A Wonderful Caricature of Intimacy; A Tale of Past Lovers
Kerrang!!
So I let Chrissy write a chapter just because she wanted to and just because it would take some burden off of me to finish writing a chapter. So here it goes...
*******
Chapter 30
(Jon’s POV)
While Photo was off doing press I checked the nearest Barnes and Noble for the issue of Kerrang! they were interviewed for. None of them would spill on what they were interviewed about. I was curious; Kerrang! has a reputation for being risqué in their questions. I love Kerrang. I bought a couple of copies to throw around the busses. It was Photo’s first Kerrang! interview and well, I’m sure they’d like to see it too. I hurried back to the venue and found Brendon in the front of our bus.
“They’re out”
“Who?”
“Photo in Kerrang!”
“Sweet”
I threw him a copy and turned to their interview. I sprawled on the couch and started to read the interview.
Photogenic Misery is a relativity new band out of the Chicago suburbs. They formed when a few high school friends got together to jam. It is obvious to anyone who spends more than five minutes with the band that they are great friends. They go far enough to fight like siblings. Photo is a regular in the small venues of the Chicago suburbs on Friday and Saturday nights, so that they were home for school on Monday. By chance, they sent their self published EP Losing Sleep to Fueled By Ramen where Pete Wentz heard it. At their next show, which happened to be at their school, Pete talked to them and within a few weeks they were signed to Fueled By Ramen/ Decaydance. It is apparent as soon as Photogenic Misery bounds into the room that they’re wired for the show later tonight. They can’t sit still and can’t stop talking and are just jittery in general. What are assumed to be inside jokes ("stop being so Asian”, “sexkitten”, “vegans taste better”) and are mumbled during the pre-interview photo shoot. Photogenic Misery simply looks like a bunch of high schoolers on their day off. T-shirts, jeans and hoodies are a stark contrast to the private school they graduated from a month ago.
K!: Photogenic Misery was signed your senior year of high school right. The four of you went to the same private school, how does that affect you now?
Billy: Way to start out with a hard question. It wasn’t any different than any other high school. We just had to be in uniforms.
Sam: More rich kids, who complained about not having money than the average high school. Our school wasn’t exactly the best place to form a band, we stood out, a lot, because of it.
K!: Photo has gone through some lineup changes since you formed two years ago; exactly how many drummers did you go through?
Billy: Well, Sam was our first drummer, then he left to join a more serious band at the time, so we scrambled for a new one. Sam actually wrote most of the drum parts for the Losing Sleep EP, so we always favored him. Something like four drummers and nine months later, Sam’s band broke up right as we were starting to play more. He found out we still needed a decent drummer, so we got rid of the one we were using and reacquired Sam.
Sam: It made me feel special, plus, this is like a family, and the other band just wasn’t, we argued all the time.
Billy: also, we couldn’t find a free, decent drummer around our age, for some reason they were either all 14 and sucky, or 25 and great, we didn’t get along with them. They just didn’t fit in with the rest of us, or tried to get into Erelin and Chrissy’s pants, which isn’t cool considering there was a 9 year difference between the last one, and I consider them sisters.
K!: So, how old are all of you?
Billy: I’m eighteen
Sam: I’m eighteen too. Erelin and Chrissy are still Seventeen.
Erelin: My birthday is in July though
Chrissy: Mine’s in August
K!: So you four were signed, and put out an album plus an EP before you all turned 18?
Billy: Yeah, it made senior year interesting.
Sam: Oh yeah, one day we were playing shows at the Knights of Columbus halls where Fall Out Boy got their start, a month later we were opening for Fall Out Boy.
Chrissy: A lot of stuff happened really quickly. I mean our friends were applying to colleges, and we were signing a record deal. The entire year went by way to fast and we crammed a lot of stuff in between signing, recording, playing and touring. Somewhere in there we all graduated and went to prom before this tour.
Erelin: Juggling writing a CD and studying for my first semester finals was a nightmare. We were mastering the CD when we should have been studying for our second semester finals. The four of us were not getting along because of it. We fought a lot because of the stress of school and the CD
K!: The self published EP is called “Losing Sleep.” The full length debut is named “One Thought Away From Losing Sleep.” Why did you chose to connect them?
Billy: It’s essentially the same story, just a later chapter. We grew up, but still had the same mindset that we did when we wrote Losing Sleep, so it seemed like a natural progression.
K!: Your songs seem to be about relationships. Your EP and CD however seem to be two different stories.
Erelin: They are. The EP was about a breakup.
Billy: High school sucks. I’m leaving it at that.
Chrissy: It wasn’t a good time for anyone; the CD is more about building new ones.
