Interview

I was able to sit down with the band before the first of their two release shows that night. We sat in the Triple Rock's bar right next door to the club. They were absolutely awesome. They were incredibly nice and easy to talk to. It made the interview go really smoothly for my first one. The show was great as well. They mentioned that they are heading out to the West Coast in a couple of weeks to do some shows. Definitely check them out if they roll through your town. They've got this great raw, agressive energy on the new disc, and how they keep it up on stage is pretty awesome. There's no doubt that you would have a good time.



EP: For most of the people on the site, this is kind of going to be their introduction to you all. I know you’ve all been involved in bands previously. So, maybe you all could talk briefly about those and how you came all finally came together as the Cardinal Sin.

James: Well, me and Becky were in Cadillac Blindside. I think we all just played in multiple other bands with everyone. Like I played in a band with Jonny as well.

Jon : We all used to kind of be in hardcore bands.

James: And I think like when we all met eachother, we had all played with eachother’s bands already and stuff.

Becky: Yeah, small city and we’ve all been friends for a long time. Like we’ve all lived with eachother at one point.

James: Yeah we’ve all lived together. We just knew eachother for a number of years before we started the band for a number of years. It just makes things easier when you don’t have that weird, awkward time trying to get to know someone before you start writing songs with them.

Jon: Mark joined us. He had been playing with Song of Zarathustra and when they broke up and Cadillac Blindside broke up – they were sharing a practice space – and he joined us. TJ was the original guitar player in this band…it sounds really complicated, but its really a lot easier than it sounds.

Mark : Yeah I played bass in Song of Zarathustra with TJ McInnis– Song of Zarathustra shared a space with Cadillac Blindside – and both bands had broken up, like, within a couple months of eacthother and TJ had started playing with and them (Cardinal Sin) asked if I wanted to do it and I said ‘yeah’. TJ left eventually and I switched to guitar

James: In the meantime The Crush broke up.

Jon: Yeah I was in The Crush and we broke up maybe 6 months after the Cardinal Sin started.

James: Like our first show was with The Crush and they were always like, you know, good friends. So when they broke up and we kind of wanted to do the switch thing.

Jon: Yeah after The Crush broke up TJ was kind of getting more serious with work and stuff. So I started pressuring these guys being like, “I’ll be in the band, I’ll be in the band! I’ll go on tour, lets do it!”

Becky: I remember when Jonny called me up and said “Let’s go out for drinks.” We went to this one place and got margaritas and he was just like, “Dude, okay, I’m going to be in the band as soon as TJ leaves.” So he basically said it right there and forced himself into the band. [laughs]. We happily agreed. He wasn’t going to accept ‘no’, which was cool.

EP: Okay so I know you guys are on Grey Flight Records, which is out in California. How did you guys get hooked up with them?

James: Yeah, Southern California.

Becky: James and I knew them from Cadillac, just from touring and stuff. We went on tour with the Lawrence Arms and played LA. They came out because A) they were fans Lawrence Arms and B) they knew us. Grant had even e-mailed us before just being like, “Hey if you guys ever want to do something we’d love to do it.” And the plans just sort got solidified when we all met.

James: Its always just nice to meet that someone that actually…I mean, he basically said “I’d love to put out your record.” You know, like no one ever says it. He was just really cool about it. Its just kind of different. I had kind of known him for awhile and then when we saw him again we just kind of thought, ‘Yeah, this would be a lot of fun.”

Jon: I didn’t know him before that, but at a show I remember meeting Grant and he was just like, “Hey nice to meet you…yeah if you guys ever want to do a record, I’d be into it!.” So, we made plans to do the EP, they put it out, and we’re still with them.

James: They just really wanted to work with us which made it a lot easier. It wasn't like forcing yourself onto a label. They're a label that’s not thinking about money, they just really wanted to do it. Some labels think about how they can make you big or how they can make money off of you, but these guys just wanted to put out the record no matter what it took.

Jon: Yeah they’re into putting out records just to put out records, not to necessarily make a ton of money off it. Grant is super into vinyl and stuff… I don’t know, they’re just really cool.

EP: Awesome. I know the new record hasn’t been out long, but have you noticed that its been getting a different reaction, like from fans or critics?

Jon: Yeah, I think they’ve been a lot more positive actually.

