Q: First, lets get the typical stuff out of the way.Please give us the history of the Plot starting with the demise of Durga please.
Brandon: It's funny that you know that you know about Durga. So, Charles and myself had been playing music together for a few years. After Durga's break up we were feeling disillusioned. We knew we loved each other, but could we make it together as musicians? We decided to search our souls in Mexico. With no money in our pockets, we crossed at the San Ysidro border-crossing. For a week we stayed in Tijuana and engaged in any illicit activity we could to raise money. Our next move was the purchase of train tickets to get us to the small fishing village of Puerto Nuevo. We figured only here would we get the solitude and serenity necessary to achieve peace of mind. We made it to Puerto Nuevo, where we purchased an acoustic guitar and wrote the beginning fragments of the songs that would later appear on our first recording. We busked during the day in the town square and spent our nights, drunk on tequila, writing. One fateful night, we found ourselves in a particularly rough bar in Puerto Nuevo's red-light district. Taking offense to our obvious Yanqui background, a gang of local n'er-do-wells engaged us in the most un-gentlemanly of fights. Luck was obviously on our side that night, for Brian Hill and Willy Graves were in a back booth of this very same bar. They were in Puerto Nuevo as merchant seamen, but seeing two innocents such as Charles and myself being victimized by drunken locals, they sprang to action and became our fisticuffed saviours. When the dust settled, Charles and I were huddled on the ground, but our adversaries were out cold and our heroes were Brian and Willy. We thanked them with a song and found they too had been bitten by the musical bug. They defected from their respective fishing crews and joined us in our quest. The rest, as they say, is history.
Brian: I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar, and I just happened to catch Durga's final performance. Brandon tried to get in my pants when I brought him his Shirley Temple and I wasn't having it at all. I couldn't help but notice his and Chuck's amazing locks of hair though, and I knew that these were the guys for me, being balding and all. I figure their extreme good looks would offset my progeria of the scalp. I was right. They broke up their band that night, and immediately put the Plot together with me on drums. Since then, we've toured a whole lot and will likely continue to do so.
Chuck: Durga, haha. While Brandon and I were in Durga, Plot was just starting and it seems like all we ever talked about was Plot. Durga was like financial suicide not like being a musician isn’t already. We quit Durga and did Plot full time with Brian Hill and Dan Maier. We took on all shows and recorded a demo then a seven inch. We toured the west coast a lot and eventually Happy Couples Never Last saw us and asked us to record an Lp. We recorded Dissertation Honey which contains some of the first songs we’d ever written. We then applied a thick glaze of jazz to the recording; which is embarrassing as hell now to hear but yes at the time we felt like a jazz-punk group. A spotty US tour and more west coasts led us to If You Cut Us We Bleed and Dan Maier quitting. Willy Graves, a good friend, joined as the new bass player and we finished writing and recorded the songs of Love In The Fascist Brothel. Revelation signed us and Three One G offered to release the vinyl. 2004 was like one huge tour jaunt; a tour with The Locust, a west coast trip to Canada, a troubled US tour; a smooth west coast trip with Since By Man; a vacant west coast trip with Fresh Kills; and another US tour to CMJ which was an incredibly great and shambled end to a productive year.
Q: Do you have certain goals with the band? Are you on a mission to change the world? Brandon: Our primary goal right now is to be able to eat.
Brian: I think we used to be more optimistic about the world somewhat, but that's not a factor anymore. My personal goal with the Plot is to avoid the crippling boredom that comes with living in San Diego. So far, so good. As a band, I believe that we are here to save kids from horrible, horrible music because there's so much of it out there.
Chuck: The only goal we’ve ever had is to be able to quit our jobs and play in the band full-time. We still haven’t met that one.
Q:Some of your lyrics could be interpreted on a political level? Which role do politics play in your life?
Brandon: I'm not a politician. I don't have many answers. I know, though, that I don't want to spend my life slaving and filling someone's wallet. Sacrificing financial security for artistic pursuits is a political act.
Brian: We aren't overtly political, but we definitely believe that there are things in this world that are truly fucked up. This newest record is a lot more personal lyrically to Brandon and Chuck and doesn't really attempt to skim over large and complicated problems plaguing society. I couldn't go so far as to say I was an activist for anything directly, but I can't ignore things.