Oh the ex story, I hadn’t gotten much out of Chrissy, but what I had gotten out, wasn’t pretty. Erelin had the cheating boyfriend, and broke up with him. She was distraught about it for awhile and earlier when she started talking to him, Chrissy was more pissed about it than Erelin was. Photo was like a crazy family. They’re really overprotective of each other, I’m surprised that Brendon and I made the cut sometimes. This guy, Steve, that Erelin was involved with knew he still had her and could use her. Thankfully Chrissy was there when Steve asked Erelin to prom. Brendon really wanted to make it up to her. Chrissy’s story was that she had been arguing with her ex for awhile about her paying more attention to the band then him, but they didn’t’ break up until right before Photo got signed, when he said she was ‘changing‘ and that they shouldn’t be exclusively dating. Three days later he was with someone new. Asshole gave me dirty looks at her prom too; it was kind of an “I fucked your girlfriend” look. I responded with a “She’s mine now, and so have I, better than you” look, if I remember correctly I also grinded into her, a preview of what would happen hours later.
K!: How did the writing and recording of “Losing Sleep” differ from “A Thought Away From Losing Sleep?
Billy: Well, A Thought Away took a lot out of us. We did it slower than the Losing Sleep EP. It was stretched out because we were writing and still full time students. We recorded on weekends and nights after school. The end result being we had to rerecord a bunch of stuff.
Sam: Losing Sleep was written two years ago and recorded right before we went on a summer tour. We sold out of the first pressing on tour. It was a very hurried process; the emotions were still raw when we left for tour. But selling out of a thousand CDs, that was a rush like no other.
Erelin: The songs are essentially about a relationship that went sour, and when I was writing it, it was fresh. Losing Sleep was my therapy. A Thought Away was really a thought away from losing sleep. I was close to losing sleep over everything, and one miniscule thing would set my insomnia off.
Chrissy: A Thought Away is about that last chance of hope you have after your world crashed down. It’s the light at the end of the tunnel, but you don’t know if you should walk into it. Music wise, we have always written our own parts, so often when we bring them together we end up throwing out huge sections to use on different songs.
Billy: Don’t get us wrong though, we’re all involved in every part. Erelin may write a lot, but we all give input, and I can honestly say no song has ever been 100% one person.
K!: Most rock bands are all male, what is the difference say between your bus and Fall Out Boy’s, Panic’s or The Academy Is’ ?
Sam: We lack Ashlee Simpson, William Beckett or Spencer Smith?
[It takes several seconds for the band to stop laughing to be able to answer the question seriously.]
Chrissy: Well that and I guess there are more clothes. I mean, we’re not that girly. William’s hips are better looking than mine.
Erelin: Yeah and we’re not that neat either. We’re in that “one of the guys” category, Bill [Beckett] is a smaller pants size then me too…
Billy: There are fucking nail files everywhere.
K!: Nail files?
Chrissy: In order to play guitar properly, your nails have to be short, and instead of trimming them every few days we just file them down
Erelin: Chrissy just loses them on the bus and buys more. That’s why they’re everywhere. Nail files and lip balm all over the bus.
K!: Photo is half female and half male, and music scenes tend to be male dominated, how have you coped with being the band with girls?
Billy: Anything anyone ever says they pretty much take back after they see us perform.
Sam: It sets us apart from a lot of other bands. This way there is a huge vocal range, not to mention you remember the band with the girl lead singer. Plus, Have you seen them [Chrissy and Erelin] play? I mean they can do everything and more than any guy can do.
Chrissy: It really depends on where we’re playing. If we’re at some underground punk venue, there are only 10 girls there anyways, so it’s not like they treat us like shit, a lot of them just think we’re going to be some poppy band, and we’re not. I just learned to take the criticisms because not all of the time did they actually believe what they said, they were just trying to get to me.
Erelin: It does make us stand out, because the scene is mostly guy bands, but there are girls who come to shows.
K!: So, Chrissy, Erelin, rumor is that both of you are dating members of Panic! At The Disco.
Erelin: Yeah, I’m dating B-don. [Brendon Urie, Vocalist]
Chrissy: I’m dating J-Walk. [Jon Walker, bassist]
Billy: Those are nicknames given to them by fans.
K!: Wait, didn’t you say you were both 17?
Erelin: We are. That’s why we’ve been quiet about it till now.
Chrissy: By the time this is printed we’ll both be 18 or close enough that it doesn’t seem as bad,
Erelin: Our parents know, so it’s not as big of a deal as anyone else will make of It.
Chrissy: It’s hard to keep it a secret. There are a few pictures of us on the internet holding hands, and there is one of Jon kissing me before the show.
Erelin: Yeah, and our prom pictures were leaked, and my blind date was Brendon. The scary thing is, all the pictures of Chrissy and Jon or me and Brendon were taken by fans that lurked outside.
K!: How is it touring with them?
Chrissy: A lot of bands have to deal with the distance between their significant others, for us, they’re a bus away, if that.
Erelin: It can make things more stressful, but also a lot easier. It just depends on how you look at it.
Sam: It sure makes touring interesting if nothing else
K!: So, you’re all almost 18, young, in a band, touring across the country, what’s the strangest place you had sex.
Sam: No comment
Billy: Not spilling
Chrissy: Erelin’s bed, when she was throwing a party
Erelin: WHAT?
Chrissy: I’m joking, God, that .. You’re my best friend, you’re like a sister that would be a total turn off. Besides, it was your bunk.
