The Bronx

Dwayne: First, what is your name and what do you do with the band?

Joby: My name is Joby Ford and I play guitar in the band The Bronx.

Dwayne: Lets start with the basics you’re on tour doing a cross Canada tour with Bad Religion, how’s everything going so far?

Joby: It’s going great; the shows are good and the crowds are great. Drives are long. Haven’t had any poutine yet we keep looking everywhere we go, you would think it would be everywhere but its not.

Dwayne: So its your third release, your first on your own label. With the new release do you think you have proved the critics wrong that said you would never make it?

Joby: Yeah, I mean I think we’ve also proved that in theisday and age being a band you can kind of do what you want. Like if you want to be one of those bands that wears nice clothes or dates actresses or whatever you can do that. Or music is whatever you want to make it especially now so much more than ever. The music industry is such Fuck Soup that no one knows which way is up or down. That’s what we wanted to do. There was never any illusion of grandeur or being one of those types of bands, it was always a group of friends kinda going crazy all over the world. It was what it always was. I think that if it ever turned into something other than that I don’t think this band would exist.

Dwayne: I haven’t been able to see you live yet as I haven’t been to Warped Tour when you have played or you haven’t played a city I’ve been in. 

Joby: This is our first time in Canada. Well, we might have been here like 5 years ago with Rocket From the Crypt. I dunno I don’t know if we have played Winnipeg or not.

Dwayne: I have heard you guys have a really, I guess, explosive live show. What do you try to do live that sets you apart from other bands?

Joby: I dunno. It’s just kind of … there’s not much to it. Maybe that’s what sets us apart from other bands is that there isn’t much to it. Its not scripted I guess. Everything happens differently every night.

Dwayne: You mean you don’t have choreographed jumps. The “punk rock jump”?

Joby: No no no. We’re trying to out source that (laughs) Just kidding. It’s kind of each show is individualistic. I mean there is not a set sort of theme or script. I never know what Matt’s going to say or do. It kinda keeps everybody on their toes. I would say that’s what keeps us apart – its different every show.

Dwayne: I have heard rumblings and on your MySpace and personal website that at the SAME time that you were doing the new Bronx record you recorded a mariachi record. When can we expect that out and I’m assuming it will be out on your own White Drugs label? 

Joby: Yes. It will be out next year around February. We were going to put them both out simultaneously but we are the kind of band that tours to support a record and it was just … I think we would have died touring trying to support 2 albums. I just don’t think we could do it. As much as we wanted to and be a super band I just think we all kind of sat down at the end of that day and said no way. We were gonna play two shows a day one mariachi and one Bronx set. I was like we’ve done it before but I just don’t think I could do that for a year. We would just die.

Dwayne: What was it like recording two records simultaneously?

Joby: It was cool. Once you kind of get to a end of a creative cycle of one. It’s strange, when I write music I write it in groups of three. Something happens and three songs seem to come out of that. Then back to the drawing board and three more songs come out of that. I don’t know if it was good or bad it was just kind of we would do that. Then I would be like ok I’m going to go do this now. So there was never really any lull in writing, you just kind of bounce back and forth. Today I have this mariachi song so we’re doing that or today I have this Bronx song so we’re doing that. So it was I guess it was fun I think it was good. I’ve never done that before. Seemed to work out ok.

Dwayne: A lot of other bands seem to branch off in the acoustic direction when they explore, so why choose to do mariachi music?

Joby: Being from LA there is such a massive Mexican culture there that you can’t walk down the street without hearing it. It’s really fused into the city. I would say there are way more Latin people that live in LA than there are white people. Just from being around the culture and the music it just kind of works its way into your system. It just seemed like the right thing to do. There is no rhyme or reason to it, it’s just the music we love to play and so we made a record.

Dwayne: You guys were on Warped Tour this year. Now I know you guys do like emo bands, were there any bands on the tour this year that you had heard of and never saw that kind of blew you away? 

Joby: A lot of nice guys. I’m going to preface this by saying I have really weird taste in music and so there weren’t a lot of bands that I wanted to see on that tour.

Dwayne: Can you define “weird” taste in music?

Joby: You know I’ve been listening to a lot of metal for some reason. Which is weird because I never listen to metal. I’ve been listening to A LOT of Canadian radio it is hilarious!!! There was actually one band on tour, Bedouin Soundclash, who I had never heard of they were awesome they were probably the only set I went to watch. Nice guys too. I find the laws of radio is a really fascinating thing to me. I think in Canada you have to play, for every American band you have to play three Canadian bands or something like that.

