of bands have wrong. We say we are trying to lead a rock revolution, we are going to kick the status quo right in the balls. Anything less than that would be a failure for us. You know I read an interview with Joe DiMaggio one time, and Joe was in his final year and was going to retire. On a play, he turned a double into a triple but had mashed his leg up pretty good. They were talking to him after the game and they where like "Hey Joe, you are a hall of famer , why would you take the risk of turning a double into a triple?” Joe replied. "Because somewhere in those stands there is a kid that has never seen me play before, and that's how I want to be remembered!" So with us, we don't care if its five fans or five thousand, you are going to get the same show, because that's how we want to be remembered.
DDR: One of your songs, "Bring It On", has been widely successful. It has been used for a multitude of things from programs to commercials. What was the inspiration to that song and when making it, did you have the feeling that you had something special?
QBall: I definitely had a good feeling about it! I have always been involved in competitive sports, MMA, Boxing. Thinking about how much we had struggled was in my mind as I was making the song. We felt the band had been passed over many, many times because the other band had better looking guys, or they knew somebody that knew somebody. At the time, we were using that song for an inspiration. Even though we have been down, we are going to keep slugging! You know, when you sell 77,000 CD's by yourself, there is not a whole lot in the music industry that can intimidate you. I wanted to have a song that had that stand up and shout feel to it. That song was also perfect for SPEEDTV, ESPN and Monday night sports, it was incredible. Doug and the guys handled that fantastic for us and it was great that the song got used in the way that it did. We actually re-licensed that song recently and it’s being used on a pay football
channel. I think it’s like that season ticket type of channel where you can watch any game you want. We are getting our mileage out of that one. (laughing)
DDR: You have had the opportunity to tour with some great acts, one of which was Mushroomhead..
QBall: JMann is probably my favorite guy in the bunch, he is our Jameson whiskey buddy. I have done a lot of drinking with that guy. (laughing) It was awesome to see him come back to the fold. We have actually done two tours with them. The last tour we did was 45 shows in 46 days. That was the longest tour we did with them. JMann had just come back with them and when JMann came out, we saw just how many fans he really has!
DDR: Another thing we read about your music, is that you were big on self empowerment. Was that your original pursuit with the band when you set out in 2006, or was that something that developed over time?
QBall: You know, I never said it was a conscious effort. I came out of a very dysfunctional family. Big time boozing
dad, just a very negative environment. My family is still very estranged from each other even to this day. You know, I got to meet some good people along that way thanks to the juvenile system along the way, to tell you the truth (laughing) They kind of showed me a bit of a different way, showed me how to live a little better and helped me to see that I had the power to change things for myself. With that, I kind of turned into an over achiever, but I don't want to toot my own horn too much. I came to the feeling that "There Ain't Nothing To It, But To Do It!' I think its a good thing to be able to admit your weaknesses , but do whatever you can to improve your own life! Taking fearless moral inventory is what I call it! Always ask yourself, how can I be a better person? That's what I try and portray with my lyrics, I want to inspire people to feel the same way!
DDR: Some bands will make a song just for the sake of making a song or to make an album or maybe they were directed by the label and what the label wanted to hear.
QBall: I think that's absolutely true. More than ever before and I think this business is eating its own tail to the point that rock has been on a steady decline for the past two decades, in my opinion. It's become much more about the superficiality than the content and substance. I think to some degree that me stating that and making myself clear about that to everybody that has pursued us has kept our dignity instead of selling out for