one day all of this will be mine

// INTERVIEWS

Rift Rock w/ Aimee Echo, Erick Sanger, and Billy Brimblecom Jr
Source: Rift Rock
Interviewer: Sona Sood

11/5/2003
“I was just about to be in my underwear, and they said, ‘Everybody off the bus!’ I hadn’t even changed into my clothes, and I’d been working all day counting merch, setting up, and loading in…” laughed the vocalist of The Start. The band (who recently signed to Nitro records), comprised of Aimee Echo (vocals) Jamie Miller (guitars, synth, vocals), Erick Sanger (bass) and Billy Brimblecom Jr (drums); has been touring relentlessly. The incredibly hard working members have managed to retain a collective charm and graciousness amidst line-up changes, countless hours on the road, and for instance, being shuffled off their bus. Following, is a special (edited) transcription of the interview conducted at the Key Club in Los Angeles, California where The Start was headlining the Girlz Garage Tour. From discussing how yoga led to The Start covering Nirvana’s “Breed”, to the R.I.A.A., to the political atmosphere of the music industry, the members (minus Miller, who was unavailable) were sincere, honest, and open to discussion.

So how's the tour been so far?
Echo: It's been really fun. We've had a lot of great bonding experiences with the other bands. We particularly fell in love with Brassy. They're just a great band. We were actually sharing a bus with them for the first week and a half. We got to spend a lot of time with them.
Sanger: I never expected to get along with Lillix, but they're great too. I didn't think I would have anything in common with them because I'm a lot older…not a lot older, but I'm older…And it turned out that they're grown up and we're grown up. We had a lot of fun. Their drummer's super nice and…
Echo: They're very sweet.

Did Kevin Lyman put all these bands together?
Echo: Yes. Well I mean…I don't know who actually had a part in the whole decision process. I know that we were personally invited by Kevin, so I don't know about anybody else. I can't say for certain. I know that he was definitely involved in the picking process like he always is with everything he does.

Did you guys know about any of these bands before?
Echo: No…well, none that I was aware of. Lennon…I hadn't really, and I had heard her music before but I hadn't heard anybody else on the tour.
Sanger: And then the only reason we knew of Brassy was because the singer's Jon Spencer's sister from a band called the Blues Explosion. So I had her music and I heard of her because a lot of the press was about you know, "I used to be in this band, or I used to be in this band or I'm related to so and so.”

How do you think that socially and musically this compares to say…one of the biggest tours that featured women was Lilith Fair. How do you think this compares to that or is it more along the lines of Warped Tour both musically and socially, aside from the obvious connection? [Kevin Lyman who produces Warped Tour also produced the Girlz Garage Tour].
Echo: I don't think that it's related to Warped Tour at all musically. The diversity in the bill…it's actually sort of strange. You have Lennon who's a singer/songwriter who's normally in a heavy metal sort of band. She's out here solo with her piano and an amazing voice, and then you have Brassy who's like… dance-pop…
Sanger: They're very New York…
Echo: …Yeah, hip-hop…rock band…
Sanger: It's kind of like a punk, hip hop… I wouldn't say the Beastie Boys, but the Beastie Boys on a few records have that kind of hip hop slash punk element.
Echo: But they play.
Sanger: But they played all their instruments.
Echo: It's so great.
Sanger: And their drummer…
Echo: Their drummer deejays at the same time…
Sanger: As he plays drums…
Echo: And he'll scratch and play at the same time (imitating their drummer)…
Sanger: He plays drums and he'll scratch. They're really cool.
Echo: They're amazing. And then we have Lillix and they're a pop rock band. So as far as the punk…ish element that you get on Warped Tour, that's definitely missing. As far as a socio-political comment…this tour, I think it's almost insulting that people are surprised that there's an all girl bill. It's great that all the bands have girls in them, but no one ever makes a hoot or holler about when all boys bands tour together. You name a tour that's out right now. Thursday, Thrice and…

