Opposite Box

3.09 V2.0

Richard "Dick" Long (Guitar, BGVs)
Ryan "RyRy" Long (vocals, trombone)
Zach "Skid" Hastings (Drums)
"Sick" Dave Graham (Bass, BGVs)

RBN: Let's get this one out of the way first. What's the story behind the name?

Richard: I wish we had some sort of cool story about how we came up with the band name, but we really don't, haha. When we were younger the band name was one of those small details we kinda overlooked. We actually almost played our very first show (which was a garage show in the middle of Ringgold with another band called Ol' Kentucky Sharks) nameless because we couldn't decide how we wanted to be introduced. I had been listening to Document by R.E.M. on the way to the show, so I just stole the lyric from "It's the End of the World as we Know It (and I Feel Fine)" and, for that one and only show, we called ourselves Left of West. We decided to change it immediately after the gig. About a week later I was sitting at work, staring at the wall and I wrote down the words "opposite" and "box." And yeah, that pretty much stuck. In our mid-teens, for some reason we went through a pop-punk phase and changed our name to Lost Brother. We grew out of that real quick though and decided to change it back.

RBN: So you've been around six years in one form another, how did the current incarnation come about?

Richard: The very first incarnation of the band included Ryan, original guitarist Casey Edwards and original drummer Scott Clayton. I joined in as rhythm guitarist a short time later and then original bassist Jared Wycuff joined Casey dropped out to join a prog metal band and differences at the time forced us to drop Scott for a guy named Brett Burns. He played with us off and on for a few years, but we never really had a steady drummer until about a year or two ago when Skid joined. By that time Jared, Ryan and I were in the middle of college trying to figure out what to do with the rest of our lives. Jared left to get more involved with school, and then Dave (who is also the bassist and front man for the Hard Hippie Projekt) said he'd fill in for us. After jamming with Dave for a while we offered him the permanent spot and he accepted.

RBN: You seem to take a satirical approach to song-writing. What influenced you to go in that direction as opposed to other methods?

Richard:

"I hate bands that take themselves too seriously. I don't want to hear anymore of the super fuzzed out Drop-C breakdowns and all the whiny lyrics about how much you bleed or how much you love your girlfriend."

Bands like that are just stupid, copy-and-paste regurgitations of bands from the early 90s. It sucked back then and it sucks now. That's why I can't listen to Rock radio anymore. After hearing 10 Seether songs in a row that sound the same, I start to steer my car toward the nearest concrete wall. I want to hear new, inspiring music with singers who tell stories or sing about completely insane topics. We're still testing the waters a little with what we can pull off live, but we're starting to develop a few new things that we're really stoked about.

RBN: Is there some deeper meaning or are you just having fun?

Richard: The music is always about having fun. If it's not fun to play ... then we're not going to play it. Ryan can get a little esoteric with his lyrics sometime and he'll have to explain to me what he's talking about, but in the end it always works out.

Ryan: When I write lyrics, I'll decide on a topic, such as our song "Hannibal Montana," which is about Pop stars who have everything, but still want more. Then I'll come up with a catchy chorus that's relevant to the topic. Then, I'll go back and fill in the verses with the right amount of words that have the right amount of syllables so that it flows perfectly. I try to keep it from being too robotic. But for the most part I just want it to be entertaining. That's our number one goal.

RBN: I hear a lot of Faith No More in your songs, especially the vocal delivery. Are you fans of that band or Patton's other projects?

Richard: Oh yeah, definitely. King for a Day, Suspended Animation and the three Bungle albums never leave my car! We turned Ryan onto California a while back, and he's been hooked ever since, too. Skid's the only one in the band that doesn't care for Patton. He likes Indorphine though, so that's close enough. It's rare, but we'll occasionally cover "Midlife Crisis" when we get to do extended sets.

RBN: I noticed you mentioned some local bands as your influences. I think that's great having been influenced by local bands myself. How did you became involved locally and come to know those bands?

Richard: It makes me sound like a 14-yr old girl ... but it's all about the Myspace. That's how we first got in touch with Crank Sanatra way back in the day. We started talking to those guys and they let us open up for them a lot. That's was one of the biggest boosts we had. The second was when we got involved with Ryan Cornelius and Harvest Reaper Promotions. He was the first one to get us on Home Grown and was also one of the first people to give us the type of constructive criticism that we needed to make the leap to the Big Boy Table.

"Local music has always been our biggest influence though, and seeing bands like DDS, the River City Hustlers and Milele Roots play time after time has really given us insight on what it takes to be a great band in this town."

RBN: Got any big shows coming up that your excited about?

Richard: You can see a full list of our shows on our Myspace page, www. myspace. com/oppositebox, but we've definitely got a few coming up that we're really excited about. On April 4th, we'll be playing with Black Betty and Downstream at Rhythm and Brews for DS's CD release party. That should be a pretty huge event. After that, we're on the bill to play the Sweetwater/Hellcat Promotions 420 Fest in Miller Plaza. There are a lot of big names on that show (Milquelizard, Eris, Downstream, Mighty Sideshow, etc) so we feel really lucky to be asked to do that. Finally, in May we'll be heading up to Nashville to play the Localpalooza! at the Rutledge. As of right now, I don't think the list of bands playing that has been released, but we've been told that it's going to be a pretty killer event.

RBN: Tell us, if you would, about your recording and how we can get a copy.

Richard: Right now, we're selling copies of our 4-song EP, titled The Green Chicken EP, at all of our shows. We recorded it at the Walnut House up in Murfreesboro, so we're really pleased with the quality on it. It features our old bassist though and some of the songs on the EP have been reworked by Dave, so we're actually hoping to head back into the studio pretty soon to record a full length debut with the new lineup.

RBN: Anything you'd like to add?

Richard: We just want to invite everyone to come check us out sometime. We play all over town and we give it 110% no matter where we're playing or how many people are there. In fact, I'll tell you a story that might give you a better idea of what one of our shows is like. We did a show at the Riverhouse one time with Rabidears and Hard Hippie Projekt. I think it was a Thursday night, so there wasn't a huge crowd out, but the people that were there were really supportive. I had walked across the street in between sets and grabbed myself a Colt 45. As I was watching the second band, I was informed by the Riverhouse manager that brown bagging 40s was against the bars rules. So, with 10 minutes until we went on, I had to go outside and chug the whole thing down. I was dressed in a mask and a hoody at this show and, me being a large fella, I got way too overheated.

"As soon as we finished the first song, I turned around and puked all over my amp and guitar."

I ended up having to play an hour long set covered in my own vomit. Then, about halfway through the set, we covered "Beer" by Psychostick because it was our friend Nick's 21st Birthday. We had him chug beers throughout the whole song, so by the end of it he was also puking. Then Dave, who I guess got caught up in the moment, puked all over the floor and all over the crowd standing on his side of the room. To this day, we still have people telling us that was one of the best shows we ever put on. And it's all thanks to vomit.

myspace.com/oppositebox

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