Q:How is the response to your records? Are there many kids telling you that they got inspired? Brandon: We've received the full spectrum of response from people. One night a crowd will want to kiss us and the next night the crowd wants to kill us. I guess overall the response has been positive. The most important thing to me is how I feel about the music we make. Our first record was total dog shit. Of course, that's not how I felt when we made it. I love our new record, but who knows how I'll feel about it in 2 or 3 years.
Brian: Occasionally, someone will tell us that, and it's kind of odd to hear. It's nice to know that someone else likes us though; it makes me want to do more with this band.
Chuck: Yes, kids say that we inspire them; I think all of St. Louis has been inspired by now. People really like Dissertation Honey. Unfortunately we will never write and record like that again. Everything has changed since then. The only thing I can do is inspire a kid to play music, I have no other talent. When he does play music I hope he understands that to make waves you have to draw a line in the sand and destroy everything that came before you. Your parents must not approve.
Q: One of the first things that struck me the first time I saw you guys were the song titles. How do you end up coming up with them, and do they have any relation to the lyrics?
Brandon: All of our song titles relate to the lyrics. The process for naming a song goes like this: We'll have written a new song, complete with lyrics. Charles and I will then get as drunk as we can, take off all of our clothes and lock ourselves in a room for the night. By the next morning, we have a song title.
Brian: Wordplay c/o Brandon and Chuck.
Chuck: They are always in relation to the lyrics. But we try never to use bits of lyrics to name our songs though. I think we’ve done a good job at naming, except for Green Cars. Brandon and I are always on the same page about the band’s writing.
Q: Is your local scene important to you? I think you'll find that when a lot of bands gain prominence in other larger cities, that their support of their local scene can wane, for example - band members that only show up to "support the scene" when their own band is playing. Are any of The Plot's members involved in the scene apart from playing in The Plot?
Brandon: Well, just like any other city, the majority of bands in San Diego are total bullshit. We have a few inspiring bands and I go see them. I don't want to be fake though. I'm not going to go watch some band I don't enjoy just because we're from the same city. Of course, I give credit to anyone who plays music. Just because I may not like a band doesn't mean I don't think they're valid. The other issue is we are on tour half of the year and the other half we have to spend working ourselves ragged at our jobs to be able to afford to be on tour. We don't make tons of money on the road, so if we're going to be gone for two months, we need to have two months of bills and rent figured out before we leave. When I'm home I'm usually too tired to go to shows. Brian: I try to go see my friends play whenever I can. I'm not really much of an organizer or anything like that, but I like to buy my friends' records or maybe play with their bands. After touring a lot this year, there are a lot of times when going to a show doesn't seem like such a good idea anymore. I like to watch all of the bands on a show just to show support, but I haven't really seen much lately that gets me excited. I think the best way we can support bands we like is to play with them and tell other people about them.
Chuck: I think we still do our part to support the scene; I work at a record store and set up in-store performances; Brandon is a substitute teacher for the mentally-challenged; Brian is drop-dead gorgeous and when he does leave his house he is mobbed by handsome men and women of all walks of life; and Willy works at a s&m sex shop.
Q: I heard there was some sort of censorship with your artwork? Care to explain?
Brandon: There was no censorship of our artwork.
Brian: That's probably normal procedure for any band. Maybe someday we'll put something out ourselves and make it as nasty as we want it to be. I like raunchy and disgusting perversion a lot, but a lot of record stores won't put that kind of thing on display. Also, there are kids out there who shy away from confrontation. We have to make adjustments, just like everyone else. Mostly though, we have to make it acceptable for the four of us--that's primary.
Chuck: None of it has been censored. The album has a strong aesthetic that is prominent through the lyrics, art, and music. It’s just a reaction to the political and punk scene climate.
Q: Is that why you made fun of Gorilla Biscuits in your first song?
Brandon: No.
Brian: I guess you can look at it several ways. Some people have responded very negatively to it, while others were delighted. Maybe it's an homage in disguise. We like to stir shit up.
Chuck: We are not making fun of GB. I think we just wanted our Revelation album to be a real piss on somebody who holds so tightly to something that has gone and passed. Punk and hardcore has changed, wake up and make it dangerous again.
Q: Final comments?