Erelin: CHRISSY!
Chrissy: I am so obviously lying, calm down. I don’t kiss and tell, sorry Kerrang! and the rest of the world.
Erelin: Neither do I
K!: Obviously, touring with Panic seems like second nature, but how do the fans of Panic, The Academy Is, and Fall Out Boy take to you?
Sam: We’re the same age as a lot of them, so we connect pretty well.
Billy: We haven’t been booed off ever so I think that’s a good sign
Erelin: Now Chrissy and I are going to get the ‘boo you stole my imaginary boyfriend‘ from 13 year olds
Chrissy: I can‘t wait, but at least that will stop some of the gay rumors for awhile.
K!: You talk of 13 year old fans in a derogatory sense, why?
Sam: Honestly, there are some 13 year olds that are completely mature and are into our music; that’s fine with me
Billy: It’s the ones that get all crazy and steal band’s underwear and try to get into their busses that kind of scare me.
Chrissy: We haven’t had any do that yet, and I really don’t want that to happen. Because it takes away from our shows. I want to be able to jump in the crowd and them not want to rip my shirt off.
Erelin: That would cause problems on more than one front. Everyone should just relax and if you’re going to scream during a show, let it be the song, not ‘Sam I want to have your babies’
Billy: Speaking of, Sam is single
Chrissy: And he’s a vegan, ladies
Erelin: You know what that means
Sam: I love animals?
K!: Your first tours were in a van, what’s it like to be on your first bus tour?”
Sam: Awesome. We have comfortable places to sleep and a place to hide in pre-show.
Billy: Our first tours we were barely old enough to drive. Our parents insisted we have some sort of adult with us who was old enough to get hotel rooms occasionally, and that could drive at night when we couldn’t.
Chrissy: I only remember spending the night in a hotel once. Those nights in vans, that’s what made us who we are.
Erelin: Some of those nights though. That first time we toured as a band. I think that’s why we work so well. We were friends before, but after that summer, we were inseparable. Even when Sam wasn’t with us, he still spend a lot of time with us.
K!: Every band always says the days they spent touring in vans were the best, do you have any van stories?
Chrissy: We forgot our drummer once. It was the last one before Sam, and we totally forgot him at a rest stop. We contemplated for about five miles whether or not go to go back and get him.
Erelin: We were just fed up with him at that point.
Sam: Everyone thinks it’s easy. We had to pack our own equipment, drive to the venue, set up, play, pack up and drive to the next venue. We’re not exactly rolling in the dough either. We barely made gas money some days. That being said, first tour, we were like 16, sleeping in the back of the van, on some equipment, and we drew on Billy’s face, a crazy mustache. Everyone who saw it pretended they didn’t so he went on stage with a sharpie mustache. For serious, all day he walked around, and no one told him. I thought he was going to kill me.
Billy: Oh this one time, we tied Chrissy up so she looked like a hostage and put her in the front seat at a rest stop like right by the front door. We left some music on and a video camera recording the people’s reactions as they saw her gagged but bopping along to the music in the van. Then our road manager saw and screamed at us to untie her. He screamed and drew more attention as we untied her, I don’t think we stopped giggling for about an hour, he just got angrier.
Erelin: Don’t wake Chrissy up before noon, especially when we’ve been on tour for over a month. Our old drummer did, and well, there’s a reason he’s our old drummer. I mean, after you wake someone up and they’re pissed, you don’t keep bothering her. Chrissy snapped and threw him into a wall, I‘m not exaggerating either, she grabbed his shirt and pushed him into the wall. He complained about the bruises for the rest of the tour.
The girls came onto the bus. I looked up as Chrissy arched her back yawning. Then stretching. She then curled up to me leaning on my shoulder, very kitten like. That guy must of really gotten to her, she’s not violent by nature.
“Tired?”
“Yeah”
“Tour getting to you?”
“Yep, what you reading?”
“Kerrang! Your issue.”
“Sweet”
Chrissy put her head on my shoulder and skimmed the article.
K!: This isn’t your first tour with big bands, but opening bands get treated horribly. How has your experience been so far?
Sam: They’re always there for advice on things. Also, if I’m having problems with something they’ll lend me a hand in fixing, or let me borrow an extra of theirs.
Billy: Occasionally we have to run some crazy errand. I had to do the shopping for Andy and Patrick’s bus once. Andy eats way to healthy. I mean, one day we’re their little brothers and sisters, the next day we’re their bitches.
Erelin: They joke around with us a lot. Occasional there are practical jokes, but abuse? Not really.
Chrissy: We’re at the right age that we could easily be their younger brothers or sisters. So, I think that works out to they treat us like brothers or sisters. It just depends on the day really.
K!: What is the strangest thing that has happened to you at a gig?
Billy: Looking into the audience and seeing Pete Wentz
Chrissy: Our first gig we were all nervous, so I was jittery before we went on, and Sam and I threw up for seriously about ten minutes after. It happens when stress and nerves get the best of you.
Sam: Ugh, that was disgusting, and the thing is we hadn’t really eaten anything, so we pretty much threw up water, so it wasn’t like normal throwing up.
