RAGINPIT MAGAZINE

What would you do if you had the opportunity to sit down and talk to your favorite band? What would you talk about? Without even thinking about those questions I found myself feeling froggy one evening and I requested an interview with Authority Zero. I’ll be honest, I jumped around my living room in excitement with perma-grin when I found out I was given the opportunity to be up close and personal with members of this band. Then reality set in and I realized that I had to come up with some decent questions to ask these guys. I am the editor for Raginpit Magazine after all so I couldn’t go in there as the stereotypical star struck fan – fuck!

So I sat down and I had to think, I mean really think back about everything I ever thought about asking Authority Zero. Considering I’ve been following these boys for the better part of a decade, this was somewhat a difficult task. Besides being a huge fan, I really wanted to do this interview because these guys are the epitome of a successful independent band. I’ve seen them play shows in the smallest “clubs” to local record stores to major venues. They are very active in the local scene in Arizona and they work hard to do what they love.

If you ever wanted to know what it takes to be successful in music or just want to know a little more about one of the coolest bands ever, then take a look at what Jason DeVore, lead vocalist of Authority Zero, and I sat down and spoke about. He was gracious enough to pass on some very useful information and wisdom and I just want to thank Authority Zero for doing what they do.

My interview begins in a 15 passenger van, home away from home for Authority Zero, outside of the Boardwalk in Orangevale, CA.

So tonight is going to be the first night I get to see the new line up, can you give us a little history on how Dean and Bryan came to join Authority Zero?

Jason: Yeah, pretty much there was a difference in opinion with a couple of members previously. After a certain amount of years it boils up to a point in a situation where the one person or the entire band kind of thing came to head, but me and Jeremy are still great friends.

We tried a couple of other bass players out at home, and some said they were down for it and then they actually went on tour with us and decided, "Uh, this kind of thing isn't for me." Touring life in general, it takes a certain person really as well as a girlfriend to be able to handle something like that. It ended up not working out with a couple of the other guys and then DJ was in a band back home called Stoked. They had just recently broken up for people moving to other areas and he's always been around. We've always known the guy and he has the same kind of style we play. We tried him out, we dug it, and he went to Japan with us. His first tour was going to Japan.

Way to go for a first tour.

Jason: Bryan's an old buddy of ours as well. He was in a band back home called Last Action Zeros and they just broke up recently as well and we talked about adding another guitarist. We started out as a five piece back in '94 so we always talked about the idea of having a rhythm guitarist again. We grew as a band not having it so it was kind of weird to me when I saw us as a five piece rather than a four piece. Long story short, he joined the band and we've all been kind of going forward ever since.

You guys are obviously going through an evolution process with the second guitarist back in the lineup and the new bassist. Is the sound changing much at all?

Jason: Not... yet. We haven't really started writing anything new yet, so it's probably going to be a different kind of experience because we're so used to the way we've written as a four piece for so many years - like we would bounce off of each other so fast songs went pretty quick when writing. Now it's two different opinions and two different styles coming into the mix, I'm sure it will probably make for a different sound in general. We initially will probably end up keeping the "Authority Zero sound."

Well, when can fans expect a new album from Authority Zero?

Jason: Probably, hopefully, this summer. We're trying to get this one out for Warped Tour, just like the last album we were trying for Warped Tour as well, but things didn't work out.

So we're going to be writing and recording in January and February and then hitting the road again in March, but around that touring schedule, we're going to be recording off and on.

You were originally signed to a major label and now you're on an indie label. How would you compare the two?

Jason: Well, it seemed like the major label had; honestly, a lot more money, but you're not making any money. They just put a lot of money into stupid things, you know, like radio promos and stuff like that, just all sorts of weird stuff that really didn't help or hurt. They just wasted a lot more money, but they definitely helped with publicists and stuff like that and getting stuff set up like interviews and everything where as the indie label that we're with right now - we're actually doing a lot more of the work ourselves. We've taken pretty much everything we're doing and have gone with it ourselves. They distribute the album for the most part, but other than that a lot of the foot work we've been doing ourselves.

So business wise everything now is more geared towards you guys doing the work instead of the labels.

Jason: Which we like, because it keeps us all interested and it keeps us all focused on what we're doing.

Do you feel you have more creative freedom now being on an indie label?

Jason: Yeah, I think so, quite a bit actually.

I know back in the day you performed locally under aliases back in Arizona. Are you still doing that at all?

Jason: We haven't only because we haven't been at home. Otherwise, we probably will when we get back like sometime in January or February we'll do something again like Irish Car Bombs. We'll think of something.

You mentioned the tour in Japan. What was that like?

Jason: It was awesome. It was amazing. It was probably one of the coolest tours I have even been on. You know, we've done U.S. touring for years now - 8 years and this was our first time travelling abroad over to see a completely different country. They don't know your language. It's totally different scenery as well as them reacting to you on stage when you're singing. Like a typical thing is they know your words and that's the only English they know. So that's just a trip. The songs were written in the basement or whatever in my house. People in Japan that's the only English they know. It just freaks me out. It’s pretty mind blowing, it was really cool.

So how do the Japanese fans compare to American fans?

Jason: They're rad. They're just radical, they're outrageous, like when the music starts playing they just go off the hook. The craziest thing that freaked us out when we first got there was that as soon as you're done playing a song there was dead silence. There was no talking at all, nobody talked to each other, no yelling at the band like, "Play another fucking song!" or whatever.

