JD:  Well, we got rid of one of our band members.  It seemed to us as we were going around the first time a lot of people acquainted us with the name Virgos.  We were almost over killing with too much of a name.

Chris:  A lot of people couldn't get the Merlo right, so we thought one of the astrological signs would be easier for everybody.

JD:  And there's not a band named that - which now days is hard to find a new band name.

Deacon:  We were thinking about Creed, but that was taken.

 

Chris:  It's straight forward rock compared to the last Virgos Merlot album - we had a lot of affects going on.  I guess everybody tried to show off too much with the first album.  We loved the album, but this new one is definitely about the music.

JD:  We also used some really legitimate producers.  We had Michael Beinhorn - who executive produced it and helped us put our songs together.  He did stuff like Soundgarden's "Supernunknown".  But the actual producer was Sylvia Massy - who did the first two Tool records.  So we really went with some heavy hitters this time.  We didn't last time - we kinda tried it on our own.  We learned that all the bands out - most of them have the big names helping them.

 

Deacon:  Good question - wow.  Nobody knows yet.

Chris:  "Good Times" is leading the pack right now.

 

JD:  No, it had been there and then gone - then here and gone.

Deacon:  We have a couple labels calling us right now.

JD:  We're going to continue with the Blue Collar emplem, but it will be through a major label.

 

Chris:  This is a good one - I guess it was five years ago.  The Divine, which is the band we were back in the day...

Deacon:  Is this going to give away the hidden treasure....

Chris:  There's something Creed fans can win.....

Rock Bottom:  You mean the Creed Quest?

Chris:  Yea... it doesn't matter.  They opened for us in South Carolina.

JD:  It wasn't like they opened for us - they were supposed to have an outdoor show that day but it ended up raining out the show...

Deacon:  But didn't they play first?  (laughs)

JD:  We were supposed to be the opening band that day, but they ended up being added to the bill.  They played then we played and ended up swaping CD's.  What's funny is that night we had just opened for a band called Sevendust - who just came out with their first record.  We opened for their album release party, and now they're awesome.  So we turned Creed on to Sevendust, and now we all have the same management.

 

JD:  Yep.  It started way back then.

 

JD:  We played with a few other bands here and there, and also wrote some new songs.  We did a lot of work when he was gone.  We took him stuff when he was out on the road, he still stayed in touch with us.  We took him new music that we came up with.

Deacon:  I surfed a lot.

JD:  It was a lot of off time - it's difficult but you have to understand that patience is really a vurtue in our business.  Sometimes you have to wait so something better comes along.  I'd much rather be out playing all the time.

Chris:  But it's helped us tremendously by being on the Creed tour and Brett being with Creed, and they're all friends with us.  It's just a good thing now.  It's turned out great - we're very fortunate to be this tour.

 

Chris:  We know what he wants, and he knows what we want.

JD:  Brett has a lot of pride in his music, he's a frontman.  It's not hard for him to do what he does, 'cause he does a great job.  But he really loves to be a leader, and it's not something he's able to do with these guys.  His dream is to sing.

Deacon:  Plus they're as supportive of what we're doing as we are with them - they're pushing this thing just as far as we are.

 

Chris:  A low point has to be being with a major label that we're not first in line and we're not second in line or third in line.  We got what you call a regional release.

JD:  I would definitely say this is one of our high points.  You don't get an opportunity to play in front of this many people.  We are signed to Creed's label, but we're not really a signed band at this point.  So you have to realize that we're an unsigned band playing arena tours.  I think it will help us a lot, but it will also help us get what we want which is a grassroots following - we want an underground thing going.

 

Chris:  STP.

Deacon:  Guns & Roses, Ozzy, WAM.

JD:  We like most rock like The Cult and Radiohead.

Deacon:  Limp Bizkit.

JD:  No - but there are some good riffs in Limp Bizkit.  I'm heavily influenced with older stuff - just when we were growing up in Birmingham, Alabama.  I don't even think they had a new rock station until we were twenty years old.  Everything else was like Boston and Bad Company.

Deacon:  Boston is one of Brett's main influences.

JD:  Yeah, you can definitely hear it in his melody writing.  But I really wasn't allowed to listen to rock music until I got to be a little older and make my own decisions.