Interview: Save Ferris
It feels great to be playing new music live for an audience to be receptive to, that is a great feeling!
Orange County, California ska punk band Save Ferris have recently returned with the single ‘Lights Out In The Reptile House’ and it shows that the band’s upbeat vibe and sound is still intact, with the promise of much more new music in the future as well. To celebrate the return of Save Ferris, Gavin Brown caught up with vocalist Monique Powell to hear all about the new music, talked from the road and the bands history through ska!
E&D: The new Save Ferris single ‘Lights Out In The Reptile House’ is out now. Can you tell us about the song, its sound and what it’s about?
Monique: Well, the title comes from a book, and it’s basically about guy who works in a reptile house in a zoo, and the question is, what happens at night when the lights go out? The song is about what happens after dark, and what happens in your life when nobody’s looking, and it has a lot to do with a lot of the partying that I’ve done, to put it gently.
E&D: How does it feel to be back with new music?
Monique: Oh, it feels amazing. I wrote this song with a man named Michael Bradford, and he and I had a really great time writing it, and more than anything, it feels great to be playing new music live for an audience to be receptive to, that is a great feeling!
E&D: Have you got plans for a new studio album coming up?
Monique: Yes, there are definite plans for that, but we’re going to be releasing, hopefully, a new song every couple months, with a new video every couple months, and then once we have five songs released, an EP, and then 10 songs released, we’ll release full length.
E&D: Is that going to be going into next year?
Monique: Yes. It’s going to be a slow process, but a really exciting one, because we’re trying to do a video for every song and we’re releasing those videos all together as well. Once the album comes out, each video will be released with each new song.
E&D: Can you tell us about the new album and the sound you’re going for?
Monique: Basically, the lyrics have a lot to do with coming of age and growing up and getting clean, what that’s like, and what it was like before. Musically, the sound is reminiscent of classic Save Ferris but there’s a lot of new surprises.
E&D: Is there different element you’ve wanted to explore for a while on this new music?
Monique: Yeah, working with Michael Bradford, I feel very comfortable, and we have a real comfortable rapport. When we get together, we write and record a song a day. We have such a great rhythm to the way we work together. It helps to be able to work with someone that I feel so comfortable with, and so I get to say all the things I want to say, but I also get the feedback I’ve always craved, musically.
E&D: How did your recent Welcome to Ska-merica tour go?
Monique: Well, we changed the name, that wasn’t necessarily what we originally wanted to call it. We called it the Don’t Worry, We’ll Manage tour, basically, because it was a huge mess, and we had a lot of last minute cleaning up to do, and we didn’t even know if it was going to happen but it did, and it was hard. The routing was very complicated and difficult, but we managed to hit some smaller towns that we’ve maybe never even been to before, like Albany, New York, where we’ve never played before and that was a pleasure, because I had some family that could come out finally and see us play, which was nice, but it was great. We got to play a rooftop in Brooklyn, which is just beautiful, on a perfect night, and the turnouts were great. The club market is really hard in America right now. It’s very difficult because, and I’m sure you guys have experienced this in the UK, but having such great festivals, everybody was spending all their money on these great big festivals, and then it forced all these smaller club gigs to suffer. So, we really had to push to make these shows happen and to get people to come out, but it was totally worth it. People were stoked!
E&D: Was it a celebration of both the new and the past?
Monique: Yeah, totally. Our fans are so diverse and our demographic has become so broad that I tried, on this tour every night, to say who’s been to a Save Ferris show before, just to get a feel for what I was dealing with, when it comes to audience participation, like how much am I going to have to teach everybody? And it was really amazing.
E&D: Were there many new fans?
Monique: I think 15% of our audiences were people who had been to a Save Ferris show before. 85% were new fans, and that was kind of cool. The demographic is, sometimes a little scary, sometimes I have to adjust the set and what I’m saying, because there’s kids that are so young in the front row that I feel like I can’t play our cover of ‘Too Drunk To Fuck’, because it’s just inappropriate with 10-12 year olds in the front row!
E&D: How has the new material been going down in a live situation?
Monique: Yeah, ‘Lights Out’ is crazy. People know the words, and we haven’t even released it on vinyl or CD or anything like that. I’ve been looking at the Spotify numbers, which are phenomenal, and that’s only one small representation of how well it’s doing, but live, it’s crazy to see people who know all the words in the front row. It’s wild!
E&D: You recently opened for the legendary Madness. How was that experience?
Monique: It was awesome opening for them and being chosen to play, not just one show, but two shows. Then I got to go to Punk Rock Bowling and see them headline right after that, which is really cool to be in the audience for that.
E&D: You also did recent shows with Offspring and Goldfinger as well. How did they go and what were the highlights of playing then?
Monique: Again, amazing! Offspring, we’re from the same hometown. We grew up in Garden Grove in Orange County, made famous by the Sublime song, they went to the same high school as my sister, so it was neat to be hanging with those dudes and to play a sold out show for 18,000 people in an arena. We got to play a couple festivals with them in the Midwest as well, and that was really cool. Then Goldfinger, I mean, we’ve been playing shows with Goldfinger since 96 and their guitar player is one of my best friends, Charlie Paulson, so it was just like old times again. I just love playing shows with them. I can’t get enough of it.
E&D: It must be awesome still doing it to this day, playing shows with your friends like that so far into your career?
