After I arriving quite a bit late at Thunder Field (there were problems finding where to park and a bit of confusion over our photo passes), I met up with Fiction Plane after calling them while standing 10 feet away. The decision was made to do the interview right there. On the grass. In front of the stage. Despite the location it was still a fun interview.

Interview written and conducted and transcribed by j. ward.
Photos by Luzviminda DelaPaz

[COMA] I've got one question regarding your father (for those who don't know, Joes father is Sting) so lets get that out of the way first. You guys seem to try to distance your selves from him so why did you decide to tour with him a couple times?

[Joe] We tried distancing and not involving ourselves with that and lying about it and saying "No" and it didn't work cause everyone knew and everyone would just talk about that so we figured we'd just take advantage of it instead of trying to do something impossible. Also, it gave us a chance to play our music to a lot of people without any compromise for our music so that's the most important thing.

[COMA] Do you think you gained a lot of new fans from playing those bigger venues?

[Joe] Yeah, definitely. Whenever we play in front of people we usually pick up quite a few.

[COMA] With your debut album, were you disappointed or maybe a little relieved that it didn't live up to the hype that it was supposed to?

[Joe] It was definitely disappointing but we learned a lot of tough lessons about the record industry and we really got stuck in a weird major label corporate disaster and it was annoying and it kind of wasn't our fault either. We did everything we could do, we toured hard, we made the record and were proud of it and we thought it was awesome but a new president came in who was a complete dick and didn't understand anything and he's fired now.

[COMA] Now you guys are with Beiler Brothers and they seem like a label who actually believes in every band they sign and are actually fans of the bands, that must be great for you guys.

[Joe] Yeah, it's a massive relief.

[Seton] It's very refreshing.

[Pete] With great taste.

[Joe] Yeah, they just let you make music and it doesn't have to be the music that's going to change the world today, it doesn't have to be the biggest fucking band of all time. It's like, "Do you like it?", "Yeah" and that's the end of the equation.

[COMA] You guys sited Nirvana as one of the bands that got you into playing music but there's no audible influence.

[Joe] It was just, when I saw them I wanted to be in a band. That was it. My first band was a lot like Nirvana but in the end we end up doing what we're good at which is different than that.

[Pete] Yeah, we both love Nirvana. There are a lot of bands who have influenced all of us collectively and I think more than ever as a trio now, and with what we're doing musically those influences can come out because it's a lot more of a free platform musically where we'll go off and do a reggae jam or we'll do more of a Pink Floyd type feel or go off on a guitar solo type thing which is a lot of fun now.

[Seton] I don't think you need to sound like the bands you're influenced by at all. I think the fact that we're like Nirvana is, I think we took more of the attitude and we find something really honest about Nirvana, it seemed totally genuine and totally un-contrived and nothing to do with the music industry. It seemed like they were really doing what they wanted to do and though we sound nothing like Nirvana, at the moment I think we try to take that attitude towards our music and try to make it as honest as possible. That's how the influence comes down, we all love that band but we also love Rage Against the Machine but we don't sound much like them either.

[COMA] Pete expressed some interest in touring in a bus that ran on bio-diesel, you guys ever look into that further?

[Pete] Well, actually there are, there are a lot of busses that do that. However, we're not even in a bus. The last one of these radio shows, we came in a Dodge minivan and this time we got dropped off by a cab. Unfortunately we're having to fly commercially to these gigs to do it and that's a real pain in the ass. I think when we can control the transportation we'll definitely make an effort. I hope. We'll try. We all care about it but we're pretty hypocritical when it comes to actually doing something about it. I recycle and I do what I can around my immediate area but as far as a bus, no we haven't really done it.

[Joe] I did environmental science in college and I cycle everywhere, I can't drive I'm always walking and then we fly.

[COMA] Normally I'm not a huge fan of live shot music videos but I think it works brilliantly with your video for "Two Sisters" because it shows the intensity you guys have on stage and I don't think that's really something that necessarily comes across in the music by itself.

[Joe] That's one of the reasons we wanted to have a live thing cause we just want to show people that we are an intense rock band. You can sometimes listen to it and think it's a little smoother or just not that sort of thing but we definitely thrive in the live area.

[COMA] I hear rumor you guys are going to be releasing a live EP around Christmas time.

[Seton] That was a rumor, it was an idea a couple months ago that hasn't come to fruition. We've been a little bit too busy and trying to focus on getting this new single out and getting a video for that and playing these shows. We'd like to do it tho, it's definitely on the horizon cause it's, like you say, we get a lot of people come to the show and they're like, "Ah, I didn't like that song on the record but I love it live." So, it's a sign maybe there's something good about the live stuff and we should get it out there.

[COMA] What are your plans for your next single and video? Do you have any yet?

[Joe] "It's a Lie" is going to be the next single and we're trying to make the video right now and then as soon as that's ready we'll send it to radio stations and say, "Play it man cause otherwise you're just dumb." I think that will work, it's a good sales tactic.

[COMA] I was thinking "Death Machine" would be a good single except it's not real radio friendly, but it's so damn catchy.

[Joe] We did actually do a radio edit but it's a little bit of a cop out. I think maybe we'll release it as a single but it's not really a single, you don't go to the radio station and do it you just release it and make a video for it. It's an important thing to talk about as well.

[COMA] In "Cold Water Symmetry" you have a line that I really just love, 'All the baby spiders fill my heart with dread', what inspired that?

[Joe] I just tried to think of something that's really creepy and horrible and kind of gets into your skin, but the idea of the song is your kind of in love with someone who's just... not good but it doesn't matter, you still feel it and if you can put up with baby spiders crawling around (on) your skin and in your bed then I think maybe that's the one.

[COMA] To me at least, being an American, it seems fairly obvious what "Running the Country" is about; would you care to verify?

[Joe] That's definitely one of the chief themes for sure. I think George Bush has done a good job of failing up and I think it goes for everyone, if you start off rich you can kind of fumble around and end up in charge when you don't really deserve to be and that's not such a good thing. I also related to it this year, we were struggling with the band and now we're on the biggest tour in the world. So I relate to it but I've still got a thing or two to say about mister Bush.

[COMA] You guys have been touring for a few years, have you gotten any interesting tour stories you'd like to share?

[Pete] We've go a couple. Seton's got a very rock 'n' roll story form Russia. Seton got locked in his room in Russia and things are, specifically in Moscow, felt a little KGBish and we had to go to sound check and Seton couldn't get out of his room so him and the bass player just broke the door down. It was very rock 'n' roll. We ended up having to pay for it which was un rock 'n' roll and they really overcharged us and said they were going to get the police involved, which is a little scary there but that was pretty rock 'n' roll. The tour has been great, the tour has been a lot of fun, There has been some amazing moments, Holland was a great achievement for us to play club show and 1,200 people showed up and it was great. (We) played a lot of amazing stadiums...

[Seton] Pete sat on the wrong drum kit.

[Pete] I sat on the wrong drum kit one time, that was sort of rock 'n' roll but it was just dumb. I had to get an IV I got so sick before we played.

[Seton] He was dead on the ground about five minutes before the show with about 25 paramedics in the room filling him full of shit and he got up and did the gig and then died shortly afterwards only to be resurrected.

[COMA] Anything else you'd like to share?

[Pete] We appreciate everybody who likes the band and come see us live and... thanks for being a fan.

Fiction Planes newest album Left Side Of The Brain is out now.
Visit Fiction Planes official MySpace at myspace.com/fictionplane

Related Content:
Live Photos
Left Side of the Brain Review
Music Videos