Over It has been playing the scene for quite a while now and this past march, the band released their new album SILVERSTRAND. I had a chance to talk to Peter Munters, lead singer and guitarist, and surprisingly joined later on by fellow guitarist Nick Bailey. They talk about tour life, California, the upcoming Warped Tour dates, CD reviews… and something about being chased by an axe??
Racket Magazine: So, let’s start off by introducing yourself…
Peter Munters: Well, hello Racket Magazine, I’m Peter, and I sing and play guitar in a band called Over It. Regrettably the other guys are else where, so I’m flying solo tonight.
RM: So you recently released your new album SILVERSTRAND, which rocked by the way,
Peter: Thank you!
RM: How was the writing process for SILVERSTRAND? It is all “Let’s get some lyrics” from everyone?
Peter: At times, I kind of felt “Let’s get some lyrics”, but in all honesty, we didn’t mean to rush, and we didn’t have much time to make an album between tours. And fortunately we just got together and in a period of 2 weeks, we came up with about 16 songs and ended up recorded twenty. The writing and recording process took about 6-8 weeks from April until the second week of July then we went on Warped Tour. So we wrote and recorded the songs with a guy named Mike Green and he produced the record. And Cameron Webb mixed it and it was a joy to record and make. And we had a whole bunch of set backs which pushed the release further and further from the date we have imagined but we are really happy with the way everything turned out.
RM: And the “Intro” on the album, it sounds like a representation of your move to California from Virginia. Why such a drastic move, from side of the country to the other?
Peter: (Becomes ADD child and notices Nick coming our way) Look there’s Nick! Hey Nick, want to join us for an interview?
Nick Bailey: Yeah, of course!
Peter: We just started. We were talking about why we took such a drastic change upon ourselves and move from Virginia to California.
RM: Which sounds crazy.
Nick: Because it’s so nice out here! (Laughs)
RM: Anything to add to that, Peter?
Peter: Well, it is nice out here, but I think we really wanted to just to prove to ourselves and our families and to all the fans that we had back at home that we were really serious about what we are doing and wanted to take it to the next level. So we took all the matters to our own hands and you know, started to paying the bills ourselves and not asking our parents for as much help. So yeah, we just wanted a fresh start out here where there’s a lot more competition and …
Nick: The music scene out here is really, really good and we wanted to be a part of it
Peter: Yeah, just the ramped, diverse music scene and markets out here, just really bought us here, I think.
RM: How long have you guys lived here? (Peter and Nick start talking back and forth and counting the months on their hands, which a funny sight to see)
Nick: How many months from the new year….January, February, March, April, May…. 2 Years and 4 and a half months.
Peter: Sorry! Haha.
RM: How does California compare to Virginia … or vice versa
Nick: Uh, they are way different. Virginia is a beautiful place…
Peter: You can swim without a wetsuit!
Nick: Yeah, the water gets really warm out there in the summer time. I say the main differences between these places are the seasons. On the East Coast, you have all the seasons: Summer, Spring, Fall, and Winter, and here it’s just nice year around. Not to say seasons aren’t nice, it’s just nice here.
Peter: (To Nick, Jumping into the interviewer’s seat) What do you think of the music scene here?
Nick: The music scene out here is a lot stronger. On the East Coast, in Virginia where we are from, there are not as many venues and not as many bands, not as many promoters, and there weren’t as many kids excited about the music there, but that starting to change now, I think because the scene is growing as a whole. But out here, its way stronger, its way more part of the culture where as there it was very underground.
RM: (Looks at Peter) You just asked my next question! Thanks!
RM: So Tour Life, has it going?
Nick: Wait, what?
RM: ‘Tour Life’
Nick: Ha, I thought you said True or False (Reenacts question and answers):
‘How’s it going?’
‘FALSE!’
Tour life is going great. My day consists of wake up, drive, hang out, play show… Peter: Look for Subway
Nick:… Look for Subway, dive, go to sleep, over, over, and over again every day for a month’s on end.