Erelin: Ugh two are gross.
Sam: You were there for it. I think you said that then too.
Chrissy: It’s not like it became a habit, we only did it a handful of times after that.
K!: What exactly do you mean by handful?
Chrissy: It tends to be bigger shows where we’re really pumped and then it gets really hot in the venue, and we continue to play, it also tends to be when we play longer.
Sam: And first shows on tour. Jon came looking for Chrissy last time. He was worried and I kept telling him she’d be fine. He understood it, because it’s common, but considering I said it in between coughs, he was still worried. That was one of the things I missed during my absence from Photo, no one really understood me. I’m a vegan, and a lot of people give me shit for it.
Billy: It’s really easy to find Chrissy and Sam after shows. I find the nearest stage door and they tend to be outside, either throwing up, or looking like they’re going to. Lately though, they have gotten better. They might actually get over it one day.
Chrissy: Don’t hold your breath.
Erelin: Anyways, Looking up and seeing Pete, Patrick, Jon and Brendon was probably one of the most memorable things, but not the strangest. So we sell Photogenic Misery thongs occasionally, and this guy came up to me and asked if I could sign it before the show. It was weird, but I did. Then in the middle of the show, he appeared with just that on and ran across the stage. I totally forgot what song I was singing for like 4 lines. Luckily he chose one of our oldest songs that everyone in the crowd knew.
[the entire band giggles like four year olds for the next few minutes remembering the night]
Billy: We stopped stocking those thongs after that show. For this tour though we brought them back with our original logo. But now, if guys really want photogenic misery underwear, we have boxers in our seemingly endless supply of merch.
K!: What makes your band different from every other band out there?
Billy: We have an asian.
Chrissy: Who’s asian?
Sam: I think Erelin is
Erelin: Fuck guys, I know why don’t you say it more?
Chrissy: Apparently, Erelin is asian
Sam: Erelin’s asian and Chrissy doesn’t have a soul .
Erelin: That’s so true. She doesn’t have a soul, and yet she’s still my best friend.
K!: Any final words on why kids should buy your CD?
Billy: You technically don’t have to buy it.
Sam: You could illegally download it, then buy a photogenic misery t-shirt
Billy: And tell all your friends to buy our CD
Chrissy: Because really, CD sales aren’t where we’re making money, it’s merch and concerts that pay the bills.
Erelin: Barely, we’re not making much money either way.
Both the Losing Sleep EP and One Thought Away From Losing Sleep full length debut is available online at Fueled by Ramen/Decaydance’s online store. Photogenic Misery is on tour all summer with lablemates Fall Out Boy, The Academy Is and Panic! at the Disco.
Neither of us expected it when the pillow hit us both in the head. I looked at Chrissy who was rubbing her head and staring at Erelin, who had obviously thrown it.
“I can’t believe they put that in there”
“You have to admit, it was funny” Chrissy said smiling.
Erelin rolled her eyes and finished reading the complete article while in Brendon’s lap. Chrissy yawned again and I checked my watch. They had four hours before they had to get ready to play. We had closer to five.
“Hey,” I whispered. “Back lounge is open, and you need a nap.”
She smiled and snuggled further into my neck.
“You smell like Jon.”
Confused, I looked at her as she sat straight up. I raised my eyebrow as she smiled Chrissy desperately needed sleep, I think she was delusional. I heard Brendon mumbled “the back lounge is open” and Chrissy’s face fell. We looked over at them and narrowed our eyes. Chrissy and I jumped up simultaneously and ran towards the back of the bus beating Erelin and Brendon to the lounge.
“Ha! Beat you!” Chrissy teased opening the door.
“You two better not…”
“Do what?”
“Exchange body heat in the passenger seat” Erelin growled shaking her face.
“I expect to exchange body heat, but not in a passenger seat, we’re in a bus, so I’m going to go nap on the couch.”
With that she closed the door and turned off the light. I shook out our blanket from last night before I collapsed on the couch. Chrissy leaned against the door unlacing her high top converses.
“Is there something about ‘Lying’ that I should know?” I asked.
She smiled before looking up at me.
“Uh, before we met you we were joking around…”
“You totally want to have sex to it don’t you”
“No.”
Chrissy is such a bad liar, or at least I can see right through her.
“Liar”
“Shut up” she said tripping out of her shoe. She stretched rocking forward onto her toes and almost touching the top of the bus. She stretches very catlike, she‘s also very frisky. Erelin and Brendon got all mad with the “sex kitten” thing, but it’s the truth. It’s not like they were innocent either, they were starting to sneak off almost as much as we were. At least Chrissy and I kept it private, probably because we were used to having to keep our relationship under wraps, we had been doing it since January, they had since May. Erelin and Brendon, I swear, I’ve walked in on them near foreplay so many times I‘m surprised she‘s not pregnant.
Chrissy crawled next to me on the couch. She yawned before stretching again and pressing her back to my chest. I wrapped my arm and our blanket around her waist. She intertwined her fingers with mine, slowly exhaling. I held her a little tighter as I felt her drift off to sleep. She was too cuddly for someone who didn’t have a soul. Right?
