Moneen
Interview with vocalist Kenny Bridges
Issue 2, Summer/Fall 2003
Melodic pop? Power rock? Aggressive punk? You decide. Either way, it's damn good music.
S&S: How is the scene in Toronto?
Kenny: It's cool; it's very good. The scene around Toronto is a lot better. Where we're from, a lot of bands are close friends. Shows are great. The Toronto scene varies. I've been to a lot of Toronto shows where a lot of people are just there to watch the band and they're not really getting into it. They just stand there with their arms crossed. Generally, the scene where I live is pretty rocking.
S&S: Do you prefer playing to large or small crowds?
Kenny: It depends. The big shows are really cool. Smaller shows are great because they're real intimate and you get to meet a lot of people. You get a lot closer to everybody. Big shows are good too. Here's my deal. This tour is a total club tour. In Canada, we play a lot of hall shows. We play a lot on the floor, which generally I like a lot more, just because the people are right there. Most of the time they're surrounded around you, which is really, really cool. So, it's kinda of a lot more intimate. At first, I hated club shows. I was always so afraid of them. Being on the stage, I always felt so separated from the audience. It just scared me, pretty much more than anything. I've kind of gotten more used to it. As you play more shows, you get used to going, "Wow, monitors are a really good thing. It's actually good to hear your voice". Whereas, before we'd always be like, "Oh my God. I don't want to hear myself sing. I don't want to hear how bad I sound". So, we kind of found the best parts of both worlds. In clubs, there's always more things to climb on, more fun stuff to do. The stage should be a playground; that's the way it should be, really. Whereas, [at] hall shows, you're usually stuck on the floor and you have to basically ram into people in front of you more than anything. So, I've kind of found the best of both worlds, but [when] we play a bunch of club shows, it's always nice to play a hall show. If we play a lot of hall shows, it's always nice to go back and play a club show.
S&S: What is your favorite record that you have released and why?
Kenny: That we have released? Oh, I'd say probably the new one, which is probably the answer everyone gives. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to say, "Yeah, definitely the last one. This new one sucks. It's the worst thing ever. The last one was really good". The new one is totally us in a very, very comfortable spot. We weren't stressed out at all when we were recording it. Trevor and Chad were awesome, who we recorded it with, and they just made us feel really, really good. We were just able to really concentrate on the music more than the recording part of it. Whereas, before, I've always had a big part in the recording. So, it was just kind of good to be able to just sit back and just play the songs and not worry about anything else. I think we probably had the most fun. There were no arguments or anything. Everyone was just really comfortable. It was just really positive, probably is the best way to sum it up. For us, it was a more positive recording, and the thing is, I think the songs are the best songs we've written. I think they're well written songs; they're smart. All of our songs are usually longer, but they're not that long. They're not pretentious and overly arty or anything like that. So, I definitely think, just like any band, [that] newer albums should always be their best to date, because you should always be pushing yourself [and] trying to do the best you can do. I think we've done the best we can do up to this point.
S&S: Are you anxious to get signed to a major label, or are you comfortable where you are, now at Vagrant?
Kenny: No, we're so comfortable with Vagrant. We were scared to be on Vagrant. We thought they were too big. That was our biggest concern. We [were] like, "I think that's too big of a step for us to jump up to Vagrant right now", because the only other label we've worked with really is Smallman Records out of Canada. Our record got released to the distribution of Hopeless Distribution. Other than that, all we've known is Smallman, so that was a big jump for us to go to Vagrant. We're definitely going to be settling there for a long while. I just don't think the major label world isn't really the world for us, to be honest. It doesn't call out to us. I see some of the things that go on and it doesn't really feel like that's for us really. I know pretty much Vagrant is the closest we ever want to come to a major label. Just because of their affiliation with Interscope. That scares us enough there, so we're good with where we're at right now.
S&S: That's cool. Do you like some of the other bands on Vagrant?
Kenny: Oh yeah, definitely. Some of the other bands are some of our favorite bands. So, it blew us away for them to actually want to work with us. It was crazy. Yeah, The Get Up Kids [have] been one of my favorite bands for a really long time.
S&S: Do you all want to play music for the rest of your lives, or do you have other professional goals?
Kenny: Oh god, no. The only reason we're playing music is because we have nothing else in life. (laughter) That's pretty much it. If we didn't have this, [we'd be] homeless, on the street. Probably, our biggest goal if the band died, would be to get a great warehouse job. That pretty much would be it. I can try to breakdance for money. Maybe I can do that. You never know. I tried last night after the show and I didn't have any cardboard and I was doing backspins on the sidewalk. I ripped my back up. [I was] trying to do a backspin, all like maybe one and a half-around, until my skin just friggin' decided, "Well, we can't glide on concrete, Kenny. You're stupid". (laughter) It was really fun. I had a great time at the show last night. The show was really good and afterwards, I just started talking to a lot of people. I met tons of people at the show. It was just really fun. Being a supporting band is really a good position to be in, because you have very little worries. If you show up to the show on time, you're good. That's all that really matters. Show up to the show on time, there you go. The rest is just lots of fun. We play, pack up ourselves, and then we have the rest of the night to just meet people. Pretty much my favorite thing to do is just go find people to do really stupid stuff with, out on the street. So, it works out good and people at shows are always ready to have fun. That's the fun thing. I can always find kids at shows and there's usually no attitudes of like, "I'm cool" kind of thing. If I start making bad jokes, they just go along with it. Which I'm really glad because I make a lot of bad jokes. So, if they didn't go along with it, I'd just be a big loser all the time. My mom told me. Not that I necessarily agree with anyone else that call me a big loser, but since my mom calls be a big loser, in a good way of couse, than I know that's all right. She still loves me.
