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It was a last minute assignment for me to interview
this LA band that I have never heard of. I met some of the guys
in the band at their tent, and they seemed super chill, so I was
pretty excited to do the interview. They seemed pretty unique, the
only unsigned band on the Warped Tour. The lead singer, DJ, did
the interview. I had a blast doing it, and watching Never Heard
Of It play live was even more amazing. They are deffinitally one
of the best bands I have seen play live. I'm already planning to
see them again in October for my birthday.
A- How did the band start?
DJ- It started kinda as a joke band. Me and the guitar player Jeff
back in high school we would play at parties, and we were like a
two man band. We would switch off between playing drums, singing,
and playing guitar. It was kind of funny. We recorded a CD just
for fun, like 16 songs in eight days. It was really quick. And then
I moved to Italy a few weeks later, and when I was there it got
some good press, and got into the right hands, and a lot of people
liked it. So there was a tour set up, and I came home after that
and started playing. Started touring, got a band together.
A- When did the whole band come together?
DJ- Us five as a whole? Only like 4 months ago. The original group
played the last Warped Tour.
 A-
How did you guys get your name?
DJ- Umm... it started back from when we were in high school. It
was kinda just a joke you know. That was like my saying to everything.
Like you have 5 bucks? No Never Heard Of It. It just met no I didn't.
So when we were on stage at a party people were like what are you
called? "Never Heard OF It." Then people were like dude
did you see Never Heard Of It? And were like oh that's us. It was
kinda given to us, but a joke.
A- Yeah the name got me at first too. Do any of the
guys skate ?
DJ- Yeah I do.
A- Being one of the only bands on The Warped Tour not
signed and has done basically everything yourselves, how does that
feel?
DJ- It's rad. Almost every band on the tour talks about how much
they respect it, and talks about how were like the hardest working
band. They just give us a lot of credit for what we've done. It's
kinda better than any label could have done for us. Were almost
up to 50 thousand copies on our own of our last CD. It's just cool,
we booked all of our own tour. A lot of things are happening now.
Our next 3 tours finally were not going to do them ourselves. Were
getting offers. It's kinda cool. Were gonna sign after we get back
from Europe.
A- That was my next question. - Do you know who your
going to sign with?
DJ- It's in the air, it's not like we can't say, it's like our manager
pretty much takes care of it right now while were touring. We don't
really worry about it, that's like the least of our concerns. We
just like playing and having a good time.
A- Out of both Warped Tours, which city is your favorite?
DJ- Chicago. I love Chicago. Both times have been incredible. Detroit
is really really fun too. I like the east coast. The kids are really
cool on the east coast.
A- Who are your favorite bands you've played with?
DJ- On this tour? Suicide Machines, those guys are awesome. I love
Poison the Well, their really good friends. The Used are playing
right now, super good friends with them. Pretty much everyone. I
love this tour right now, were like best friends with all these
guys. Bowling For Soup, we're gonna do our next few tours with them.
 A-
Yeah I just got done talking Suicide Machines while I was waiting.
They told me to ask you about your burrito sponsor.
DJ- I love those guys. Um... Yeah, were sponsored by Chipotle burrito.
Dude, they're owned by McDonalds. Just a chain of Mexican burritos,
and every week or so we have them bring out like 500 burritos and
hook all the bands up.
A- That's awesome. How did you guys get on the Warped
Tour?
DJ- Kevin Lyman pretty much hooked it up. He knew that we booked
like 6 full US tours on our own. So we had a fan base, and we could
draw kids in every city. And gave us the opportunity to play like
3 shows at first which turned to 10. Drive-Thru records gave us
some shows. Then basically he (Kevin Lyman) saw how hard we were
working and saw how well the crowds were and stuff. He just let
us be on the whole tour, and invited us back.
A- How old are you guys?
DJ- Were all pretty young. Were all between 18 and 24.
A- Wow, I didnít realize you guys were that young.
After this are you guys going on tour more this year then?
DJ- Yeah right after this tour were doing Bowling For Soup, a week
US tour. Then were going to go to the UK and Europe with them, and
then come back do another month. Then were going to sign our deal,
go into the studio, record a record, and put it out by next year.
A- Growing up who were your influences?
DJ- It started off like Screeching Weasel, NOFX and stuff like that,
and Face to Face. But we've changed so much, I'm sure we probably
don't sound so much like that. I dunno. Now we listen to such different
kinds of music. I listen to a lot of country. I love country now.
Jazz, pretty much everything. Pop punk. The other guys are really
into the 80s rock, metal. So it's kinda weird. We all come together
and our own sound forms.
 A-If
you could give any advice to other bands who are doing everything
on their own like you guys did, what would you say?
DJ- Yeah, dude just freaking work hard. If you know you want it
just go for it. Don't wait for anything to come to you. I guess
the problem with a lot of bands is they wait for something to happen.
You know like oh we have an awesome CD, I'm sure were gonna get
signed, and they just sit there, and think that someone is just
going to come to them and be like here you go, I wanna sign you.
You gotta get out and work hard and prove yourself and build a fan
base. And that's what we did, we worked really really hard since
we started, done it all ourselves.
A- Could you ever see your band on MTV?
DJ- Yeah, I guess. There's already talk about what's going to happen
with our single and video and all that kind of crap, and it's like
that's cool. Whatever.
A- The Use, Ataris are all on MTV, so you can see things
changed with the punk music VS. the so called radio music.
DJ- yeah totally. And I think the whole selling out thing has gone
away sorta. Hopefully. I mean cause if you realize most of the bands
are actually going under major labels now. It's weird, it never
used to be that way. A punk band on a major label. It's just the
way things are going, it's the way the industry is changing. It's
just pay back for working hard. It's not selling out, it's more
kids liking them and more success to them.
A- Did you get a new tattoo?
DJ- Yeah Bowling For Soup has a tattoo guy on tour with them. So
he's hooking us up. He's going on the next tour with us too. So
maybe the next time I talk to you I'll be all covered. NO I probably
wont, I'll try and keep it mellow.
A- It seems like skateboarding and music keeps getting
more and more corporized by big companies.
DJ- Yeah totally.
A- That's why Clarkie wanted to interview you guys,
cause your not that. You've done this all on your own and that's
what Real Skate is all about, being real.
DJ- Yeah were all about DIY. We wouldn't have gone about it any
other way. If we could have got signed a year ago, if I could of
have had my choice I would much rather done what we did right now.
We've learned so much. We know so much more about the business,
about everything. We kind of have an advantage.
A- I respect bands like NHOI so much more. I love going
to local shows. You appreciate them more cause they go out there
every weekend no matter if 1 person or 100 shows up. They're not
worried about labels or money.
DJ- For sure. Keep it real. That's what we like too. We like playing
home clubs. We could play a big club like 700 kids, but it's also
cool to play chain reaction like 350. A lot of bands from where
we come from do that. It's so rad to go back to small club shows.
It's kinda like going back to the roots. To have a fun, close, intimate
show. It's good, I like it.
A- Before we end, is there anything you want to ad?
DJ- Mostly if you haven't seen us play, come out and see us play.
It's more like a party. We like to keep our fans more like friends.
We also say come out and party with us instead of come see a show.
It's just like one big party. We'll drink some Tequila and hang
out afterwards. Everyone parties, it's all right we all got fake
ID's.
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DJ Dell'Osa - Vocals
Jeff Anenberg - Lead Guitar
Greg Lynch - Rhythm Guitar
Elmo Jams - Drums
Rick Avery - Bass
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