*******
Chapter 30
(Jon’s POV)
While Photo was off doing press I checked the nearest Barnes and Noble for the issue of Kerrang! they were interviewed for. None of them would spill on what they were interviewed about. I was curious; Kerrang! has a reputation for being risqué in their questions. I love Kerrang. I bought a couple of copies to throw around the busses. It was Photo’s first Kerrang! interview and well, I’m sure they’d like to see it too. I hurried back to the venue and found Brendon in the front of our bus.
“They’re out”
“Who?”
“Photo in Kerrang!”
“Sweet”
I threw him a copy and turned to their interview. I sprawled on the couch and started to read the interview.
Photogenic Misery is a relativity new band out of the Chicago suburbs. They formed when a few high school friends got together to jam. It is obvious to anyone who spends more than five minutes with the band that they are great friends. They go far enough to fight like siblings. Photo is a regular in the small venues of the Chicago suburbs on Friday and Saturday nights, so that they were home for school on Monday. By chance, they sent their self published EP Losing Sleep to Fueled By Ramen where Pete Wentz heard it. At their next show, which happened to be at their school, Pete talked to them and within a few weeks they were signed to Fueled By Ramen/ Decaydance. It is apparent as soon as Photogenic Misery bounds into the room that they’re wired for the show later tonight. They can’t sit still and can’t stop talking and are just jittery in general. What are assumed to be inside jokes ("stop being so Asian”, “sexkitten”, “vegans taste better”) and are mumbled during the pre-interview photo shoot. Photogenic Misery simply looks like a bunch of high schoolers on their day off. T-shirts, jeans and hoodies are a stark contrast to the private school they graduated from a month ago.
K!: Photogenic Misery was signed your senior year of high school right. The four of you went to the same private school, how does that affect you now?
Billy: Way to start out with a hard question. It wasn’t any different than any other high school. We just had to be in uniforms.
Sam: More rich kids, who complained about not having money than the average high school. Our school wasn’t exactly the best place to form a band, we stood out, a lot, because of it.
K!: Photo has gone through some lineup changes since you formed two years ago; exactly how many drummers did you go through?
Billy: Well, Sam was our first drummer, then he left to join a more serious band at the time, so we scrambled for a new one. Sam actually wrote most of the drum parts for the Losing Sleep EP, so we always favored him. Something like four drummers and nine months later, Sam’s band broke up right as we were starting to play more. He found out we still needed a decent drummer, so we got rid of the one we were using and reacquired Sam.
Sam: It made me feel special, plus, this is like a family, and the other band just wasn’t, we argued all the time.
Billy: also, we couldn’t find a free, decent drummer around our age, for some reason they were either all 14 and sucky, or 25 and great, we didn’t get along with them. They just didn’t fit in with the rest of us, or tried to get into Erelin and Chrissy’s pants, which isn’t cool considering there was a 9 year difference between the last one, and I consider them sisters.
K!: So, how old are all of you?
Billy: I’m eighteen
Sam: I’m eighteen too. Erelin and Chrissy are still Seventeen.
Erelin: My birthday is in July though
Chrissy: Mine’s in August
K!: So you four were signed, and put out an album plus an EP before you all turned 18?
Billy: Yeah, it made senior year interesting.
Sam: Oh yeah, one day we were playing shows at the Knights of Columbus halls where Fall Out Boy got their start, a month later we were opening for Fall Out Boy.
Chrissy: A lot of stuff happened really quickly. I mean our friends were applying to colleges, and we were signing a record deal. The entire year went by way to fast and we crammed a lot of stuff in between signing, recording, playing and touring. Somewhere in there we all graduated and went to prom before this tour.
Erelin: Juggling writing a CD and studying for my first semester finals was a nightmare. We were mastering the CD when we should have been studying for our second semester finals. The four of us were not getting along because of it. We fought a lot because of the stress of school and the CD
K!: The self published EP is called “Losing Sleep.” The full length debut is named “One Thought Away From Losing Sleep.” Why did you chose to connect them?
Billy: It’s essentially the same story, just a later chapter. We grew up, but still had the same mindset that we did when we wrote Losing Sleep, so it seemed like a natural progression.
K!: Your songs seem to be about relationships. Your EP and CD however seem to be two different stories.
Erelin: They are. The EP was about a breakup.
Billy: High school sucks. I’m leaving it at that.
Chrissy: It wasn’t a good time for anyone; the CD is more about building new ones.
Oh the ex story, I hadn’t gotten much out of Chrissy, but what I had gotten out, wasn’t pretty. Erelin had the cheating boyfriend, and broke up with him. She was distraught about it for awhile and earlier when she started talking to him, Chrissy was more pissed about it than Erelin was. Photo was like a crazy family. They’re really overprotective of each other, I’m surprised that Brendon and I made the cut sometimes. This guy, Steve, that Erelin was involved with knew he still had her and could use her. Thankfully Chrissy was there when Steve asked Erelin to prom. Brendon really wanted to make it up to her. Chrissy’s story was that she had been arguing with her ex for awhile about her paying more attention to the band then him, but they didn’t’ break up until right before Photo got signed, when he said she was ‘changing‘ and that they shouldn’t be exclusively dating. Three days later he was with someone new. Asshole gave me dirty looks at her prom too; it was kind of an “I fucked your girlfriend” look. I responded with a “She’s mine now, and so have I, better than you” look, if I remember correctly I also grinded into her, a preview of what would happen hours later.
