I have to tell you about the enocore. The left
after playing all those songs and everyone was
cheering "We want more!" and like 3 minutes
later Eric walked out and picked up his guitar.
He was just fiddling with it while everyone was
cheering and he walked over to the mic and said
"I know what you guys are all thinking, here's
this tall goofy-looking guy. What's he up to?
Well, folks, I'm just tuning my guitar." Then he
started playing Boom-De-Yadda and everyone
busted out cheering! Practically no one sang
along with it until the second chorus came in
where on the album it is really loud. At this
point the ENTIRE crowd was singing it! Scott
walked out first with Luis and they were all
dressed down (didn't have the suits on anymore).
Then Adam walked out from behind the curtain
with Ryan on his shoulders and they all joined
in the singing. They did an extended version of
it with lyrics like "I love (whatever the youth
pastor's name was), I love northern cali..."
Then that faded into Perfect Day (which was
awesome!! It was some new version that was like
15 minutes long!) They played the first 2 1/2
minutes of it and then there was an extremely
hard instrumental part that lasted about 5
minutes. Then Scott started singing praise
choruses to Perfect Day's music. Then Scott got
down on his knees and began praying into the
distortion mic (if you've been to one of their
shows lately you know what I'm referring to) and
said 5 minute prayer (It was awesome!) then it
all faded back to the part towards the end of
the song where Scott repeats the first verse.
Later, Scott told me that none of that was
rehearsed, that he just said what came to mind.
The Rumors:
ME: I heard you guys are going to be opening for
Carman
SCOTT: Oh man! I did this interview with 7-Ball and I
was joking around and I said 'Oh yeah, we're
gonna bring in Point Of Grace and Out Of Eden to
open for us...then we're gonna open for Carman'
I said it with a ton of sarcasm but you can't
print it that way. Anyway, I talked to Carman
the other day. That dude's big. He could whoop
all of us at once.
ME: That other article said that you guys have
broken up in the studio during the recording of
every album. Is that true?
SCOTT: Not at all! We've NEVER broken up. We came close
one time in the kitchen one day arguing about
where we were gonna move to, but even then we
didn't break up. That fight is what Let's Try
Again Tomorrow is about. Luis wrote that song
from his perspective.
ME: Is Bicycle really a role-playing song about a
Mormon?
SCOTT: Nope, but I've heard that rumor before. It's
really just about exactly what it says.
ME: So do you guys enjoy touring? I've heard that
Eric is the only one who likes it.
SCOTT: Oh, no. We all love it! It's a blast! We
wouldn't be doing it if we didn't like it. I
mean, hey it beats a stupid job right? And as
for how long we're gonna be doing it, well when
we get tired of it we'll quit. It's that simple.
We're not gonna try to drag it out like Petra
and milk it.
And for those of you who think that they don't
care about their fans, well Scott was packing up
as some of the people who were still there were
walking up for autographs and he was saying
"Hey, just to tell me to shut for a second if
you want an autograph. Sometimes I get wrapped
up in a conversation so I won't be
offended...just say "Scott, shut up and sign my
poster. It's cool dude" And then kids were
walking up wanting to buy things as he was
packing them away and he bcame the
wheeler-and-dealer. Kids were asking for
T-shirts and stuff and they'd explain how they
only $2 or $3 and Scott was like "That's cool,
whatever you got. We don't have to be exact
here" And then one kid was sitting there telling
him how much he enjoyed the show and he wanted
to buy the CDs but he didn't have any money so
Scott gave him a copy of every CD free. The kid
was shocked! Scott said "If it weren't for you
guys, we wouldn't be able to do this. This is
just like my way of paying you guys back" He
gave away about 20 CDs just in the 5 minutes I
was standing there.
The New Album:
ME: So you guys got a new album you're working on?
SCOTT: Yeah, we're gonna try to start recording it in August.
ME: Anything you can say about it style-wise?
SCOTT: Well, it will probably be a lot like The One and
Only but I'm sure there will be some differences
because we always like to try something new.
Also, it might be longer than the rest of out
albums because Luis has been cranking out songs
like crazy. He's been writing lyrics non-stop.
ME: So you guys aren't gonna be doing anything like
the style on Commonwealth?
SCOTT: Oh man, no way! That was a depressing time in my
life so all I wrote was depressing lyrics. We're
leaving that behind us.
The "500,000":
ME: Last time I talked to you, you said that the
500,000 was kinda like a slam on some people you
know back home. You wanna expand on that a
little more?
SCOTT: It's a secret dude. No one gets it but us four,
and maybe the people back home. It's our little
inside-joke. I can't say anything else about it.
ME: Well, I've heard two things. One, is that it is
about mormons...
SCOTT: Oh no, it has nothing to do with anything
spiritual.
ME: ...and two, that someone back home used to tease
you guys and say that you'd never sell 500,000
copies.
SCOTT: Well, that is a lot closer!
ME: By the way, how many albums have you guys sold
anyway?
SCOTT: Commonwealth has sold 83,000 and The One and
Only just passed 50,000.
Random Info:
The Someday video arrives at MTV on Wednesday
(Feb 18) and it is expected that they will be
playing it. BEC is pushing for radio stations to
air the song as well.
I mentioned to him how they were nominated for
best alternative album and he said "Yeah, but
the whole thing is rigged. If you aren't from
Nashville or your record company isn't centered
in Nashville then you can forget it. You might
get nominated but you won't win. The Christian
Music Industry is sad like that"
I asked Scott if he had a favorite Plankeye song
and he said "No, I don't know. I'm so confused
right now...too many songs."
Scott's favorite groups to listen to: Oasis,
Hank Williams Sr., The Verve, Johnny Cash (I
asked him if he listens to any Christian bands
and he said "not really, maybe Fold Zandura and
MxPx, but that's about it. We don't really have
time to listen to music anyway.")
Scott also told me about how they don't like to
perform at youth events because "I feel that a
rock concert isn't a good way to bring someone
to Christ. I've seen it done before and it's not
cool. I see a band play a song and someone
recieves Christ right there and they're like
"praise Jesus" and then they go into their next
song. What about that kid? Who's gonna pray with
him? Who's gonna explain to him what he just
did? Who's gonna give that kid a Bible? And
who's gonna sit down with him for the next two
years and help him read the Word?...nobody!
yeah, praise Jesus that he's saved but what
about the follow up? Now does that do him any
good? Who's to say that he won't go back to his
old lifestyle because he had no one sit down
with him and explain things to him? That's why
we don't do youth events.
The band just bought a computer on Feb 10 and it
isn't working right but they are having it
fixed. They are thinking about trying to set up
an email program so they can recieve and return
emails from fans.
There is a new Plankeye web site:
http://www.plankeye.com (only the title page is
there right now, but the rest will be up soon)
Landmarks:
I talked to Eric (the one who wrote Landmarks)
about the song. He said that it's a "pantomime
shift" (a shift in a set of values or beliefs)
He explained that the song is about going from
believing one thing to believing another. It is
not about going from being a non-Christian to a
Christian, but more like believing one thing is
true as a Christian to not believing it anymore.
"It's the way you feel that keeps you from the
truth" is saying (in Eric's words) some people
feel that certain things can't be true. For
example, some say 'oh, God would never send
someone to hell, He just wouldn't do something
like that' but the truth and the reality is that
He does. It's the way you feel that keeps you
from the truth.
And if any of you were as curious as me, that
part in the middle that's hard to make out is:
Fe-el
It makes you feel
Fe-el
It makes you feel
-- Brad Stephenson
Plankeye Freaks have Checked out this Spiffy Concert Review
