1. OK, let's do the history stuff first. You Todd, & guitar slinging partner Sean Cole, were both in F.Y.P yeah? Why did they split up? What did you both feel the band was failing to achieve? the main reason was that we just felt like it was dying, and i didnt wanna keep something around that was limping and brittle. there was about 2 years where i was second guessing everything and that eventually led to it not being any fun anymore. thats the bottomline,F.Y.P wasnt a job cos we didnt get paid and if it was no fun to us than thats a good enough reason to stop. we are very selfish when it comes to playing,its just for us and if someone else likes it then thats even better but it's an "us first" type of situation.

2. How did you hook up with the other 2 guys in TTK - drummer, Denis Fleps & bassist, Casey Ferrara? Did they have any connections to F.Y.P? Did you audition many others for their roles? How much time elapsed between the split of F.Y.P & the formation of TTK? we knew them for awhile. casey used to go to F.Y.P shows and he's lived in san pedro all his life,so when we moved there everyone just hung out like mad , sorta like some fucked up hippy commune, and like 90% of everyone that hung out played some type of instrument. he's actually a good bass player though. fleps used to be in this band called rosemarys billygoat and F.Y.P played with them lots back in 92,93. we didnt audition anymore before these guys,our first practice was me sean and denis,then the next day casey came in and it felt great. we practiced for about 6 months before we even played a show and during those 6 months F.Y.P was officially still together only because we had one more show to do. but F.Y.P was basically over with,we just had one more show to do and the next day after that show TTK had the first show. that was a neat weekend. to tell you the truth i was glad F.Y.P was finally over even though the last show was great and there was motherfuckers crying and shit and i even felt sentimental but it was like the last day of high school.

3. Considering the F.Y.P connection, why didn't you just release the TTK album under the moniker of F.Y.P? The core of both bands are the same - 'Toys That Kill' was even the title of the last F.Y.P album - it seems the logical thing to do. alot of people thought we were the dumbest people alive to drop the name F.Y.P considering the name could draw people to shows and to buy albums but that was sorta the point,we wanted a fresh start,we wanted to go on tour and play house partys and not play last (even though our first tour we ended up playing last without one record out). it was so fun when F.Y.P first started but it stopped being fun, so a little thing like keeping the name,for some wierd reason, wouldve kept it going,no matter what new songs we had. also, 90% of F.Y.P songs were saying something i cant give a fuck about now. im glad that people still get into F.Y.P now and i hope that they do in the future cos they are at that point of their lives that they can relate to it but i cant relate to words i said10 years ago. no one can say that they can do that,and if they can then theyre doing something wrong.

4. What are you hoping to achieve with TTK that you failed in doing so with F.Y.P? It certainly seems to be a more structured but no less aggressive sound in TTK, is that a correct assumption in the direction TTK wanna head in? Has TTK got any ideals, ambitions, principles etc that F.Y.P didn't have? well its pretty much the same as far as ideals go,we just want to play and we dont wanna be lumped in with the sea of shitty bands that have no heart or spirit behind their music. as far as goals go,i think we have surpassed our original goals, which was make a record that we all loved and play fun live sets. i would love to get to the point where all of us can live off the band but thats hard and its not an ultimatum. its more of a cherry on top situation,but i dont even like cherrys too much so fuck it.

5. The band is obviously on your own label Todd, but did you ever consider trying to get a deal anywhere else - say with Fat Wreck or anything? Is that a move you would consider in the future if the chance was to arise? Where do you stand on Punk bands signing to major labels? Is that something that you as a musician as well as a record label owner can appreciate bands doing? we dont need them. we arent totally oppossed to it but we never ever talk about it, its not something that we care too much about. we have the means to get a record out ,granted its hard cos recess doesnt have much money but i find a way to do it . i had to sell my car to pay for the ttk recording,but somehow we get it out and stay happy. we do talk about labels but when we do its about how shitty they are. i think the move to majors is all up to the actual band that signs the papers. its theyre business and the fans can decide if they want to be a part of theyre business or not BUT they cant decide for the band. it worked for green day and i have respect for them but thats because theyre a great band, but i can think of 2000 bands that it didnt work for. i personally would feel like an shithead giving a master over to some cornhole that'll ass rape you whenever he feels like it but thats just me. but on a hypothetical level if we did it would hafta be a label like fat cos they have a similiar background but fat mikes wife doesnt like me so its recess all the way!

