TS - How did the seven of you get together?

José – Before save Ferris we were all in different local Orange County bands. The OC scene was really tight. We just did it for fun, because we liked going to the shows, it was really fun "back in the day." Brian, Bill, Eric, and I were in this band called Los Pantelones (which means the Pant’s in Spanish). We did some shows for about a year. Two of our songs ("I Know" and "Super Spy") are actually from that band. After that band broke up, Eric called me up and said that he and Brian wanted to put together a new band and asked me if I wanted to be in it, I said yes. They told me that Bill was going to come back into the band. We had some other people filling in the other spots until probably about six months later when we finally got everybody else in the band. Our original drummer Marc, we found through a friend. T-Bone Willy was in a band called the Knuckle Brothers, and his band quit so we got him to play. Monique was in this band called Larry. We saw them play and we thought she was amazing! So, we just tried our hardest to find her phone number and see if she wanted to join our "rag-tag" little group, and she did. I think that was 1995, I’m pretty sure.

Monique actually raised the notch a little higher for the band. When she came in she said, "I’m only gonna do this if you guys are serious." Which is a question I don’t think any of us had asked ourselves. So, when she came in she said, "I have other commitments that I’m doing right now, singing with other bands. I just need to know if you guys are going to put all your heart and energy into this. We decided to take a week to think about it, and at practice the following week we’d have a decision. Pretty much everybody in the band except one of the old saxophone players said yes. It kind of moved things up a little. We never took ourselves as a serious band.

We just did it for fun , just to play gigs and have a good time hanging out with our friends, and get girls. That’s how I got into it. One day I was in chemistry class, I was a Jr. in high school, and Eric Zamora came up to me and asked, "You’re pretty good on the trumpet, aren’t you?", I said "Yeah, I guess I’m pretty good.". He asked me if I wanted to be in a ska band, I was like "a what..band?" "I don’t really know what that is". He explained it was like rock with horns. He brought me some tape of some local bands, I thought it was really cool stuff. I had other commitments, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it. Eric said, "You know there’s lots of cute girls at these shows." That’s what pushed me over the edge to do it.

TS - How was writing and recording "Modified" different from recording "It Means Everything"?

José –The major difference was that we had a lot more studio time under our belts the second time around. We knew how the whole process worked, as far as finding producers, and finding studios. The first time we went into the studio, our label and our manager pretty much took care of everything for us, because we didn’t really know what we were doing. When we went into the studio, it wasn’t exactly what we wanted. This time around we were a little smarter about picking out producer, and studios. We skipped the frills. There’s studios in Hollywood where you can have pool tables, big screen TVs, and all this really cool stuff, but it’s costing you a couple of grand per day just to be there. We didn’t know that, this was our money we were spending. We could have used that money to spend time working on the actual music. So, that’s what we did this time. We tried to give ourselves more time writing, and more time actually in the studio.

TS - How long did production of the album take?

José – We started writing the album about Christmas of ‘98. We started pre-production in early spring. We were in the studio by summertime. We spent the whole summer recording.

TS – How was it working with the new producer John Travis?

José – John brought a lot to the table! He’s just a really, really cool guy. The guys in Sugar Ray turned him on to us. We did a tour with those guys and when he was working on their record they had a lot of good things to say about us. He was interested when we put the call out for producers. When he came in it was so cool, he actually took a lot of his own time. Even when we were still practicing in the rehearsal studio, he came in a month before he was even supposed to be there and just sat there and listened. He’d throw out ideas, he even gave us each homework every night. He’d tell us what we needed to work on, or that we’d need to work on our timing together on things. He did that for an entire month, even before we were supposed to start pre-production with him. That was so amazing, the fact that he took the time to actually hang out with us and get to know us. By the time we started working on the record we were already good friends. The atmosphere was really relaxed. It was so positive, we have nothing but good things to say about that guy!

TS - There are a couple of songs on the new album that are completely different from anything we’ve heard from Save Ferris before, like "No Love" and "Holding On." Why such drastic changes in style?

