Sound Off--The Real Interview!

The setting:
The couch is practically green, but not really. It is a lighter shade--pale olive, maybe. No one knows what it is exactly, but no one cares either. It has been around too long for anyone to do so. Everyone likes it; It is comfortable. That's why it is there.
New York has never looked better--there, pasted to the back wall of the room, working as a background. At its best in every way--the lights, the buildings, everything; a perfect view. Not this perfect in a hundred pictures combined. Only three pictures, big ones, all pasted together. No one knows they are pictures—and the people that do don't care. It looks good; fake doesn't matter. That's why it's there.
And anyway, everything else is fake. The lighting is ideal and fake. The wooden floor, it is wood, but everything put into it makes it more fake than real. The glass table sitting in the middle—center of attention. The pretty oranges on top, sitting inside their vase, of course, are fake. What isn't fake nowadays, anyway?
The smile, that takes the cake.--Fakes of all fakes. Big, charming, perfect teeth, and fake. But hey, it doesn't matter; it is a famous smile… That's what it's there.

(Smiles:) For others, though, it's not just the fame. It never was, really. It was what they are good at—a profession looked down on by society, but just a professional as the rest of them.—besides the fact that most people hate it. (The same "most people" that never seem to be getting anything right)
The profession: having fun--healthy, alive fun.
Not just any healthy, alive fun, though; it's music. In his own words: music is breath. And it's really true for some people--me included. If you have time for breathing, you have time for music.
But besides the obvious fun—it seems to be kicking off fine--to the distress of the not-so-obvious-and-yes-so-cautious closet fans. Because of that, duty calls—no, screams at me. You snatch fame and make it grow, and glow, before it fickles. This job, duty, whatever, comes close to what vultures do, only funner. Professional fun.
Not only that, but somebody has let the world know. (And it counts for my CVA.) Now—completely uncensored and even more exclusive, on behalf of everyone here at Practically Time's magazine—presenting … Amaranthine!

Thunderous applause. Someone, somewhere, presses a button and the crowd loves it. The smile grows.

(Joe makes his entrance)
(Joe:) Hi. Um. (Twiddles couch arm nervously.)

(Ahem. Thank you for agreeing to the interview, thank you for having me, and stuff.)

(Joe:) Is that what I'm supposed to say? Like heck. I'm not saying that. (Crumples up lines and throws them away!) III agreed to the interview, not YOOOU. ...I will say stuff though, I like that word. Stuff.
(Gio Smiles:) That's nice. Stuff is nice. Err....edtior? Add an advertiser here, or something. Quick! Ehem. (Smiles)
(Ed:) We don't beleive in that.
(Gio:) What good are you, then?
(Ed:) Not much.
(Gio:)Okay, fine, we'll start.

To start with, Joe, why the name? Amaranthine? I mean, we all have dictionaries, but what does it mean, to you, in your own words?
(Joe:) It means that I am going to live forever. Do you know that there have been, I don't know, 200 billion people that have ever lived on earth in all of time? Well, how many of them have lived forever, as proven by still being alive today? What, around 5, 6 billion? Pretty good. Now how many do you think will never, ever die? Very few of us. But I'm gonna be one of them.
(Gio:) Actually, I hear death rates are still stable at 100 %. If that's true, you're right; very few of us.

Next question: Who would get the... credit... in giving you your beginner's motivation?
(Joe:) I have been debating about whether to give this name out in public. So many people would like to get their hands around the person's neck, whoever it would be.
Truth is, I'm not even sure. The fact is, I didn't know there WAS a non-Ws music scene in the Family until my ex showed me a CD that had a few of the old Audiolinkup all stars: The Light (Tranceology), Dancing Trees (STEM), and of course Broken Wing (Mr. Metanoya, AKA Mr. French). Although that was about all she did to motivate me to make music, the discovery that music could be made on a more or less amateur level was what started me off, and that credit goes to her.

(Gio:) Has that changed? Who would you give it to now? Please, don't say the fans. It's way overrated.
(Joe:) These days, I would have to say more than anyone, Ben. I had given up music completely when I came to Guadalajara. I didn't want to have anything to do with it. Not because of discouragement or because of the rare negative listener (those are what is really overrated), but just because I was too busy. I had two projected novels that I wanted to work on, plus just settling into a new Home, all new chics in the area to cuddle, etc, I just didn't see the time.
Anyway, Ben is an entrepreneur and a real punk at heart and he had some song ideas and was slightly musically inclined, plus he is quite persuasive. So he convinced me to record with him a simple punk remake of I Know Someone Loves Me on a chat mike. And of course, from there we couldn't stop. He came back chic-jazzed from a teen camp, which produced the hit demo single Family Girls Rock (which we are actually remaking in the studio right now for our new emo/acoustic rock album).
Ben has been a great pleasure to work with, and I hope to continue to work with him for a long time. He is always encouraging when I play him a new song or even just present an idea for one. His songs are always inspired, usually catchy, and that plus just the fact that he comes from a such a different angle than I do: intellectually, his background, his influences, voice, ideas--I believe we really compliment each other.