K!: How did the writing and recording of “Losing Sleep” differ from “A Thought Away From Losing Sleep?
Billy: Well, A Thought Away took a lot out of us. We did it slower than the Losing Sleep EP. It was stretched out because we were writing and still full time students. We recorded on weekends and nights after school. The end result being we had to rerecord a bunch of stuff.
Sam: Losing Sleep was written two years ago and recorded right before we went on a summer tour. We sold out of the first pressing on tour. It was a very hurried process; the emotions were still raw when we left for tour. But selling out of a thousand CDs, that was a rush like no other.
Erelin: The songs are essentially about a relationship that went sour, and when I was writing it, it was fresh. Losing Sleep was my therapy. A Thought Away was really a thought away from losing sleep. I was close to losing sleep over everything, and one miniscule thing would set my insomnia off.
Chrissy: A Thought Away is about that last chance of hope you have after your world crashed down. It’s the light at the end of the tunnel, but you don’t know if you should walk into it. Music wise, we have always written our own parts, so often when we bring them together we end up throwing out huge sections to use on different songs.
Billy: Don’t get us wrong though, we’re all involved in every part. Erelin may write a lot, but we all give input, and I can honestly say no song has ever been 100% one person.
K!: Most rock bands are all male, what is the difference say between your bus and Fall Out Boy’s, Panic’s or The Academy Is’ ?
Sam: We lack Ashlee Simpson, William Beckett or Spencer Smith?
[It takes several seconds for the band to stop laughing to be able to answer the question seriously.]
Chrissy: Well that and I guess there are more clothes. I mean, we’re not that girly. William’s hips are better looking than mine.
Erelin: Yeah and we’re not that neat either. We’re in that “one of the guys” category, Bill [Beckett] is a smaller pants size then me too…
Billy: There are fucking nail files everywhere.
K!: Nail files?
Chrissy: In order to play guitar properly, your nails have to be short, and instead of trimming them every few days we just file them down
Erelin: Chrissy just loses them on the bus and buys more. That’s why they’re everywhere. Nail files and lip balm all over the bus.
K!: Photo is half female and half male, and music scenes tend to be male dominated, how have you coped with being the band with girls?
Billy: Anything anyone ever says they pretty much take back after they see us perform.
Sam: It sets us apart from a lot of other bands. This way there is a huge vocal range, not to mention you remember the band with the girl lead singer. Plus, Have you seen them [Chrissy and Erelin] play? I mean they can do everything and more than any guy can do.
Chrissy: It really depends on where we’re playing. If we’re at some underground punk venue, there are only 10 girls there anyways, so it’s not like they treat us like shit, a lot of them just think we’re going to be some poppy band, and we’re not. I just learned to take the criticisms because not all of the time did they actually believe what they said, they were just trying to get to me.
Erelin: It does make us stand out, because the scene is mostly guy bands, but there are girls who come to shows.
K!: So, Chrissy, Erelin, rumor is that both of you are dating members of Panic! At The Disco.
Erelin: Yeah, I’m dating B-don. [Brendon Urie, Vocalist]
Chrissy: I’m dating J-Walk. [Jon Walker, bassist]
Billy: Those are nicknames given to them by fans.
K!: Wait, didn’t you say you were both 17?
Erelin: We are. That’s why we’ve been quiet about it till now.
Chrissy: By the time this is printed we’ll both be 18 or close enough that it doesn’t seem as bad,
Erelin: Our parents know, so it’s not as big of a deal as anyone else will make of It.
Chrissy: It’s hard to keep it a secret. There are a few pictures of us on the internet holding hands, and there is one of Jon kissing me before the show.
Erelin: Yeah, and our prom pictures were leaked, and my blind date was Brendon. The scary thing is, all the pictures of Chrissy and Jon or me and Brendon were taken by fans that lurked outside.
K!: How is it touring with them?
Chrissy: A lot of bands have to deal with the distance between their significant others, for us, they’re a bus away, if that.
Erelin: It can make things more stressful, but also a lot easier. It just depends on how you look at it.
Sam: It sure makes touring interesting if nothing else
K!: So, you’re all almost 18, young, in a band, touring across the country, what’s the strangest place you had sex.
Sam: No comment
Billy: Not spilling
Chrissy: Erelin’s bed, when she was throwing a party
Erelin: WHAT?
Chrissy: I’m joking, God, that .. You’re my best friend, you’re like a sister that would be a total turn off. Besides, it was your bunk.
Erelin: CHRISSY!
Chrissy: I am so obviously lying, calm down. I don’t kiss and tell, sorry Kerrang! and the rest of the world.
