Forever dudes! (terza parte)
Ovvero come preparare un'intervista agli Still Flyin' e dimenticarsela in diretta


Hi, since it's your first italian tour, would you like to introduce yourself and the band to the audience down here? What do we have to expect?
Hello, we are Still Flyin'. We are a party band that specializes in jamming it to the bone. If you want a reason to high five some people and dance and be with friends even if you might not know anyone there, this is what our concerts are about. We're a big group of friends traveling friends who want to have a good time and play some fun music. You can expect lots of sweat from us jamming it so hard, and hopefully lots of smiles from both the band and the audience.

Still Flyin has a huge rotating line-up: who is going to be on the party-bus this time?
We've never had the exact same lineup twice! This time we will have eight people - Marky Monnone from the Lucksmiths, Yoshi Nakamoto and Wyatt Cusick from the Aislers Set, myself and Brendude Mead from Masters of the Hemisphere, Big Lord Saucedo from Red Pony Clock, Thrill Horan from Maserati, and Licky Jedlicka who is new to playing in bands.

Many reviews of your debut album describe Still Flyin as a "party band" because your sound blends together reggae jams and indiepop influences: do you agree with it or do you think there is something more?
We do consider ourselves a party band because that's the main goal for us - to have fun and to make people happy. We call it "hammjamm" music, which basically means when a good time gets even better. That's really all we can ask for.

I remember a version on Never Gonna Touch the Ground about 30 minutes long, under the pouring rain, at Emmaboda festival back in 2006. Do you usually play it that way? Do you think we can beat that record on one of the next italian gigs (except for the rain)?
HAHAHAHA that was our first show outside of the West Coast of the US! It is still one of my favorite shows of my life. If it's the right moment, and the magic is happening, and the audience is frothing at the mouth for a MEGAJAM, then we will pull that one out. It's a very old song so we don't play it very much anymore, but if it's a show where everyone is going completely crazy, we pretty much have to do it. I do think 30 minutes is probably the longest version of that song, but now the gauntlet has been thrown: let's beat the record in Italy!

You've just been invited to the Pavement curated ATP festival: tell us about it. How did you feel when they called you?
This is honestly the coolest thing we have ever been able to do as a band. They were one of my favorite bands in high school, and that version of me back then would have never dreamed we'd be asked by Pavement to play their festival. We were on tour in Australia and Spiral Stairs saw us there and really liked us a lot. We've been friends ever since.

What's the meaning of Forever Dudes? Could it work as a sort of Still Flyin' manifesto?
Oh yes definitely! We have many manifestos and this is one of the most important. "Forever Dudes" means everlasting friendship. I have a group of friends from my college days and we always call each other our "forever dudes". The phrase has since expanded to people beyond just our circle of college pals and included people all over the world. The song is about those dudes, but it also works as an overall theme of the band since the main point of the band is friendship.


(photo by Lucio)

>>>(mp3): Still Flyn' - Forever Dudes (live on Thermos / Radio Città del Capo)

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