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 Who is who in Underdog Conspiracy? Ryan A. - I play guitar and sing Ryan B. - me too, and i'm the manager Joe - umm, i play bass and... that's about it Ethan - i'm just in the band (he plays drums) Where are you located and how is the music scene there? Ryan B. - we're from Kansas City. The music scene, at least the punk rock scene has died around here. When old clubs like the Daily Grind and the old Yahweh were around, the scene was really good and kids would always come out to shows. Now the only reason kids come out, it's not for the music, but it's about their friends and kids only come out when there are "popular" bands playing. We're not about that so only the true fans and scene kids come out to our shows. How would you describe your sound? The band - well, we differ a lot. Cliffy Huntington told us we sound like old Screeching Weasel. When we first started out, we sounded like old Chesire Cat Blink 182. We've gotten a lot more hardcore as the band has grown. Now the kids tell us that we sound like Good Riddance, One-21, and NOFX. We walk the line between pop and hardcore punk rock I guess you could say. Where did the name come from? Ryan A. - I was in this old secular punk rock band and before we got a name, our bassist dreamt the name in a dream and it was really vivid I guess. Well, we decided against it and changed our name to Commander 18. When this started, we needed a name for our first show and it was the one we decided on. It only took us like 15 minutes to choose the name and we only threw out about 3 choices. Ethan - I wanted to name it The Underdogs who take over the world in a slow and tedious manner but no one else really liked it that much Ryan B. - I hated that name Lyrically, what are some things you write about? Ryan B. - we don't write no stinkin love songs. Ryan A. - ryan and I write most of the songs, the songs I write are about personal experiences in my life and things I think people should know about. Emancipation is about how i gave up drugs through God and Reap the Whirlwind, well, that's out of the bible. Ignorance is Bliss is about looking at what's in front of you and acceptance of harsh realites and about how the government isn't that great. We've got some straight praise songs too. Ryan B. - The songs I write are about my life and different things that God has brought to my attention and things to help both christians and non-christians in their walk with God Why don't you write about girls? Ryan B. - hehe, well, we do have a song about a girl. It's called andrea. We don't write lame teenage songs about girls+love. Andrea is a song about a friend of mine who moved away and I have no idea how to get a hold of her. It's about how i never witnessed to her about God and that really sucks. If you guys were stranded on a deserted island like on that show Survivor, what cd would you take with you (granted that you could make a cd player out of a coconut and bamboo or something)? Ryan B. - weezer - self titled Ryan A. - good riddance - for god and country Ethan - Billy Joel's Greatest hits Joe - all of them What has God taught you since being in this band? Ryan B. - life is hard. There's a lot of things that we don't know yet and we need to keep remembering God in our everyday lives and not to be rockstars. Getting the rockstar mentality is a very bad thing. It gets you off track of the real reason why you're in the band. He's the vine and we're the branches. That's what it's all about. Ryan A. - patience, hardcore patience. Every band has to pay their dues and we've played some horrible shows and some places that aren't the best situation for a band like us. Then again, we've played the big packed crowds and the sold out venues too. Any future plans for the band? Ryan B. - the band will be around for a long time. God brought us together and he's opened up too many doors for us to ignore. Things are going to work for the band as long as we have faith and keep on doing this for the right reasons. We're making our second CD next spring and we'll hopefully be touring for a good part of the year next year. Most of the band is still in High School and after they're all out, we're making a run for the border (or tour as it may seem) Any parting comments? yeah, check us out online at http://www.mp3.com/underdogconspiracy and at http://www.sunflower.org/~dabeyes/un/underdog.htm Look into getting the CD, it's really good, good production quality. Thanks for reading this rad zine and remember, it's all about perception.... ...perception |