Erelin: Neither do I
K!: Obviously, touring with Panic seems like second nature, but how do the fans of Panic, The Academy Is, and Fall Out Boy take to you?
Sam: We’re the same age as a lot of them, so we connect pretty well.
Billy: We haven’t been booed off ever so I think that’s a good sign
Erelin: Now Chrissy and I are going to get the ‘boo you stole my imaginary boyfriend‘ from 13 year olds
Chrissy: I can‘t wait, but at least that will stop some of the gay rumors for awhile.
K!: You talk of 13 year old fans in a derogatory sense, why?
Sam: Honestly, there are some 13 year olds that are completely mature and are into our music; that’s fine with me
Billy: It’s the ones that get all crazy and steal band’s underwear and try to get into their busses that kind of scare me.
Chrissy: We haven’t had any do that yet, and I really don’t want that to happen. Because it takes away from our shows. I want to be able to jump in the crowd and them not want to rip my shirt off.
Erelin: That would cause problems on more than one front. Everyone should just relax and if you’re going to scream during a show, let it be the song, not ‘Sam I want to have your babies’
Billy: Speaking of, Sam is single
Chrissy: And he’s a vegan, ladies
Erelin: You know what that means
Sam: I love animals?
K!: Your first tours were in a van, what’s it like to be on your first bus tour?”
Sam: Awesome. We have comfortable places to sleep and a place to hide in pre-show.
Billy: Our first tours we were barely old enough to drive. Our parents insisted we have some sort of adult with us who was old enough to get hotel rooms occasionally, and that could drive at night when we couldn’t.
Chrissy: I only remember spending the night in a hotel once. Those nights in vans, that’s what made us who we are.
Erelin: Some of those nights though. That first time we toured as a band. I think that’s why we work so well. We were friends before, but after that summer, we were inseparable. Even when Sam wasn’t with us, he still spend a lot of time with us.
K!: Every band always says the days they spent touring in vans were the best, do you have any van stories?
Chrissy: We forgot our drummer once. It was the last one before Sam, and we totally forgot him at a rest stop. We contemplated for about five miles whether or not go to go back and get him.
Erelin: We were just fed up with him at that point.
Sam: Everyone thinks it’s easy. We had to pack our own equipment, drive to the venue, set up, play, pack up and drive to the next venue. We’re not exactly rolling in the dough either. We barely made gas money some days. That being said, first tour, we were like 16, sleeping in the back of the van, on some equipment, and we drew on Billy’s face, a crazy mustache. Everyone who saw it pretended they didn’t so he went on stage with a sharpie mustache. For serious, all day he walked around, and no one told him. I thought he was going to kill me.
Billy: Oh this one time, we tied Chrissy up so she looked like a hostage and put her in the front seat at a rest stop like right by the front door. We left some music on and a video camera recording the people’s reactions as they saw her gagged but bopping along to the music in the van. Then our road manager saw and screamed at us to untie her. He screamed and drew more attention as we untied her, I don’t think we stopped giggling for about an hour, he just got angrier.
Erelin: Don’t wake Chrissy up before noon, especially when we’ve been on tour for over a month. Our old drummer did, and well, there’s a reason he’s our old drummer. I mean, after you wake someone up and they’re pissed, you don’t keep bothering her. Chrissy snapped and threw him into a wall, I‘m not exaggerating either, she grabbed his shirt and pushed him into the wall. He complained about the bruises for the rest of the tour.
The girls came onto the bus. I looked up as Chrissy arched her back yawning. Then stretching. She then curled up to me leaning on my shoulder, very kitten like. That guy must of really gotten to her, she’s not violent by nature.
“Tired?”
“Yeah”
“Tour getting to you?”
“Yep, what you reading?”
“Kerrang! Your issue.”
“Sweet”
Chrissy put her head on my shoulder and skimmed the article.
K!: This isn’t your first tour with big bands, but opening bands get treated horribly. How has your experience been so far?
Sam: They’re always there for advice on things. Also, if I’m having problems with something they’ll lend me a hand in fixing, or let me borrow an extra of theirs.
Billy: Occasionally we have to run some crazy errand. I had to do the shopping for Andy and Patrick’s bus once. Andy eats way to healthy. I mean, one day we’re their little brothers and sisters, the next day we’re their bitches.
Erelin: They joke around with us a lot. Occasional there are practical jokes, but abuse? Not really.
Chrissy: We’re at the right age that we could easily be their younger brothers or sisters. So, I think that works out to they treat us like brothers or sisters. It just depends on the day really.
K!: What is the strangest thing that has happened to you at a gig?
Billy: Looking into the audience and seeing Pete Wentz
Chrissy: Our first gig we were all nervous, so I was jittery before we went on, and Sam and I threw up for seriously about ten minutes after. It happens when stress and nerves get the best of you.
Sam: Ugh, that was disgusting, and the thing is we hadn’t really eaten anything, so we pretty much threw up water, so it wasn’t like normal throwing up.
Erelin: Ugh two are gross.
