Chris Jay - Photo by Rachel Clare

So with the latest onslaught of snow, rain & wind battering the UK, Nova took advantage of a bit of California sunshine and chatted with Chris Jay, lead singer with our good friends Army of Freshmen……….

Nova: Hey Chris, so what’s the weather like in Cali today?

CJ: Gorgeous. I’m at a desk with massive windows staring at blue sky over the Pacific Ocean. Sometimes you forget why you live here and pay so much to do so but the weather is heaven.

Nova: Nice! I’m not in the least bit jealous, ha. Well, for the people in Nova-land that have been living under a rock for the past 10 years; give us a quick background to Army of Freshmen.

CJ: Hard to do a short version but… boy from NJ goes to CA, makes friends, starts band, works hard, tours, makes records, works harder, tours internationally, has great time, music industry eats shit, struggles, still works hard, happy story for the most part.

Nova: Good to hear it’s mostly happy, so after a hectic couple of years with 2 album releases, something like 10 tours in the US & UK and a visit to China, all has been quiet in freshman-land recently, apart from a few local shows, how have you guys been spending your downtime?
CJ: Well… we’re all working various jobs paying bills etc… but in the meantime we’ve done some producing of other artists, Kai and I acted in a small movie coming out this year, we’ve got songs in a few movies coming out, Aaron and I have developed a cartoon show and we’ve been writing some new AOF songs which the world will hear sooner than later.

Nova: Ooooh, any clues on when how soon we can expect to get our grubby little hands on the recordings you have been working on?

CJ: You’re not supposed to know about that. In fact I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m gonna need to see some identification… is that you Owen?!?

Nova: *Coughs & blushes*. Moving swiftly on; now that the majority of the band could be considered mature students rather than freshmen, do you still find it easy to connect with the majority of your fans, most of whom are not old enough to drink?

CJ: Sure. I mean some things are universal and have no age attached. Love, loss, dreams, hope, happiness, that always means something to any age but of course when you meet someone and their big problem is getting an F on a test and getting grounded and your big problem is not paying the rent and getting evicted well… there is a separation there but hey perception is reality.

Nova: On the subject of connecting with fans, is Myspace dead?

CJ: Certainly feels that way and I love it but it’s gotten confused and covered in spam. Not nearly as fun as it used to be checking the inbox.

Nova: Everyone has moved to the darkside with Facebook & Twitter, I suppose
Army of Freshmen can be found on both: Facebook & Twitter
Nova: Ever been tempted to call it a day & hit the 9-5 grind?

CJ: NEVER! It’s all I’ve known doing and working in some form of music from working at music management companies to promoting shows to writing about music. It’s kind of all I know. Couldn’t see me sitting in a cubicle selling widgets.

Nova: Great to hear, although I’m partial to a nice widget myself, so any room on your next tour for Novas’ favourite UK band – The Razorbax?

CJ: I’ll check um out. Love finding good new music.

Nova: And you all should too, dear readers!! Which leads on nicely to my next question: . As you know, Nova-Caine is trying to make it easier for unsigned and independent bands to reach out and achieve their dreams; do you guys have any advice for bands just starting out on their journey?

CJ: Just spoke about this with Aaron at a conference. Lots of advice but it depends on what you want out of it- the days of superstardom are long gone. Do it because you love it. Work harder than the next guy. Work with your friends. Have fun and things will happen. Write songs and play live – practice makes perfect. While you need to spend a lot of time online promoting there’s more to it than that.

Nova: Yes, unlike what NME & The X factor would have us believe, it’s not all about image, so your image….. Any embarrassing hairstyles over the years? (Nova has photos)

CJ: Yes. In one of our first press photos- I had a Prince Valiant cut. Didn’t really stand the test of time. Jeez- we’ve all had bad ones.

Nova: Indeed, a picture of that hairstyle could be made available to a lucky fan for the right price ;>) Ha ha.

Nova: talking of fans…. Most popular fan question – Will we see AOF on tour this year? Both in the US & UK?

CJ: Yes. Maybe not as much as we have in the past- nobody really is out as much as they were when the economy was better but we’ll be doing some shows for sure. Keep checking the sites!

Nova: So that will be Facebook, MySpace, Twitter,  Army of Freshmen & of course Nova-Caine for all your AOF needs & news

Nova: Now a question that will be familiar to UK fans of Soccer AM: Who is the longest in the shower?

CJ: Well Kai takes a LONG shower but Mike’s been known to spend some time in there as well primping. : > )

Nova: . Talking of showers, who abandoned their black socks in a hotel bathroom in Leeds on your last tour?

CJ: Not me cause I don’t wear black socks but I always ditch old socks on the road- keeping them around can only lead to bad things.

Nova: Hmmm, so detective Nova will have to keep digging on that question….Kai & Owen are prime suspects now. Right, quick fire round: 10 questions…..go!

Cat or Dog? Dog. Wasn’t till recently but once I got hooked there was no turning back. The best.

Boxers or briefs? Boxers. Holding out. I think boxer briefs make you look like an out of shape cage fighter but I’m the last AOF member standing on that.

Plain or plaid? Plaid. I like plaid. Bring it back. Bosstones style!

Coffee or tea? Tea. I have never had a cup of coffee in my life. That always freaks people out. I’m addicted to ice tea though.

Milk or dark (chocolate)? Milk. Dark’s a little too much.

Cd or vinyl? Vinyl. Big ass covers- keeping um in plastic bags. The best to collect but CDs are easier- they’re both dead now though.

Pepsi or coke? Pepsi but Coke in a bottle is great.

Sun or snow? Snow but not too much of it. The east coast is still digging out.

Clubs or festivals? To play- festivals! To go to see a show- clubs.

Movie or book? Both. : > )

Nova: So the one word answer concept is yet to hit California, I see.
Well, after all that excitement, all I can say is thanks very much for taking time out to do this for us, Chris and we look forward to seeing and hearing what comes out of the Freshmen locker very soon, we hope.

I need a coffee now, where are the Nova minions??

Official Band Web Site : http://www.armyoffreshmen.com/

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 4th, 2010 at 11:30 pm and is filed under Bands We Support. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.