By Boardpass Members Arthur Ostrowski
Clint Baker (Vocals, Guitar)
Dustin Stroud (Lefty Guitar. Vocals)
Mark Johnson (Bass)
Dave Keel (Drums)
The new album 'Hurry Up and Wait' comes out Aug 6th.
Interview with Dustin Stroud (Lefty Guitar, Vocals) of the Riddlin' Kids
(Arthur) How long have you guys been playing together?
Well Clint and I have been playing together for about four and a half years, and we've had Dave for three years and Mark's been in the band for about 2 years or something like that.
(Arthur) The new album (Hurry Up and Wait) is totally emotionally charged, what makes you put so much emotion into the lyrics?
Mostly girls! A lot of the songs on the record are about chicks. If they're not, the few songs that aren't like “Follow Through” “ Nowhere to Run” those songs aren't about girls really. But mainly any writer is going to write from life experience. For us, I've been delivering pizza for seven years and Clint's been doing it for five. Dave worked at a Diner where he washed dishes and Mark has a whole string of jobs. So just dealing with all that stuff you have a huge repertoire of emotions and stuff.
(Arthur) What kind of style of music do you see yourselves playing?
We'll always be in the main, you know heavier pop punk or something like that. At some point it becomes hard to be punk rock and be taken seriously when your older. In like 10 years the sound will still be the same, if you compare the first Riddlin Kids album to whatever the last one will be. You can tell that it's pretty much the same.
(Arthur) On “Hurry Up and Wait” which song did you have the most fun writing?
Lets see… I dunno about writing because the writing process is always different, but the most fun song to record was “Here We Go Again”. We put it together so quickly and it was just a lot of fun o play live and it was just a lot of fun to record. It just cam right together.
(Arthur) On “ Hurry Up and Wait” the first couple songs have a more poppy sound compared to the last few, what's the reason for that?
That my friend is called front-loading. That what major record labels do to peoples albums because they feel that the general public that will be buying the album and listening to the album on the radio have short attention spans. As you get into your next couple of records maybe you have more of a say to what goes where, you always have a mutual agreement but that usually means that they bug you until you say yes. We had quite a bit to say about the way it was arranged because we are a business-minded band, and we had to put some stuff that would be in the public eye first. It's kinda like reading a book where you have an exposition, kinda of hook and as you get into the record it gets a little more deep, and if you like the band you have more intention to do it, get deeper and deeper into the album. And it ends with a no brainer “ It's the End of the World as We Know It”.
(Arthur) Do you think that you want to be in the mainstream or do you want to be more underground?
Well we've always been a DIY band. Whether we're on Columbia Records or Fat Wreck Chords, we'll always be as much hands on as we can as a band because we care so much about our music and the way we are being marketed or represented to the public or how we represent ourselves to the people. Definitely a lot of punk rock bands don't really talk about is, you know what you're doing when you sign that record label. Nobody signs that record label or contract and thinks that have 100% of control of what they do, I want to be punk rock at all time. It's a real trade off, your goal as a band is to influence as many people with your music as possible. You wrote this music for people, obviously you did because you recorded and are sold at stores, whether your “ Less Than Jake” or even the “Offspring” you sing for other people, otherwise you'd never go into the studio and record it and get your albums pressed. It just wouldn't be honest to say that we write this music for us you know. I guess I'm turning the question around but if the punk rock ethic is always there then it doesn't matter what you do as long as you represent yourself as you are. If they like it, they'll like it, and if they hate it they'll hate it.
(Arthur) You guys played with big bands like Goldfinger, Good Riddance and Reel Big Fish, do you think playing with those bands gives you publicity and gets you into the public eye.
Oh for sure and especially bands like Reel Big Fish, where their fans are purely die hard fans. I mean for the last seven years or so they haven't had a record or at least five years for sure, but yet they still tour in a bus, and are still able to make enough money to where that's the only job that they do, and that's amazing. They didn't have a new record out, they just sold merchandise and played shows and their fans are super die hard fans, third wave ska fans. The fact that we got to play with them, and they were receptive to it, we would have never ever been exposed to that. I mean support bands support the main act, say you have two bands like Mest and Goldfinger, well Goldfinger is going to have a draw of their own saying that they're the headlining band, and the support bands will do the same and will also have a draw. That's why a headlining band will take out a fairly well known support band because they want to do awesome in whatever draw and ticket sales that they would have on their own. Then there's the opening band which they have picked to expose, and on the Reel Big Fish / Goldfinger tour we were that band for three weeks or so . So we are so thankful for Goldfinger and Reel Big Fish. And the people that have been to our shows at least three times before saw us at that show. To answer your question, it is the most incredible thing in the world to have these big bands take you out and give you all the exposure and publicity.
(Arthur) Which band have you had the most fun with?