6. You've released your debut album, 'The Citizen Abortion'. How has the public & critical response been to it? Are you pleased with the way it turned out, anything you'd change in hindsight? What's the idea behind the albums title? the response is well beyond what we thought. in our heads after we were done recording we knew there was gonna be some people into it,cos we were happy with it. it was the record we wanted to make a long time ago,i wouldnt change anything about the recording. i think most of that is due to us feeling free to do whatever the fuck we wanted. we knew our friends most likely were gonna dig it but it almost got outta hand,especially with reviews. i never cared much for reviews cos it is always about some volunteer for a fanzine getting handed over a cd and he rolls his eyes pretending that he MUST do this or his kids wont eat and its just like "fuck this fuckface! what do they know?!!" but ive seen many good reviews and thats great but its another cherry on top.

7. I note it was recorded in Texas - why head out there? Did you wanna get the home-grown George W Bush feel or something? Surely there must be some great studios you have access to there in California? Also, how come DWARVE Blag Dahlia didn't produce it as he did (I think) all of F.Y.Ps stuff? recess did the crumbs most recent LP and they recorded there at sweatbox studio. i thought the sound was excellent,very organic. so when we were looking for a place to record the main problem was money, all the cali places are very expensive. i figured that even with gas,driving to austin and recording was gonna be cheaper. i spent $15,000 on the last FYP album?!?! i spent $1500 on the TTK album and i think it sounds way better. sweatbox is just perfect for us on a technical and personal level.

8. If we can just talk about a couple of the songs on the album now, starting with 'Playdough'. I assume this is about plastic surgery yeah? What is the sampled intro referring to someone being 'Obsolete' about? Anyone you know directly had any kinda plastic surgery? no its actually about silicon valley and i wrote that in the hieght of the dot com craze. i thought of how funny/ sad it would be if 20 years from now S.V. was opened just as a guided tour spot due to it's exploding obesity . the song was the guided tour. the sample came from the twilight zone episode " the obsolete man" and i thought it was perfect even though that was made 40 years ago. rod serling was an amazing man!

9. What about '2 Billion Bastards'? There seems to be a few references to journalists there - "12 noon's the deadline for the cute lil story" & "Spice the meat & give the writer glory" being the obvious. Is this an out & out attack on gutter journalism? Who else is it aimed at? What's the worst piece of gutter journalism you have come across? What do you think of the Press in America? its a topic that i'll keep referring too in this band only cos its so huge and theres very little anyone does about it. im not saying its easy to take down the gutter media but it just takes a click to salon.com for a more reliable news source. if people dont watch hard copy,CNN,and entertainment tonight then they wont air it. people sense whats wrong but they dont care too much about it and if someone tells them to care about it they care even less.

10. And 'Bullet FromThe Sky'? What incident, or incidents, does that relate to? I see the FBI get mentioned, 4th July & New Year's Eve too. What are your views on the US Laws relating to gun control? Is it out of control? Do, or would, any of the band own a firearm? i cant stand guns. but people have them and thats the way it is. in LA ,especially in san pedro,theres a big habit to shoot guns in the air on holidays especially new years eve and july 4th. if your under the bullet when it comes down your dead. that song was actually a love song which i didnt think we had in this band but when i think of it ...yea thats a demented love song.

11. A lot of the lyrics are very limited in their composition - as were F.Y.P's. Any reason for this? Could it be said you are focusing your message by restricting the content? Whose idea was it to accompany each set of songs lyrics in the sleeve with a drawing? i dont like it when bands chant overused slogans about government,cops or anything actually. to me it just shows how boring they are by showing everyone that they have no style of theyre own. usually they do that just to get fans on theyre side. to me thats being phoney. if a message gets overlooked cos of the way i write then thats fine. ive heard alotta people say they dont get it but i do ,but i think if they look into more then they'll find something and it doesnt even hafta be what i meant, if they think it means something else then thats sometimes even better...for them at least.

12. Your latest release is a single on Europe's Stardumb Records, a split with the RAGING HORMONES. How did you hook up with them? kevin from the apers and stefan got in touch and asked to do a split 7" and we said yes. we are usually sorta hesitant to do something with someone we dont know but they seemed like great guys and they turned out to be totally stand up people. i really hope they keep doing what they do cos you can tell they love it.

