* First question, why are we suppose to say no to neon?
Tarcy: We love neon. That’s stupid. It’s the stupidest tour name I’ve ever heard of. I’m just kidding. I honestly don’t know. I think that’d be a Valencia question.
Jason: I think we’ve gotten a lot of questions about that.
Joe K.: Well we do know what he was kind of getting at, don’t we?
All: No!
Jason: Enlighten us.
Tarcy: Kirky!
Joe W.: You’re wearing the most neon here.
Joe K.: He was talking about having more emphasis on music and less on how you look.
Tarcy: Philosopher over here.
Joe W.: Philosofizer.
Tarcy: Philisofizzer.
Joe K.: I… whatever. (laughs)

* Do you guys have any juicy road stories yet? You’ve been on this tour for about a week and a half.
All: Juicy stories. (laughs)
Joe W.: Our little tour manager, he got into a little trouble with some ladies.
Tarcy: Yeah, Milton. He’s promiscuous, to say the least. No, do we have any juicy stories?
Craig: No.
Tarcy: Other than we drove in snow for like three days straight.
Joe K.: Not too crazy.
Craig: We’re pretty tame touring, actually.
Tarcy: Yeah.
Joe W.: Yeah, so far.
Tarcy: Jinx! (punches Joe W.)
Joe W.: No!
Joe K.: We do that a lot.
Joe W.: A lot.
Joe K.: A lot.

* Fearless puts out the Punk Goes… albums, and since you guys are signed to Fearless, what Punk Goes… album would you like them to put out that they haven’t already?
Tarcy: Punk Goes 70’s.
Jason: Punk Goes Funk.
Joe W.: Punk Goes Beatles.
Craig: Punk Goes Funk.
Joe W.: Punk Goes Latin Jazz.
Joe K.: I got one. Punk Goes Creed.
All: Oooooo! *clap*
Jason: I forgot about that one.

* What song, then, would you do on it?
All: *laugh*
Tarcy: “Let’s Get It On.” We’re actually thinking about doing that anyway.
Jason: Wait, the Creed one or the funk one? What would you do for Creed? Funk would be “Let’s Get It On.” I guess.
Joe K.: “One.”
Joe W.: “One.”
Tarcy: That’d be a good one.
Jason: “One.”
Tarcy: “One” from Creed.
Jason: Is that the beast one?
Joe K.: No.

* Why was it decided that you guys were going to put out an EP before a full length?
Tarcy: That’s just kinda Fearless’ thing to do. Like, every single band has done it on Fearless. They’ve done an EP and then like six months later put out a full length. So, we kinda we’re just going with the trend.

* When are you guys going to put out a full length?
Tarcy: We start recording in June. Yeah!

* Do you know who you’ll be working with?
Tarcy: Not yet. We’re actually talking to a few people right now. We’re about to seal the deal, but I can’t say yet.

* Are you sure?
Tarcy: Yes.

* What are your long term and short team goals as a band?
Tarcy: To die before we’re twenty-five.

* That’s not even living.
Joe W.: You’ve got two years.
Joe K.: We’ll be living legends then.
Jason: That’s like three years for you.
Tarcy: I’m ready man, I’m ready.
Joe K.: Clock is ticking.
Tarcy: Long term goal is just to be at this for the rest of our lives. That’s for me, atleast. Make this last as long as possible.
Joe K.: Heck yeah!
Tarcy: And tour the world!
Craig: Yeah, international touring.
Joe W.: Japan!
Craig: Like Japan, Austrailia, across Europe…
Tarcy: Mexico! *laughs* Just kidding.

* San Antonio is the same thing.
Tarcy: I was born there.

* I use to live there.
Tarcy: Did you really? Yeah. Crazy Mexicans.

*Yes.
Joe W.: But, you can say it because you are one.
Tarcy: Yeah, I’m Mexican. Sorry to all the Mexican people. I am Mexican.

* How did you guys come up with the band Name, Artist Vs Poet?
Tarcy: I’ve had that name for like three years. It was an acoustic project I had—I almost said the word, M-I-N-E. Um, and I actually don’t know how [the name] came up. Just kind of random. I just wanted to do something that was different from anything else that was out there. So, that popped out.

* Do you guys feel you’ve had to break any stereotypes as a band?
Tarcy: I feel we kinda did with the EP ’cause the old stuff we had was more electronic and everybody said we were kind of following in the footsteps of another band that’s from the Dallas area, FTSK. After we put out the EP we gave it more of a 90’s rock feel and a little less of the electronic stuff. So I think that, that’s something we had to over come and still actually are working on over coming. We’re trying to be our own band, and do everything on our own.

* How has the band evolved since you started playing together?
Craig: The members.
Joe W.: Why is everyone looking at me?
All: (laugh)
Joe W.: Awkward.
Craig: It started off with just us two [Tarcy] and writing was acoustic. Now, were to the point we can actually do some full band writing. So, it’s the way we write, the way we do everything that has changed from the very beginning.
Tarcy: Being stuck in a van with four other guys.
Jason: Five other guys.

