Driven Far Off

DFO: Hello, state your name, position in the band, and name of the band.

Kenny: My name is Kenny bridges, also known as k plus, also known as, crazy k the human protractor, I play guitar and sign for moneen.

DFO: How long as moneen been together?

Kenny: I keep wanting to say six years, because I think thatâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s what it is. But I sometimes wonder its longer than that, and if it is longer than that I realized were not that young anymore, but I wont tell anyone that because people just probably think we are.

DFO: From your first c.d, smaller chairs from the 1900â┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s how do you think you have advanced?

Kenny: See this is why we like you, because you know. Most people are just like, so from your first c.d, are we really happy, no thereâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s one before that, oh yeah theory, no thereâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s one before that.

DFO: How has your music changed from the first c.d?

Kenny: Ha-ha itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s actually good now. I thought the e.p was really good, (smaller Chairs) because that was supposed to be a demo, but it turned out really good, so we actually made it a c.d, and it kick started the band. Theory was really good also it was really ambitious record, for us to do as our first full length. We had ten days to do and I listen to the songs today and some of them really blow me away, I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t even know how at that moment we came up with the songs we did. And then really happy was also really good, but imp not as like, I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t listen to that record and it doesnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t blow me away as much as theory does for the time when we did it, really happy was about us taking a step up in doing the kind of music we wanted to do, and there wasnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t any set goal, there was a whole bunch of songs and we put out that record and they represent what we were doing at that time. But now if we take those steps and then come to where we are right now with the new record everything we did in the past all makes sense up to this point now, because it kind of feels like everything weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢ve been doing all lead up to this next record. Because I really think this next record is way better than anything we have ever done before because we got to do everything we tried to do but, we executed it a lot better. And then did a lot of more things that we always wanted to do, but were always afraid to try. So as moneens song writing goes, itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s a million times better. Not that anything we have done is bad, but we are a lot more proud of this. Cause the really happy record is good, but there is going to be at least four songs that we will never play again.

DFO: Which songs?

Kenny: Weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢ll always play are we really happy, start angry, the last song I ever want to sing, we will never stop playing that one, we really donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t get to play that one in the states very much because we do supporting sets all the time, but when we headline we always play it. Whenever there is a chance when people what us to play more songs we always play that one (the last song I ever want to sing). Itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s a really special song. There are some timeless songs as far as moneen goes but there are a bunch of songs we will never play again.

DFO: Ok moving on.

Kenny: Whatâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s that, I talk way too much, alright fine.

DFO: Since you think chairs is better than are we really happy why donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t you play more songs off of it?

Kenny: Because no one knows them, and I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t really think its better, I just look back at it and itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s very creative, and I canâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t believe we were doing some of the things we were doing. There were some pretty ass shitty songs on it, as far as I listen to it and go, what are we doing, but we will play a lot of stuff off of it in Canada but just in the states no one knows it. So it would almost be like playing songs off of that record would almost be like playing new songs, so if we were going to do that we would rather play new songs. Like tonight (Chicago, metro), tonight was the longest set weâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢ve got to play on this whole tour, not like time wise but amount of songs. We only played 5 songs.

DFO: You played 5 in St. Pete and North Carolina.

Kenny: Four? Wow that sucks. We were playing 5 song sets and six song sets were the max, but somehow tonight we played seven, but we were like two minutes over but I said to kumy, saves the days tour manager. Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m so sorry we went a couple minutes over today. And he does like no donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t be sorry this is what itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s about, that was great tonight. Tonight was the best night on the whole tour.

DFO: Good!

Kenny: And I would have, honestly, no offence, to Chicago, but I would have never guessed that Chicago would have been such a high point on the tour for us. Like Rochester was really good because itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s close to Canada. Detroit was really good because it is close to Canada. But Chicago itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s not close to Canada, not at all. It was really good tonight. We started play are we really happy and I was like who are those people right there freaking out. Who is that guy over there singing? It was crazy. It wasnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t like everyone was singing along, but for us in the states it was really good tonight, I was really impressed.

DFO: A few years ago Haris told me there is a secret song that you guys only play in Canada is that true?

