pop.unknown
    we got in contact with gabe wiley, the drummer of the `pop,... he wanted us to publish some 
    of their awesome, brandnew stuff in our mp3 section (back soon! - we're working on it). 
    so we took the chance to ask him a few questions, have fun. 

to start off this interview, I think it would be really interesting to our readers how Pop Unknwon started out and what exactly does the name stand for? > pop.unknown started with tim and i. mineral had finished recording the music on our second record in san diego, but chris decided he wanted to rewrite most of the lyrics. so we came home to texas and waited for him to complete his writing so we could go finish the record.

    > >> i was getting restless and decided to put together a side project with tim while mineral
    waited.  tim and i recorded few songs, which some of it became summer season kills.
    and then mineral broke up, so pop.unknown became my only band. we found some other
    players and began playing out. tada... as for the name, i got it from the t.v. show 
    'dukes of hazard'. the first shot of the show begins with a panning of a field where
    there is a sign saying 'welcome to hazard county pop.unknown. which stands for
    population unknown. i also like the various conatations it can mean. 
    use your imagination.

    you have recently recorded a new album, it's called "The August Division"... unfortunately 
    I couldn't listen to the whole album yet but if you compare the new record to past releases' 
    are there any differences`?

    > definately. first, the sound quality and production on the new record is many times better 
    than any other release. the song writing is much stronger, and the performances are better. 
    it's the best recording experience i've been involved with yet.

    you recently had Eric Sanger, former bassist from Sparta, join the band. did that addition 
    noticeably change anything?

    > it did in the live performance. he brings alot of energy, not only in his playing live, but he 
    infects all of us on stage. and it was instantly noticed by everyone who saw the POP live.

    if you had to desribe your sound to someone who had never heard of you before' how would 
    you do that in just one sentence?

    > loud and heavy pop, with a heavy metal desire.

    currently, "The August Division" is on Sessions Records what happened with Deep Elm 
    and what is The August Division anyway?

    > the relationship of the owner of deep elm and the band started going sour during the 
    recording of 'if arsenic fails, try algebra'. i don't know if any of the other bands who have left 
    deep elm have given their personal account of why they did, but i'll just leave it at... we weren't
    getting along at all. we decided to name the record 'the august division' because it was recorded
    in two phases. the first part in july and the second in september. we did some touring between 
    the two months, and because of the separation of time, it became the august division.

    what's your personal opinion to Deep Elm?

    > i think he runs his label with fairly good sense for the business aspect, but he doesn't relate 
    well to bands.

    with the release of the August Division, did it turn out how you anticipated?

    > yes and no. i always go into writing and recording a record with the hope this one will be 
    perfect to me. yet, i am the worst critic for my bands. everything i've done in the recording 
    studio has been pretty good to good, but never as great as i had hoped it to be.

    as a respected band yourselves, where do you think you fit in throughout the scene? 
    (punk, indie, "emo", whatever you may call it)... what do you think of the scene now that there 
    is so much publicity and attraction compared to a couple years ago when it was more 
    underground and unknown?

    > a couple of zines who've spent time with us at shows/on the road have called us "the motely 
    crue of emo". i think i like that the best. but we're basicly an indie band. the scene as it is 
    now...? it's the evolution of any teenage supported music scene. it's cultivated by dedicated 
    kids to the music they love, and then becomes noticed by the coporate fellas as potential big 
    business. for me, it made me mad when i was younger, but now that i'm an adult it 
    pays my rent. i guess i've become a dick-faced old foggy.

    to what stuff you're currently listening to?

    > always it's mostly 80's metal and new wave. but appleseed cast, recover, ...trail of dead, 
    tess wiley, pretty girls make graves...etc.

    are there any bands you really admire?

    > there are tons of bands i admire, but my favorite band right now is recover. they're friends 
    of ours from our ome town of austin, texas. wait untill you hear and see them, they kick 
    so much ass.

    so what about your side project "Kissing Chaos"?
    who is responsible for it and who plays there?