José – By definition, we’re a ska band, we’re not going to change that. We are still ska! We’re still the same band we were before. There are seven of us, and we each listen to different types of music. If we’re riding in a van’ we can’t have a CD playing on the overhead, because none of us can agree on one CD that we want to listen to. With this album we were concentrating on making a completely solid album. As far as the ska thing, it can get pretty monotonous (even for me as a horn player), when you hear fifteen songs all with these blaring horns, the same formula every song. We consciously made an effort to make each song different in it’s own right. We used different instruments when we recorded some of the songs. Whatever style a song was leaning towards, we just went with it full on. If a song had a dubbed hip-hop feel to it we’d actually use some samples, we got some DJ’s to come in. If it was a slow song like "Let Me In" we got a string section to come in and play on it. We really wanted to make a good record. I think when we were done we were all really happy.. Even for me, hearing the songs over and over for a couple of months, I can still sit down and listen to the whole album and not get sick of it, because every song is different. Now that we’re playing our live show it kind of gives our set a bit more dimension. We have our really up and happy stuff, but then we have other songs, like "Angry Situation", that have a little more edge to them. Our set is a lot more fun to play and I think for the audience it’s a lot more fun to watch, too.

TS - What kind of feedback are you getting about the new album?

José – We’re getting a lot of positive feedback. On our website at Epic http://www.saveferris.com. Anybody can go on and leave messages for the band. We go on there regularly and check it.

TS - Do you actually read the posts yourselves?

José – Oh yeah! We go on and try to respond. If they are addressing it to a certain member we try to let them know. Even when we are on tour we try to go to Internet cafés, or we have laptops on the road with us. We go online and take the time ‘cause it’s important to go on and read what people are saying. They’re our fans they are the reason we are out there. They are the reason we are doing what we’re doing, besides the fact that we love playing music. Since we made the commitment to be a touring band , we have to listen to our crowd and see what they want.

As far as the feedback, I have read some people say they were a bit bummed out, because the album is different. It was expected, because we knew there’d be people who wanted an "It Means Everything" part two. They wanted the same exact album with new songs, but that’s not what we wanted.. We’re the ones that have to live with this album. We just wanted to make a good record, so we threw caution to the wind. We put together a good solid record and if people like it, they like it. If they don’t, they have every right not to. I don’t expect anybody to like our band.

TS - You can’t be everything to everybody.

José – Exactly! The fact that people even show up at our concerts at all makes us feel really fortunate. During the autograph session people kept asking us, "Are you guys sick of signing autographs?" How much of an honor is it for someone to take the time out of their day or their night to stop by and wait in a line, just to get your signature, you know? I wonder why they want my signature, I’m just some kid from Orange County who plays the trumpet…"you could do it too."

TS – In a previous interview, Monique was quoted as saying that the changes in this album were due in part to your being a little older and wiser. Do you feel that had an impact on the content of the CD?

José – I think so. In the time it has taken from "It Means Everything" to this album we’ve all been on the road and toured with a lot of different bands, and been introduced to a lot of different types of music. Your songs are a product of all your influences, from what you listen to. Over two years, how many phases have I been through… as far as my CD’s. "I really like Weezer… I ‘m really into Brit Pop now." I think this album is a mixture of all that stuff. When we started touring after "It Means Everything," we got Brian interested in some of the Pop-Punk bands, and you can tell. Now we have songs like "Mistaken," "Let Me In" and "Your Friend." That’s just more of those influences showing through right there.

TS – How did Evan become your new drummer?

José – Well first off, about Marc leaving, it wasn’t a bad thing. Touring is really hard, I have to tell people. People think "Wow, you’re so lucky," and we are, but touring is not the easiest thing in the world. It’s not for everybody. When Marc came to us he was totally sincere, there weren’t any hard feelings or anything. He just didn’t want to do it any more. Maybe it’s just a time in his life, but he just can’t handle the road right now.

After he left the band we put a call out to all our friends and all our friends’ bands to find a new drummer. We took about two weeks to audition people. We had set a deadline for ourselves because we had a headlining tour coming up. We had a date we wanted to pick a drummer. None of the guys we had auditioned had really clicked . It just happened that Brian’s girlfriend said I know this guy, who was a friend of a friend. She said she’d heard really good things about him. So we decided to throw caution to the wind and give it one more day. "Well see one more guy and see if it clicks." Evan comes in and plays for half an hour, and totally blows everybody’s socks off! He was so positive. He appreciates everything that’s been happening with the band. He is a super solid drummer! We’re so stoked to have him! In my opinion he is probably the strongest musician in the group. He’s just a natural musician.

