American School of Warsaw
Nada Mucho Interview –
American School of Warsaw
Q & A with David Wall and Sean Moe
Interview by Matt Ashworth
NadaMucho.com: Who the hell is American School of Warsaw?
DAVID WALL: One of the best bands you’ve probably never heard (laughing). Actually, I have to stand by that. We do some incredible things in this band.
SEAN MOE: I think he means who’s in ASOW.
Nada Mucho Interview –
American School of Warsaw
Q & A with David Wall and Sean Moe
Interview by Matt Ashworth
NadaMucho.com: Who the hell is American School of Warsaw?
DAVID WALL: One of the best bands you’ve probably never heard (laughing). Actually, I have to stand by that. We do some incredible things in this band.
SEAN MOE: I think he means who’s in ASOW.
DW: Oh, right. Sorry. I play guitar and backup vocals
SM: I’m lead singer. We got Ed O’Brien on guitar, Tim McAnally on drums and Jessie K on bass.
DW: Jessie is filling in for a bit until we find another bass player. We’re trying some people out but nothing is set in stone right now.
SM: We’re kind of the Spinal Tap with revolving bass players instead of drummers.
NM: What kinda name is “American School of Warsaw?” Are you guys Polish?
DW: No. I’m Irish, actually, among other things. Seriously, our original bass player attended the school. It’s a school in Poland for children of diplomats and military I think.
SM: We needed a name for an upcoming gig. His high school annual fell out of the car and there you go. It wouldn’t go away.
DW: Now we have fans at the school and they’re trying to raise the money to bring us over to play. That’d be brilliant.
NM: Attempt the impossible – Use words to describe to our readers what your music sounds like.
DW: I like to think that we’re aggressive and kind of snotty rock. Trail Of Dead meets Black Sabbath meets Rolling Stones meets Foo Fighters. We can pretty much go all over the place.
SM: Somebody said it best for me at one of our last shows. They told me we sounded like the best part of all their favorite bands without sounding like any of them. I think the reason the music comes across like this is because we each have our own influences and the end product is a mishmash of everyone’s unique sensibility.
NM: Now describe your favorite shirt.
SM: My vintage Kenny Rogers Brand western shirt.
DW: I worked with NFL films one day and I got a shirt so I could be on the field. It’s the most comfortable shirt I own and it reminds me of seeing an NFL game on the field and that was pretty cool. I’m not a huge sports fan. Well, I mean I would rather play than watch. I’m very competitive.
NM: OK, how about a short history of the band?
DW: Damn. I’ll try and keep it simple. We got together in late 2001 and played our first show at the Firehouse. They had great sound but the promoter was cracked a little. We were invited back to play with DIO the next month. That was cool but we opted instead to go and try and record so we had something to offer people at our shows. We didn’t really trust that the DIO show would come off without a hitch .I guess it would’ve been awesome to have opened for DIO, though (Laughing). I would have been the envy of my 9th grade class.
SM: Yeah. We just didn’t want to play and not have something to leave with people. We recorded our whole demo in Tim’s garage for like 50 bucks.
DW: Yeah. So then we bought a bunch of Iron-On transfers and made our own T-shirts and sold them to raise money to record our full length. During this time we got to play the Vera Stage at the Capitol Hill Block Party. it was not our best show but it was fun all the same. Anyway, things would get to full steam with us and then we would change bass players.
SM: We’ve cycled through about six or seven, but the overall core of the band has always been the same.
DW: Basically, the four of us – Sean, Ed, Tim and myself – are the band until we get that last permanent member and once that’s final I don’t see how we can fail. We’re already planning our next tour and we have people on the East Coast trying to get over there as well. Things are starting to take off again and it’s a lot of fun. We will be on the road again in late spring.
NM: Tell us about your favorite live show you’ve ever seen.
DW: For me it was Lollapallooza. The first one I think. With Rollins, Jane’s Addiction, Ice T and Siouxie and the Banshees. It was pouring rain but I was with friends. We had a great time and were at the stage for my first ever experience seeing Jane’s Addiction. That was also when they had the big push to get everyone into KNDD. They were brand new at the time and so while we were leaving I tuned in and heard Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit” for the first time. I remember being amazed by the song.
SM: Yeah I was at that show, too. It rained so hard!!!
DW: Yeah, that part sucked!
SM: For me, the show that really blew my mind was Sonic Youth at the Paramount. Or was it at The Moore? No, it was at the Paramount. Anyway it was ’96 or ‘97.I don’t remember the year. It was awesome though
NM: How about your favorite show you’ve ever played?
DW: I think any show where we’re all together as a band and playing off each other. Sometimes we just get together and it feels right. Our last Crocodile gig was one of those shows.
SM: I loved our all-age show at Jim Dandy’s just outside of Monterey, CA on our last tour. We weren’t the typical genre of the evening but people really responded well to us and they totally made us comfortable. They just got into it.
NM: Name 5 local bands who aren’t as good as American School of Warsaw.
DW: That’s tough. I don’t like to call people out. We’ve played with some great musicians and some really bad ones. I think it’d be cool if the music community in Seattle worked together instead of trying to be so competitive with each other. We try and put shows together with people we enjoy playing with and especially if they haven’t played around a lot and we can help them out. I usually try to do that. Besides, you never know who can help you out and so it’s good practice to treat everyone with respect.
SM: I have to agree with David.
DW: I’m going to put that on my calendar. The day we agreed on something (laughing).
SM: There’s a first time for everything. Seriously, I’m not about to get into the game of cutting down bands, but 5 local bands I enjoy are Ruby Doe…
DW: Yeah, I’d like to play with those guys.
SM: I also like Vendetta Red, Modest Mouse, Senate Arcade…
DW: Yeah, I also bought the Post Stardom Depression album in anticipation of the upcoming show. The singer reminds me a little of Andrew Wood. I really like Mother Love Bone, too.
SM: Yeah. The Malinks. I like them, too. We played a show with them once and I hope we can get together again. 