Coheed?
Sanger: Yeah, Coheed.
Echo: Oh, and Coheed. You think that anybody goes up to anybody on that tour and says, “Well how does it feel being on a bill with all men?” (Starts laughing) Maybe they should start. “How does that feel, all that testosterone?” I knew what I was getting into when I signed onto a tour that was primarily put together based on gender, and the funniest thing is, I've been trying to transcend gender since I started playing music. I think that by doing this, this is the last step in me transcending gender. We're all women, we're all here, we're all doing a really good job, deal with it.
Sanger: I'm not a woman (smiling).
Echo: Well, I mean the women that are on the bill. And there's some amazing male musicians.
Sanger: Well, but even with the whole stereotype of girls and that whole thing, these are all women who can certainly play and they shouldn't be…these women that can play. They're all musicians who are great musicians.
Echo: Bottom line is we're just a bunch of dudes (laughing).
Sanger: This is a tour for musicians…people who can play. They all play well and that's one thing I learned about this tour. You got a lot of bands with a lot of musicians who do well at what they do. We just played with a band in Austin called Girls In a Coma…
Echo: Oh, Girls In a Coma… they're so good.
Sanger: ...and their singer is 15. She sings like…well, she has the voice of Morrisey, not to compare her to Morrisey.
Echo: It's just an amazing instrument, and the band is really good. They're all great players and the songs are really meaningful. I get the chills. I never get the chills.
Sanger: It gave me the chills every time she would sing a note. I think my button fell off (as he pulled on his jacket and shirt searching for the button).

So switching topics a bit, you (looking at Aimee) said in an article a few years ago how you think it was so much easier, and not to bring gender up again, but you know in the 70s. How do you think it is now?

Echo: A couple years later, okay let's take a broader view on that. I think it was a different band in the 70s. My reason being that their market wasn't saturated…being a rock musician wasn't a career opportunity. Now, with how commercial music has gotten, and how much money…just in this last decade is when it finally broke the two million records in a week sold. So you're talking about, look at how many record companies there are now, and with the television aspect of it. I mean then, that wasn't a career option. Now, kids are saying, “I'm going to be a guitar player, and you can.” Parents are like “You go.” And I don't know what the actual statistics are of records released in 1975 to records that will be released in 2004. I don't know what the difference is but I'm sure it's just so dramatic I couldn't even fathom it. So, of course then, percentage wise, it would have been easier for women then too. I remember saying that and I know why. There wasn't the pop machine….there was in the 60's I guess with pop groups, but there wasn't the pop machine that we have now or the commercial music machine that takes artists and makes them into whatever they want to make them in and puts them out there. (Eyes begin to grow wide) American Idol for chris' sake? (Pauses with her jaw open)
Sanger: Yeah.
Echo: That's all I have to say.
Sanger: (Laughing)

You made your point very well. So do you think it's getting better with bands like The Sounds out?
Echo: No, I don't. I think percentage wise, I think we're still bands with women in them. I think percentage wise, it will always be a boys club. I think it always will. If it hasn't changed by now, it's not going to change.

So do you see it as a regression, say how some women are using overt sexuality to sell records? There's no need to drop names. We all know who I am referring to.
Echo: Yeah, totally. One hundred percent.
Sanger: Hell yeah.
Echo: One hundred percent. And I think that…I've had people say things to me that were mind blowing. It's funny because I don't have a problem with my self-esteem, and I don't have a problem with the way I look, but I never thought to really use it as a tool as a musician. I think that everybody in my band is just as attractive as I am. Granted, they're good looking boys, but I think that we're all just musicians. I think that's what it's really about. I've had people say, I mean really unattractive people, people that look like Jabba the Hut…talking about what I look like in certain pictures, and how unattractive this picture is and how I look as attractive as a dog's ass and doesn't she look horrible tonight? It's like, “What are you talking about? What does it matter?”

What about how the show went?
Echo: Yeah.

Or how did the vocals sound?
Sanger: That's another weird thing that, because she is a woman, people do that. Whereas if a guy's playing they don't talk about "Oh he didn't look..." Nobody cares. It's really stupid that…
Echo: Well, it's different now. I think the television aspect has totally changed it. Before MTV and after MTV, the attractiveness of musicians changed like [stretches arms out far apart]. And I think the skill level and the song writing definitely declined. Maybe not as much with just musicians, but with commercial releases. For sure. Are they marketable is question one. Before do they have songs? Or are they good at what they do?

Like, let's change your image a little bit to get the kids that watch MTV.
Echo: Definitely.
Sanger: Right.
Echo: Or can we make them like a successful band?