13. What is the TTK live experience like? Any memorable shows, good or bad? F.Y.P had a thing where they'd allow members of the audience on stage to jam along with a song, is that something TTK will continue? no we havent done that with TTK, i think with F.Y.P alotta people told us that we were theyre first favorite band and learned an F.Y.P song on guitar as theyre first song. i dont think anyone knows these yet. live, i think theres much more energy with TTK but there was alotta puke and piss with FYP so it depends on who you ask.

14. You ever play any covers or old F.Y.P songs? Any intentions to record any covers? we just played the beatles song "rain" live the other night but we havent recorded it. it doesnt look like we will play F.Y.P songs. at first,we planned to play songs off the last F.Y.P album, but the way it turned out we were just bringing in new songs left and right and we realized that we dont need to play them. if we end up wanting to play em one day we will but were not gonna play em just to please people that came out for that reason only. they have the records,so they can hear em anytime.

15. Didn't you play at the Maximum Rocknroll 20th birthday bash? How did that go? You get much trouble at your shows? Do you prefer those smaller intimate club kinda shows or the Warped Festival out door kinda affairs? You been asked to do Warped at all? yes it was a fun show. gilman is a good place to play for some bands. i surely prefer the smaller places,some of our best shows were in someones living room. if we have a tour its usually a mix of clubs and house shows. when we roll up to a house to play we are 99% sure were gonna have a great time,where as the clubs go,its maybe a 35% chance it'll be good. no we havent been asked to do the warped tour. im not saying that we would never do it but it just does not seem fun to play. it would be fun in a summer camp way, but not to play. when we went on tour with civic minded 5 last summer, the agenda was to play shows and have a blast. i would feel very wierd on tour surrounded by people who's agenda's are to market theyre band for video games and get laid by stupid girls who think nipple piercings are rebellous.

16. I know you got to Europe to play some shows in F.Y.P, what did you make of that? Did you notice any vast differences between European & US audiences - be that cultural, political or social? Did it vary in any way regarding how you were treated by the promoters? well as far as the promoters went, they are waaayyy more decent than in than in the U.S. if anything they overfed us and drowned us in alcohol and always made sure we had a place to stay and 98% of the time it was in a bed. as for the fans,most of the tour was in germany with ...but alive who were very political so theyre fans were too. everywhere we went,people were different though. some people thought we were "clowns" cos we werent totally serious all the time. i like clowns. the ones with their faces painted though.

17. Is there any chance of TTK making a European/Far East/Australia/New Zealand visit in the near future? Anywhere you'd really desperately love to play? Or desperately DON'T wish to play? weve been wanting to go to japan real bad. we might go to brazil this year. if it was up to just me we would go everywhere but we cant afford that.

18. Going right back, were you not a professional skater at some stage? I heard that it was via the money you made as a Skater that allowed you to buy a 4-track, guitar & drum machine. Do you still write your songs using this method, or do you write as a band, complete? yes thats true. there was a time where i had money but didnt know where to spend it and im glad i spent it that way instead of investing i'll tell you that. the way i write songs is pretty much the same as back then: i just sit on my ass and strum on my guitar while the TV's on and all of the sudden i'll hear something i like,turn the TV down and work on it, then bring it to the band and then we work on it.

19. Expand on the skating thing a bit. Did you used to travel the country for Skating comps? Got a move or anything named after you? You ever meet US BOMBS Duane Peters during your skating days? What's the worst injury you have ever had due to skating? You still do it at all? What are your views on Roller Skaters? i skated with duane a long time ago . yea i usta do all those contests and stuff. i usta have a ramp in my parents backyard but the bank took the house and the ramp and i pretty much stopped on a pro level after that. i tried to keep up with it but after my company flew me to europe for a string of contests,all of which i avoided and went my own way, i stopped going to those function's. i didnt like being around guys that were bitching about their deals etc. i mean a pro skater gets paid (nowadays tremendously!!) alot of money to ride a skateboard and here are all these spoiled fucks complaining?! i still skate when i have time nowadays and i dont get a dime to do it and its actually fun.

