Our magazine is called defy unlearn because we strive to defy labels and want people to “unlearn” what they have been taught.


1.What does “defy unlearn” mean to you?
Sometimes unlearning requires learning something else. Defying sometimes is submitting.

2. When doing interviews is there a question you hate being asked?
“Do you have any crazy road stories?”


3a. How about a question you wish someone would ask you? b. Can you please answer that question?
Q : “Neil, will you please take this suitcase filled with no-sequential bills and diamond?.”
A: “Yes, certainly.”


4. What kind of role did music play in your life when you were growing up?
My pop listened to a lot of folk music and acid rock. I think that steered my away from the more typical genres. Throughout high school I was obsessed with anything unpopular and below the radar. When I eventually started writing music my predisposition to that kind of anomalous art influenced me greatly.


5. What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
Astronaut, highwayman, charlatan.


6. Which of your songs would you like to see a cover version of and who would you like to see do it?
I would like to hear Bjork do the Elephant Riders.


7. What song do you like to perform the most live?
I have always been partial to Big News 1 and 2.


8. Can you tell me one thing that makes a really good audience? Anything the people coming to see you at the Sounds of the Underground tour can do to show you their love?
I prefer crowds that listen over crowds that beat the shit out of each other. At this date, there is nothing punk or remotely cool about “moshing.” Good shows are made by the sum being greater than the parts, when jaws drop and eyes are transfixed. Also, when someone shouts “Freebird!”


9. Is there anyone on the Sounds of Underground tour that you haven’t played with and you’re really looking forward to sharing the bill with?
Lamb of God.

10. How does it feel to be part of the first annual Sounds of the Underground tour?
So far so good.


11. If Ben & Jerry made an ice cream in your honor and allowed you to create & name it, what would it be called and what would be in it?
Gallon of Fallon
Or Fantastic Lactic Acid Trip

-Tour Interview Section-
Can you think back to the beginning of a past tour and tell me about:

a comedic moment:
Being brought to a Hooters by a radio station to do a “meet and greet.”


a moment of perfection or beauty:
Performing on the Hudson River on the Manhattan Circle line.


a moment of ugliness:
pick a bathroom.


a cliché:
“There’s a big buzz about your band.”


a moment of gratitude:
anytime someone shows up to see us play.

Interview by: Carina
carina@defyunlearn.com