TS - The horn section has been doing double duty these days, playing other instruments or singing back-up in some songs. Are you enjoying the change of pace?

José – It’s been so much fun! I never thought I’d be singing backup vocals for a band, being a trumpet player. Now there are certain songs where Eric plays second guitar, and T-Bone Willy and I will do back up vocals, or Eric and I will play the horns while T-Bone plays keyboards. We’re having more fun now than ever because we get to do a lot of different things on stage. I don’t have to play my trumpet on every song. My friends were saying, "Dude, you don’t even play on that song…so, what’s up with that!" I actually get to do vocals, that’s cool, that’s fun! It’s so fun for me. It’s good for our sound, it also gives us a little more dimension.

TS - At one of your shows, Monique asked everyone what they wanted to hear. People were all requesting "Spam." Monique said you wouldn’t play that one. Is there any reason for that?

José – "Spam" was one of the first five songs that we ever put together for the band. We’ve been playing that since 1995. It’s a really cool novelty song. It’s really funny, and we don’t mind playing it. We wanted to showcase our new material on our first tour for the album. At the end of our set if we are so lucky as to get an encore we’ll play "Under 21," or we’ll throw in "Come on Eileen." We do those for the old school fans. We’re working more of the new songs into the set, we want to get those in the mix right now.

We’re excited that we have a second album and we get to play new songs. I understand, because I go to concerts, too. I get real stoked about going and hearing a song. Then, when I go and they don’t play it, it’s a let down. As a musician I have been touring with these songs and playing them for the last four years. We have a brand new album, and I’d much rather play those right now. We put in some of the old favorites for the crowd. We understand how it is to be in the audience. We sit down with the set list and try to mix the songs up some…old, new…old, new. You want to hear the songs you fell in love with.

Here are the "quickie" questions

Monique, a shop-aholic, or just born with too much style? - She has a lot of style. If you want to talk about shop-aholics you could point at any of us guys just as much as you could point at her. I have to give props to Mo, the girl’s got style!

True or False: Brian got the idea for calling the band SF after seeing it written on a wall? - True! He saw it in a cubicle at Fullerton College, while he was studying for a math class.

Can Brian tan, or does he just burn? - He pretty much just burns.

Is Bill done wearing the teddy bear hat? – Yes! Bill is "all grown up" now! It was a funny little idea. It was cool, but the thing that really got to him was that he really couldn’t go anywhere without people asking for the hat. People wouldn’t even know who he was unless he had the freakin’ hat on. He said, "I’ve been wearing it for four years. It’s starting to smell like crap, I think I’m gonna lose the hat!"

True or false; Monique was trained in classical opera? - True. Before she was a teenager she started training to be an opera singer, that’s why she’s got the pipes she has.

Where did T-Bone Willy get his name? – He adopted that name when he was fourteen years old, playing in his first ska band. He’s a trombone player and his last name is Williams "T-Bone Willy."

List one trait in you appreciate in each of your band members.

Monique – It’s a good thing she’s there, she is like a surrogate mother on tour. She gets real motherly if you get sick. She’s the only girl. She’s the one who’s always running around yelling at us to clean the bus. If it wasn’t for her we’d have the roach coach on wheels! She’s like a big sister, she always looking out for us and taking care of everybody.

Brian – He is really level headed. It’s cool ‘cause whenever there’s chaos going on, like everybody talking at once or we’re arguing about something, he can bring everything down a little bit. He helps to put everything in perspective.

Bill – He is the most giving individual I have ever met in my life. That guy would seriously take the shirt off his back for you. You don’t even have to ask twice, he’s just always there for everybody. I don’t mean only the bands, I mean everybody! He is just one of the nicest people I have had the pleasure to keep company with.

Eric – Eric, is always fun loving. He’s the guy who can always put a little sunshine into a situation and make everybody laugh. He gets us going with his funny antics!

Evan – Takes everything with a grain of salt. He will kind of defuse a situation. He just rolls with things.

T-Bone Willy – I swear that guy is Buddhist or something, ‘cause he never gets angry or loses his head. He tries to be there for others. If one of us is having a bad day, or a bad week, he really goes out of his way to spend time with that person.

Me – I’m just a jerk!