20. It's 10 years ago this year since the Rodney King beatings & the ensuing riots. What memories do you have of that event? Should those cops have been sent down? fuck yes they shouldve been sent to the fire! me and my friend joey were talking yesterday about how 99% of the media today calls it "the LA riots" and the 1% leftover refers to em as "the LA uprising". i like that name better even though its just call letters. i remember every street corner had "black owned" signs in front of their stores to keep it loot-free,and the sad thing about it was those local corner liquor stores ran by your neighbor frank or whomever got fucked up bad. it's too bad the people didnt know how to target their thrash sessions to the businesses that deserved it. just imagine a target department store with a black owned sign in front?

21. Have you ever been involved in censorship in anyway? Would you ever consider curtailing the message of a song just to please the censors? What about in film? Are there limits as to what should be viewed by the humble citizen? ive never had to calm anything down for anyones sake. i think thats the difference between an artist and an entertainer. an artist will make something and if people like it well then thats great and an entertainer molds something around everyone elses senses. it sounds lame to use the word "artist" but you get what im sayin' huh? as far as film goes,and anything else for that matter, no one is forcing anyone to go see a film that might be deemed inappropriate. even kids,no one forces them, they want to go see this nasty film! the parents just get pissed cos they dont have all the power they expcted to have over their kids so they need to blame someone else. look at the the james vance vs juda priest case. didnt the judge basically laugh in that deformed face?

22. So, what are the future plans for TTK? Has work began on the second album yet? Comp appearances, singles, tours?? we are touring with dillinger 4 ,as well as doing a split recod with them, in august in the states an plan to tour other countries once we get our shit together. no plans to record a second album yet but we have songs piling up and i think they are getting better.

23. Anything to add? nah

RECESS INTERVIEW

1. OK Todd, first off, can you just tell us what kinda background you came from. Was yours a musical household when you were young? What lead you to Punk Rock and what did your folks think of that? well my parents werent too musical but my dad turned me on to bob dylan whom i still love to death . oh and creedence! my dad was a football coach so he wanted me to play that but i just wanted to skateboard which acted as my gateway to punk rock. back then(early 80's),skating and punk ran hand and hand. i had a ramp in my backyard and it was a sure bet that if you came over to my house to skate you would surely hear black flag,the germs,7 seconds etc blaring from the ghetto blaster. if we went to mike tokymoto's house , whom was a bmx'er, to skate then you'd surely hear metallica.

2. Progressing from there - what lead you to get actively involved in Punk Rock? Did you ever do a band, or a zine, prior to starting Recess Records? i was into punk probablly about 4 or 5 years before i started anything. for some reason i always thought (or knew) musicians were total creeps and that kept me from being in a band for awhile i guess. i did the first F.Y.P demo's in 1988 just to leave the tapes in my teachers desk's. it turned into a band 3 years later.

3. Why did you start Recess Records? Was it to release a specific record? Was it just your creation, or did you have a partner or collaborator in the early days? i just wanted to put this F.Y.P demo that i made on 7". i had no idea how to do this nor get rid of em. i aksed this guy named "O" how to press up some 7"s and he told me. i didnt really ask about distribution til after i pressed em up. when i get an idea in my head i hafta just plunge into it. but no, i didnt have any plans of doing a label,actually the recess logo was found and pasted onto the cover at th last minute.

4. Let's do a bit of label history - when did you start the label & where? What, back then, were your long-term plans/goals/ideals for Recess Records? Did you ever imagine it would become what it is today - a respected Punk Rock label of some standing? i started the label in 1990 if you count the vinyl/official release,i put out demo tapes in 1988. i never even thought it would be an ongoing thing let alone have almost 100 releases. it's quite crazy to think of that. all of my goals and visions came after the second 7" was released which was to just keep putting out records that i like by people i like and tats th same deal today.

5. Did you have a great deal to learn when you started, or were you already aware of what it took to start a label & to release records? Did you seek any advice? What was the biggest initial obstacle you faced? (see question 3) as far as obstacle's go, the biggest one has been lack of money. im always in debt. 1994-1996 we did pretty good but ever since then its been shoddy at best to try to keep money flowing in to do things for bands like tour support etc. which brings upanother obstacle,lack of touring bands on recess. when they dont tour,people dont know about them. fuck it cos i'd rather put out the pud record,whom never toured, then a shitty record like thursday,who prolly always tour.