    > it is actually everyone in pop.unknown except tim (the singer). we started it because most 
    of us grew up in the hardcore or metal scene and we wanted to play some heavier stuff. 
    it wouldn't really be right for pop.unknown, so we started a different band. i'm very excited 
    about this project, it makes me feel like i did when i started my first punk band. we should 
    have an e.p. out in october.
 
 

what do you think about the internet. do you use it a lot?! and who is responsible for your website?, looks quite simple but very cool! > the internet is fantastic. i am fairly lazy, so i wouldn't keep in constant contact with my friends all over the world without it. it's nice to be able to check out bands i've recently heard about. i can see pictures, hear mp3's, talk to them all at home. at the same time we need to understand that free music is great, but our favourite little record store will shut down if we do not support it. so i use it as a tool to find the things i want.  our website was created and is maintained by our guitar player joel ganucheau. (he's also the singer of kissing chaos)

    what do you think about the internet. do you use it a lot?! and who is responsible for your 
    website?, looks quite simple but very cool!

    > the internet is fantastic. i am fairly lazy, so i wouldn't keep in constant contact with my friends
    all over the world without it. it's nice to be able to check out bands i've recently heard about. 
    i can see pictures, hear mp3's, talk to them all at home. at the same time we need to understand
    that free music is great, but our favourite little record store will shut down if we do not support 
    it. so i use it as a tool to find the things i want. our website was created and is maintained by 
    our guitar player joel ganucheau. (he's also the singer of kissing chaos)

    what about touring... it seems that you can't get off the road. maybe you could tell us some 
    funny stories you've experienced so far.

    > well i love to tour because we're all drunken bafoons, and it's alot of laughs. we've had our 
    share of dancing on tables in bars and on top of bars. naked swimming illeagaly. bar fights, 
    indecentcy with women and infecting straight edge bands to becoming drunk stoners like us. 
    but my favorite story is the brawl in pittsburgh. we we're on tour with recover and further 
    seems forever. we had never met fsf before and it was our first day with them. we arrived 
    at the club a little late, but it wasn't our fault i swear. (you believe me right?) the club tells us 
    all the bands except fsf has only a 20 minute set, which sucks. the show is sold out and we 
    could barely move our equipment on stage. when we finally get set up the mics do not work. 
    it takes the sound guy 10 minutes to figure out the proplem and we start playing. after only 2 
    songs that are only 3 minutes long, they tell us we can play one more that's it. our singer says 
    "no we don't" the sound guy says "yes you do", "no we don't", "yes you do". they did that for 
    a little while and i said "fuck it" and broke into 'b-sides' our last song of our set. towards the 
    end of the song where tim finishes singing, he slams the mic on the stage and it breaks. right 
    mthen a security gaurd jumps on stage and grabs tim by the throat and tackles him. matt, joel 
    and erick throw they're guitars down and jump on the guy. erick pulls the security gaurd's shirt 
    over his head and starts kidney punching the guy. then 4 or 5 more security guards jump into 
    the fray as well as a bunch of kids at the show, and it is a full on brawl. i'm stuck behind 
    my drum set for the 5 seconds it takes for all of this to happen. as soon as i get out from 
    behind my kit, the manager is on stage with his finger in my face yelling at me, and i barely 
    know what's going on. my battle was pretty weak, but the whole thing lasted about 4 to 5 
    minutes. as we we're trying to get our stuff off stage, joel gets up to grab his amp and the 
    crowd started cheering. when tim broke free of the security guards grasp and got up on stage, 
    the whole place starting chanting "pop.unknown...pop.unknown" and i couldn't help but smile. 
    they kicked us and some of the kids who helped us out in the fight. but, as we we're loading 
    our equipment out, we snuck those kids back in. that night we went and got hella drunk 
    and recounted the story many times.

    your current tour must have been over just a few days ago... how was it?

    > it was great except that i was sick most of the time. i have a weak immune system and 
    i always get sick on tour, but this lasted forever. but, the shows were very good.

    when can we expect you in europe or in germany?

    > pretty soon. we love coming to europe, but the best shows, and times are in germany, 
    england, belguim and holland. i'm always extemely excited to get back to those places. 
    we'll see ya soon. late!

    .frankie