Q. Who influenced you the most while growing up?
A. Growing up? Oh, god. Actually, I didn't want to be a musician growing up. It wasn't that I necessarily didn't want to be a musician, but, I don't know, I just didn't really think about it. I was more thinking that I wanted to go over to Africa and help people. Be kind of like an Albert Schweitzer. I thought more about stuff like that than music.

Q. Did anyone ever tell you that you weren't going to make it? What did you say to them?
A. No, but we weren't really trying to make it. We didn't really think about it. We are from Oregon, you know, and our music was just very different. We were going against the grain.

Q. Wasn't that during the grunge era?
A. Yeah, but it was who we were. We weren't going to change it.

Q. How would you classify yourself in high school? (Jock, Brain, Popular, etc.?)

A. I didn't really exist. I went to a very large high school. I was involved with sports and ran cross country, and wrestled. I liked literature, but I was very low key and hung back. I kept my mouth shut.

Q. How did everyone in the band meet?
A. I was good friends with our first alto sax player, who isn't with the band anymore. He had friends that played horns and stuff before, and I knew rhythm players from other bands-like hard rock bands- that I had been in, and we kind of just combined the two worlds of like jazz and rock.

Q. How did you choose your band's name?
A. Actually, we chose our name before our first gig, at the suggestion of someone that I know. It comes from what are called Race Records, which are early rhythm and blues records with kind of dirty lyrics. I really liked that music, and so the name kind of evolved from that.

Q. Where did you come up with the idea for your hit song, "Zoot Suit Riot?"
A. Well, I wrote the lyrics based on the actual historical riot that occurred in 1943 between the Latino zoot suitors, called Pachucas and some sailors in California that didn't like Latinos apparently. Most of our songs are based on contemporary events, but some are influenced by the time period when swing was popular.

Q. How did you feel the first time you heard yourself on the radio?
A. I laughed and I actually turned it off. I was thinking, I've heard this song a million times. A little while later, I sort of got used to it. I finally left it on when I was driving down Sunset Blvd, in Los Angeles, because it just seemed to fit.

Q. What's your most embarrassing moment?
A. Once, I had a little too much to drink, and I crapped in my pants during a show, while I was wearing these electric blue pants, really tight pants.

Q. So did you finish the show?
A. Yeah, no one noticed either. I have finished shows and stuff after breaking bones.

Q. What TV character do you think you're most like?
A. I don't watch too much T.V., but if I knew what Alf was like, I'd say Alf. No, wait, I would say that I am like Barney, you know the big purple dinosaur that everyone wants to kill because everyone wants to kill me.

Q. When did you first know you were famous?
A. There was no one specific moment, but when you are on T.V. a lot, people just know who you are. It was a gradual process, but you kind of don't get any privacy. It's flattering, but when you are famous, T.V. people think that they can just do whatever with you. I don't know why, but that's just the way it works. Like if you are like, "I was actually on my way to the bathroom and I really, really have to go," they get mad at you. I'm sure that people will be mad that we aren't going to play today, but our bass player is really sick. He hasn't eaten in 4 days. What can we do?

Q. If you could be any animal, what would you choose to be and why?
A. I would like to be a monkey, so that I could throw my feces at people.

Q. What would you do if you weren't in a band?
A. Um, I don't know. The last thing that I did before I was in a band was pour concrete. So hopefully, I wouldn't be doing that. It was actually one of my best jobs because I got paid a lot of money, but it was really hard work.

Q. Before you were in a band, what was your worst job?
A. I was Squid Man in a Greek restaurant. I had to cut up thousands of pounds of squid and like pop their eyes off for calamari. I like squid. I formed a very spiritual relationship with the squid and I had a big following in the squid world. They worshiped me for a while, and then they moved on.

Q. What is the most unusual gift you have ever gotten from a fan?
A. I get a lot of underwear thrown at me. I'm not quite sure why. It just hits me hits me in the face. I don't know if that's a gift or like an insult or what.