That's bizarre.

Jason: It's out of respect I think that is. They're just so respectful over there, it's quiet in between and then the second you hit that trigger they just go nuts again.

Being that you've been on tour, what are some of your favorite venues to play?

Jason: Well, we like the Boardwalk a lot, we were just saying, because last night we played a venue that was new, it was kind of a bigger room and just really echoy you know. We were having issues with the sound, but here it's always great sound. We love the sound guy here; he's always a really cool, outstanding guy. He stands out amongst all the sound guys in the U.S. to be honest with you. He's got a really unique, different personality about him. This place and we love playing the Marquee Theater back home in Phoenix.

I love the Marquee. I've seen some amazing shows there.

Jason: That place is bad. They have a great sound system there.

What are some of your best and worst experiences on tour?

Jason: Um, best would probably be, well probably just everything honestly, every tour is different. It’s a lot of the same scenery, but there is always something different that happens that's fun and exciting. It kind of keeps you on your toes a lot. Worse, would probably be just lack of sleep because you're up at all hours of the night, like driving over night.

Yeah, are you guys still splitting those 16 hour shifts?

Jason: Yeah, we actually have an overnight drive to San Diego tonight.

Oh yeah, that's brutal and you need to be in Arizona by Saturday.

Jason: Mm, hmm.

Nice. So I have to ask you, what was it like running from the authorities in Colorado?

Jason: Oh it was fun man. It's what I was born for.

I saw that picture [of Jason hanging out on top of a street sign at Warped Tour] and I was just like, wow.

Jason: Yeah, nice, it was fun. It was fun to kind of get in trouble again. I haven't been in trouble with the cops in a while.

I know, I think the last time [I remember] was when they shut you guys down on St. Patty's Day at the Bash on Ash or something.

Jason: Yeah, bottles were breaking and somebody got hurt. I don't remember exactly what happened. I know somebody chucked a bottle over the fence and somebody was bleeding, they got hit in the head.

[About Colorado] It was fun. It was funny, as soon as I got done with the show the minute the last song hit the security guard walked up and luckily the security guard was a buddy and a fan of ours came up and he's like, “alright dude here's the plan, here's the deal, I'm suppose to escort you back behind the stage, the cops want to talk to you and probably charge you for climbing the pole or whatever the hell.” And I was like, “are you serious?” He said, “ yeah, so what I suggest to you is take off that shirt,” because I had a pretty unique shirt on, “hide yourself, go inside your van and hide in there the rest of the day because otherwise, you're in deep shit.” Alright, threw off my shirt, threw it in the crowd, threw my hair up in a knot, threw on some sunglasses, got a beer and went up and sat on the grassy knoll area for like an hour or something, then I just started walking around.

Nice, evading the authorities.

Jason: Oh, yeah.

So you have performed with the likes of Guttermouth, Flogging Molly and Pennywise, what would be the dream tour for Authority Zero, who would be on the bill?

Jason: Dream tour - we have always talked about Rancid, like us, Rancid, probably Pennywise - it's hard there's so many good bands. I love playing with Flogging Molly too, it's just a ball. We did a tour with them on the east coast. Every night was just outrageous. They're so much fun to play with.

St. Patty's Day [Authority Zero and Flogging Molly on the bill] in Arizona, that was just crazy. That was an amazing show.So Jim's in Ransom Apparel, Dean's in a couple of other bands, and you have the solo album. Are there any other side projects the band collectively is into or individually?

Jason: Bill's actually doing an album right now as well. There's a lot of stuff that he'd written for past albums that were kind of b-songs or whatever in a sense that they didn't get used on the album. He liked a lot of the ideas he had still so he went ahead and laid those down and is recording back home and I've been working on a second solo album just for fun. The first one was a lot of fun to do.

You've obviously been in the business for quite some time. What advice can you give for new bands trying to break through and be successful in the industry?

Jason: I'd say do it for the right reasons.

• Make sure you're happy doing it, you know, otherwise it wastes your time. You're going to get to that point where you thought you wanted to be and not be happy if you're not truly happy with what you are doing.
• Start it with some good friends is what I would say. It's helped with our longevity at least. Doing it for fun is what we were really doing it for and it's evolved into something really cool where we can almost do it for a living.
• Get a website obviously now a days, I'm sure everyone's got one anyway like a MySpace thing because that's where everyone is listing stuff.
• Get a good recording of your stuff. I get a lot of CD's on the road. A lot of times you'll hear stuff - there's good songwriting, but a lot of times if it's not a good recording it doesn't keep your interest. That's what radio, record labels, all that crap, wants.

Right, we're trying to push really hard for bands to get professional EPK's and stuff.

Jason: It helps a lot.

You have a strong local support system with other Arizona bands like Redfield. How important is the hometown support not only from the fans, but the bands also?

Jason: It was one of the key important things for me when we were coming up. I would make it a note to go out to every local band’s show that I befriended or even caught my interest slightly and really try to help everybody work together and try to get the other bands involved, so that everybody could just have a fan base grow around the entire scene. It didn't seem like a lot of that was going on when we were starting out. A lot of the bands didn't seem to be working together too much so we really try to make it a point to be out there and to go out and support their shows. Book a lot of shows together - just to try and build everything together as one.

Last question, if you had it to do all over again is there anything you would do differently?

Jason: Nope. Nope, not a thing. No regrets, man.

For more info on Authority Zero check out:
http://www.myspace.com/authorityzero