I interviewed Larry, the singer of My American Heart outside the muse in Nashville. They are currently playing with Just Surrender and October Fall.

Paul: Where did you get the name My American Heart?
-Larry: I owned a web design firm called My American Heart, and during the time we were going through legal issues with No Way Out. No Way Out was just a really pop punk high school band name. We all agreed we wanted to change our name. So we took My American Heart. We thought it fit us well.

Paul: How did you all come together as a band?
-Larry: Jeremy the guitarist and I were best friends since 5th grade. This was way before we knew anything about music. I met Jesse and Steven in Junior High. Dustin is new to our band. He is from a band called The Transition out of Pittsburgh. We have lost 3 members before Dustin. Jesse played bass before the last two guys.

Paul: As everyone already knows, your band was one of the most popular unsigned bands around. What made you decide to sign to Warcon Records?
-Larry: We held out for a really long time, and got offers from other labels. Warcon just had everything to offer us in a label, relationship wise. They werenï¿Â½t already huge so they had enough time to develop our band and give us the attention that you canï¿Â½t get from other labels with a full roster of other bands. So we felt like it was the right choice for us.

Paul: Tell us some about Warcon.
-Larry: It works like a major but to me it is an indie. I feel like itï¿Â½s going to be the new Vagrant Records or the next biggest Indie label. We have the same qualities, as majors do, like the distribution and the marketing. Itï¿Â½s a great label.

Paul: How was the song writing process for the new album compared to the previous EP?
-Larry: That was our self-debut and now we have progressed as musicians and writers and we have structure in our songs now. Not to many bands can pull songs with verse, verse, verse, then a breakdown and that is the end of the song. To me I feel like we just found our niche and we are still progressing and becoming better musicians as a whole.
When we write our songs, Jesse is usually the one who will have the main riff and the rest of us will just get creative and put our own parts into the song.

Paul: What happened to the song ï¿Â½White Linesï¿Â½ and what is it about?
-Larry: Dude everyone has been asking me about that. Our new bass player doesnï¿Â½t know the song, and we are trying to refrain from playing old songs. Itï¿Â½s not about doing coke like a lot people think it is. We had this whole joke about doing coke off our maps, but the song is really about touring. Obviously, the while lines are the lines on the highway. People always tried to interpret the song meaning itï¿Â½s about coke but itï¿Â½s not. Whenever they ask me usually Iï¿Â½ll just kid around and be like yeah it is. Yeah but no nose grinds, there are no nose grinds involved here in My American Heart. There is no hope with motha fucking dope.

Paul: What songs on the album would you say have the most significant meaning?
-Larry: The Process. The whole song is about people who have no respect for themselves and they are controlled by everything around them and their peers. The new cool thing is to be a scene kid. We want people to feel like they can be anything they want. They donï¿Â½t have to live a certain lifestyle to listen to certain music. I mean I listen to hip-hop and I look like the most flamboyant gayest kid youï¿Â½ll ever meet. Youï¿Â½re not limited. I just want people to feel like they can keep it real and people can accept them. The song ï¿Â½The Processï¿Â½ pretty much sums all that up. We picked that song as our single to debut the album, because that song is pretty much the message we want to get out there.

Paul: What is the meaning behind ï¿Â½The Meaning in Makeupï¿Â½?
-Larry: Well itï¿Â½s pretty much the same thing. Itï¿Â½s the same concept. Whatever you feel is beautiful to you, that is what you should be.

Paul: How was it shooting the video for ï¿Â½The Processï¿Â½?
-Larry: Man it was awesome. The producer was Shane Drake he did Armor For Sleep and Hawthorne Heights, The Audition and now is doing Paramoreï¿Â½s next video for ï¿Â½Pressureï¿Â½. It was really interesting working with a real director and a lot fun. The only bad part about it was we had to play to a CD without actually playing, and doing over and over again. I would get sweaty and want to pass out and then he was like ok youï¿Â½ve got to do it again. It was an all day thing 7 in the morning to 1 at night. It was pretty interesting shooting and get all the different camera angles. Shane was on a truck and just driving around getting those moving shots. It this was all done in a huge warehouse. It was a great time.

Paul: So does the whole videoï¿Â½s concept go along with the songs overall meaning?
-Larry: Yeah the same thing. If you donï¿Â½t notice in the beginning it looks like the girl is putting makeup on but itï¿Â½s actually coming off.