6. What about the business side of the label? Do you find that, even after 12 years of releasing records, that you are still finding out new things about the record production business and the music business in general? oh i find out something everyday and it's usually how fucking shitty people in this business are! even alotta the independent labels,whom we know and love, act totally buffoon-like towards their bands and they lack anything resembling passion towards their music. theyres about a million labels but i can only count a few that put out records they really love and have their own style to back it up. it makes me laugh how fucking boring they are,but it makes me cry how broke i am.

7. I understand the label has had a few moves in its time too. It started out in your bedroom yeah? Where did it go from there? Didn't you open a shop at some stage too? Is that still open? Describe your current premises and its surrounding area. yes it started in my parents closet actually. i was a big insomniac back then too so i would be doing mailorder at 3am and my parents rarely complained. i would boot ass if someone was ripping packaging tape everytime i went to sleep! the next move was when i moved outta my parents house ,into a very small cottage. that was in 1993. then in 1994-1995 we moved into a big warehouse and that only lasted for 2 years. the record store in san pedro lasted about 8 months. in 1997 we moved recess to san pedro,first in my house then into an office then back into my house and that's where it is right now. i like it just fine.

8. What makes a band a 'Recess band'? What do you look for when signing/releasing a record by a band? Do you put any guidelines down on what you will and what you will not release? well theres no guidlines as far as sound goes cos i think the grumpies sound nothing like toys that kill and civic minded 5 sound nothing like the crumbs but theres an element that bonds em all. all those bands are into it more than anyone but they dont act like they'll quit if they aint gonna get big. they wanna get big,dont get me wrong, i think everyone does BUT they love it as is right now. they'll play for $30 if they hafta. i guess a guideline of what i wouldnt release is totally soft-dicked sounds backed by hard on attitudes. it aint worth it.

9. I guess you can't go into specifics, but what kind of deal do you offer a band? Do you deal with contracts or is it based on a handshake & your word? Do the deals vary from band to band? What about paying for studio time? i can go into specifics. we have a few different deals. 1) we release the record and we give 15-20% of the pressing,depending on if the band pays for th recording or not. 2) we just pay royalties based on 50/50 profits. after we recoup all the money we put in. we have a contract but only like 3 bands signed it. its just a page that details what we can and cant do. it wont hold up in court but ive always had the ideal's that if someone ddoesnt wanna do a record with me then i dont wanna do a record with them. lately we havent been able to do all the bands recordings cos were brok but when we have money we pay for that.

10. Do you make a living off the label, or is it a labour of love? Would you ever sign a band on the basis of the fact that they are gonna make you a wad of cash, even if you thought they sucked? i and hal ba dal made a living off the label for a few years but now its not in that position to pay salary. it will always be a labour of love deal as ive spent so much money on it already and have yet to see any great monetary reward but i wouldnt mind getting money as long as i dont hafta put out a shitty band to do it. yes ive had offers to put out big bands stuff like home grown but they just totally blow and i was suppossed to put out the hives years back but i like them , i just had too much going on.

11. Is Recess a one man deal, or do you have employees or any assistance to aid the running of the label? If so, what do they do and how many? Is it yourself who has final say on what bands get signed? hal ba dal usta be full time but now he doesnt really work @ recess due to money problems but he'll always be at recess in heart and hopefully we get in better shape to get him back at work. heather,who is also in the teen idols, does most of the mailorder nowadays and will most likely do alot more tasks sooner or later . yes , i make all the final decisions

12. How many of each release do you press? Did you deal in CDs from the start or is that something that came from progression? Do you have a preferred release format (vinyl or CD)? How much of your back catalogue is in stock & do you regularly repress items? nowadays we do 1000 cd's and 500 vinyl. thats the average and is on a case by case basis. i didnt do cd's up until 1994. it was really rare for punk labels to do cd's back then i think. i prefer vinyl for sure cos i mainly collect tht,i do have lotsa cd's but i like vinyl better. most of our back catalog is in stock with about 10 releases out of print. we hafta repress our better selling stuff about once every 6 months.