RM: So you drive, subway…
Nick: and play a show.
Peter: Right now it’s really good; we are really healthy at the moment. We all suffered the several different reincarnations of the flu
RM: That was a couple of weeks ago, wasn’t it?
Peter: Yeah, a couple of weeks ago, we were all just wrecked. So we are happy to be healthy again now. There’s nothing worse than being sick on the road and having it impair your ability to do a good job.
RM: Yeah, I saw the Myspace bulletin ‘I just drove and barfed on the side of the freeway…’
Nick: Yeah, that was me. That was fun.
RM: What’s the biggest sacrifice of being on tour? The hardest part about it?
Peter: The hardest thing about going on tour is not being able to beat up the guy at AMP [magazine] who gave us a bad review
RM: You didn’t read about that, Nick?
Nick: That was AMP?
Peter: Did you read this review? (Looks at Me) You can incorporate this somewhere, right? (Turns to Nick) They called our record accomplished and insipid (Reads rest of review, saying something about them being uninspired but able to crossover into the MTV and radio world) I guess this guy is not happy enough for this job… (Laughs)
Nick: Yeah, there’s something wrong with his personal life. (Continues back to the original question of tour life)
Biggest sacrifice would have to be leaving friends and family and not seeing them for a long time.
Peter: Yeah, that’s what I wanted to say. I love my girlfriend very much and miss her all the time.
Nick: Awwww… she’s standing right now
RM: Out of the guys, when on tour, who is the messiest?
Peter: I’m going to say Seth because it’s kind of weird because he is the clandestine messy guy. Everywhere you go, if you look under a cushion or behind things, you’ll find all kinds of candy wrappers and trash, and that’s how you know Seth has been there.
Nick: Personally I’m a neat freak. When things get unorganized and dirty, it really makes me unhappy. So I like to think that I’m fairly clean. We all take showers everyday for the most part.
RM: So speaking of that, who’s the ‘Mom’ of the group, taking charge and has to round up everyone?
Nick: I don’t know, I guess maybe me. We all try to be responsible at different times.
Peter: And call him dad since he’s a boy.
RM: True! So, Warped Tour is coming up, are you guys excited?
Nick: Warped Tour is amazing, I can’t wait!
Peter: Hopefully, we’ll survive but yes.
RM: I know you guys have played Warped in the past, any stories? When you think of your times at Warped, any events pop up in your mind?
Nick: Wow, there have so many, it’s hard to narrow it down. Hmmmmm…
RM: Any stories like have you seen big rockstars from those certain bands create carnage or throwing up everywhere?
Nick: One night at Warped Tour, we all got really drunk and Peter puked all over himself, and our merch guy grabbed an axe and tried to kill someone and James peed all over the van.
RM: And I bet that didn’t come out for moths…
Nick: Well, after that we learned the hard way that at Warped Tour, there’s different kind of rule. You really have to like…
Peter: You really have to take care of yourself
Nick: Yeah you have to take care of yourself and have a set schedule; otherwise you will get eaten alive.
RM: Which bands on Warped are you excited to see again or have been waiting to see?
Nick: I’m excited to see No Use For a Name, Thrice, and there are so many good bands, it’s hard to say.
Peter: The Matches. I’m excited to hear new Matchbook Romance songs
Nick: I’m excited for Saosin…
RM: Any favorite bands right now, any CDs you purchased you can’t just stop listening to?
Nick: Acceptance!
Peter: The new Coldplay single [‘The Speed of Sound’] and the New Foo Fighters single [‘Best of You’] are really cool. I heard them on 106.7 KROQ today.
RM: Last Question! This is where you can make your ‘statement’, which I ask everyone. So when the battle is through, GOR FORBID, and it’s time for it to come to an end, what do you want your fans to remember you by? And go ahead, you can make it emotional…
Nick: That we were an honest, friendly, hard working band that writes songs that make your day…
Peter: … And wants to be yourself! I think Nick said it well enough. But that’s what it’s really about, just being yourself.
-By Jamie Rocha