Paul: Sorry this is a random question, but did you guys hook up with any of the girls in the video?
-Larry: haha One of them is Jeremyï¿Â½s ex- girlfriend. These are all my friends from home. So I picked a lot of the most beautiful people to be in the video. Then Shane Drake had the final saying. He cut a lot of girls. He was like ï¿Â½I want nothing but fucking hot girls in my video.ï¿Â½

Paul: What is the craziest tour experience you have ever had?
-Larry: Weï¿Â½ve had a lot of them. There was one were we were in northern California at a Jack in the Box. There was this joke we had on tour and we had some tape and we made stick figure eating a dog. We wrote above it ï¿Â½I eat dog.ï¿Â½ It was a total practical joke. It was just figures made out of tape. So we go into Jack in the Box. This girl and her boyfriend walk in and they are just dogging us and yelling at us. There is like 8 of us. Only three of us are Asian. They walk up to us and say ï¿Â½Only Asians eat dogï¿Â½ because there were white people around us. They said things like ï¿Â½You fucking gooksï¿Â½ and it got all racist and stuff. We were like ï¿Â½There is only a few Asian people here the rest of us are white itï¿Â½s just a joke.ï¿Â½ They were like trying to fight us. It was really hickish and really weird. It was pretty intense.

Another one was with Just Surrender. We had piss wars. We will be driving down the highway and we will piss in cups, just any kind of cups we got from McDonalds or some place like that. Then we just throw it on their windshield and it will just explode. One time their tour manager had the window open, and we made it inside. It was nuts. Then we were at war for like two hours. Haha We were so tired because we pissed as much as we could in those couple of hours.

Speaking of touring, what other tour plans are in store for the band?
We are set to do Taste of Chaos Japan with The Used Killswitch Engage, and Funeral for a Friend. There are other bands playing but I canï¿Â½t think of them off the top of my head. We are going to Japan for a week or so and we come back we are doing a Myspace tour with Greeley Estates and A Change of Pace.

Paul: Whenever you arenï¿Â½t playing music what do you do in your free time?
-Larry: I play counterstrike. Um.. really we just hang out and get drunk. We enjoy hanging out. We donï¿Â½t really have much free time though. Even when we are at home we donï¿Â½t even disband, we still hang out just as if we were on tour. We all still spend the night at each others housing, party it up.

Paul: What would you say are your biggest musical influences?
-Larry: Personally my biggest musical influence is Sigurros. Iï¿Â½ve always listened to a lot of Refused. Also other bands like Radiohead, Bjork, and Minus the Bear have influenced me.

As a band, we have really looked up to a lot of San Diego band. We looked to bands called Counterfit and Noise Ratchet. Also Coldplay was a big influence.

(interview is slightly interrupted by a crackhead)
Larry: Dude a crackhead is washing your windshields.
Paul: Yeah I know I want to give something for the hardwork, but I donï¿Â½t have any change. Do you have any change?
Larry: Nah, I donï¿Â½t have anything.
(crackhead walks off and the interview continues)

Paul: If you could go out on any tour with any 3 bands who would it be?
-Larry: The Refused, Foo Fighters, and Queens of the Stone Age

Paul: Name 3 things you couldnï¿Â½t live without on tour.
-Larry: My cellphone and my CDï¿Â½s, I also have this diary that I write everything I do in. Itï¿Â½s more like a history book for me. Later Iï¿Â½ll look back on it all the things Iï¿Â½ve done and laugh.

Paul>Do you all have any more promotions plans or endorsements in the future?
-Larry: Um.. I have dreams of getting endorsements. We are endorsed by Ernie Balls. They do a lot of things for us. I would love to be sponsored by Nike and American Apparel, but as of now we are only sponsored by Ernie Ball. Ernie Ball is awesome.

Paul: Well Iï¿Â½ll give you this time to promote and mention anything you would like to say to your fans.
-Larry: Our new CD ï¿Â½The Meaning In Makeupï¿Â½ just came out in stores everywhere on September 13. If you havenï¿Â½t picked up yet then check it out. Thanks to everyone for listening to us.

My American Heartï¿Â½s Offical Website
Myspace
Purevolume