S&S: Has your family always supported you in your love for music?
Kenny: Yeah, my mom definitely has. She's a rock and roll mom. She loves the Guess Whos. She travels them around when they're on tour. She's a rock and roll momma. My dad's an engineer and he didn't really understand this whole band thing. He didn't really get it when we were going on tour. He's like, "I don't understand. You go in a van that's almost breaking down and you drive halfway across the country to get paid no money? I don't really get it". Then, when I finally paid him back the money he lent us for the van, then he realized. He was like, "Wow. They know what they're doing". I can't really agree with him on that one, because we no idea what the hell we're doing, but things are working, so that's good. Things are crazy these days. Things are really, really good. My parents are actually proud because we've gotten in the local newspaper back at home. We're in the Brampton Guardian, so they're all like, "Oh my God! They've made it, they've made it!". We've proven it to them. They love us now.
S&S: When you're on tour, do you sleep in the van, at hotels, or at friends' houses?
Kenny: Usually, we try and find anywhere other than a ditch to sleep in, pretty much. Usually, people are pretty nice about letting us stay at their houses, which is really good. I used to do that at home all the time, too. It's kind of like, you don't know these people. Who knows, we could come in drinking or stealing all their pillows or towels. Who knows what we could be doing, but people open their hearts and their arms to bands and that's really, really good.
S&S: Have you ever been dared to do something crazy, and if so, did you do it?
Kenny: Probably daily. Today, actually was a good example. It wasn't really a dare, but it's just my every day life of doing stupid things. I got one of those computer rolling chairs from the band room yesterday, because I was using it to restring my guitar. I had to put it back in the room, so I figured, "Hey, let's do something fun instead of just walking calmly like a normal human being and putting it back in the room". I decided to strip naked and roll into the room that was filled with people. I kind of leaped off the rolling chair as I was going, flew under our bass player, Eric, naked, of course, landing on him on the couch. At first, people were just like, "There's a flying guy through the room", then they realized that my friggin' dangly bob was everywhere. Then, they kind of realized [and said], "What the hell?" and people started screaming. I kind of played it off like, "Oh, I didn't know anyone was in the room". Pretty much ten seconds after I put my pants back on, this girl comes walking into the room. So, I was so close to being caught being naked, flying through the room on a friggin' rolly chair on top of our bass player. I've done a lot of stupid things in life. Afterwards, I usually regret them, but whatever, dude. As long as I don't pee in anyone's face. You never know, spontanious peeing can always happen.
S&S: How many occupations can you think of that include the word 'man' and are you a feminist?
Kenny: Oh, yeah. I'm definitely a feminist. Actually, I'm not going to say that at all. I'm probably going to offend so many females, so I won't go anywhere near the feminist thing, but I like ladies to feel that they're in a good spot in life, as well as I feel that guys should be, too. So, whatever you have to do to get there, good. As far as the other question, you have lots of things. You could be a space man, a garbage man, a homeless man, a tree man, a dirt man, or a Vaseline duct-tape peanut butter shingle man. There's tons of occupations out there.
S&S: What's your worst habit? Or the worst habit of any other members of the band, because you could totally rat them out right now.
Kenny: Well, ok. Peter smells things a lot. Hippie's always dirty. Eric, it's not really a habit as much as a lifestyle, but whenever he wakes up, no matter how much sleep he gets, he actually looks like he's dying. Seriously, he gets up, and it's like, "Oh my God. We have to bring him to the hospital". He's probably the worst morning, or afternoon, or night person you'll ever meet in your life. He's the greatest, most positive guy, except when he's waking up. He just looks like death.
S&S: What about yourself?
Kenny: What about myself? I don't know. I'm a near perfect man, you know. That's not true at all. I have a really bad temper when it comes to video games. I get very violent and want to smash everything around me. I go crazy. Pretty much, anything I do, I put like a hundred percent into it, so I get really into the video games or whatever I'm doing. I get pretty crazy. Sometimes, [when] I'm on stage and my tuner doesn't work, I start smashing it and yelling at it like it's a person that's trying to screw me over. It's just one of those things. Even when I'm tuning my guitar, man, a hundred percent!
S&S: Ok, I'll hit you with the last one.
Kenny: Ouch, that hurt! Ouch, that hit me! Ouch!
S&S: Oh, I'm sorry. Dude, are you alright?
Kenny: I can take one more. Hit me with the last one!
S&S: If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?
Kenny: Woo...Well, that's a very hard question, but here's my answer. I would cut my body up into multiple pieces, just because there's so many places that I'd like to live. One of them would be in Arizona, for the reason being that I don't get sick when I'm in Arizona and I get sick everywhere friggin' else in this whole damn friggin' friggin' continent. Friggin', friggin', friggin'. (laughter) So, I'd cut one piece off there. I'd cut another piece off and I'd still live in Brampton. I'd cut another piece off and go to Florida, because I used to go there every year of my life and I love it there. I'd cut another piece off and I'd probably go over to California, because I like it there, too. Then, for the fifth and final piece, I'd cut it up and I'd just throw it into the ocean and let it go where ever it pleases.