(Gio:) What got you started in music? And was there a reason at first?—or did it just sound nice?
(Joe:) That's a good question, Smiles, I was hoping to be able to expound on this. Since we never DID actually FINISH what was intended to be the original reason, to at least talk about it is really psychologically releasing.
As you know, our first two songs were Piecemeal and The Magic Emerald, both remakes of old children's songs. That, in fact WAS the original reason. Me and a few colleagues--yourself included there, Smiles--were inspired to put together an entire CD, an album, of nightmare-modern, children's song remakes. Obviously, no, it didn't "just sound nice"--it didn't sound nice at all. But we weren't after nice, as you recall. We were after fun. And fun is what we got.
After all the publicity on Piecemeal (which literally went around the world), and the controversy on The Magic Emerald (thank you James, thank you Jerry), two very influential people in my Home pulled me aside and gave me my first "this is the Media Home" chat. The gist being that, yes, this was the Media Home and you couldn't just do things like that in the Media Home. I thank them, as you probably do, everyday. Were it not for them, these were the next ones on our list:
Keeping Clean (Heavy Metal. "My name is Jean, I like to clean.")
Little Eyes (Definitely punk. "Little eyes, little eyes, GO TO SLEEP!!")
Mommy, I'm Scared (Punk Rock.)
The Amazing Cat (Grunge Rock.)
And more, which I can't remember now.

(Gio:) Actually, I thanked them twice yesterday.
Next question:
Out of the huge variety of choices to pick from, why those rock-in-all-its forms/punk-in-all-its-forms/rap/alternative/dance/pop/metal/one-dark-room,-one-accustic-guitar/and-that-small-tinge-of-country styles you are always playing?
(Joe:) Actually nowadays it's emo rock, mostly. We settled on that because we both enjoy exploring tough, emotional subjects, we don't mind "embarrassing" ourselves like good little emo kids should, and everybody likes a good catchy tune. We hope to be pushing the cutting edge of Family emo rock further and further, and getting the message to you in a bursting fun, kick back way.
I don't know who came up with it first, but emo was a perfect label for what were doing, so it stuck. We like the driving, fun-loving speed of punk, the screaming at the tippy tops of your lungs, but we also like to go deep and poetic lyrically sometimes. With an emo label, you can do punk with more than just "your boobs were huge and there was love from above," or, "I hate everything and everyone and bring on the chaos."

(Gio:) Besides that, what other styles would you like to explore?
(Joe:) Anything with falsetto. I am an addict of that little head voice, sorry to say. But falsetto has very little to do with emo--you can find it here and there, but it's not a big player. So occasionally, to express my inner cloud-scraper, we will probably come out with some slow sliding, Runaway-style songs.
Also I am really interested in doing something with a techno BMT. The style can end up being anything at all really, the bursting punk or the heart searching or the metal, but I want to start with a techno track and write a song to it. Sort of a fusion of whatever styles pop up together.
(Turns to audience with the most sincere, caring smile you can possibly imagine) Write me if you're interested in working together on this.

(Gio:) Which leads me to our next question. (???)...

....err, yeah...

....Why the controversy, Joe? Out of all the things to make your music—practical, solicited, poignant, politically correct—why did you choose to add the controversy factor, over the other things, to most of it?
(Joe:) I don't think it was a conscious choice, like another ingredient--a pinch of salt or a squeeze of lemon. Really most of the things that people argue and irk about, like adding rap to a slow love song, just seemed perfectly normal to me at the time. I guess I don't really think in terms of music in black and white like most people do. Music theory to me is just that--a theory--and anyone who tries to live by it like a Bible needs to remember that. --Evolution is also a theory. WMDs in Iraq were a theory once too.
We don't believe in "you just don't do things like that," or "it can't be played." If you tell us that, we're going to say, "Why?" and then take it to the Lord. A good student will always have questions.

(Gio:) Were would you place yourself in the music chart?
(Joe:) Uh... which music chart is that, Smiles? I don't think there is any standard "Billboard" in the Family to go by.
Truth is, we recently realized that bands only really mushroom when they tour. This has been a little known and even less done thing in the Family up to now, but that is what we plan to do. We are going to tour every single music related camp or fellowship or gathering in the whole world that we can, to spread our message and music.
We hope to bring a lot of fun and eye-opening, bursting and feeding entertainment to the Family worldwide. Please pray for this, and if you are interested or are having a camp and need a musical accompaniment, please contact us with some advance notice so we can schedule it.