Monique: Oh my god, yeah. I can’t get enough of it. We recently played a show in Orlando, Florida called Brightside fest. It was Goldfinger, Unwritten Law, Zebrahead, Oh, my God. like, Wow, is it the 90s again? I was just walking around going, what is happening? This is the greatest day of my life. I was so happy to see all my old friends again. We had to do it in Florida, of all places. We’re all from California, and we had to go to Florida to do it.
E&D: Throughout your career, who else have you loved to play shows and tour with throughout your career?
Monique: Oh, that’s a good question. I mean, we’ve always had a great time with every band we’ve ever toured with. I’ll be honest, we’re going to be playing a show with Lit, like we toured with Lit in the 90s. and we’re stoked to see those kids again and play a show with them. They’re not kids. I think they may be a little bit older than me, but I still I feel like we’re kids again whenever I see them. We’re supposed to be playing a show with New Found Glory in Florida, and that’ll be fun. I love all of them!
E&D: What touring plans have you got coming up, and we would be making it over to the UK and Europe at any point in the new year?
Monique: We’re trying to get out there next summer. We’re just trying to be able to route some shows together that make it viable for us to come out so there are some bids for us to come out there. I’m just praying all the tour gods come together and allow us to route a tour that allows us to be able to not lose so much money that I have to sell my house when I when I return from the tour in Europe! I want to come out there. I’m trying to do everything I can to make it possible, because we need to come back. It’s been too long,
E&D: What have been some of your favourite shows that you’ve seen that have stood out to be so memorable?
Monique: When Terry Hall reunited with The Specials, and it was for that first tour in 2009 and they came out and they played out here. It was one of my favourite shows I’ve ever seen. My first time seeing them with Terry. I mean that the whole place just erupted, there was not one person that was sitting down in their seat. We were all dancing. It was one of my favourite shows ever. I feel so lucky that I was able to see that before Terry passed.
E&D: Talking about The Specials, Neville Staple featured on your song ‘New Sound’. How was that experience, having him appear with Save Ferris?
Monique: Amazing!. I love Neville. I got to spend more time with him when I was living in Birmingham. Coventry’s close to Birmingham, but I got to spend more time with him when I was living there than when he recorded on the record. because I was in LA and he was in Coventry, and we just kind of flew it in. I was like, Hi Neville, through like camera, through text, but it was great and the stuff he did for that song was really creative and brilliant. I love him. He’s amazing.
E&D: Do you have good memories of playing on the Warped Tour as well over the years?
Monique: Yeah, of course, they’re one of the hardest and greatest experiences of my life. I’m kind of sad that there’s nothing else like it. It was life changing, and I still have friends from those tours, musicians that are still my friends from the three Warped Tours that we did. We did one of the first Warped Tours tours in 98 and then in 2000 with The Specials with Neville, and I remember partying with those guys on the bus. It’s pretty awesome. So many stories. I miss it.
E&D: With being in Save Ferris for so long. Have you ever thought about releasing your own memoirs about stories on the road and things like that?
Monique: I would love to, want to help me write it?
E&D: Yeah, definitely!
Monique: I don’t work well on my own. I’m motivated by the inspiration that I pull from friendships, mostly, and then collaboration and the communication between other people and I’m inspired by other people. Other people really inspire me for things. Yeah, I can do things on my own, but it’s not as much fun as when you have a buddy to do it with, you know? So, yeah, I could totally write my memoirs, but I’d need a buddy to help do it.
E&D: Throughout your career as well, the band appeared in the film 10 Things I Hate About You, and you performed at the 2002 Winter Olympics. How does it feel looking back on those experiences that are different for a band?
Monique: Yeah, it’s weird, like I tell the story of 10 Things I Hate About You when we play the song from that movie live on the road. Sometimes we play, I know, and I get to sort of relive the moment when we got the call like, Hey, do you want to be in a movie? We were like, cool, and we were on the Warped Tour, and they flew us out to Seattle from wherever we were on the Warped Tour. We had, like, one day off, and they flew us out. And I remember not recognising any of the actors. They were all new actors. And there was this one actor that there was a lot of buzz about. Everybody was like, oh, everybody’s buzzing about this one actor. His name is Heath Ledger, and he was so new, and he ended up having his amazing career, and this untimely end to it, unfortunately, but never did I think that that movie would have the lasting impression that it’s had. We can go anywhere in the world, and people know that movie, it’s pretty cool.
E&D: What are your favourite ever ska albums and the ones that got you into the music and the culture?
Monique: Definitely, the vinyl of Dance Craze got me into it, and then my sister, she had a seven inch of ‘Ghost Town’ and I remember what was on the B side. I remember listening to that on repeat all the time. ‘On My Radio’, she had that seven inch too. Then there were bands from out here that I remember really listening to a lot, like a band called The Skeletones and a band called Dance Hall Crashers. Those were bands that I really listened to a lot when I was in high school and college, and they really inspired me. I remember seeing The Skeletones for the first time. They played on campus at my college in Orange County here. I remember just being like, oh my god, this is amazing! I saw The Selecter with Pauline in maybe 1995 or something playing a small club here in Orange County. All that changed me forever.
E&D: How does it feel, with people looking up to Save Ferris as an inspiration, the same way you did with those bands?
Monique: It’s hard to imagine. I don’t really think about it. I hope that I made a positive impact on somebody in this life. That’s all we can hope for.