Sam: You were there for it. I think you said that then too.
Chrissy: It’s not like it became a habit, we only did it a handful of times after that.
K!: What exactly do you mean by handful?
Chrissy: It tends to be bigger shows where we’re really pumped and then it gets really hot in the venue, and we continue to play, it also tends to be when we play longer.
Sam: And first shows on tour. Jon came looking for Chrissy last time. He was worried and I kept telling him she’d be fine. He understood it, because it’s common, but considering I said it in between coughs, he was still worried. That was one of the things I missed during my absence from Photo, no one really understood me. I’m a vegan, and a lot of people give me shit for it.
Billy: It’s really easy to find Chrissy and Sam after shows. I find the nearest stage door and they tend to be outside, either throwing up, or looking like they’re going to. Lately though, they have gotten better. They might actually get over it one day.
Chrissy: Don’t hold your breath.
Erelin: Anyways, Looking up and seeing Pete, Patrick, Jon and Brendon was probably one of the most memorable things, but not the strangest. So we sell Photogenic Misery thongs occasionally, and this guy came up to me and asked if I could sign it before the show. It was weird, but I did. Then in the middle of the show, he appeared with just that on and ran across the stage. I totally forgot what song I was singing for like 4 lines. Luckily he chose one of our oldest songs that everyone in the crowd knew.
[the entire band giggles like four year olds for the next few minutes remembering the night]
Billy: We stopped stocking those thongs after that show. For this tour though we brought them back with our original logo. But now, if guys really want photogenic misery underwear, we have boxers in our seemingly endless supply of merch.
K!: What makes your band different from every other band out there?
Billy: We have an asian.
Chrissy: Who’s asian?
Sam: I think Erelin is
Erelin: Fuck guys, I know why don’t you say it more?
Chrissy: Apparently, Erelin is asian
Sam: Erelin’s asian and Chrissy doesn’t have a soul .
Erelin: That’s so true. She doesn’t have a soul, and yet she’s still my best friend.
K!: Any final words on why kids should buy your CD?
Billy: You technically don’t have to buy it.
Sam: You could illegally download it, then buy a photogenic misery t-shirt
Billy: And tell all your friends to buy our CD
Chrissy: Because really, CD sales aren’t where we’re making money, it’s merch and concerts that pay the bills.
Erelin: Barely, we’re not making much money either way.
Both the Losing Sleep EP and One Thought Away From Losing Sleep full length debut is available online at Fueled by Ramen/Decaydance’s online store. Photogenic Misery is on tour all summer with lablemates Fall Out Boy, The Academy Is and Panic! at the Disco.
Neither of us expected it when the pillow hit us both in the head. I looked at Chrissy who was rubbing her head and staring at Erelin, who had obviously thrown it.
“I can’t believe they put that in there”
“You have to admit, it was funny” Chrissy said smiling.
Erelin rolled her eyes and finished reading the complete article while in Brendon’s lap. Chrissy yawned again and I checked my watch. They had four hours before they had to get ready to play. We had closer to five.
“Hey,” I whispered. “Back lounge is open, and you need a nap.”
She smiled and snuggled further into my neck.
“You smell like Jon.”
Confused, I looked at her as she sat straight up. I raised my eyebrow as she smiled Chrissy desperately needed sleep, I think she was delusional. I heard Brendon mumbled “the back lounge is open” and Chrissy’s face fell. We looked over at them and narrowed our eyes. Chrissy and I jumped up simultaneously and ran towards the back of the bus beating Erelin and Brendon to the lounge.
“Ha! Beat you!” Chrissy teased opening the door.
“You two better not…”
“Do what?”
“Exchange body heat in the passenger seat” Erelin growled shaking her face.
“I expect to exchange body heat, but not in a passenger seat, we’re in a bus, so I’m going to go nap on the couch.”
With that she closed the door and turned off the light. I shook out our blanket from last night before I collapsed on the couch. Chrissy leaned against the door unlacing her high top converses.
“Is there something about ‘Lying’ that I should know?” I asked.
She smiled before looking up at me.
“Uh, before we met you we were joking around…”
“You totally want to have sex to it don’t you”
“No.”
Chrissy is such a bad liar, or at least I can see right through her.
“Liar”
“Shut up” she said tripping out of her shoe. She stretched rocking forward onto her toes and almost touching the top of the bus. She stretches very catlike, she‘s also very frisky. Erelin and Brendon got all mad with the “sex kitten” thing, but it’s the truth. It’s not like they were innocent either, they were starting to sneak off almost as much as we were. At least Chrissy and I kept it private, probably because we were used to having to keep our relationship under wraps, we had been doing it since January, they had since May. Erelin and Brendon, I swear, I’ve walked in on them near foreplay so many times I‘m surprised she‘s not pregnant.
Chrissy crawled next to me on the couch. She yawned before stretching again and pressing her back to my chest. I wrapped my arm and our blanket around her waist. She intertwined her fingers with mine, slowly exhaling. I held her a little tighter as I felt her drift off to sleep. She was too cuddly for someone who didn’t have a soul. Right?