March 21,
2002
Interview by Kevin Pollock
First can you
introduce the band, ages & position in the band?
Rick Antaya(19 years old) - Bass/Vocals
Shawn Lyons(18 years old) - Guitar/Vocals
Steve Reaume(18 years old) - Drums
Jason "Farley" MacFarlane(16 years old) - Guitar/Vocals.
How did Room
Without A View form & how do you describe your sound?
We formed back in the summer between
grade school and high school. Which is, if I recall correctly,
the summer of 98'. We should write a song called that. Doesn't
have the same ring as 69' thou.. Anyway. back to my story.
3 "smart" kids decided to try their hand at music. Those kids
Rick, Shawn and Steve. They sucked, but that didn't stop them
making asses out of themselves. Well a few years went by and
out came the Goldfish Bowl EP, after the band wasn't ashamed
anymore. This brought on much goodness, such as many more
shows and even a spot at the 2001 Vans Warped Tour in Detroit.
Well then blah blah blah, then about 7 months ago the band
added exceptional guitarist Jason "Farley" MacFarlane. As
for our sound, it's hard to describe, we try to be as diverse
as possible. I've never really been able to compare us to
anything that's out there. However, here are a few bands that
other people(zines, labels, fans) have compared us to Dynamite
Boy we are often compared to. Zebrahead and Sloppy Meateaters
is another. We've been told once by a zine that we had a FAT
coading on us. That was pretty sweet. Face to Face, Lagwagon
are some others I've heard. Now I'm not saying we sound like
any of these people, cause I idelize all these bands. But
these are some that people have said.
What kind of
equipment do you each use?
Rick uses a Ibanez SR800 bass, Yorkville
400, Yorkville 15" and 4x10 cabinets. Shawn uses a Custom
Cort Strat guitar, Marshall Valvestate 100H, 4x12 Marshall
and 4x12 Crate cabinets. Steve uses Yamaha Stage Custom drums,
zildjian and sabian cymbols. Farley uses a Epiphone Les Paul
Studio guitar, Fender Telecaster guitar, Dunlop Crybaby Wah,
Crate halfstack.
Whats been
your favourite & most embarassing moments as a band?
Favourite moments include recent ones, when we jumped on the
end of the Sewing With Nancie/Flashlight Brown tour. We jump
on for the last 3 shows, Windsor, Simcoe, and Chatham. I could
fill pages with the stories from those 3 days, so instead
I'll just sum it up the best I can remember. Windsor was a
blast, partying back on Juice's house(Drummer, SWN). That
was where we were introduced to the wonderfull world of DICE.
DICE a game Flashlight Brown learned while on tour with Mad
Caddies. It's a gambling game that is the most fun you'll
ever have with 5 little dice. But anyway, I(rick) went on
to win like 80 bucks that night, therefore scoring the band
enough money to stay in a hotel with the other bands the following
night in Simcoe. So after the show in Simcoe the saga contiues,
bunch of us luxing it right up in a Holiday INN. We're all
gathered round this small little table rolling dice all night.
I(rick) however decided to lay off the dice, seeing as I had
scored enough flow already, however the rest of the guys in
the bands had something else in mind. They wanted their money
back from me, so they maded me play in every round. Bad idea,
I ended up walking away with about another 50 bucks. What
a great weekend, what I can remember of it anyway... As for
the most embarassing moment, can't really think of one, we
are so laid back and outgoing, it's hard to embarass us...
really.
I see you have
a cd out how long did it take to record & get out? How are
sales doing?
Yupper, we have one disc out, by the name of The Goldfish
Bowl EP. This disc was a good start and a good way to start
charging into the scene. It was recorded in less than a weeks
time on a very low budget. Sales have been good, we've sold
far over 350 copies. It's pretty much sold out now, and we
are just debating on whether we will make any more of it.
REASON being our new CD is due out in April, this is a huge
step for us, our best recordings to date. As far as we figure.
But we'll let the fans decide that one. Look for it soon,
it's going by the name of "Morningwood"
If you could
play with anyband anywhere in the world who whould it be &
where?
I(Farley) can't speak for the rest of
the band, but for me I would probably have to say Jimmy Eat
World. They don't really fit our music style, but I f**king
love thoes guys. But on a more punk rock sound I would probably
go with Diesel Boy. As Farley said I(rick) can't speak for
the whole band, but i would love to play with a pile of bands,
hard to pick just one, Millencolin, NOFX(oh yeah!), Face to
Face, lagwagon, damn sorry, I better stop. And as for the
place, there's only one in mind. Austriallia, oh yeah, nothing
against Canada and US fans, we love you all, you guys know
that. It's just we've been requested to play over there countless
times, and it's be sweet to actully get the chance to.
Where do you
see the band in 5-10 years?
Older, not wiser, still punk.
If any record
labels are reading this right now what would you like to say
to them & why should they sign you to the label?
Keep up the good job of releasing kickass music. There's tons
of it out there, and there's tons of it still to be found
and signed, *wink* *wink*. Have my people call your people,
we'll do lunch. But really, drop us yer mailing address and
we'll shoot you a copy of the new EP "Morningwood" when it's
out in April. I'm not gonna say why you should sign us, cause
you have your own reasons for signing a band. We love what
we do, we do it well and we work hard.... So just check us
out.
Has being here
on Ontariopunk.com helped your fan base grow & expand?
yah, ontariopunk.com has killer thing going on... People like
yerself and Shane keep this scene going and we thank you for
that. Any exposure that anyone gives to us we appriciate.
So yah, I'm sure ontariopunk.com has helped us out with our
fan base and we thank them for the continued support.
Where can the
fans learn more about you and buy your CD or any merchandise?
Like we said the new CD is due out in April and will be availble
right off the site http://www.roomwithoutaview.com . The old
CD can be ordered from us or http://www.mp3.com/roomwithoutaview
. There you can also download tunes and such.. Check out out
site at http://www.roomwithoutaview.com to learn more about
us. Email us at roomwithoutaview@hotmail.com we also like
hearing from anyone, and we will always write back if you
ask us to. And remember there is no such thing as a dumb question
when your asking us, cause we'll just give you a dumb answer
anyway! We will have a lot more merch soon. Such as t-shirts,
stickers, posters and more. So join our mailing list(found
on out site) to keep up to date with Room Without A View.
Thanks a lot.
