Band: H20 Member: Adam Blake and Rusty Pistachio Label: Brigde Nine Records Location: The Hub - Fargo, ND Date: Feb. 26th, 2009 Interviewer: Dwayne Larson

So because the jerks at the border decided it would be an awesome idea to open my bag and not close it again, I am questionless right now. I had done all my research and got some good questions ready but now the questions are gone and for the interview I had to to try and remember them off the top of my head. It still went pretty well though. I have to say a HUGE thank you to both Adam and Rusty for taking the time to talk to me. A couple of the most genuine nice guys I have ever met doing this job ever.

Dwayne: First off your name and what you do in H20:

Adam Blake: My name is Adam and I play bass and I will be the guy with the English accent in this interview

Rusty Pistachio: And I play guitar

Dwayne: So the new album “Nothing to Prove” is on Bridge Nine. I was very excited when I found out that you were going to be doing a new release.

Adam: Ah cool thanks!

Dwayne: Why did you decide to release the new record on Bridge 9 as opposed to some of the larger indie labels?

Adam: None of this was a long term plan. We met with Bridge 9 Records and we basically felt they wanted to work with us, we had a short time to make the record and it all just kind of fell into place. We didn’t really shop around. Were not playing this as a long term career minded thing. Where we were looking at it as stepping stones to advance ourselves. Bridge Nine had no pressure on us they are basically the label equivalent to us as a band, they started around the same time, going to the same shows they understand us and it’s a very much a handshake kind of arrangement. There really wasn’t a need to look anywhere else

Rusty: We thought about a few other labels but Bridge Nine was quick and convenient I think; wouldn’t you say?

Adam: Exactly. For the record it’s very much a hardcore record and it doesn’t belong on any other label except that. Got it to the right people.

Dwayne: What did you guys do during that down time between records? I know you, Rusty, have a jewelry company.

Rusty: In the five years off I moved to upper Westside close to Central Park, that lovely year and then moved to California that shitty year.

Adam: I moved to California then back to New York, manage a bar, did some music.

Rusty: Yea we did a solo track on a Fat Wreck comp.

Dwayne: There is a lot of bands now starting their own label. Is that something you guys might ever consider?

Adam: We kind of did it with the DVD that came out through Five Year Plan Recordings. Actually, the only release that came out (laughs) Which is basically like our own label for lack of a better word. We made it and distributed it. I don’t think we’re really that organized to do a label to tell you the truth.

Dwayne: Now with online marketing becoming a lot easier with things like MySpace and Facebook and even Twitter now, do you think labels are becoming obsolete?

Adam: I do think its going to have to turn over. If everyone is marketing themselves on the internet and everyone is throwing themselves at the same kind of media to get out there eventually people are going to have to go to labels to stand out again. It really is anyone with a computer can make the record, market and distribute the record. You’re looking at a recipe for a huge overstuffed market place. So people will eventually and always have to use labels.

Dwayne: I recently read a article about how Ticketmaster and LiveNation have joined forces and are now one company. How do you feel about such a monopoly on the music scene?

Adam: Well unless they start doing VFW halls and hardcore kids basements H20 will remain untouched by them (laughs).

Rusty: We pretty much just fly under the radar of the live nations and the overpriced ticket vendors of the world.

Adam: I’m not one of those people who are scared of corporate mergers and stuff. I happen to think that in a lot of cases it makes things better. For example, this is a cup of regular ass flavored coffee but if I went to Starbucks I would get a great cup of coffee. You know what I mean. We have to see how it plays out. It might end up working out better in the long run for everyone. Over priced on one hand, well that’s true, but it could be artist greed as well you just never know. I don’t really know how it works.

Dwayne: With the way things are going now and a receding economy and the whole industry trying to drum up new ways to sell music do you think you guys as a band have a distinct advantage over say the overnight sensations of the world?

Rusty: Yea we have kind of proved that. We are on our headlining tour and we haven’t played in years. We have remained a band for years though. Bands like….
Adam: Limp Bizkit for example they were HUGE, I mean I don’t know how they would draw now but..

Rusty: Yeah, I don’t know how well they would draw. It’s all really just speculative

Adam: Its totally speculation. That band was the biggest band in the world for awhile then they just stopped. I think we will be alright.

Rusty: We have been lucky enough to stay together as long as we have. Most bands roll out for 5 years then break up and hate each other. We have been around for 14 years and were still friends and still make music together. So we have beaten the odds in that respect. We can still tour anywhere in the world and still tour to our fans.

Dwayne: Now that you guys are getting a little older and settling down into family rolls does it make it any harder to go on tour for months on end?

Rusty: Well Toby has a wife and a little boy.

Adam: Everyone is married except for me.

Rusty: I’m married. I have a wife and a dog. Todd Morse has just moved in with his new girlfriend. My wife will meet me in New York. I’m only gone for a couple of weeks.

Todd Friend (Drummer): We definitely fly our wives out more then we used to (laughs).

Rusty: My wife used to have 10 weeks off paid vacation so it was a lot easier for her to come and meet up with me…. Now she has 52 weeks paid vacation now she can meet me anywhere anytime(laughs).

Dwayne: I saw that you guys are on a couple days of the St Patrick’s Day shows with the Dropkick Murphys. Did they ask you to play all of them or just get done and get out before you get into to much trouble?

Adam: Seven days in a row. Yea I would be interested but no they didn’t ask.

Dwayne: Have you guys played it before? What kind of crazyness ensues?

Adam: You want the gods honest truth? A hell of a lot of people chanting “Let’s Go Dropkick” in between everyone of our songs.

Rusty: They did that more in New York then anywhere else.

Adam: I think the fact that we are going to play in Yankees uniforms this year is gonna be interesting to see.

Rusty: The coolest thing is Mickey Ward came down to our show when we played there. He’s the one they wrote the Warriors Code about.

Dwayne: On the first video for the new album, did you guys know Michael Rappaport before he came on the video?

Rusty: We met him and eventually became friends with him. He’s a good friend of Toby’s; they both have a lot in common - both have kids, so they commiserate and talk about how it is to raise a kind in LA.

Adam: He definitely learned about H20 after he was already friends with Toby. It wasn’t like he was a H20 fan from back in the day or anything.

Rusty: It’s cool to have a conversation with him about stuff like emo, he just all into hip hop, he grew up on that stuff. It’s fun to talk to him about that and to see the shock on his face when we tell him some things.

Dwayne: I guess what’s up next for you guys after this run with Dropkick Murphys?

Rusty: Well I know we aren’t going to go to Europe (Laughs).

Adam: Yea we were going to go to Europe. Everyone writing. I think its time we should start looking towards a new record. I really would like to get it out summerish 2010.

Rusty: It would be nice since we had a 6 year span in between this record and the last. It would be nice to put something out within a year or a year and a half.

Adam: I’ve noticed it flip flopped. I used to not like making records but I really liked making Nothing to Prove, discovering new music and getting excited about writing and now with touring I’m just like YEAH!!!! I would like to be making records.

For the rest of this year, I think we will keep the same kind of motto we had which was we had to tour “nothing to prove” like a real band because it would be unfair to Bridge Nine and the people that bought the record. We still have lots of places to play, still have to go to South America, Japan, part of Europe. Unless we get something really great in the US we will do it. We saved a lot of the best places for last. (laughs)

Dwayne: Any last words?

Adam: Stuff sucks. Do people really talk this way in Fargo? Like in the movie? (laughs)