13. What about distribution? Is that all done via yourself, or do you go through Mordam or an equivalent? How did you set that deal up if so? Do you distro any other labels? recess is distributed by IMD (www.imusicd.com) which is ran not unlike mordam and i actually work there so it makes it easier to get stuff out there. besides them our mailorder does real good.

14. What has been the biggest & worst selling release on the label? Has there been one release that you are particularly proud of? the biggest would be F.Y.P-dance my dunce which has sold about 10,000. the worst selling release might be pud but its also one of my favorite's, so thats how that goes.

15. Conversely, are there any releases you regret putting out? Have you ever rejected releasing a band's record who you now regret? Anyone you'd like to work with in the future? i dont really regret putting anything out that i have, i regret putting as much money into the furious george record and others that didnt tour. im glad we have the records though. i rejected the jag offs LP cos one person in the band started acting like a phony rockstar after we put out the split (w/4 letter words) and to think that they are neighbors/friends makes everything even worse. they are a great band and i wish em luck but i just dont think its worth dealing with certain attitudes. well we got a dillinger 4/ toys that kill split and ive wanted to do a d4 record since we first played with em.

16. OK - if we can just talk about some of the bands & releases - starting with Scanner faves - THE DWARVES!! How did you get involved with them? It seems everyone associated with the DWARVES has a story about their debauchery - tell us one we've not heard!! How did you find working with them and did they give you any scary moments? In your opinion, are they as fucked up as they so often appear? they stayed at jed's (ex-F.Y.P bassist) house while on tour a long time ago and somehow we became friends. blag started producing F.Y.P in 1993 and after that he asked me to do record and i couldve shit my pants. that was great! a band that we would listen to non-stop and have 40,000 conversations about in the van asked me to do a record. rock balls!

17. Likewise, Florida's THE CRUMBS. How did they end up on Recess? Did Lookout! dump them, or is there something more sinister to the situation? well we (F.Y.P) toured with the crumbs because me and emil (bassist) were pen pals and after the tour we did their first release (alien girl 7"). after that they did records for lookout and then came back to recess because they thought lookout werent really paying attention to them. weve been friends all this time so it was natural they asked me first to do their newest record and it was natural for me to say "fuck yea"

18. There was also an early PROPAGANDHI release - from about '94 I think yeah? How did you hook up with them? What did you think of them signing to Fat Wreck & what do you think of them now? we(FYP,once again) played with them and we hung out playing air hockey so much that we wanted to do a live airhockey 7", just the sounds we made while playing airhockey. that of course was a bad idea so they recorded some songs instead. i like propagandhi lots and i like fat wreck as well. im not a fan of most of their roster nor that balls-less ryan greene "sound" but fat treat their bands better than anyone in the business cos mike's been in a band that struggled for years before they got big and he's on the level as far as i know.

19. Tell us a bit about your latest signing - CIVIC MINDED 5. they are fucking mad motherfuckers who rock balls all over the place. one show they'll play so good that you'll wanna throw yer guitar away and the next they'll be soo drunk that will make ya wanna take the guitar outta the trash and throw the bottle away. still, they dont give a fuck and theyre better than any of your friends bands.

20. What do you think is the public image of Recess Records, if indeed it even has one in your eyes? i dunno. well i really think people think were inmature and make fun of anything thats not on recess which might be true but we only act that way to hussle fuckers. everyone trusts the child who aint trying to steal candy bars.

21. Recess is 100% independent yeah? Have you ever had any offers from a bigger/major label to assist you financially? Has there ever been a black spot - financial or otherwise - which nearly caused the label to fold? well weve gotten offers from distributors to buy the catalog but i aint going out like that. they arent around anymore so for once i made a smart business move ha! but everyday theres a finiancial blackhole but thats a good sign to me cos i went from beign $30,000 in debt to $10,000 in debt in the matter of months. that was great to me! not only cos i was slowly getting back to zero but because it stated ,to me ,that i can do this label forever. i remember about 3 periods while i have been doing this label that labels were dropping like flies and not once did i get nervous cos the reason they were dropping was their bottom line. they were no longer making a profit so they had to fold. i will do this label as long as i want to do this. if i dont like it next week then i wont do it anymore. of course i would like to make money off of it but its not mandatory. yes, im sick of being broke but its not that bad when i consider how many people are in debt cos of their shitty jobs dont hand over a solid enough paycheck to keep up on their S.U.V. payments. Recess aint no S.U.V.!

