As
I mentioned last mag, 7 Seconds recently recorded a new album.
The band is the same line-up as the OURSELVES album, with
Bobby, Steve, and Troy. Well, the record, OUT THE SHIZZY,
should be in stores now. I recently caught up with ringleader
Kevin Seconds at his regular Friday night gig at Capitol Garage.
Kevin is one of the busiest guys I know. Besides 7 Seconds,
he has several side projects, DROP ACID (2 cds, one on RESTLESS
one on CARGO, plus a 7 inch on EATING BLUR) plus he still
finds time to pal around with his friend Allyson who he also
plays in 5' 10" and MUSTARD
with. If this wasn't enough, he also does the booking for
Capitol Garage on Friday nights.
Capitol
Garage is a coffee shop right across the street form the State
Capitol, and at Kev's instigation, they started doing live
music in the parking lot on weekends. It's quite the scene
with an eclectic mix of musicians, scenesters, hipsters, poets,
politicians, and symphony goers returning to their cars from
the community center and wading through the crowd with confused
looks on their faces. 15th and L in fact is becoming quite
the metropolitan artsy corner in fact, with two art gallerys
and the venerable Beer's Books. Anyway, tonight Kevin is waiting
for the other half of Mustard but Allison is running late,
so Kevin has to start without her. At one point Kevin launches
into and honest version of SWEET HOME ALABAMA and eventually
Allyson shows up and the show is cool. They blend well and
the songs are good. Afterwards, I talked to Kevin in the Roasting
room at the Garage while the next performer did cover tunes
from the 70's rock and roll band by BOSTON.
HECKLER
MAGAZINE (JOHN BACCIGALUPI): How do all your side projects
affect your work with 7 Seconds?
KEVIN
SECONDS: The side stuff is strictly that, side stuff. I figured
in the down time for 7 Seconds I'm always wanting to do something
and be creative and be musical. It's the only reason I do
that stuff.
HM: I
hear a lot of Drop Acid and Seed influences in the new record.
Do your side projects broaden the perspectives of 7 Seconds?
KS: Well,
I had a lot of time, almost two years to do that stuff. Drop
Acid tended to be way more heavier, almost bordering on kind
of a metal thing.
HM: Especially
the second album. (Which features Heckler publisher, Sonny
Mayugba on guiter by the way)
KS: Yeah
it was kinda' going in that direction which is one of the
reasons I'm not doing that now. I didn't really want it to
go in that direction in kind of a weird way. I wanted power
without the metal thing. And then Seed is a lot more pop...
punk.
HM: I
hear a lot of both of those things in the new record. There's
real heavy stuff, but it seems more melodic than anything
else 7 Seconds has done.
KS: Well
I think that a lot of the heaviness comes from the stuff that
Bobby and Steve wrote. When they showed me the stuff, I couldn't
even come up with an idea on how I would sing to that stuff.
I was like, ' Man, this is like rock.' Initially, I was really
thrown for a loop. I was sayin', I don't know if this is 7
Seconds anymore. I was even talking about maybe we should
change our name, it sounds like we're a different band. But
the more I worked with it and listened to it, I was finally
able to put lyrics to it, it made sense. I feel that even
though it does sound different, there's still that 7 Seconds
element. So I agree that playing in different things helped.
HM: SO
you guys are leaving soon for a European tour?
KS: Yeah,
we're leaving Wednesday for all of Europe for a month and
a week. And we're taking Big Drill Car with us to open all
the dates. It's gonna be just hectic. I don't think we have
any days off.
HM: So
are you gonna do a US tour when you get back?
KS: Yeah,
we're planning that now. It'll be after the New Year probably,
realistically February. We don't wanna wait too long till
after the album comes out, but we wanna make sure the album's
been out for a bit.
HM: So
do you guys snowboard or skate?
KS: Oh
yeah, we're all really good skaters and... No really, Bobby
skates and our former guitar player, Dan plays in Fungus,
and Troy knows Shaun Palmer
and... (breaks out laughing) No we're really not skaters or
snowboarders. And it's really strange cause we've always been
kind of a skater's favorite band.
HM: But
none of you guys really skate?
KS: No
but we used to judge a lot of skate contests and play skate
parties at the mile-high ramp.
HM: Really
you guys were judges?
KS:Yeah,
me and Troy would judge these skate contests. My room mate
at the time was a skater too, Tony Hospital. He was like the
skater in Reno. So we always had a bunch of skaters at the
house. So, we support, but we're just chicken I guess. I used
to skate around and I'd always fall hard so, I said well,
this isn't for me.
HM: It's
tough being a guitar player and skating. Eventually, you'll
break something and can't play. Well, Anything else?
KS: Yeah,
if you want info on the band like our newsletter or stickers,
write to: Second Thoughts, PO Box 163124 Sac, CA 95816.
As
I mentioned last mag, 7 Seconds recently recorded a new album.
The band is the same line-up as the OURSELVES album, with
Bobby, Steve, and Troy. Well, the record, OUT THE SHIZZY,
should be in stores now. I recently caught up with ringleader
Kevin Seconds at his regular Friday night gig at Capitol Garage.
Kevin is one of the busiest guys I know. Besides 7 Seconds,
he has several side projects, DROP ACID (2 cds, one on RESTLESS
one on CARGO, plus a 7 inch on EATING BLUR) plus he still
finds time to pal around with his friend Allyson who he also
plays in