Despite his name and his band’s tongue-in-cheek lyrics, STEVE E. NIX of THE BRIEFS doesn’t mess around when he gives an interview.  On a Halloween night break between tours in support of THE BRIEFS’ brand-new album, STEAL YER HEART, NIX phoned REBEL NOISE and talked about potential hit singles, downloading free music, and bridging politics with playful punk rock.  And, MR. NIX did all of this from one of his favorite places to do an interview – the bus…

“I’m on the No. 36 bus in Seattle, headed home,” NIX says, sounding a little tired.  “Man, I have no plans for Halloween.  I’m kinda into staying home and scaring trick-or-treaters as they come by.  In a couple of days, we start our next tour in Boise.

“We’ll see about our song, GETTING HIT ON AT THE BANK from STEAL YER HEART, being a ‘hit’ song.  It’s cool they’re playing it on INDIE [103.1 in Los Angeles].  I’m proud of that.  That song doesn’t really sound like anything else we’ve done before.  It’s sort of a one-off song for us.

“In some ways, I think illegally downloading records is bad because a lot of money, time, and effort goes into making music.  If people buy STEAL YER HEART, a little bit of that money goes back to us, and we’re able to make more records, right?  But, at the same time, I don’t have much money at all, and people burn cds for me and I put them on my computer.  Shit, if I could afford it, I’d support everybody making music.  I guess if you can afford to buy it, then you should pay for it, especially music from independent labels.

“I don’t own their record, AMERICAN IDIOT, but I do respect GREEN DAY.  I think it’s amazing that a song with AMERICAN IDIOT’s lyrical content is being played on commercial radio.  Hopefully, it’s getting kids to think a little bit more about politics and society.  When I was growing up, all you heard on the radio were bands like VAN HALEN and AC/DC, which were cool, but they didn’t provide much food for thought.  A band like GREEN DAY is a rarity because they’re able to be political and commerical, while no one else is.  Besides, I think the guys in GREEN DAY are sincere.  At this point, I don’t think they’re singing about politics just because they think it’s cool and wanna get laid.

“We usually don’t talk about politics on our records, zero.  On our last record, SEX OBJECTS, we had three political tracks, but they were done in a tongue-in-cheek way.  That’s just the kind of band we are.  I guess if we were a super-articulate, meaningful, political punk band, the world would be an even more beautiful place.  Instead, we’ve got our own niche, where we’re just entertaining.  Since we had songs like NO MORE PRESIDENTS, ORANGE ALERT, and DESTROY THE USA on SEX OBJECTS, I think we subconsciously didn’t want to do political songs on STEAL YER HEART.  I think there are probably a lot of other bands who can do a much better job of being political than we can.

“Anyways, we’re happy to keep putting out records and feel fortunate for staying together this long.  I mean, it hasn’t been that long, but so many bands that I love have broken-up after only one or two records.  It’s tough when you tour as much as we do and you’re stuck together day-in-and-day-out.  It’s difficult, and I think we’re pretty fortunate to still be doing this.”

Briefs/Steve E. Nix live fotos “borrowed” from the BRiEFS Unofficial Official F@nklub.  Please see these links:  http://groups.msn.com/thebriefsfanclub & http://www.myspace.com/thebriefsfanclub.  Thanx!!!

Interview date: Oct 31, 2005

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