(Gio, under his breath, grumbling:) .... Free advertising.....
(Ed: I'm not taking tat off.)

(Gio, smiling:) Okay, imagine yourself, just finished the mastering your latest song, you are excited of course; it's no small task. But what is the biggest reason for that? What part of music gives you your biggest "high"?
(Joe:) You may have noticed the word "bursting" in my rants a few times over the past few minutes. Well, that's a favourite of ours, and that is really the part of music that gives me my biggest high.
A song can't just amble long, verse, chorus, verse, end. That is what I have against so many mediocre musicians on the scene today, whether famous or just starting out. You have got to burst. There is no passion, no connection if there is no burst.
A burst is when something explodes, something connects from the song to your heart and you feel it within you. Sometimes you'll tingle all over, sometimes you'll get teary eyed--sometimes you'll feel you want to throw your arms up and scream into the sky, dance, clench your fists, something. A burst could be anywhere from the crescendoing ending of the Song of Victory to Alanis Morissette's cracked voice "a little too ironic... and yeah, I really do think--." It could be Justin's first primaeval scream of "This is waaaaarrr," or Sylvia's, "I saw you through the window, curled up on your bed."
That is why I make music. That is what I hope our music does for you.

(Gio:) Another must-ask-you is this completely random question, in case we ever have to suffer it:
Just say you recently had a most tragic accident in which not only was your music paused, but your wrist broke. But not just any wrist; your left wrist.
When that happens, how do you manage all of your… needs?—some of which you couldn't satisfy with only your right arm... like, making music and stuff. It could happen to any of us.
(Joe:) That would be a very painful time for the band, Smiles. Fortunately, I am only a vocalist/lead guitarist. Lead guitaring, the songs can basically do without, and vocals can happen with only one arm to grab the mike with (it would be tough and less dramatic, but..).
What would really suck is if, say, Benji left to the States for a month road trip at the same time. Things would almost come to a complete standstill. I might still sequence some single-handed synths on the computer's keyboard. Or set up the equipment with my remaining arm and record some vocals, say for instance, for the songs "Shiver," "Sleepwalking On The Ledge," and, "By The Way" to nothing but a bare metronome, and then fill in the guitars, etc. later, when my wrist healed.
I pray to God that He doesn't ever have to anything that drastic, and I know your prayers are with me.
(Gio:) They are.

Now, a question on the broader level: You have recently worked together with Ben Dover in some of your recent hits. What have you taken from that experience?
(Joe:) You know how a lot of bands' albums basically sound the same from beginning to end? (Gio Smile nods and smiles.) Take Aqua for instance, or others. This is because people grow up around a certain musical culture and, barring an extremely creative streak, can only write what they know. Therefore if a band only has one songwriter, or a few from similar backgrounds, you get problems. All the songs sound the same. That's why Ben has been a lifesaver.
I find myself writing with the same pattern over sometimes, but if we work together on a song, he'll usually have a totally different perspective--completely new ideas. Same with me for him. Another thing I have learned from him is to just loosen up a lot more with my music. I have a tendency to project a very high-strung emotional picture in my songs, but from him I have found that that isn't the only way. You can sing very casually or even emotion-less-ly, and still get across a desperate message.
Also, I've learned that not all songs have to be completely serious or completely anything, or even complete. I have delved further into the realm of just-for-fun thanks to him.

(Gio:) Sounds like fun, and I'm sure it is.
Next, this question is on behalf of the world. Why the falsetto?!
(Joe:) Oh come on, admit it. You like it. (Do not)
Arnold Shwarzythelkadhgnegger has muscles so what does he do? --Become the governor of California? No! He wins Mister Universe championships. Robin works well with teens, so what does she do? Become the JT Board regional chairperson! I happen to have a high voice that is trained even better in falsetto than it is in singing normally. Of course I'm going to use it. I like it, I don't care if it's out of style or usually avoided in the Family or looked down upon by the so-called cool elite musicians and their following. Truth is, there is no box.

(Gio:) To finish this off, is there anything you would like to tell the faithful readers of Practically Time's (namely, me and you)? Any last comments?
(Joe:) You mean like gossip? No, nothing. Um... I'm dating Jesus? I lost ten fingers in a crash diet last week? I'm pregnant?
Oh, I know! We're playing at BLAST 2006 in Mexico in October. We will release our first official album there. Get out your subscriptions and be there!

(Gio:) We've got to wrap up. What are your impressions of Africa?
(Joe:) Africa? ... ......Is that where Africans come from?Uh... I like it, love it. Can't get enough of it. Why exactly are you asking me this? Huh? Speechless? Ya, that's what I thought. LOVE TO EVERYONE! I LOVE YOU MOM! (Waves and kisses and is dragged quickly off stage.)

Gio Smiles smiles as the camera turns to the crowd and then blacks out.

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And that's that.

Gio.