Dwayne: I think you have to play like 60% Canadian content or could be more per hour or something.

Joby: Ok, ya so I mean I listen to it because its music I’ll never hear. A lot of times that’s why I’ll do it even if it’s horrible. It’s just the constant search for music and you might hear something that is incredible or you won’t.

Dwayne: The new album due out November 11th. Are you getting any pre release nerves or jitters now that its just you guys on your own?

Joby: Nah because no one buys records anymore so it doesn’t even really matter. It’s kind of a means to an end to put music out there. As far as people backing it, the Bronx is a very different kind of band with a very different kind of audience. As far as label stuff they don’t do anything anyway.

Dwayne: I’ve been hearing that a lot more as of late.

Joby: You know it’s strange I mean you think being on a major label you think your band would go someplace it’s quite the opposite. We’re a cool band that got signed to a label and we made the label cool. Its almost like you don’t want them to get involved with anything you do cuz it’s just dumb. It’s kinda just about everything that doesn’t matter about music and those people just exploit. I wanna put out my records and I just want to play that’s all I want to do! I don’t want to visit this radio station, or a guy will come to you and say well KPRW is coming to the show so if you see this guy make sure you’re totally cool to him. You know cool. I’m nice to everybody but its just like I just don’t wanna do that anymore. I just have simple expectations, wants and desires we’re all simple people. This is what music is to me…… You put out records, you tour, that’s it. It’s a group of friends who have adventures all over the world. That’s what I want as a band. A lot of people want to be an actor/musician which is fine but this is what I want.

Dwayne: So the third album. Is there anything that you found was brought out in the album that maybe the first two didn’t?

Joby: I think it’s simpler and more focused. It’s just nasty. Its cool, it’s our own record and we did it in our own studio in LA. So that was kind of a notch on the old pole I guess. Being able to complete an album in your own place and not having to spend a gazillion dollars in these studios anymore. So that was cool. That was, to me, was the feeling of accomplishment – of being able to do something 100% independent. Like 100% not even paying for record I think that was pretty cool and it felt pretty good.

Dwayne: I’ve read in a few interviews researching that you guys have always been hands on when it comes to the business end of your band. Obviously you released the new disc on your own label. The other two on a major/ White Drugs do you think this hands on approach has contributed to your success and why you guys are still doing this?

Joby: I think we’re just really picky people as a band. I guess the age old adage if you want something done right then do it yourself applies to us. We are very hands on in every aspect of this band. Everyone has certain jobs or things they have to take care of. When we decided to make this group our lives it was like that it was it. This is our life and the only person that is going to fuck it up is you. It’s very busy; the different things we have to do its very time consuming. It’s good ‘cause we’re in control of everything.

Dwayne: You said that you had recorded the new album in your own studio. So you make your own schedule. Did you have a lot of left over tracks and will those be released as b sides or on comps or anything?

Joby: Yea TONS! Some will be b-sides, we do this thing called social club which is a collaboration of sorts with other people from other bands. We come in and play guitar or sing or just play whatever instrument that they don’t play and with kinda of the Bronx as a backing band. We will print up 250 of those 7 inch’s that are hand screened on one side and two songs on the other side. A lot of our songs that we never finish or we have other people come in finish them we do a lot of those as a social club series.

Dwayne: What are some of the Social Club series that you have done?

Joby: Fist one we did Keith Morris sang on it from Black Flag and the Circle Jerks. Another one was a b-side we did. Jason Hill from a band called Louis the 14th , another one was with Shaun from Throwrag, another one was Joe from Icarus line, Vander from the Weirdos.

Dwayne: You have toured with many different “genres” of bands. Do you think it’s important to tour with a multitude of bands or do you just try to stick to the bands you like?

Joby: We’ve done a few tours with bands we don’t like musically and personally. Which always kind of ruins the whole things, well not ruins the whole thing but you know. We’ve been really lucky to tour with some great bands. I think a lot of it is that it’s difficult to pin down what this band does. I guess its punk, or rock, or hardcore maybe metal. There are all these different things brewing around. It’s exciting touring with different bands, there is definitely different reactions.

Dwayne: A lot of bands seem to find their niche or sound their whole career and they just stick to that. The Bronx just keep progressing and getting better and tighter as a band. Is that something with each new record that comes out? Do you try to push yourselves and push your boundaries?