22. Recess has also been involved in the pressing of a book - Evan Cohen's 'I Was A Murder Junkie, The Last Days Of GG Allin'. How did you get involved with that? Did you ever meet GG? Again, everyone seems to have a GG story - tell us one!! Is it likely that Recess is gonna be involved with the production of any more books? Evan Cohen(author) was/is the bass player of furious george and some other company was gonna put that book out til they started pulling his dick right out. so he asked me to do it fully knowing i had no experience in book publishing. well we got rid of almost 3000 of those so it all be good. i really wanna do more books but ,as with bands nowadays, i will be very picky about it.

23. What about the video market? Will we see an MGM production of the Recess Movie or anything? MGM can lick me nards. that video has taken like 5 years and its finally coming out in june. again, i wouldnt mind doing more videos and/or dvds. i dont think the recess medium should be exclusively in music form as theres too much good art out there to discriminate. now is a good time for real good underground shit ,its just a matter of finding it and thats not hard if you dont have your hand on the rap metal dick all the time.

24. After having done Recess for 12 years now, do you see it continuing for another 12? Do you still have the same enthusiasm for music, bands and new releases that you did 12 years ago, or has age brought a certain jaded sensibility to things? i can see this going for another 12 for sure. like i said i will do this for as long as i want cos its my life. and to tell you the truth im more excited about new recess releases nowadays then i was 6 years ago. i think theres more of everything going into the new shit cos i went through a period where i stopped giving a fuck about it mostly due to too much touring and seeing and playing with bands that were big and shouldnt of been. i think thats jealousy and while i still get like a defensive mother, "why arent the crumbs big but diesel boy is?!?!" , it just useless in the end cos those bands and fans will move onto some other fuck stick.

25. What are your thoughts about downloadable music off the Internet? Will you be venturing into the CD-ROM market with any future releases? How much of a benefit has the Recess Website been to the label? im split on mp3's. for one, im a fan of people getting music however they can. some people are broke and they cant shell out fucking nearly $20 for a shitty cd. theyve been doing it for years by duping cassettes and the only difference is theres no need for a friend to buy it in the first place. plus usually it might promote someone to buy something they love. BUT i think an album consists of music,lryics,packaging and song order. its like a book and you just cant get that from an mp3 download. but thats more of a preference than anything else. recess partially owes its survival to the website. i wouldnt be able to afford printed catalogs and ad's these days.

26. With the advent of on-line music buying, downloads etc - what do you think is the future for the humble record shop? Is part of the fun of record shopping rooting through bins and racks trying to find bargains etc? yea again its a preference and i'd rather brainwash kids into preferring to shop that way. i dont like the idea of mom & pop record stores going away! once i found peanut records (the store where i first started buying punk records at) my life was changed. i would spend hours there and now kids dont leave their house. this is our future! we need to get them out there buying our records or else they will grow up to be the same douches running things now.

27. So, what are the labels immediate plans? Next releases? Looking further than that - what does the long-term future hold for the label? well we got the recess video that mr.flipy has been slaving over coming out in june and this pedro band called the rolling blackouts are gonna do something. they kick! theres gonna be a toys that kill/d4 split, a civic minded 5/ the blacks split. the blacks were just an amazing band! their leader,chad, recently died while on tour and all of us were just devistated cos he was so talented and just an all around good person. so im really happy i get to put that split out.

28. Lastly, any advice you have to people aspiring to do their own label?? Do you have any regrets about starting Recess? What has been the single best thing about doing the label? the single best thing is alotta things actually,i would feel totally lost without the ability to do this,its the one thing in my life that ive stuck with for 12 years and thats great cos i usually see the internal parts of things and run away. ive seen the worst fucking people do the worst fuckin actions in this business and i still have the sense to ignore it and do my own thing only cos i love it so much.the only advice that i personally can give is just put out what you feel strongly about. block off everyone else's shitty opinions about how music should sound cos there is no one way anything SHOULD sound. theres nothing worse than when business majors try to start labels. the only regrets that i have about recess is that ive done some pretty stupid business moves and squandered away money that couldve been managed and budgeted better,but it wouldve cost me $50,000 to learn those lessons in college so i feel that i saved alotta money!

29. Anything you wanna add? nah