An Interview With Epic Recording Artists

By Veronica Cruz

It was 9:00 p.m. on a Tuesday night, and I was driving to T-Bone Willy's house to interview SAVE FERRIS. I remember thinking of how tremendously huge they have gotten within the past year, and how there is not a doubt in my mind that this band is going to be hugely successful in this crazed music industry.

In this interview, you'll see what Monique Powell (vocals), Bill Uechi (bass), T-Bone Willy (trombone), and Jose Castellanos (trumpet) are all about. They are an enthusiastic, level-headed group of young musicians with a great future ahead of them.

RCN: Give me a brief history of the band and any ex-members.

T-BONE: Well, that would be hard for Monique and I to answer because we both are the newest members.

MONIQUE: There was another singer before me, and before Save Ferris four members; Bill, Jose, Zeek and Brian were in a band called Los Patalones, and they saw me sing in a band called Larry. Things didn't work out with their first singer so they asked me to do it. When I came in, one of the horn players was leaving so I asked my friend T-Bone from the Knucke Bros. to come and pay with us.

RCN: How long has everyone been playing their instruments?

BILL: Me and Brian Mashburn started playing at the same time in high school. He actually started playing on the drums. But he started guitar a year after I started playing bass.

RCN: How long have you been singing?

MONIQUE: Ten years now.

RCN: Did your parents put you in music?

MONIQUE: Well, they put me in opera because that was like the cheapest teacher that was close by, which happened to be an opera teacher. I didn't want to do it, but I learned to love opera. I went to Orange County High School of the Arts and took musical theatre.

JOSE: Jose has been playing for eight years.

T-BONE: I've been playing for about ten years.

RCN: Does Brian write all the songs?

MONIQUE: All the songs on the EP Brian wrote, and on the new songs he and I mainly worked on the vocal lines.

RCN: How was your trip to New York?

MONIQUE: EXCELLENT!

T-BONE: It was fun.

RCN: Was the Ska scene bigger over there?

T-BONE: We didn't really get to see the Ska scene. I've played over there with other bands before, but it's a different Ska scene. It's more traditional, rude boy, like in the 80s. We pretty much just played the Grammy Showcase.

RCN: And you guys won, right?

T-BONE: Yeah.

MONIQUE: The best unsigned band in America of which we aren't anymore. We got a Gibson Les Paul guitar, free recording time at Longview Farms in Massachusetts.

JOSE: We got McDonalds gift certificates for free fries but only on Wednesdays.

RCN: How did the crowd react to you?

T-BONE: Oh, it was great. It was so much fun.

RCN: If you weren't in a Ska band, what band would you be in?

T-BONE: I don't know. I've played almost everything. It depends on my flavor of the month.

JOSE: Skip me.

BILL: Hmmm, I don't know.

MONIQUE: It was funny. I was just thinking about the Blur video on TV today, and I was all, I wonder what it would be like if I was in a band with all English guys like Blur. I just thought it would be so fun, and then I thought about it and said Nah. They're too cool. They would never like me. They would just think I was a dork, but I think I'd be in a Weezer sort of band. I'd sing back-up for Weezer. No, I wouldn't be cool enough to be in that band either. I'd have to start my own.

RCN: Who are your musical heroes?

T-BONE: Um, Elvis Costello, Miles Davis, Don Drummond.

BILL: Phil Drummond?

MONIQUE: (Monique starts singing theme songs to Facts of Life, Silver Spoons and finally Different Strokes). Aretha Franklin, Annie DeFranco, Tori Amos, Weezer, Prince, Duran Duran.

BILL: This is for my instrument right?

RCN: No, just musical.

BILL: Ok, Ok, I love Ray Charles and I like The Jackson 5.

MONIQUE: How about that new album you bought?

BILL: Oh, I like Craig Nepp and The Furious 5 Fingers.

JOSE: California Dreams, Jesse and The Rippers, and the Zach Attack.

RCN: What's been in your CD player lately?

T-BONE: Well, I don't own a CD player.

MONIQUE: What's in mine? Oh, Ben Fold's Five. They're like the best band, wooh-hoo they make me so happy, them and um a sampler of Japan Night by South by Southwest with Lolita #18 and this band called The Puggs. I'm into this band called The Puggs now.

T-BONE: The Puggs are rad.

MONIQUE: I love the guys to go see them, and I was so scared because I thought they really wouldn't like them because they're a lot like my old band Larry except Asian, but they really liked them.

T-BONE: I like Larry.

MONIQUE: You did? I thought you didn't.

T-BONE: I never said that.

MONIQUE: Oh, Weezer's in my CD player...the new album.

RCN: Do you like the first or second one better?

MONIQUE: Uh, I can't choose.

T-BONE: Second.

BILL: Second.

RCN: Bill, what's in your CD player?

BILL: New Orleans, Technique. I love that album. Eric Zamora got me into The Carpenters on one of our road trips. They're really good, too. They have a lot of kids singing. I love that.

