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Interviewee:	Mc Lars - Mc Lars
Interviewer/s:	Kate James & Matt James
Date:	14 February 2006
Venue:	Rock City, Nottingham

Upload	When we last met you were on the Bowling For Soup Tour, since then you have toured with several other bands including Fightstar and Test Icicles. How were those tours ?
Lars	Very good, the Test Icicles shows were really fun and the Fightstar shows were fun but in a different way. The Test Icicles are really nice, you know, the Fighstar guys are really nice too but I hung out more with the Test Icicles.
Upload	You seemed very excited about visiting Japan last time we met. How did that go ?
Lars	Unfortunately it got pushed back to March so I am going over then, I’m very excited about that.
Upload	Your new album ‘The Graduate’ is out on March 20th and it’s really great. How did you find the time to actually record it as you always seem to be on the road touring.
Lars	Thank you very much. When I’m on the road I write it and I can do a lot of the pre-production on the laptop. So I basically spent a week in the studio doing the rest of the stuff and actually recording it. But it’s been like a year that I have actually been working on it , the first tracks were done nearly a year before I actually recorded it.
Upload	The album features a track with The Matches, we met them a few weeks ago and they were really mad. How was it to actually work with them and how did it come about ?
Lars	They are from a similar place in California and we were in Australia, I went to Australia with them and we became friends and so I thought why not. They are very good live.
Upload	Are there any other bands that you would like to work with and record with ?
Lars	I like Atmosphere a lot, the rap group, and I’d like to do something with them. Sage Francis, he’s another rapper. Yea I’d like to go more into Hip Hop rather than the Pop Punk world. I appreciate everything that it has given me but to me it’s a bit stagnant and Hip Hop is more my music. I actually worked with Gym Class Hero’s a few years ago and that was great and I’d like to more with them, they are cool.
Upload	What do you miss most when you are on the road ?
Lars	I miss not having to carry my computer everywhere ! I’m very paranoid that someone will run off with it, basically because they know I have it, so I miss not having to worry about that. But I like touring and I feel like when I’m on the road I feel like I’m at home.
Upload	You are doing your own UK headlining tour in March and April and you are playing with local bands throughout. How did you decide who to play with and have you worked with any of them before ?
Lars	A few of the bands I have. The Oxford bands are ones that I played with when I was living there. The other bands I haven’t, we found bands that lived in the various cities and the bands that I liked I asked if they could come on the tour and I also thought it was important that they had a fan base so that their fans would come out, so it was just a case of listening to their Myspace.
Upload	Your song ‘Internet Relationships’ is very funny and very accurate, is it written from your own experiences of the internet and people who use chat rooms ?
Lars	Yeah, I mean, I think so many people use the internet to try and pick up dates and stuff , and I think it’s nearly normal in a weird way, and I think everyone is guilty of that a little. I can’t play it tonight as it has 3 other people in it, I could do it with the tracks pre recorded but it’s not really the same. I amplaying it at my album launch party and if I come back over for Truckfest.
Upload	In your song ‘Signing Emo’ you mention Simple Plan, who you are playing with tonight, do they like the track ? and how has it been playing with them ?
Lars	I think one of the reasons I’m on tour with them is because they heard it. They had it on their playlist on the tour bus. They thought I was making fun of them, but I’m not really, I am making fun of the whole ‘scene’ you know. But they are very cool and the shows have been fun and it’s been cool hanging out with them, this is a very good tour I think.
Upload	Better than the ‘Soup’ Tour ?
Lars	they may have more fans in England than Bowling For Soup, atleast right now, so the shows seem bigger even though we are playing similar venues. Bowling for soup are definitely some of my best friends but Simple Plan have been very cool to take me on this tour, and I like their music a lot it’s really great.
Upload	Rock City is our favourite UK venue, have you played here before and what do you think of it?
Lars	I’ve actually never been here before, I have never been to Nottingham, so it should be cool. I know there’s history here about Robin Hood, everywhere we looked we saw like Robin Hood. (laughs)
Upload	You have a huge UK fan base that is growing with every show you play. What do you think are the main differences betweenyour fans here in the UK and your Us fans at home?
Lars	Good question, hum, well here I think more people know about me, back home I think I have more of a Hip Hop following from people who go to college and like underground rap work, where as here it’s more the Rock fans since I’ve been in Kerrang and stuff where as at home I’ve been on internet Hip Hop stations. Yes it’s weird but I think that’s because I don’t really fit into the Hip Hop scene here at all where as at home I sort of fit into (a Hip Hop) sub genre.
Upload	Are there any other countries that you’d really like to play in ?
Lars	I’d like to do continental Europe and theres word about going to Germany after the UK dates and that would be cool.
Upload	On the very rare occasuions that you are not working, what do you like to do with your free time?
Lars	I like to draw a lot and I like to swim and I like to read a lot.
Upload	When we met you last time we asked you what you wanted for Christmas and you said a new guitar. Did you get one ?
Lars	I got the money for one but I haven’t actually bought it yet. I am waiting for the right time. You have a good memory to remember that.
Upload	You spend a lot of time in the crowd both efore and after your shows. Have you ever had a bad experience or do you have any obsessive fans ?
Lars	Well sometimes it’s awkward because you try to talk to everyone and when you make yourself very accessable and try to meet everyone who likes the music and some people take it personally if you can’t spend like the whole 2 hours with them and I always feel bad because I want to make everyone happy, but I’ve been learning that you physically can’t do that. Sometimes I have people in the crowd who don’t like me and let me know, they are people who don’t like to see a change in music .
Upload	Well we love the stuff you do and are huge fans.
Lars	Thanks you guys, you are real sweethearts, and it’s been cool seeing you again.

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