Brian Phillips: The Sam Ash CD101 Big Room comes to life and what amounts to
morning for a working rock band. You guys awake?
As Fast As: yeah
BP: Good lord! What time did you guys get to sleep
last night?
AFA: Err, I don’t know
BP: Yeah, we appreciate you guys coming in early. This is As Fast As On
the Road for what seems like forever in the CD 101 Big Room. Why don’t
you guys play a song and then we’ll chat a little bit.
BP: As Fast As, in the CD 101 Big Room at Summer Fest tonight, you guys are
apart of it. You had your keyboard set to “Stevie Wonder” there.
AFA: Yeah, I did. Yeah
BP: That’s outstanding.
AFA: I took it from him when he wasn’t looking. Because he’s deaf.
BP: It’s not too early. Spencer, are you an adult survivor of child piano
lessons then?
AFA: Yeah, I am.
BP: How many years?
AFA: Oh gosh, I broke it up, did some in second and third grade.
BP: Yeah
AFA: and then again right before I had to get in to college. Some
crunching there that wasn’t very successful and then I went through a year of
school and suddenly I just gave it up.
BP: Yeah. So when you were a kid did you resent taking the lessons or did you
enjoy it?
AFA: oh, I enjoyed it because the teacher I had would let me learn the popular
tunes of the day but then that quickly got blown-out because, you know, as soon
as Nirvana happened nobody had a keyboard. I played bass for a long time.
BP: Did you?
AFA: Yeah
BP: I sense kind of a resurgence of soul music in a lot of different kinds of
bands that I hear these days. Are you kind of finding the same thing? That song
had a hell of a lot of soul in it.
AFA: thank you
BP: That was outstanding
AFA: I’m glad to see a lot more keyboards around, that’s for sure. They’re cool.
BP: Yeah, now how old is that thing you’ve got there? It looks-
AFA: Uh, no. This is a- this is a new keyboard- I mean it’s the original that
the Beatles used. No it’s a new keyboard to emulate all of the-.
BP: Really? It’s just beat-up.
AFA: Yeah, it’s seen a lot of wear and tear.
BP: Well you pound that thing pretty hard
AFA: I try to break it.
BP: Yeah, That’s what you’ve got to do when you are playing live. Now you’ve got
a, what seems to be a- I don’t want to say “ ukulele”
AFA: It is
BP: It is a ukulele?
AFA: That is what you want to say because that is correct
BP: Yean, the ukulele was the thing, you know, it was like the thing you
bought at the dime store and you broke it. But that thing, that’s a real
one.
AFA: It’s a real one; it’s got a little pick-up in it.
BP: Wow,
AFA: Yeah, it’s the real deal.
BP: It goes from the keyboard to the electric ukulele. It’s As Fast As
in the CD101 Big Room. What are you going to play?
BP: As Fast as in the CD101 Big Room.
Gates open up at three for the big Summer Fest. Of course, As Fast As,
fortunately, on the bill. You guys are great.
AFA: Thank you
BP: And that’s the way you’ve got to do it sometimes. A small group at a time,
in the van traveling the nation, but I have a feeling that once people hear you,
once people see you you’ll gain a lot of fans. It’s got a great sound. You’ve
got to be able to sing to be in this band too. Let’s meet the other guys in the
band, Eche, did I say it right?
AFA: Ache
BP: I knew I would do that. What’s the origin of that?
AFA: It’s Spanish.
BP: Aha, do you speak Spanish?
AFA: From Spain. You should have seen the head to toe look that just happened. “
It’s Spanish” “Aha, really?”
BP: It is Spanish. Zack, did I say that right?
AFA: Yeah, that’s right
BP: Zack Jones on guitar; Andrew Hotchkins back there on the drums - not
required, not required to sing. Suppose that- could you sing if you had to
though? Yeah, oh yeah!
AFA: He’s the quiet dictator
BP: There you go. The drummers run everything or you trip over them on the way
out of the room. One of the two things. Now you guys are from Maine. I did a
little uh, cause I got to thinking, I can’t think of a lot of bands or other
famous people from Maine but I did find some: Milton Bradley- the guy who
invented all of the games; Ernie Combs, a.k.a. Mr. Dress Up- children’s
television show from way back, way back; Kevin Eastman, co-creator of Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles; Jud Nelson, Brad Packer, and of course Steven King. Have
you ever run across him in your travels?
AFA: Oh sure
BP: because he’s a big music fan.
AFA: Not ours.
BP: Well, if he heard ya. Well you oughta invite him up on stage
AFA: He’s a big blues guy- and a in that kind of a blues- rock kind of thing.
He’s often seen in Bangor, in the booming metropolis of Bangor. Banger as some
people-
BP: BANGer- that’s not how you say it? You don’t care? You’re not going to be
prudential about it.
AFA: If Rodger Miller says its BANGer than that’s-
BP: that’s good enough for you guys
AFA: I hardly know her.
BP: Now the record is “Opened Letter to the Damned” it’s been out here for a few
months in its new form because you did an indie record and did you re-do the
whole thing?
AFA: Well we took some songs from that and we had a bunch of new ones and some
songs that we went deep. We just like the title. We’ve only sold- we’ve only
made 1000 copies of that record and then we signed up with Octone so we figured
that we hadn’t quite exploited the title enough.
BP: Well yeah, that works
AFA: Which confused our local record store. They’re like “great, thanks for the
two same album titles” like Peter Gabriel
BP: Well yeah
AFA: For the next record-
BP: Name it “ Peter Gabriel”
AFA: Name it “Peter Gabriel”? That would be good.
BP: Alright boys, can we get you- can we squeeze
another song out of you?
AFA: uh, that made it sound really gross- yeah sure did- but yeah. Okay.
BP: I didn’t mean it in an excretory fashion but if you want to take in
that way.
AFA: Lot of time in a van.
BP: yeah, yeah, understand.
AFA: that’s where every joke ends up
BP: Fair enough
AFA: Yeah so we’ll do “ Florida Sunshine”
BP: Very good, “Florida Sunshine” in the CD101 Big Room with As Fast As
BP: Rock n roll from Maine. I don’t
think I’ve ever said that. As Fast As-
AFA: It’s not often said
BP: Thank you so much that was great we look forward to seeing you guys. Do you
know when you are going on this afternoon, this evening? They don’t tell you
those things.
AFA: 5:15?
BP: 5:15
AFA: I guess we’re going on at 5:15
BP: Good, good, good. At the LC. We’re choc full of great music and As Fast As
has joined us in the Big Room, we’ll let them towel off, clock out for a little
while and then, um, they’ll join us this evening at 5:15. Gates open up at
three. We have World Party coming up here in the Big Room in a few minutes. Dead
Boy and the Elephant Man a little later on and then Kill Hannah and we expect
you at the show tonight as well. Thank you so much fellas. Give it up for As
Fast As.