Brian: Listen to Rock Goggle Fantasy. Thanks, Ryan.
Brandon: It's funny that you know that you know about Durga. So, Charles and myself had been playing music together for a few years. After Durga's break up we were feeling disillusioned. We knew we loved each other, but could we make it together as musicians? We decided to search our souls in Mexico. With no money in our pockets, we crossed at the San Ysidro border-crossing. For a week we stayed in Tijuana and engaged in any illicit activity we could to raise money. Our next move was the purchase of train tickets to get us to the small fishing village of Puerto Nuevo. We figured only here would we get the solitude and serenity necessary to achieve peace of mind. We made it to Puerto Nuevo, where we purchased an acoustic guitar and wrote the beginning fragments of the songs that would later appear on our first recording. We busked during the day in the town square and spent our nights, drunk on tequila, writing. One fateful night, we found ourselves in a particularly rough bar in Puerto Nuevo's red-light district. Taking offense to our obvious Yanqui background, a gang of local n'er-do-wells engaged us in the most un-gentlemanly of fights. Luck was obviously on our side that night, for Brian Hill and Willy Graves were in a back booth of this very same bar. They were in Puerto Nuevo as merchant seamen, but seeing two innocents such as Charles and myself being victimized by drunken locals, they sprang to action and became our fisticuffed saviours. When the dust settled, Charles and I were huddled on the ground, but our adversaries were out cold and our heroes were Brian and Willy. We thanked them with a song and found they too had been bitten by the musical bug. They defected from their respective fishing crews and joined us in our quest. The rest, as they say, is history.
Brian: I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar, and I just happened to catch Durga's final performance. Brandon tried to get in my pants when I brought him his Shirley Temple and I wasn't having it at all. I couldn't help but notice his and Chuck's amazing locks of hair though, and I knew that these were the guys for me, being balding and all. I figure their extreme good looks would offset my progeria of the scalp. I was right. They broke up their band that night, and immediately put the Plot together with me on drums. Since then, we've toured a whole lot and will likely continue to do so.
Chuck: Durga, haha. While Brandon and I were in Durga, Plot was just starting and it seems like all we ever talked about was Plot. Durga was like financial suicide not like being a musician isn’t already. We quit Durga and did Plot full time with Brian Hill and Dan Maier. We took on all shows and recorded a demo then a seven inch. We toured the west coast a lot and eventually Happy Couples Never Last saw us and asked us to record an Lp. We recorded Dissertation Honey which contains some of the first songs we’d ever written. We then applied a thick glaze of jazz to the recording; which is embarrassing as hell now to hear but yes at the time we felt like a jazz-punk group. A spotty US tour and more west coasts led us to If You Cut Us We Bleed and Dan Maier quitting. Willy Graves, a good friend, joined as the new bass player and we finished writing and recorded the songs of Love In The Fascist Brothel. Revelation signed us and Three One G offered to release the vinyl. 2004 was like one huge tour jaunt; a tour with The Locust, a west coast trip to Canada, a troubled US tour; a smooth west coast trip with Since By Man; a vacant west coast trip with Fresh Kills; and another US tour to CMJ which was an incredibly great and shambled end to a productive year.
Q: Do you have certain goals with the band? Are you on a mission to change the world? Brandon: Our primary goal right now is to be able to eat.
Brian: I think we used to be more optimistic about the world somewhat, but that's not a factor anymore. My personal goal with the Plot is to avoid the crippling boredom that comes with living in San Diego. So far, so good. As a band, I believe that we are here to save kids from horrible, horrible music because there's so much of it out there.
Chuck: The only goal we’ve ever had is to be able to quit our jobs and play in the band full-time. We still haven’t met that one.
Q:Some of your lyrics could be interpreted on a political level? Which role do politics play in your life?
Brandon: I'm not a politician. I don't have many answers. I know, though, that I don't want to spend my life slaving and filling someone's wallet. Sacrificing financial security for artistic pursuits is a political act.
Brian: We aren't overtly political, but we definitely believe that there are things in this world that are truly fucked up. This newest record is a lot more personal lyrically to Brandon and Chuck and doesn't really attempt to skim over large and complicated problems plaguing society. I couldn't go so far as to say I was an activist for anything directly, but I can't ignore things.
