I feel that I could do it better or as well as they are. I've also always been into music so it's natural. I also think it's kind of cool just to have our album out in the market and people purchasing them to listen to us.
Jester: Are you concerned that your audience might misinterpret you music?
John: I don't really care what people think about our music. People are going to interpret our music in whatever way they they desire so I don't really care what they think. Our music is really tongue and cheek and they shouldn't really be able to take it wrong anyways.
Tod: Except for a couple of people although we won't talk about them. However they are a couple of songs that are directed at certain who have probably already figured out that the song was written about them.
Jester: Was there any particular reason why the lyrics were not printed in the liner notes of the album?
John: Because we would never ever print any of our lyrics. I don't think it is necessary. Most people that want to know the lyrics will try and figure them out themselves. I don't really care if people get the lyrics or not. If they really want to know, they can just come up and ask us about them. I've actually had people come up and ask us and that doesn't bother. Besides the lyrics might mean something to me but it isn't going to mean the same thing to someone else.
Jester: What type of stage prescence do you try and create when you perform live?
John: We really try to get the crowd into the band and the music. We try and always give 100% of our energy into a show.
Tod: I really don't like watching a show that just stands there and plays the music. I really like it when there is a lot of energy. There is always a synergy with the crowd when the band really gets into it. So we have been trying to make our shows a lot more aggressive as time has gone by.
John: Even though we are not that used to playing live, it is starting to go in the right direction. It's a great feeling to have someone come up and tell us what a great time they had because of our performance.
Jester: Do you have any props our visuals on stage besides the five band members?
John: We really haven't work any visuals into the show yet. We haven't had the chance or the money to do anything like that yet. We also have problems trying to haul that kind of stuff on any kind of tour far away from Vancouver.
Jester: What is your favorite song or lyric off your debut album and why that particular choice?
John: Lardass means the most to me. It all started with a bunch of nasty phone calls when I was living with my girl friend at the time. This rather large, disgusting human being was leaving really nasty messages on my machine about my girl friend. So I decided the best way to get back at them was to write a song about it.
Tod: Burn is also cool. That was written because I was being frustrated by a number of stupid people at the time I wrote it.
Jester: At the end of the track F.O.A.D. there is the sample, "...there is a possible 187..." What police call number does 187 refer to?
John: It's a code for a murder or an officer down. Something to do with guns.
Jester: What made you choose to incorporate that into your band name?
John: I have a fascination for guns.
Jester: When can we expect a release of a new UNIT:187 album?
John: Soon, we are in the middle of writing new material right now. I'll play some for you if you like.
Jester: Sure.
John: This is the song 'Dead Gods' that we are thinking about putting out on an Offbeat Records compilation due out around September.
Jester: That song seems to have a great more electronic depth than some of your older material.
John: Our music seems to be going that direction because we are getting more refined and polished. We seem to finally have a positive musical direction. I'm into a lot more techno recently as well as the music seems to be coming together more fluidly. We've all been spending much more time writing music than we have ever done in the past.
Jester: How much of it has to do with the influences of the music you currently listen to?
John: Perhaps somewhat. It's weird because we all come from different backgrounds. Tod really enjoys old school punk. Ash listens to a lot of death metal. I primarily listen to techno and heavy industrial. It all sort of comes together into a solid set of musical influences that has finally become to sound like we actually know what we are doing. Our next album is going to be so much better than our first. We are pretty much half done with the album right now and the production is so much better than in the past. We are really excited about getting it out.
Tod: I don't think any of us were really that happy with the older material but I do know that all of us really like the direction of the new music.
John: Our next album will not be releases until all of us are 100% happy with. However, of the five songs we have written, we are all totally satisfied with those. We are going to just take our time with the rest of the album and make sure the rest of the tracks are similar.
Jester: Has Don kept you up to date with the sales figures on the first album?
John: Not really, but I know it is doing okay because people always seem to be able to find out. Our name is at least out there. We are not that concerned with how well it sells because we are mostly using it as a stepping stone for our next album. I fell that our next album will be really big because of how much time and effort we have all put into it.
Jester: Do you like have the Internet as a tool for feedback on the band?
John: Definitely. If we could only get our own web site up. I've been on the net for four years because of my job and I really enjoy it.
Jester: In conclusion is there anything you would like to add?
John: Ash's wife just had a kid on July 4th. That is just so weird because the rest of the band is so far away from having kids.