Kenny: What kind of lies are they feeding you?

DFO: They said there was a special song they only play in Canada, and all the Canadian people know it.

Kenny: You know what; you know what it probably would have been? This was a while back right. Was that even before really happy came out?

DFO: I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t know, it was with senses fail.

Kenny: Oh ok no it wasnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t. Dudes heâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s just lying to your face, I have no idea what he was talking about. Haris? He was completely, ohhh, no he was lying, I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t know what it was at all. He was probably hitting on you or something. I was saying maybe it was one of the cover songs or something. But no itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s wasnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t even that he was just lying to your face.

DFO: Thereâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s a lyric for it on the back of smaller chairs, and itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s a song you only play in Canada.

Kenny: It may be the last song on smaller chairs, but its not secret its Cleary marked on the c.d as being a song on the cd

DFO: but you only play it in Canada?

Kenny: We donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t even play it there anymore; Haris is great, last time he was at the metro with the get up kids, because he was teaching for them. He brought their guitar on stage to give to matt to switch them he drops the guitar drops off the guitar strap, falls the ground, makes this huge noise, the whole audience laughs at him, I wish I could have seen that Haris, and it was the first show of the tour. And he drops a guitar in the middle of the stage, and the whole audience laughs at him.

DFO: So since you tour a lot do you think you have come together as a band and improved in your music?

Kenny: I think that the pure hatred we have for each other from being in this small van constantly, hours on end brought out our ability to fake liking each other. So without that, if we werenâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t able to fake it so well we would probably fight each other constantly. I like the Hippy but those other guys, they always try to make out with me all the time, they are always like, but we really like the lead singer, you guys are in the band, I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t care man can I totally be your friend. And they are always asking to bum money off of me. And I just say I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t have any money, and I ask to barrow money from Hippy. And then the other guys are like what Hippy has money. And Hippiesâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢ like no I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t have any money. Then we put Hippy out on the corner, with a little sign that says homeless please feed me. So he gets money so I can barrow it off of him to give to the other guys. So we can play arcade games. Erik is really good at street fighter two and beats me all the time. We play double dragon but itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s so short so it goes by real quick, but if you find a machine that you can just keep pressing the buttons, you know the like tick tick tick where the quarters hit it, and I just donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t understand why a dime wouldnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t work. We finish double dragon and we fight each other in the end, and both fall off the cliff, so none of us got the girl. Why there is a cliff in an alley street fight scene doesnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t make any sense to me. Its just like the end of the world is right there, itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s obviously where the end of the world is. If we didnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t tour together we wouldnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t have all of these experiences.

DFO: How do you think the music has improved?

Kenny: Oh it hasnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t

DFO: (laughs) ok

Kenny: But Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m damn good at jumping.

DFO: You are, but you didnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t do the jump today.

Kenny: What jump?

DFO: At the end of start angry.

Kenny: I have an end of song jump?

DFO: Where you climb up on something.

Kenny: Ohhh there was nothing to jump off of today. I should have just made it happen though. Can I be honest? There hasnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t been as much crazy jumping things on this tour because I busted my shoulder up real bad at the beginning. Actually I think after I saw you, it was really soon after that actually. What show where you at?

DFO: St. Pete.