Right. I also wanted to ask you some more questions which are more specific to the band. (Billy joined the interview at this point).
Echo: Billy! Welcome!
Sanger: Welcome to the interview.

Perfect. I'll start with you (looking at Billy). So you did vocals with your last band, correct?
Brimblecom Jr: I only sang back up vocals. I wasn't the lead singer. I was the drummer.

Okay, so how did you come to be part of The Start?
Brimblecom Jr: Long story short. My old band played with a band Erick was in a while back, Schatzi. So..The Creature Comforts was the name of my old band. We played a lot of shows with Schatzi. We'd stay with Erick in Texas…Time passes, Erick joins a new band, Kissing Chaos, which plays with The Start. Erick and I had ran into each other about a year ago when he was coming through town. I told him that my band had split and I was looking for a new one. Time passes…he gets a call for The Start. They also need a drummer, he calls me in May.

What bands have you worked with before (to Sanger)?
Sanger: Actually the band I was in before this was called Kissing Chaos, which was Pop Unknown, which was Mineral… and then I was in Kissing Chaos, and before that I was in Sparta and before that Schatzi.

How did you get hooked up with The Start?
Sanger: Kissing Chaos played a show…
Echo: Kissing Chaos played a show with The Start.
Sanger: A few.
Echo: It was actually…that's how we met though. We all ended up on a random bill together. It was really weird cause I had heard Kissing Chaos. A promoter…we were playing in Baton Rouge, and a promoter had sent me their E.P. or their demo.
Sanger: Yeah it was our demo.
Echo: It became an E.P., and I was so into it. Then we show up in Austin and this band, Kissing Chaos that I heard of randomly, out of the blue is playing the show. We bonded over that, and then they happened to like our show and we agreed that we would stay in contact, and that we were going to actually try and do a 7" split. Our bass player left and got married and Erick's band was sort of getting more permanent and static where the singer of his band had a kid and they weren't going to tour as much… we're touring all the time.
Sanger: Well it was really weird because we ended up playing a show together in San Antonio, and I ended up having a conversation with Aimee. She was saying they were in need of a new bass player, especially for the summer, asking if I knew anybody. The next day (chuckles) the drummer quit out of my band so I said, “Well hey if you a…” Well, before that, I had even said, “If you need somebody to…
Echo: Yeah, it was really weird. (smiling)
Sanger: …fill in this summer, I'm not touring this summer so I could probably help you guys out.” But then it turned into being a full-time gig. It was great.
Echo: Yeah it was really weird how it happened.

It sounds like you've been having a great time.
Sanger: Oh yeah. I've been in a lot of bands and this is the best band I've ever been in (smiling).
Echo: Ooohhh (looking at Erick and smiling widely).

Cool, you guys have an E.P. coming out in December?
Sanger: A new/old E.P.
Echo: Yeah, a new/old E.P. We wrote an E.P. in our rehearsal space and recorded it. It's never seen a commercial release but we've sold about 6,000 copies on our own, on the road. Nitro has agreed to release it as our first release because we signed with them in October and we won't be able to have a release until spring. In order to keep us going on the road while we're in the interim, and I think it's fair that that E.P. sees a commercial release.
Sanger: And to see some distribution because it's never…the only distribution has been with The Start touring.
Echo: Yeah. Every copy we've sold is [on the road].
Sanger: So now there are people who have been to a show and bought it, they could say hey, I just bought The Start. And their friends can pick it up too.

So, you played "Peacock" at a show?
Echo: "Peacocks" (smiling)

Will that be included on the EP or is that for the record?
Echo: That will be on the new record that will be coming out in spring.
Sanger: The record…
Echo: Unless we write fifteen songs that rock harder than that, which is possible (laughing).
Sanger: Could happen.

And you all write together right?
Echo: Yeah.

And you (looking at Echo) write the lyrics?
Echo: I do, but we all write what we play.

