RX Bandits Interview Me

This is a continuation of an interview I did with the venerable RX Bandits for Dying Scene. We didn't run it on the site but here it is. Enjoy.

CV: Do you guys have any questions for me?

Steve Choi (gutar, keys, vox for RXB): Are you from DC?

CV: No, I’m from Detroit.

SC: Is that why you’re wearing a Tigers hat?

CV: That’s a lot of it.

SC: But you live here now?

CV: I do. I live in DC and I work in Virginia.

SC: Do you go to school?

CV: Nope, I graduated in 2008.

SC: What do you do?

CV: I’m a patent application examiner.

SC: So people submit their patent applications and you decide literally whether it’s valid or not?

CV: Yeah – there’s some oversight on my end but that’s the gist of it.

SC: That’s an interesting job.

CV: It’s never boring, never the same day twice.

SC: Would you say that in this day and age it’s harder to get a patent than before?

CV: Yes, because there’s so much that’s already patented and it’s so accessible. I have access to anything that was patented from when the Patent Office first opened to anything that was issued yesterday.

SC: Have you approved anything that’s gotten popular?

CV: I haven’t approved any applications yet, so no. But I’ve only been working there for 9 months.

Chase Ortega [RX Bandits’ Tour Manager]: What’s your favorite patent?

CV: The one for Kermit the Frog. Actually, it’s for all the Muppets but it has a picture of Kermit the Frog on it.

SC: That’s pretty cool. I love the Muppets.

CV: It would be tough to find someone who doesn’t, I think.

Thanks to Dem RX Bandits (Steve and Chris Tsagakis) for the interview, to Cathy Pellow and Chase Ortega at their label (Sergeant House Records) for setting it up, and Dave at DyingScene for risking his good name by letting me do the interview on the site's behalf.

Update!! -  The full interview is available here and the photos from the show are up here.

DC is Not a Cold, Dead Place

Last month, I wrote a 4-page diatribe about how and why the scene in DC is awful. My opinions haven't changed, but my belief that anyone would actually read all of that garbage has. Here's what it boils down to:

1. Most young people in DC aren't here for a long time. They know this city is temporary for them and they don't intend to make roots that they'll just have to pull up in a few years. These people are of the age you'd typically find musicians who are "keeping the dream alive"

2. DC is a political hub but not a cultural center. Yes, we have museums and theaters and all of that nice stuff, but it's only by virtue of the fact that we are the national capital. Nothing culturally significant comes to DC to stand out in the competitive crowd.

3. If you're in politics, you probably weren't the music geek in high school. Politics revolves around popularity, and music does not. Most people who live here are involved in politics, and by the same association, don't care much to support a local scene.

There are good venues for local bands in this town (The Red & The Black, Velvet Lounge, Black Cat, Solly's) but I just don't see a lot of shows. It sucks, because I would love to see/support more local music. Luckily, I have enough friends into enough different kinds of music and the means to travel out of here to see great acts that simply aren't compelled to play in the area.

Yes, I kind of ripped off my title from Explosions in the Sky.