John: Why the fuck did you break up?
Jase: (awkward pause) Uh, that�s a good one. I think after the tour, going into the studio right afterwards was a mistake. We didn�t take any time off. The studio experience wasn�t that good.
John: Why not?
Jase: It was too formal I think.
John: Which studio was it?
Jase: Mad Oak. It wasn�t anything to do with the engineer or anything. We worked with Andrew, which was awesome. But I think we just needed a break and we didn�t take it.
Pete: We should�ve taken this break that we just took after the tour. And like not hung out with each other and left it up in the air then rather than kinda quit when there was still work to do.
Jase: It was a matter of everyone being exhausted and sick of each other.
John: How long were you guys out on tour for?
Jase: Five and a half weeks? Six weeks?
John: And how did the tour go with Orange Goblin?
Jase: Fucking awesome. It was amazing, just seeing those guys. Actually, what blew me away was the first show - they all had the flu. We played CB�s and I had never seen them before, I had no idea what to expect. Looking at them just off the plane they all looked like fucking walking death, and they went out there and fucking destroyed. Absolutely destroyed the club. They just brought it every fucking night.
John: Orange Goblin�s kinda of an established band. How did you wind up with them? What did you bring to the table?
Pete: What did we bring to the table?
John: Cause you�re just, y�know, Lamont.
Jase: (Laughs)
Pete: We had a cool name.
Jase: And a bald singer.
John: Speaking of which, you�re kind of bald and ugly. How does it feel being the front man when the other two guys are significantly more handsome?
Pete: I make up for it in charm. And wit. My cock is way bigger.
John: Now for you guys, is it really tough learning all the bass lines and drum parts that Pete teaches you?
Jase: He makes it easy on us sometimes.
John: Because it really is �Pete Knipfing�s Lamont.�
Jase: Oh yeah, there�s no doubt about that.
John: Now with the EP, you got off the tour, you recorded it, then you broke up, and then you decided to get back together. Because, y�know, you decided to change your diapers or whatever. Why did you remaster and redo the EP again?
Jase: It sounded too polished. Way too polished the first time around. We didn�t really take any time off before we mixed it between recording. We pretty much just did everything in one shot. After we sat on it and listened to it for a while it was like, �Alright, it�s not raw enough.� If we already spent that much money getting it recorded the right way, we might as well spend a little more to try to squeeze some more sound out of it.
John: So how�d you go about getting it to sound rawer?
Pete: We added distortion to the bass, distortion to a little of the vocals, redid a couple vocal things, brought some drums up in a couple of songs.
John: While you guys were on your hiatus, I know you (Pete) did something with Scissorfight for a while. What was all that about, and is it still going on?
Pete: Yeah. Once we get back from this tour, I�m going to start going up to New Hampshire I think and write that stuff with Jay from Scissorfight. He plays a drop A and I play a drop D and the drummer plays double bass. It sounds like Lamont-Scissorfight
John: And how about you two guys?
Jase: Me and Todd messed around a little bit. We pretty much went down and jammed, just have something to do, keep playing. We get in that routine, having that to do all the time, and then chop it off. I was lost. It was tough. Big change.
John: Now with the EP, it�s being released on Underdogma on October 11, and you�re going on tour for that. Where you going?
Todd: I got it.
Pete: You got it? Todd�s got it.
Todd: Akron, Ohio
Pete: Dayton.
Todd: Dayton, Detroit, Milwaukee, St Louis, Omaha, Lincoln, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Austin, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Little Rock, Arkansas, Atlanta, Fredericksburg for our Underdogma release party � thank you to those guys, they�re fucking awesome.
Jase: Yeah.
Pete: Big ups.
Todd: Big ups. And then, um, New York and then Boston on the 15th, which is pretty sweet to end it back home again. (Sees hot girl walk by) I swear to God, I�ll get you in for free if you show me your tits. I promise.
John: So how�d you guys do the tour plan?
Pete: Basically, Greg from, uh... There�s lots of boobs in here tonight.
Jase: The [sic] girl is practically a stripper.
Pete: She�s almost the spitting image of Jenna Jameson. Except her ass. She has no ass.
Anyway, my friend Greg Spalding from Bible of the Devil agreed to book that tour. We�re paying him huge money. He got us huge guarantees. We may not have to work when we get back. I know I�m quitting my job.
John: What � the high stakes world of real estate?
Pete: Yeah.
Todd: We�re going to get gold teeth too.
John: Ok, so how about the follow up to Muscle, Guts & Luck?
Pete: It�s gonna put Lamont on a whole different level.
Todd: The songs are much much stronger. I think we�re excited to do these songs a lot more than we ever have been. We�re happy about the new material.
John: So how much new shit do you have?
Pete: (sees another girl) Hot damn!
I�m sorry, what?
Todd: I think we have eight new ones right now, with a ninth on the way. We wrote quite a bit, and then got ready to practice for tour. So we�ve been trying to get the set list together and shit like that.
John: So when are you thinking of recording the new one?
