What about The Break?
R: The Break show was its own experience. We had no idea it was going to turn out the way it did, and that was a great night for us.
Aside from the validation of winning, what effect did it have on you?
R: It was a really great night. A bunch of friends and people screaming. That night was really, really nice, but as for prizes that were promised to us, we didn’t get anything yet. (laughs)
W: Well, last year, we played Bamboozle and I guess that was even before we were announced the grand prize winners, but we’ve been calling to try to get ourselves on the new Bamboozle this year, and they’re telling us they have less than half the amount of stages they had last year and they’re having trouble fitting us in and everything. They sound really enthusiastic every time we talk to them, but nothing yet.
Do you guys have any new material in the works?
W: We’ve got a bunch of new songs, and we were going to put out another album, self-released, but I think this time we’re just going to do an EP and shop it around for right now.
R: We have enough material for a full-length, but we’re trying to organize some regional tours here in the northeast, so we’re just trying to record a quick three or four songs for an EP. Later on, we definitely have enough material for a full CD.
W: We set up a lot of shows already, down in Maryland and DC for early spring.
Have you had any label interest?
W: Right now, I just got back from a tour with the Fugees, playing guitar for them, and I think now I might have this great lawyer who knows a lot of people. When I use that to my advantage, people listen more than before. I have friends and some connections now, so we’re just gonna shop it around and see who bites. We have so much music, we could record probably two CDs right now, but we need the backing. We need it to get out a little further than we can do. All we can do is go and play shows in different states and try to sell them at shows.
R: The bottom line, the way I see it, is we’re really happy doing music and everything—writing, playing shows and recording are the best parts of any of this, to me at least. If we got some more support from people in higher places in the industry, we’d be able to do this a lot more often and it would be the best feeling ever, I think. We have a lot of friends who are really creative and talented and they offer their skills in video and photography and graphic design and everything to help us produce everything we do as a three piece, but now we’re trying to see if we can get the attention and help from people in bigger places, as far as the business side of music goes.
How do you handle the business stuff now?
W: It’s really pretty rough because we’re not businessmen, but we kind of have to be, because this is our business. Like he said, we have a lot of friends that help us out, people that own their own studios and are well known, advising us. And we met a lot of people that talk a lot of hot air and promised a lot. It’s all new to us. People coming up to us, talking all this crap.
R: Really, last year was really good for us, and this year is starting to look really good, but really, before then, we’d done everything on our own—designing our own CDs, stickers, flyers, buttons, we silkscreen our own shirts. I used to own a recording studio for five years, and we do all our own recording from the experience I had with that and all the equipment I still use for myself for the band. Really, to this point, it’s just been the three of us as this little machine, just the three of us and our creative friends who are offering to help with promotion, giving out flyers, putting up stickers in club bathrooms and stuff like that. We’re grateful as well to Pat Duncan of WFMU who plays our songs just about every week and even named us his ‘Band of the Year.’ We really want to grow and be able to do this more, and we’re just now dipping into the business realm and trying to see how far that could take us.
W: But yeah, there’s a lot of people promising a lot of garbage that haven’t done anything. We’re still on our own, but it’s cool. We’re still learning.
BonBomb will be recording during February. As of now, their next show is at Arlene’s Grocery for the Emergenza Festival on March 18. For more info on the band, check out bonbomb.com and myspace.com/bonbomb