Will the video on the E.P. be a similar concept to "the 1234" or completely different?
Echo: Completely different.
Sanger: It's a very beautiful video.
Echo: We made it with the musicians that were filling in for tour at that time, so it's not these guys from the band. The concept of the video is really funny. It's about an industry showcase you can go to. We're auditioning for a record company in the sleaziest way possible. Well, we're not the sleazy part.
Sanger: The cool part is that it's shot very Stanley Kubrick. I saw it and was like wow.
Echo: It was made indie by these wonderful indie film makers called Heath and Dave Lowbrow. And they'll be here later tonight. They wanted to make an art piece with us and it was supposed to be Foxy Brown meets Clockwork Orange.
Sanger: It looks… I think they succeeded. (Laughing) It looks so cool.
Echo: They did it on a shoe string. It's really cool. I don't know, I think we made the whole video, and if you see it, you wouldn't believe it, but I think the whole video was made for $2,000.00 or something?
Sanger: You wouldn't believe it.. I mean, it looks…
Echo: It'll be on the E.P.!

Your band is very open about political statements. Are you concerned about turning fans off with your politics? I ask this because earlier this year at a Used show, Quinn [Allman] made a comment about playing for peace, which offended some fans. Is this a concern of yours?
Echo: No, not at all. If you don't agree…we actually have two sites though. We have thisisthestart.com and thestart.org. The thestart.org was meant to be our activist site. We will always be politically active. We will always be socially active. I think that it is unethical to gain an audience and not try to spread the knowledge that you've gained. Whether people agree with us or not, we have our message board, and it's open to debate. Bring it on. If you agree with us great, if it turns you off to our music, then it shows me also that you have a closed mind.
Sanger: You should be able to separate the two. We create music but we're also people that do other things.
Echo: We also don't force our views on anybody. We just offer. If you want to know what I'm into or what Erick's into, it's available for you to see. If you want to know what's going on or what I found out this week, it's available for you to read. It's not even to the extent that I would like to see. It's funny, that part of my life is something…I am so obsessed with music that I think I don't do enough of a service. I want to help and learn things and spread the word. The good word. (Laughing). Hopefully, you know…and maybe separate from the band, that will take its own life.
Sanger: More than anything, I think we believe, as a whole, as a band, that people should be politically active whether which way they go. They should be active because it's our world and we should take part in it, instead of letting other people run it for us.
Echo: Yeah, Definitely. And I think that's a lot of what's going on right now. People are so busy consuming and making money, and working, working hard and trying to survive, they don't have enough leisure time to gain their knowledge. So, if I can help in any way, woo!

Okay. I've been asking every band, and I'm really curious to hear your answer. How do you feel about the RIAA lawsuit?
Echo: It's really funny because my mom said to me today…. I said, "I need a haircut.” She said, "Okay, I'll make an appointment with my hairdresser for you tomorrow." And I said, "Well I don't have any money." And she goes, "Oh! Haircuts are free!" And I said, "Really? Like my music when you download it?” I mean I firmly believe in sampling music online to determine whether... there is so much crap out there right now, you need a sifting. There needs to be a way to sift through the crap. But I firmly believe that if you love an artist, you should definitely buy and support their music. Otherwise you are hurting them, you are taking food out of their... The other thing is, here's the thing that's really odd. There's this weird artifice that is put on by major labels and television people that musicians are really wealthy, successful people. And the bottom line is…
Sanger: We're broke!
Echo: That is like one percent of the one percent and 99% of us are working really hard to stay alive and stay sane. And you know, we lose people like Elliot Smith (pause) all the time. People fall off and lose the battle. People need to know that when they're downloading, they can hurt an artist. There are things you can download that don't hurt an artist. If you support and you love somebody, be honest about it. It’s like when I was a little kid and you used to go trick or treating and the neighbors that weren't home would leave the basket and you were supposed to take one.
Brimblecom Jr: That's a really, really great analogy. And my two cents about that is this. The people that are true fans of music…I've downloaded things before too…it's like okay cool…it's like buying a greatest hits by somebody. Okay, now I know not to sell the greatest hits and to go buy the album. The problem is there is a lot of people who like music, but aren't really music fans. So, a big chunk of them who are never going to buy another fucking record again because they're like "I can get every album ever made online. I'll save so much money.” I'm a collector of music. Even if I have it…
Echo: I want the artwork.
Brimblecom Jr: I've had people burn me c.d.'s. They say, "Oh yeah, I got it online, don't worry about it, I'll bring you a copy of it.” And I'll like it. I'll buy it because I wanted it. That's how it’s supposed to be, man. I want the artwork, and I want the liner notes…the whole thing.
Echo: Right, I wanna keep it! I wanna have the thing! I love going to record stores, it's my favorite thing.
Sanger: That's one thing I really like. Especially a lot of indie bands are getting back into making vinyl because then it's really something precious because you have it on wax instead of just this little teeny thing you can play in your car or wherever. You can look at it, you can play with it, you get colored vinyl. It's weird that a lot of the artists that are screaming the most about downloading are the ones that are actually making that big dollar, and the smaller bands aren't.
Echo: Bands like A.F.I. who go out of their way to make really artful, classical [cds] and in addition to the music, everybody wants one of each thing. I think that that's the kind of fan base we have. It's like a part of our life that we share with them and it’s our history that we're making together with the kids and they want to be a part of it. They wanna say they were there when that came out. I think it's good. It's community that’s building with us.

