I have seen these guys a handful of times, both in Albany and in Syracuse, at one of my old stomping grounds - the red house, come to think of it. Having seen these guys in action, I can tell you they are intense. Watching someone sing his guts out, then blow into a rather large piece of convoluted brass and then return to the singing with just as much intensity as when he began is impressive to say the least. Let’s just say I think he could swim the English Channel on one breath of air! This interview was done through e-mail in the very beginning of July 2005 just previous to the release of an ep and an east coast tour. Interview by Jason Evans The pentium chips fell as follows: Bullshit questions first; name rank and serial # of all involved. Chris – Bari Sax/Vocals Jay - Guitar/Vocals Derek – Drums Bob – Bass Matt – Tenor Sax/Vocals. Why the name “Public Access”, and what is the funniest contortion of the name you have heard? I still refer to “Earth Crisis” as “Earth Circus” and such. The most blatantly obvious one would be “Pubic Abscess”, but I am fairly sure you would have heard that one before. There has to be a better one! Jay: It was a stupid name then and it’s a stupid name now. Pubic Ass-sex was the one that comes to mind. When did you start playing together? Jay: The original band was formed in 2001 and then the original bass player and drummer left. Derek joined as the bass player but was pushed back into the drum throne and Bob became the new bassist. Then Matt was recruited as a second sax. Obviously, people tend to be more open to bands that supposedly sound like bands they already like. What bands do each of you think inspires your playing? Jay: The Clash and Dead Kennedys Chris: Less Than Jake, Mad Caddies and Fishbone…a little bit. The only other front man that plays the bari sax. Derek: Dave Grohl, Bill Stevenson, Erik Sandin and fuckin’ Hendrix (laughs). Bob: All fat punk rock bass players inspire me, except for that guy from Sublime. Matt: Coltrane and Charlie Parker and Armor for Sleep.

Matt - Jay - Bob - Derek - Chris

The forthcoming EP hits fairly hard compared to previous releases or the last time I saw the live show for that matter. The infusion of the hardcore style (at least vocally) has really come to the front in this release. It has definitely progressed from the britney spears cover days…(it was a good cover damnit!). Was this on purpose or have you, as a band, collectively just become a little harder? Jay: I think the line up change really brought most of the change. I think Derek was the main catalyst for rocking harder. Chris: Since the last recording I started smoking more. So what's up with "Another Day in Paradise"? I’m only asking because it seems to be on all the releases so far. Is that something like your anthem or do you think that is the track that might blow up? Derek: I wanted them to record it again. Record it with a raw sound instead of the over polished, soft shit that’s been on the last two releases. Plus, it’s a new lineup and we’ve all added little new parts to the song. Jay: There’s also going to be alotta people that didn’t hear the old cd that will hear this one. As a band it’s the only song we all like so we recorded it again with the new members. That leads me to another question: The use of the baritone sax, especially as your only brass instrument is a novelty that really worked for you guys in the past. Why did you decide to add another saxophone? Chris: Even though only having one sax was somewhat original, we all though it’d be a better idea to ditch the gimmick and pick up another horn to fill out our sound. Let’s talk about your recordings themselves. How do you usually record, more traditionally (drums, bass, then guitar, horns and junk, then the vocals) or is it more of a “live in the studio” approach? Chris: We’ve pretty much always recorded everything track by track. Recording live is cool if you’re going for a raw punk rock kinda sound, but it’s real hard to fix any mistakes and we had a pretty tight schedule. Derek: I would’ve preferred to record drums, bass and guitar live, because I think it gives a better representation of what the band actually sounds like. How do you feel about overdubs and things you can’t reproduce live? With my own band (a stone age ago), I remember getting into “discussions” about whether to overdub or do other studio tricks that wouldn’t come off well live, for the sake of the recorded sound. I guess in a round about way I am asking which you put more stock in, the live show or the studio recorded cd? Jay: I think we kinda depend on our live show, because if people see us and like us, they’re going to buy our cd. But we didn’t really do too many overdubs in the studio, just a few guitar tracks and some vocals. We wanted this cd to sound more like how we sound live, so we kept a lot of bullshit out, which is a change from our last album. Describe for me your progression since you started playing together, how do you feel the songs have changed for the better? Derek: We don’t suck as much. Jay: Since the five of us started playing together, I think it’s really come together compared to the old lineup. How is the upcoming release a step forward from the last cd, Please Throw Money? Jay: On this release we have a more cohesive sound unlike the last album which was just all over the place… Derek: I made them get rid of that god awful funk aspect they tried to incorporate into their music. Jay: …You can tell as far as Chris and I go, since we’re the only ones that played on Please Throw Money... Bob: Stopped being pussies? Jay: Yeh. I know you guys have had some issues with the tour due to work and paying bills and such. What about college and moving? Do you have a plan of action on how you are going to deal with that or are you just letting nature take its course? Jay: Well Bob’s not even in college. Bob: College is for pussies. Derek: Now don’t get the idea that Bob is some badass college drop out. The fucker’s only 16. Jay: After college? I try not to think about such things. I guess we’ll see how the next year or two turn out. Knowing that people tend to read the beginning and the end of interviews we’ll put the pertinent info here. Tell us about the tour. Where are you going and when? Jay: We’re doing a week through the Midwest in late July and then hitting the east coast sometime in August. All the final dates will be on our website. And just to end on something more fun I’ll throw an odd one at ya. Have you ever thought of covering AC/DC's “Big Balls”? I know The Pietasters do it, but I think you guys could bring it to a higher level of intensity than they did! I am asking this because the first hit of "Another Day in Paradise" had me subconsciously thinking of that song, as I was only half paying attention while I was writing questions for this interview! Jay: If we ever did that Derek would hafta sing it. Maybe we’ll do it for tour. He does a sweet Bon Scott impression. Check out www.we-dont-suck.com