MONIQUE: I have The Carpenters Tribute Album. Shoenen Knife does a song (starts singing).

RCN: T-Bone, Jose, what's in your CD player right now?

JOSE: Right now Weezer, actually Pinkerton, and I like that album better than the first one, and then Oingo Boingo, and Glenn Miller.

RCN: How did you guys feel when you heard your song on the radio and where were you?

MONIQUE: I was parked right in front of T-Bone Willy's house because I was trying to get over here quick, and I was like oh, my God, and I ran inside and we were all teary-eyed.

BILL: I never thought anything like that would happen.

MONIQUE: I think the biggest honor was when we were on the Top 5 at 9. We were the number one most requested song, but we registered at 2 because he put Sublime at number one because of advertisement for an upcoming show, but then he had people call in and put the Top 5 at 9 in their favorite order and we won, and people were calling in and saying how much they loved us and I was sitting in my car crying and laughing at the same time, and I called my Mom and she really thought I had a nervous breakdown. She was telling me to pull the car over because she was afraid I was driving.

RCN: Do you find it hard being yourselves when you're becoming so popular?

BILL: No, we're like the most modest people because other people tell us, and we don't realize it.

JOSE: People tell us "Yeah, your show's going to be sold out," and we'll just say "yeah, right." Like the night before one of our Barn shows, Bill and I went fliering in the middle of the night because we were thinking we had to get people there because we didn't think people were going to show up, and it ended up selling out.

MONIQUE: Yeah, we still don't believe it. I think now it's a lot easier to be myself because now we're signed.

JOSE: It's been like a half-hour now.

MONIQUE: Yeah, we've been signed for 30 minutes.

T-BONE: Primarily what we're doing this for is to have fun. I think that's one of the keys to Save Ferris. You can just tell when you go to one of our shows that we're having so much fun.

MONIQUE: Well, for me it's not just to have a good time. I think I have an obligation to an audience that pays money to come see us. That's really what my obligation is. Having fun comes secondly to that, but putting on a successful, convincing show is being yourself, because how can you convince an audience that you're having a good time if you're not. Lately it's been so hard for me not to be myself that I've actually found myself sitting in the back most of the time rather than giving my honest opinion. I'd rather be myself than be what somebody else wants me to be.

BILL: I think being myself gets me in trouble.

RCN: Monique, tell me your Barbie story.

MONIQUE: I had all these Barbie dolls, and my Mom told me I need to be nice to people, so I ended up giving away all my Barbie dolls. And they were really expensive. I gave them away to all the kids.

BILL: I love Barbie dolls.

MONIQUE: Bill loves to play with them.

BILL: Mmmm...smelling their hair - oh, wait - that was Strawberry Shortcake.

MONIQUE: Oh, I loved Strawberry Shortcake.

RCN: Did you have the Strawberry Shortcake carriage?

MONIQUE: Yes, the carriage with the top that came off, and they all smelled so good.

RCN: And their pets?

MONIQUE: Oh yeah, Strawberry Shortcake had the dog, didn't she?

BILL: The butterfly!

MONIQUE: Or the cat?

BILL: The butterfly!

MONIQUE: Strawberry Shortcake didn't have a butterfly.

BILL: I had it, me and my cousin Joey used to play Smurfs and Strawberry Shortcake. We'd combine them and we'd rub the Smurfs with Strawberry Shortcake to make them smell good because Smurfs smelled like shit. (Everyone starts laughing)

MONIQUE: You know what smelled like shit. Smurfs.

RCN: That's what he was talking about.

MONIQUE: Oh my God, you were talking about Smurfs. I remembered they smelled like shit. They smelled like ass. (Everyone give Monique a weird look)

MONIQUE: Oh, come on. Everyone smells a little ass when they go to the bathroom. What did they make them out of? Ass? Dude, they smelled so bad I thought I was the only one, but Bill smelled them, too. Oh, that's a good story.

BILL: I used to throw the Smurfs in my mouth because they looked so good.

MONIQUE: I know something about Bill.

RCN: Tell me.

BILL: No, I have a better story. I used to play Superman and wear underoos outside of my pajamas and my socks over my pajamas to make them boots. And I told my cousin let's play Superman. I'll get the capes. So, I got my Mom's really expensive velvet robe and cut our capes out of the robe, and my Mom came and got so mad. (Everyone laughs)

RCN: How old were you?

BILL: I think I was 7, but my Mom never told me how mad she was.

MONIQUE: She didn't want to stunt your creativity.

RCN: Any new prospects, big show for Save Ferris?

BILL: We have new songs we're writing.

MONIQUE: A new album we're going to start recording in a couple of weeks.

RCN: Any last words?

BILL: Yeah, I'd like to give shots out to my Mom and her posse.

MONIQUE: Yeah, props out to Bill's Mom because she's rad.

T-BONE: We're playing The Roxy on April 17th. That's our next big L.A. date.

RCN: OK, we're done.

BILL: Bye everyone.

MONIQUE: Bye.