Joby: I mean to a extent I think as most people who are musicians or enjoy music that’s what is exciting – pushing your boundaries and pushing yourself to learn all there is about the wonderful things about music. Some people don’t. Some are satisfied playing the same 4 bar chords. I think it’s kind of… We put out our first record 5 years ago and we tour so much its kind of impossible not to get better.

Dwayne: In the band how does the writing get broken down?

Joby: Usually I come in with a song and we hash it out as a band. Then sometimes I have vocal ideas. It just sifts its way around till probably the last vocal is sung on the song. Some songs don’t come together till the recording process some songs have been done for a along time. There is no real formula everything is always kind of in limbo till it gets cut to tape.

Dwayne: Growing up what kind of music influenced you?

Joby: I would say growing up I listened to a lot of classical music. I studied piano for a long time. I didn’t like it. Discovering radio at an early age, discovering records at a early age kind of was alright but pop radio to me wasn’t that cool. Obviously it wasn’t classical music but I got into skate boarding and skate boarding leads into this and that. I discovered punk through tape trading in the 80’s just the same way I discovered metal. You would trade Metallica tapes, I mean that is what you did as a kid and how you found new music. DRI, Suicidal Tendencies, Anthrax, just all these strange tapes that you would make. There were always these ads in the back of Thrasher magazine, these mail order ads you can order t-shirts of these bands I had never head of. It was the time when new wave and punk were kind of coexisting at the same time. You had Joy Division, The Cure, Black Flag; there were all these bands with the coolest logos that I had never heard of or didn’t know anything about. The magazine that used to put out it was called Thrasher Skate Rock with bands like JFa with all these bands. You could get all these skate rock comps on cassette and that was the door that lead me to bands that maybe were around for a couple of months or still exist to this day.

Dwayne: Ok I’m going to open up the floor here and let you rant a little. With pop radio being shit…. What pisses you off about music now?

Joby: Its like in LA when you’re first coming up as a band there were these clubs like The Whiskey, The Troubadour, The Coconut Teaser and what they would do is if you’re a band you had pay to play. So you had buy 40 tickets from the club so you would sell them to your friends and if you sold them all you got the gig and you got to play. 40 people would come and those 40 people would buy drinks and the club would make money. I did it one time in an early band and it just really pissed me off because it was just like I can’t believe I’m out here working for this guy doing his job for him just so I can play The Whiskey. So that was kind of when I really got tipped off. I didn’t know that everyone wasn’t in it ‘cause they didn’t love music. I didn’t understand that there was a business to it and it pissed me off and it made me really fucking mad. It still makes me mad because it is still going on today, just in different aspects. Like you have these gigs where these venues and promoters will just crack you down for stuff. Or maybe because it’s a Live Nation gig we are going to sell this percentage of the tour to Bud so your going to be sponsored by Bud or Miller or this and that. When we were on Island or even still on our UK label not UK some label they said ”well, we wanna give away your album for free “and I was just like “well, I don’t want to give away my album for free. It’s worth something.” There’s all these people that are just whoring with these people that are throwing their lives away and their time away and their energy to do what? It’s still going on in every aspect. It’s exhausting. I literally spend half of my day and that’s why we kind of take care of everything so we won’t get swallowed up by that kind of shit. We used to have a business manager I just thought that’s what you did, someone to pay your bills and they get X amount of money and we paid that chick she made like 100,000 off us in one year and I was just like are you fucking kidding me? I thought we were friends and this and that and dude you have to watch your back in EVERYTHING you do. In every single thing. I mean even in fucking clothing companies that give you clothes. They always ask “hey why aren’t you wearing my shit” or “you’re an asshole because I gave this to you and you are not wearing it in the photo shoot”. It’s just like WHAT?? How is that possible? Half the time you are just watching out and jumping over things and trying not to just get involved with shit you don’t want to get involved in while there is shit coming at you from every angle. I guess it’s just kinda gross and that’s just the way it is. The business side of music – whoever can figure it out without having to rely on any sort of business, will make music a lot better place.

Dwayne: Wrapping up, what’s up next for The Bronx?

Joby: After this tour I am going home to see my family for a few days. Then we go to Britain, then we do another North Eastern US and a few dates in Canada tour. Then we go to Australia, then we go to China, then we are done for the year. In January, Mariachi band plays the Sundance Film Festival and there is a bunch of tours for that album.

Dwayne: Any final words, comments or words of infinite wisdom?

Joby: I guess thanks for the interview!