* Snugly.
Tarcy: Five other guys. Mmmm. It’s cute.

* Who are some of your influences both individually and collectively?
Joe W.: We can all say Third Eye Blind.
Jason: Third Eye Blind.
Tarcy: Third Eye Blind. Jinx. Double Jinx!
Craig: The Starting Line.
Joe W.: Celine Dion.

* Are you being serious?
All: (laugh)
Joe W.: Dead serious.
All: (laugh)
Joe W.: There’s nothing wrong with her.

* Great show in Vegas.
Joe K.: She’s Canadian.
Jason: 90’s in general. I don’t just have one.
Tarcy: Oh yeah, she does do a Vegas thing now doesn’t she?

* Not anymore. Bette Midler took over her spot.
Tarcy: What?! I’m going to kill Bette Midler.
Jason: Wait, what?
Tarcy: Bette Midler took over Celine Dion’s spot in Vegas.
Joe K.: You said you were going to kill Bette Midler on camera.
All: (laugh)
Tarcy: Watch out. Watch out, Bette.

* Do you guys have any pre-show rituals?
Tarcy: Yeah.
Jason: Yes we do, but we can’t talk about it though.
Tarcy: We come right here in this trailer, and we do a little huddle, say a prayer and then do a pump up. We can’t tell exactly what we say in the pump up.

* There are so many secrets. You guys have to share them.
Tarcy: Should we unveil it?
Craig: No. Uh-uh.
Jason: We can’t.
Joe W.: We could have just done it.
Tarcy: That’s what I was going to say. People have heard us do it.
Joe W.: Outside, from afar.
Jason: My vote is, no.
Joe K.: Sorry.
Tarcy: It’s not my fault. It’s his fault (points to Craig) blame him.
Craig: Sorry.
* Shame on you!

* What are your favorite snacks for tour?
Tarcy: Gummy Worms are good. You don’t like gummy worms [to Craig].
Craig: No. Recently I’ve been into bananas and apples, actually.
All: (laugh)
Tarcy: All right, see you later!
Jason: Skittles.
Joe K.: Sour Patch Kids! Pringles! Nakeds are good. We love Nakeds.
Tarcy: Okay, that’s a drink. Not naked people.
Joe K.: What? It’s a snack too.
Tarcy: I’m just sayin’, so they don’t think….
Joe K.: Oh! Yes. Not naked people. Naked drinks!
Craig: What’s the best Pringles, again?
Tarcy: The Bacon Ranch ones?
Craig: No.

* Pizza?
Craig: No, they come in green.
Jason: Guacamole.
Craig: Yes. Guacamole Pringles are so good.
Joe K.: We eat a lot.
Jason: They are so good!
Joe W.: Salsa and chips.

* Do you guys have any secret karaoke jams?
Tarcy: Karaoke jams. Mayday Parade, period.
Joe K.: The entire album.
Tarcy: The whole CD.

* Which one?
Tarcy: A Lesson In Romantics.
Jason: R. Kelly too. We use to sing to R. Kelly a lot.
Tarcy: Oh yeah, Real Talk.
Jason: Yeah, Real Talk.
Tarcy: We use to listen to that religiously, and then I don’t know what happened.
Joe W.: I don’t think we have the iPod with us.
Jason: …. and “Shoes.”
Tarcy: Ahhh, we’ll go buy it.
All: *Shoes, OMG shoes*

* Can we have a rendition of one of the songs?
All: hmmm….

* We’re just kidding!
All: (laugh)
Joe W.: We could do that one?
Tarcy: When they see this they are going to be like, “Why are they on our label?”
All: (laugh)

* We were also wondering, who is Lisa Marie? Is she fiction or non-fiction? Real or imaginary?
Joe K.: Everybody wants to know that.
Craig: She’s real. From Texas.
Tarcy: She’s actually a he.
Joe W.: (sings) he’s a Marie.
Tarcy: See, exactly. We’re not saying Lisa.
Jason: It’s not Lisa. Leonard.
Joe K.: Leonard Marie.
Jason: Leonard Marie.

* Do you guys have any last messages?
Tarcy: What we say every time, just thank everybody for being there from the beginning—for those of you who have, and for those of you who are newcomers. Thanks again!
Joe K.: It’s opposite day so everything’s flipped around in this interview.
Tarcy: Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Joe W.: So it’s not opposite day.

* And I’m not supposed to put that in my pipe and smoke it.
Tarcy: Yes.
Jason: No, you’re not. It meant disregard what he said.
Joe K.: I was kidding, it was a joke. It was not a good joke either.
Tarcy: No, no. Thank you. That’s pretty much it. Thanks to everybody that’s been there and is newbies. Is newbies? Does that even work?
Craig: No.
Tarcy: No.
Craig: It doesn’t work.
Tarcy: Okay.