It reminds me of A Perfect Circle's album. In the liner notes, they actually wrote something to the extent of it is important to buy albums. I think that's so important.
Echo: I think that’s really important too.

I can't imagine how many people at Warped Tour were burning albums.
Echo: But they won't burn everything. They have ethics in it. It's really weird. Not all of them. There are kids who will burn the music and then buy what they know they should. Our fans get ferocious about people burning our music. If it ever comes up "Will you share this file with me?" They're like, "Nope. Go order the c.d. The Start works really hard for you. They get in that van. They don't have houses. They drive around and they play a show almost every night of the year. They're there for you, you need to be there for them." To see them stand up for us like that? Is so cool. (Smiling)

Shifting again, after all the tours, you were recently with Alkaline Trio, what tour has been your favorite?
Echo: They all have different positives and different negatives. One of my favorite tours that we did is when we got to tour with Weezer. It was also one of my least favorite tours because it started on September 11, 2001. But, it was the only time that I've ever done an arena tour with a band that I love. I love Weezer. I was a huge Pinkerton fan, which probably kills Rivers. It's a great record.
Sanger: It's the best one.
Echo: So yeah, it was cool to play arenas and then get to watch Weezer every night. That was really good. Then we got to play with Alkaline Trio this year for three weeks. Totally you know, camaraderie.
Sanger: That was my favorite show seeing The Start play.
Echo: Yeah? (Laughing)
Sanger: That was the tour that I was this close...that I was almost able to go on. I started on the tour right after that.
Echo: We had our friends fill in for that tour and Erick almost...the window was way too small for us to get up and rehearsed by then. (Laughing) We had four days off between tours. There was no way.
Sanger: I would say since July, we pretty much have been on tour the entire time, and all the tours have been my favorites.
Echo: Awwww (smiling).
Sanger: (Smiling) It just keeps getting better.

For you as well (speaking to Billy)?
Brimblecom Jr: Oh yeah, definitely. Definitely. The first tour was like, three tours in one.
Echo: We did a week with one band and then a week with another band and then a week with another band.
Brimblecom Jr: Because of that, the driving was fucking ridiculous! [The band was in a van at this time and were driving themselves to the shows].
Echo: Oh my god.
Brimblecom Jr: That sucked. On the opposite end of that, this tour we're on a bus so we don't have to do all that driving.
Echo: Sharing a bus, mind you, with fourteen people.
Brimblecom Jr: So sleeping isn't quite the issue but it still is somewhat cramped on the bus. There’s pros and cons to each tour. I've always wanted to be on a tour on a bus, and now I'm doing it. Knock on wood, it'll happen again and so I can mark that off my checklist.

Okay, some last questions, thanks so much for your time.
Sanger and Brimblcom Jr: Thank you.
Echo: Thank you for caring.