It's hard to say but probable the best friends that we've made while touring have been River City High and Mest. I mean everybody we've toured with, we've become really really good friends with. River City High, we've only toured with them once but we're really good friends and Mest we've toured with them so many times that we know the guys really well. Like when we had a bus for a little bit, Nick came on the bus and hung out with us for a little bit. We've played jokes on each other. The last night of each of our shows they got us, they threw Dave's drum kit into the crowed while we were playing, but the next night we shot them up with silly string and threw breakfast cereal all over them and stuff. But we love everyone that had taken us out like Goldfinger, Reel Big Fish to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Lucky Boys Confusion. All these bands are responsible because we haven't had a record out, we only had an EP that hasn't been promoted and has just been an independent release, and these bands are responsible for the success we've had. But the people we are the most hooked with or most likely to get into shenanigans with are Mest and River City High.
(Arthur) Do you have expectations for your crowed or have anything you want them to think when they come to see you guys live?
We don't have any expectations for our crowed. It's all up to them. we only have expectations for ourselves. We really try to put on the best show that we possibly can, of course we feed off the energy of the crowed. They came to see us, they paid money to come and see a show so you can't expect anything out of somebody, they're expecting out of you and we better deliver. The people that have come to the Riddlin Kid shows have never let us down, and we're most thankful for that.
(Arthur) What makes you want to play music rather then other any other job?
For me, besides delivering pizza it's the only thing I'm good at. I think for all of us it's the bast things we can do. They only thing we know how to do, and we love doing it. Everyday we get to play and it's the best thing alive.
(Arthur) Starting off in Austin Texas, was it hard for you guys to get noticed?
Umm it's harder than lets say L.A, but in a way it's better to be a big fish in a little pond then a little fish in a big pond. Austin is a really big music town, I don't know if you know or not, but there is all kinds of music coming out of Austin. So it's real easy to play shows and it's really easy to get connections.
(Arthur) Before you guys start touring, do you think they end up as well as you planned?
Actually it's a lot better then we though it would be, we've been touring our asses off and it seems like it gets better every time. One thing is, when we were on tour with Goldfinger and Reel Big Fish it's kinda follow one up that. It was kind of a spike or a high point and then it came down again and then we build back up to where we wanna be. We went from playing two thousand seaters to like fifty people capacity bars. It gradually got bigger, and when we went on tour with Lucky Boys Confusion, there we a lot of great big awesome shows kinda like the Goldfinger / Reel Big Fish shows. I think kids never fail to amaze us, how important they are. One thing about touring is you never know what will happen. Maybe you're great on the radio in one town but maybe the show wasn't promoted greatly. One thing you can do is plan for the worst and hope for the best. But for the most part, the kids that come out to see us they always support us. We've been to places five or six times now and we know a lot of kids by name and a lot of kids by face. it's cool as hell.
(Arthur) Being on the road for so long, does it stress your home and family life?
It is really hard. I have a girlfriend and Mark has a girlfriend. Clint and Dave don't have girlfriends but before Clint did have a girlfriend and it was really hard on him. It lead to him breaking up with her and it's definitely a strain on Mark and my girlfriend. Sometimes you don't even get to talk because your cell phone is like roaming or some places you don't get service so you can only talk to your girlfriend for like two or three minutes. It's like “I love you, I miss you and hope to see you soon” and when you get a couple days like that in a row, you get a girl on your hands that is getting pretty sick and tired of her boyfriend being in a band. (Arthur - But wouldn't they expect that though, you guys being in a band and you guys do travel and tour so…) Well even though you know going into it, it's just not easy because the gig can get ridiculous. We were on tour for two months one time, the tour just started to get bigger and bigger and bigger, dates just getting added to it. And that's what we want as a band. We'd rather be on the road then at home. We're out there and we're pushing ourselves. We love to play and would every night if we could, going out and meeting new people. But also me and Mark love our girlfriends so it's really hard to keep up that relationship thousands of miles away. We've been able to do it so far.
(Arthur) Have you guys ever been out to Europe or anything like that?
Well no, but actually today our first day we've ever been in Canada so we're really excited! We're not touring in Canada because we're only doing a few gigs but we're totally excite about it. We've never done it before! We've run into stuff that we've never though of before, for instance, right now our guitar tech and tour manager are doing a total inventory of all our equipment, all the serial numbers and everything. There are special tariffs and taxes on merchandise that you bring into the country, you have to have a passport and everything, so it's really exciting.
(Arthur) Being here for your first time, do you like what you're seeing?
It's a little bit different you know. Of course you are our neighbors to the north and the culture is a lot alike but the party scene is a little bit more heavy duty. I'm not much of a partier but I'm around it everyday, and you guys definitely step it up a notch. Canadians are definitely funnier! There's only like one or two American comedians that we can claim, the rest are from Canada. My favorite comedians are “Kid's In the Hall” and I'm an old school SCTV too. I like all that stuff!
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