Kenny: It was a couple shows after that. Haris and I were trying to jump and kick the ceiling in one of the back stage rooms, we did it fine. So were like letâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s see if we can jump and dropkick the ceiling with both feet and we set up these pillows on the ground, so he did it. Heâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s a lot taller than me, so it wasnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t as hard, he did it hit it and turned and landed on the pillows. Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m like a lot shorter than him so I had to try real hard. There will be somethingâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s that I do that I know deep down that I canâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t do so you donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t try as hard as you could. I tried with 110 percent, bodies in the air flying hit one foot, swing the other foot up to get it, just missed, but with all the force I am totally upside down, and I landed right next to the pillows. I landed on my shoulder, and I hear a crunch and a crack. And i’m laying on the ground and everyoneâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s laughing, iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m like what does it sound like when you dislocate your should and everyoneâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s like what? Haris even after I say it, he grabs me, starts shaking me. Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m like dude, at first I think I was just in shock because it didnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t hurt that bad it just felt real weird. I get up, and you know when you get up and you shake it off, but this is different, but iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m trying to pretend that nothings wrong. All the other bands are all around. And we had to play in 5 minutes. My shoulder seized up I was playing like gimpy man for the whole show like couldnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t move, it hurt so much, I had to punch myself to get myself going to get me through it. I couldnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t move my arm for like a week after that. It went completely green, I think I caused some serious damage, its better now, but I canâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t use it properly. It still really hurts, so i’ve had to adapt my game a little bit, so there are certain Kenny moves that I would normally do that I just canâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t do, and I forget sometimes and do them anyways, and thereâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s so much pain, but I have to pretend everythingâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s fine. But really, ill be smiling Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m having so much fun but there will be one tear coming down. So I canâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t really do the stupid things I would normally do. Like I have this one move that I like a lot, ill roll on the ground and do this army shoulder roll thing, with my guitar, I like that one a lot its really stupid, like most things I do are for the sheer pleasure of me laughing at myself, because I know how ridiculous it is. Hereâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s another story. The other day, for the first time I passed out while we were playing, because I started screaming this really high note, it was really funny to that I was hitting this extremely high note that I just kept doing it for a real long time, and it was right at the end of the song, we were playing passing of America last, so it was right at the end. It was like full voice really loud (shows me how high it was) as loud as I could for so long, that I started going dizzy, next thing I know Iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m on the ground with Hippy looking at me, everything silent, though, I just look up at Hippy and iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m like oh where am I, I look over iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m on the ground still have my guitar, I see my pedals, and think are we still playing a show? I look over see the audience all staring at me, and then when all the sound comes back and I hear my guitar feeding back as iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m laying on the ground, so randomly without knowing what iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m doing I start turning on every pedal I have, so now everything is going crazy and the guys are still playing the song because they thought I was just being weird rolling on the ground or something, but Hippy and the guys are watching me fall to the ground and like fall, hit and roll over and just lay there. And I just remember trying to get up but I couldnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t because I was laughing so hard that I couldnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t so the whole audience is watching me falling over. So I finally get up, and all the guys thought we were going to play one more song, but iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m just like, alight thanks so much circa survive is up next. And I stumbled off the stage and I was just laughing for so long. Hippy said what the hell is going on and I told him, you know that high pitched note I was singing I blacked out and had a dream about hanging out at the merch table. It was so weird but I just remember waking up thinking where am I? and then not realizing how long I was out not even know why iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m on stage right now. It was crazy. All because I thought it was funny to hold this really high pitched note for a really long time. Ill never do that again.

DFO: What would you say your favorite tour was that you have been on and why?

Kenny: We have been really lucky that we have been able to do some really good tours. I think you have seen us on all of them.

DFO: Uhh I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t know.

Kenny: But I would say my favorite tours was the tour with saves the day and taking back Sunday, just because that was like a dream tour, and we were with the best people we could be with. Save the day guys are so nice and so down to earth, same with the taking back Sunday guys. Those guys will never change, they could be as big as U2 and they would never change those guys are such good down to earth dudes, and the shows were all real crazy, it was such a good learning experience to because saves the day was like (guys outside talking) so good every night and they are so good at what they do it was a big learning experience for us. If we are going to be on this tour every night to a bunch of people who have no idea who we are no one know who we were then at all. We thought we had to play much better, and we canâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t just be jumping around like stupid hyperactive losers. We like to play well. So we learned a lot, and we continue to just keep on learning. I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t think we will ever be where I hope we will get to, you know iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m not a great singer at all but iâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢m just to learn to maintain and sing my parts the way I want to sing them, without dying all the time, because I get sick all the time. There was this stomach flu going around the tour for a while that pretty much got to everyone on this whole tour. I have the sickness of it afterwards of your body still broke down and still having to play shows. I am just really run down now, but I have learned (people outside talking) Canadian jokes I tell you. We just basically learned to be as good as we can be without destroying our lives in the process.

DFO: How did you get on the saves the day tour, since you have already been on one?