You covered Nirvana’s "Breed" and I wondered why you chose to do that cover.
Sanger: This is a great story.
Echo: There are so many weird things that go into that one. The first time we covered "Breed" was on the Weezer tour. We all learned it because we're all Nirvana fans. This other band that was in direct support dropped off the bill, so it was us and Weezer for the rest of the tour. We needed to fill up our set list and we also wanted to connect with people who maybe didn't understand who we were and make them understand what we liked. And, a weird thing happened. I'm gonna go way back, it's a long story. I was practicing yoga and the last pose I do, its called Savasana and it's a corpse pose, and you lay there. I had this weird, weird feeling like somebody was in the room with me…this really bizarre feeling. I was like, I don’t know what to think about this. Oh wait, I have to go back. It’s so convoluted and strange. (Pause) I wrote this song and it was about Kurt Cobain. I was trying to name it and I wanted it to be an obtuse name so I was trying to think of something. He had that imaginary friend called Boda, so I was trying to get the correct spelling of it because I had seen it spelled three different ways and I wanted to know what was up. I went online and I got sucked into this Kurt Cobain, “Who killed Kurt?” vortex. And then I went through the morning and was practicing yoga and I got to the last pose and I felt like I wasn’t alone. I called my best friend and I said, “I know this is going to sound totally nuts, (starts laughing) but I think Kurt Cobain was hanging out in my house this afternoon while I was doing yoga.” It was really weird because the song had come up in the couple of the days before… like that day, and I had thought of it that night, and then I did the yoga and thought he was in the house. Then later that night I was watching the news and it was the anniversary of his death. I didn’t know. You know those times when you’re not even paying attention to what day it is? Especially when you’re a musician (laughing). So, I almost threw up, and I called her back and I said, “Hey listen, it’s the anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death today.” (Imitating friend on the phone and raising voice really high) And she said, “You’re crazy… I hate you… You’re a freak. I don’t wanna talk about this anymore. That’s scary” (starts laughing) and hung up on me… but that was a really true story. So…this year we’re on tour with The Used and we were talking…and one of the people who was filling in for our band didn’t like this particular song that we were playing and I said, “Fine, let’s pull that from the set. And I’ve got Breed.” They were like, “Okay, cool.” So we all decided we were going to play “Breed” that night and played the show. Got done playing the show and this person comes up and said, “I just got off the phone with my significant other, are you aware that today is the anniversary of Kurt’s death?” (Eyes get really wide as she pauses) Freaky right? And fantastic at the same time. I’m not saying that I’m blessed or that I speak to spirits or anything, but that’s weird. Isn’t that weird?
Sanger: But we haven’t played it at all.

A lot of bands have been covering Nirvana lately. The Used covered “Rape Me” on this last tour.

Sanger: Oh, I love that song.
Echo: (Laughing and joking) Yeah, yeah, after us.

And Bert [McCracken] came out with S.T.U.N. and did “Stay Away”.

Echo: I wonder where that got that idea?
Brimblecom Jr: We were standing on the side of the stage watching that happen.
Echo: Yeah, it was rad. We told them to do that! (Laughing)

Okay, here’s your chance. Go ahead and plug any bands that you respect and love and want to get out there.
Echo: That’s like when you go to the record store and can’t remember what you want to buy (Laughing). Plug all day.
Brimblecom Jr.: Okay I used to play in a band called The Creature Comforts. The singer/songwriter of that band has a new band that put out a record on Lakeshore. I don’t know how available it is. Long story, short, the band’s called The Belles. It’s a very kind of, it’s subtle like mostly acoustic based pop band. Totally awesome. Amazing songs. That would be the band I would plug first.
Echo: Art of Safecracking
Sanger: I would say Girls In a Coma, who we played with recently.
Echo: Girls In a Coma, definitely. I agree on that.
Sanger: Strike Anywhere. They’re very political. They found a good way to mix politics with hardcore, not even hardcore. More punkcore I guess. I’m a huge fan of Pretty Girls Make Graves. The new record is phenomenal.
Echo: Yup. Very good.
Sanger: There’s a band called Zykos who are going to rule the world. Cursive…
Brimblecom Jr.: Ultimate Fakebook, awesome Kansas pop trio. They’re probably the biggest, ultimate hard pop band. They’re totally amazing. The Gadgets from Kansas city, amazing soul rock band. They’ve been together since they were literally tiny children.
Sanger: There’s always, everyone could always listen to a good heaping of Depeche Mode, The Cure.
(Author's note: Other bands included: Plexi, Campfire Girls, Be-Non, Murder City Devils)

Well, that’s all my questions guys.
Echo/Sanger/Brimblecom Jr: Thank you so much.

//INTERVIEWS //MEDIA