Q:How is the response to your records? Are there many kids telling you that they got inspired? Brandon: We've received the full spectrum of response from people. One night a crowd will want to kiss us and the next night the crowd wants to kill us. I guess overall the response has been positive. The most important thing to me is how I feel about the music we make. Our first record was total dog shit. Of course, that's not how I felt when we made it. I love our new record, but who knows how I'll feel about it in 2 or 3 years.
Brian: Occasionally, someone will tell us that, and it's kind of odd to hear. It's nice to know that someone else likes us though; it makes me want to do more with this band.
Chuck: Yes, kids say that we inspire them; I think all of St. Louis has been inspired by now. People really like Dissertation Honey. Unfortunately we will never write and record like that again. Everything has changed since then. The only thing I can do is inspire a kid to play music, I have no other talent. When he does play music I hope he understands that to make waves you have to draw a line in the sand and destroy everything that came before you. Your parents must not approve.
Q: One of the first things that struck me the first time I saw you guys were the song titles. How do you end up coming up with them, and do they have any relation to the lyrics?
Brandon: All of our song titles relate to the lyrics. The process for naming a song goes like this: We'll have written a new song, complete with lyrics. Charles and I will then get as drunk as we can, take off all of our clothes and lock ourselves in a room for the night. By the next morning, we have a song title.
Brian: Wordplay c/o Brandon and Chuck.
Chuck: They are always in relation to the lyrics. But we try never to use bits of lyrics to name our songs though. I think we’ve done a good job at naming, except for Green Cars. Brandon and I are always on the same page about the band’s writing.
Q: Is your local scene important to you? I think you'll find that when a lot of bands gain prominence in other larger cities, that their support of their local scene can wane, for example - band members that only show up to "support the scene" when their own band is playing. Are any of The Plot's members involved in the scene apart from playing in The Plot?
Brandon: Well, just like any other city, the majority of bands in San Diego are total bullshit. We have a few inspiring bands and I go see them. I don't want to be fake though. I'm not going to go watch some band I don't enjoy just because we're from the same city. Of course, I give credit to anyone who plays music. Just because I may not like a band doesn't mean I don't think they're valid. The other issue is we are on tour half of the year and the other half we have to spend working ourselves ragged at our jobs to be able to afford to be on tour. We don't make tons of money on the road, so if we're going to be gone for two months, we need to have two months of bills and rent figured out before we leave. When I'm home I'm usually too tired to go to shows. Brian: I try to go see my friends play whenever I can. I'm not really much of an organizer or anything like that, but I like to buy my friends' records or maybe play with their bands. After touring a lot this year, there are a lot of times when going to a show doesn't seem like such a good idea anymore. I like to watch all of the bands on a show just to show support, but I haven't really seen much lately that gets me excited. I think the best way we can support bands we like is to play with them and tell other people about them.
Chuck: I think we still do our part to support the scene; I work at a record store and set up in-store performances; Brandon is a substitute teacher for the mentally-challenged; Brian is drop-dead gorgeous and when he does leave his house he is mobbed by handsome men and women of all walks of life; and Willy works at a s&m sex shop.
Q: I heard there was some sort of censorship with your artwork? Care to explain?
Brandon: There was no censorship of our artwork.
Brian: That's probably normal procedure for any band. Maybe someday we'll put something out ourselves and make it as nasty as we want it to be. I like raunchy and disgusting perversion a lot, but a lot of record stores won't put that kind of thing on display. Also, there are kids out there who shy away from confrontation. We have to make adjustments, just like everyone else. Mostly though, we have to make it acceptable for the four of us--that's primary.
Chuck: None of it has been censored. The album has a strong aesthetic that is prominent through the lyrics, art, and music. It’s just a reaction to the political and punk scene climate.
Q: Is that why you made fun of Gorilla Biscuits in your first song?
Brandon: No.
Brian: I guess you can look at it several ways. Some people have responded very negatively to it, while others were delighted. Maybe it's an homage in disguise. We like to stir shit up.
Chuck: We are not making fun of GB. I think we just wanted our Revelation album to be a real piss on somebody who holds so tightly to something that has gone and passed. Punk and hardcore has changed, wake up and make it dangerous again.
Q: Final comments?
Brian: Listen to Rock Goggle Fantasy. Thanks, Ryan.
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