Kenny: Thatâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s the crazy thing we donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t know exactly, and we are afraid to ask incase they realize oh wait, you guys were on that tour, we just got along real well with the saves the day guys and we were really happy they asked us on again.

DFO: Is there any tour that you guys felt like you didnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t fit into?

Kenny: We have never been booed, there hasnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t been any tours that we have fit in on, we just make the best of everything. YO (to peter) do you think there are any tours that we donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t fit in on?

Peter (drummer of moneen): This one. No I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t think so.

Kenny: I remember when we jumped on that vagrant tour we did the last week when no motiv had to drop off of it. And I remember all the bands saying that no motiv got booed every night.

Peter: I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t think we fit on the Vagrant Europe tour musically.

DFO: Who played on that tour?

Kenny: It was still good Emmanuel played and from autumn to ashes, and senses fail.

Peter: maybeâ┚¬Ã‚¦ I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t think we fit in musically on that tour.

Kenny: I never felt that we didnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t fit it.

DFO: You toured with from autumn to ashes?

Peter: They are like roar

Kenny: And we are like lalala

DFO: What would your dream tour to—

Kenny: Muse

DFO: Ok muse.

Kenny: To play with muse everyday, thatâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s my dream tour, I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t even know if thatâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s your question.

DFO: Not including museâ┚¬Ã¢â‚¬

Kenny: What!

DFO: Who would your dream tour to be to watch?

Kenny: Ohh, muse

DFO: Like three bands.

Kenny: Jimmy eat world, opening up for muse, with radio head headlining. Why canâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t I pick muse! I like that band a lot.

DFO: What a question you hate getting asked on an interview?

Kenny: Well I am very happy that our next album title isnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t a question. Because then people canâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t ask us anymore. Are you really happy with who you are right now?

DFO: How did you get the title for the new c.d?

Kenny: Its hard to explain but it really makes sense when you hear the record.

DFO: How are doing without Lisa on this tour?

Kenny: Real unorganized and I walk around like a mess.

DFO: Sheâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s the backbone of the tour.

Kenny: Yeah, sheâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s the backbone of my life; I walk around like a mindless moron.

DFO: Are there going to be any tours after the album comes out?

Kenny: Yes. We finish this tour, and then we are going to be on warped tour, before that we go over to Europe, with alexisonfire. And then we are doing our own headlining tour after warped tour, because we donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t want to play half hour sets anymore.

DFO: How did you get to do a split with alexisonfire?

Kenny: We have just been friends with them for so long thatâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s we have always made jokes about covering each others songs, and we are so different. We didnâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t actually think it was going to happen, but we both had time in our schedule so we just did it. That was really fun, there were no rules and we could do whatever we wanted. That was probably the most fun we have ever had recording. A different kind of fun that we have from the full length, but it was real fun, and it turned out good I think. I really like the version of Sharks in Danger song we did, accidents was just funny because our whole goal was to form a small voice choir so thereâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s over 100 voices at the end of that song, its amazing. Sharks in Danger I think is a really good version.

DFO: (random side conversation about poker)

Kenny: At one point I was going to go to some crazy underground place in Santa Cruz. There was this weird little poker shop and the people inside werenâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t as scary as the people outside so I kind of thought if I do, do well I am going to get mugged leaving this place. But I am not at all poker man. We started playing with Saves the Day now. Except I donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t like taking other peoples money but sometimes I do.

DFO: I play poker at work with pretzels.

Kenny: Forget that crap then other people donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t play with the same intensity, I can play a free game or a money game, and ill play exactly the same, I just want to win, other people donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t take it seriously if its not for money and go all in, its stupid. I wanted to punch Lisa in the face when I played poker with her one time.

DFO: Why?

Kenny: Because it got down to us and the other two guys played like morons, and gave her all their chips, so she had a huge chip lead on me. So she would play like a stupid bitch and anytime that I would have a bitch, she would bet everything and I was getting smacked around like a little loser, I hated her so much for ruining my poker game.

DFO: Any last words

Kenny: I like macaroni and cheese.

Tim: Easy Mac or regular?

Kenny: Regular.

DFO: alright that was Kenny from moneen. www.moneen.com