There may come a point in everyone's life when they will get to hang out with one of their favorite bands on their tour bus and inquire about everything from cold beverages to Pete Wentz. And by everyone, that means an explicit few.
Recently, Will Pugh, Kevin Sanders and Jeff Lett of the band Cartel, and their bearded best bud/tour manager Chuck Sammons invited The Spectrum aboard their motorized home-away-from-home for an exclusive interview in Rochester, NY.
After asking for something hard to write on, Sanders kindly replied with two thunderous middle fingers...and then the band's '07-'08 planner. Grab yourself a Dr. Pepper, take a hearty bite out of that KFC Stacker, and enjoy what transpired.
Spectrum: How sick are you guys of talking about the bubble?
Will Pugh: On a scale of one to ten, we're about half way there. I mean we haven't really made our rounds, we haven't done a full tour yet.
Kevin Sanders: Yeah, but if we're in 2008 and you're still asking about something that happened in June of '07, then I'm probably not gonna answer you. With that being said, the bubble is still fresh-ish.
WP: Yeah...ish.
Spectrum: Do you guys even like Dr. Pepper?
KS: I personally don't. I'm the only one in the band who wouldn't drink it.
WP: Jeff can't even look at it anymore.
KS: As you know, the bubble was heavily sponsored. We had to make up names for everything because we couldn't actually say the product's name.
WP: We called Vodka "Russian water" and Coke "Atlanta water." I'm still convinced that they only gave us what we wanted, alcohol wise, so they could see us get drunk and fight. I think the worst thing that happened was when Kevin hit Jeff with a starburst. Or when Jeff threw an apple at my head. I threw the apple back at the glass.
Spectrum: So is that what really broke the bubble?
WP: We think that it had some sort of vacuum effect. The bubble was actually three to four feet off the ground. It wasn't completely sealed off from all the elements, as there were wires and air pockets underneath it. Eventually it just gave way.
Spectrum: The major critics of the bubble seem to be Absolutepunk.net's (AP.net) creator Jason Tate and the numerous AP.netters. What are your opinions on the site and its webmaster/users?
KS: I feel like AP has changed. There was a point in August of '03, I believe, that we would look to it regularly and it had a good vibe. Since time has gone on, the opinions there have become self-important.
WP: The site, even the kids, feel like it's cool to hate.
KS: All you hear is bad sh*t.
WP: It's like any band that goes from small to bigger, that sells over 100,000 copies, is a sell-out. We don't know what we did for Jason Tate to flip the switch on us.
KS: We knew our "Say Anything(else)" video sucked ass. His bad talk about our band started there and just continued. He hates for no reason and a lot of kids followed suit.
WP: The second the bubble thing happened it was like f*ck Cartel. But it's not about the kids that hate, it's about the ones that like, or love.
Spectrum: Did you really find an old man once who was the age of 53 and talk about the government and the thought of being free?
WP: (Laughter) No. And neither did I climb a mountain simply looking for advice. This record had a lot of mysterious people. A lot of the time I had no idea who these people were that I was writing about. I just centered myself and let these lyrics come out. I didn't want to over analyze, I didn't want to get into a bad headspace. It's more natural that way; it flows better. The first things that come out of your mouth are usually the best...but I'm sure I'll eventually meet a poor man once and talk about the government and the thought of being free.
Spectrum: How much of an effect did your producers have in the creation of your new CD?
KS: It was like bumper-bowling. We're there throwing strikes, but if we threw a gutter ball, they were there to catch us and bounce us back to where we needed to be.
Spectrum: This is going in the past a bit, but what was it like dealing with all of that Fuse/Warped Tour backlash?
Jeff Lett: Editing is a b*tch.
WP: Warped tour...yeah...that was fun. The whole thing was that a few other bands had been bumped up to main stage in their hometowns. Paramore, for example, whom we were bigger than, well at least at the time we were. We were the only band on Warped, other than AFI, who were getting airplay on our local radio station. We mentioned something about that and Fuse chose to edit it like that was all we said. The day after it aired I ran into Bruce, the guy in charge of Fuse, and I was like Bruce, "what's up buddy? We need to talk."
Spectrum: Do you guys plan on going on another headlining tour and bringing smaller bands along and taking them under your wing like you're doing on your current tour, or do you see yourself jumping on a bigger tour with bigger acts?
WP: We'll see how this record goes as far as cycle and radio. We love taking bands that we have a personal friendship/relationship with out on tour. In the future we'll always have that band with us that's close to our hearts, but it's also a business and we need to get asses in the seats.
Spectrum: What's that, do I hear a possible Fall Out Boy/Cartel tour in the works? I hear Pete Wentz doesn't sleep.
WP: (Laughter) I don't know. Those guys are always touring. Maybe (Wentz is) one of those two-hour people.
KS: Maybe that "Sixteen Candles" video was autobiographical...
Spectrum: What has it been like dealing with the increased publicity and notoriety?
WP: I think that if anything our world has gotten a lot smaller. We did get to play a couple radio shows that were unreal, though. We played in front of like 20,000 people in New York City. Kevin f*ckin met Bon Jovi.
Spectrum: Did he immediately play "The Fortunate" for him?
WP: (Laughter) Ouch.
KS: (Laughs along with Pugh)
Spectrum: How many ladies' ears have you actually caught while on tour?
WP: I don't know how many, but only one matters.
Anonymous member of Cartel: The number is definitely respectable.
Chuck Sammons: Girls can't find the door handle in the dark, so they're basically trapped.
Spectrum: Is there any final statement that you'd like to make? Make it count.
KS: F*ckin' get high and listen to our record. If you don't like us stoned, you're probably never gonna like us.
WP: (Laughter) That's it. And if you're not enjoying yourself, then f*ck you.
Music enthusiasts would be hard-pressed to find a band that has achieved the level of success that Cartel has and still remain the kind-hearted, polite Southern boys that they've been since day one. Love 'em or hate 'em, the future is bright for Cartel, and as big as their careers may get, their heads will forever remain the same proverbi
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