Pete: We�re going to demo it � (pointing to Jase) he�s going away to France, to Paris, soon, so hopefully we�ll get the demos done by the end of the year. And then we�ll start approaching labels.
John: So how�s the writing process break down in the band?
Pete: It�s all me.
Todd: Pete usually writes my drum parts.
Pete: I write the drum parts first. I get tones off of a synthesizer I have in my room.
Todd: Pete likes to work his guitar parts around his drum parts. First he comes up with a drum part, and then he sort of starts from that end.
Pete: Vocal melodies first.
Todd: Oh, right right.
Jase: Yeah. Of course.
Pete: I get those really complex melodies. All those harmonies we have in Lamont.
John: I definitely noticed a thrash metal version of Def Leppard�s Hysteria with the new EP. Except with one voice. How do you do it?
Pete: I�m just gifted.
John: With the tour with Orange Goblin, what was the best show you did?
Pete: There were a few. San Francisco was awesome.
Jase: Chicago.
Pete: Texas was awesome. Chicago was awesome.
Jase: LA.
Pete: Austin was awesome.
Todd: Buffalo.
Pete and Jase: Lackawanna [outside of Buffalo, NY].
Todd: We got the cops called on us at the club. The cops shut us down while we were playing.
Pete: We were too loud.
Todd: They said we were too loud for the neighbors. So then we took a break for 30 minutes, and then Orange Goblin played, thank God.
Pete: �Cause there were four people there. It sucked.
John: What�s the shittiest thing about playing in Boston?
Todd: The fucking students. They don�t like rock n roll. They�re all into dance clubs, and they don�t like rock n roll.
John: And the best?
Todd: The best thing about playing Boston? I think the people the really love rock n roll, that go to the shows, really really love you. They�re very supportive people. Every one of them is amazing people, and you call them your friends. And we support them as much as they support us, going to see other bands and such.
Unfortunately it�s a small community here, but they�re good people. They�ve very supportive. And yeah, the college kids just sort of ruin the whole thing. I feel like people want to tell them, �It�s cool to a dance club,� so they all go to a dance club. It�s not �cool� to go to rock shows, so they don�t go.
Pete: They don�t listen to rock anymore. The other thing about Boston is that nobody even plays hard rock up here. Y�know, there�s like four bands up here that pay anything that�s halfway decent and heavy.
John: Speaking of which, you want to name drop those bands?
Pete: Nope.
Jase and Todd: (laughs)
John: Not even one?
Pete: Nope.
Todd: People we play with.
John: Now does being in Lamont get you laid?
Jase: No, not at all
Todd: Never.
Pete: My cock has been worn down to a nub. From fucking Jase and Todd.
Jase: You wish, Knipfing.
Pete: I�m the top.
John: Jase, you�re the most recent member. They seem to go through bass players like one goes through wet naps after eating KFC. What�s the problem? Is it getting to close to the sun that is Knipfing? That the heat�s too much and you have to move on?
Todd: It�s because Pete and I are pricks.
Pete: We�re really mean, evil dudes.
Todd: I�d say it�s mainly we�ve never found someone who wants to go on the road. That was our main problem. We did, and nobody else was willing to go out there and do it. Then we found this bastard out of fucking nowhere.
John: How�d you come into the fold?
Jase: Ugh, that�s a long story.
John: Well I�m running out of questions, so talk. Use a lot of adverbs.
Jase: I used to be real good friends with Only Living Witness back in the day, and kept on Jonah with what he was doing, and knew he was running Traktor7 and everything. I knew Lamont, I dug their stuff, and not too long after the last time I was stalking Jonah, I saw that they took out an ad looking for a bassist, and I used to play bass, so I gave it a go and said, �Fuck it.� Rolled a joint, showed up with a 30 pack, and it�s all history. I fucking love playing with these guys.
Except right now.
I guess I should say I just love playing with Todd.
John: On the new EP, which is the song you love the most.
Pete: The one I dedicated to you, my love.
John: Y�know, just because I�m asking you Hit Parader style questions doesn�t mean you have to give me Hit Parader style answers. Fuck it, I�m not even going to ask you what your favorite color is.
Jase: As far as what people are going to dig, they�re going to dig, �Raise a Little Hell� and �Eightball.� As far as the songs that I like listening to, I think it�s a strong EP. I like the whole thing. It�s decent enough to listen to where it doesn�t bother me. When you�re listening to your own shit, that doesn�t happen.
Pete: You know what, I�m going to tell you what I think about the EP. We�re excited to have a record out after two years, and we do think it�s very very good, but we�re all much more excited about doing the band again. Since this has been recorded for over a year, we�re highly motivated about the next release. We�re psyched to be out touring. When you see us, you�ll notice how much stronger the shit that isn�t on the EP compared to what is on the EP, musically and stylistically. it�s heavier. It�s just better. It�s all stronger material.
John: Even the singing?
Pete: Even the singing.
John: Wow, that�s saying a lot.
Pete: I�m telling ya. It sounds like fucking Spandau Ballet, man.
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