Mark: I think it’s a little more unique than the last one. Like people kind of say that we came into our own or something like that. I think we’ve developed into something that we’re maybe a little more proud of…

James: Yeah, like playing together is a lot easier, its just comes more natural.

Jon: I think we kind of got pigeon-holed more with the EP by getting compared to certain bands or whatever. I think this is more of our own sound.

James: You definitely hear influences, that’s just something that’s hard to get away from. But it's definitely less “that song sounds like that song from this band” or stuff like that. That shit always sucks.

EP: You guys have toured with some cool bands. I remember reading about a tour with Limeck. If you can pick, which tour or band that you’ve played with has been your favorite so far?

Becky: Well we’re really good friends with Lawrence Arms and we’ve been out with them twice. But Motion City we’ve known forever too.

James: They’ve been super supportive.

Becky: So, touring with friends is always fun. We met Limbeck and they turned out to be awesome guys and we eventually became friends with them. But Motion City and Lawrence Arms we were already friends with, so those are always kind of fun – there’s no guesswork on personalities or anything like that.

Jon: They had actually done the Limbeck/Motion City tour before I was in the band. So I’d have to say Lawrence Arms just because that’s the only band I’ve toured with with these guys.

James: But they’ve helped us out with other shows too. Like the sold out First Ave. show with Motion City, we would never be able to do anything like that without them. It’s just awesome to have people supporting us knowing that we’re way smaller.

Jon: For Motion City and the first Lawrence Arms tour, there was no record out or anything. We had to like sell burned cd’s of our demos. One show with Lawrence Arms in Ohio Mark was backstage burning cd’s and kids would wait. We would burn one, run it up front to the kid that was in line, and then the next kid would wait. It was pretty ridiculous.

EP: That’s funny. Well…I know on the “Oil and Water” EP you guys covered a Replacements track. I love them, so I know to know if they’re a favorite of yours as well?

Becky: I made them do it! I’m a big Replacements fan and I really wanted to do that song. I just really like the band and it just sounded like a song we would actually do. So, I convinced them do it.

Jon: We all definitely liked the Replacements, but after we did that and were the Replacements for Halloween and played like five of their songs, it pretty much became like a full on obsession with all of us. We had all been into the Replacements, but like I really love them now.

James: Yeah they were definitely a band we all liked, some more than others. You kind of have to being from Minneapolis, I think.

EP: Yeah, definitely. Taking off on that a little – I always like to ask other bands they’re favorite bands or artists. So, even if its not apparent in some of the songs you all play or write, who would each of you cite as major influences or favorites of yours?

Jon: We’re all pretty huge fans of any genre east band like Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu or Rocket From the Crypt.

Becky: I’m a really big alt-country fan.

EP: So am I!

Jon: Yeah, Becky loves alt-country.

James: We’ve all been dorking out about Lucero lately.

Jon: Yeah Lucero is definitely a band favorite.

James: They’re just good drive music.

EP: Yeah, he’s got a cool voice.

Jon: Yeah, very cool voice.

Mark: I’m into all those instrumental bands like Explosions in the Sky or Godspeed. I don’t know, I like stuff like that. My Bloody Valentine is another awesome band.

Becky: I think we all kind of have different influences.

Jon: Yeah, but we all have some general pop influences obviously. It makes our sound a little more interesting. We definitely have some pop songs and we’re kind of a poppy band. Like Mark's guitar stuff is kind of all over the place and crazy sometimes, obviously he has some different influences. It’s not just so straightforward, you know?

EP: Right. Do you guys have any upcoming touring plans?

Jon: Yeah we’re going on a two week West coast thing, and we’re leaving in a few weeks for that. It was supposed be longer but had to be cut short a little bit.

James: We’re just to trying to tour hopefully as much as possible as we can actually afford.

Jon: We just got picked up by a booking agent so he’s going to try get us hooked up with more support stuff kind of sporadically here and there. But we’re not doing any long tours right now because we can’t afford it. We’re kind of at the level where if we start doing that we have to quit our jobs and be gone all the time. We’re not really there yet, so we’re just kind of doing little things here and there.

EP: You guys have been local favorites for a while now, but are there any other parts of the country that you’ve noticed that have been especially supportive.

Jon: Yeah, we’re huge in Denver…[laughs]

Becky: In Denver because we played their 10th anniversary…

Jon: Suburban Home's…

Becky: Yeah Suburban Home is from there and we’ve just gotten a lot of support from them, they're kind of like our second home. So we’ve done a lot of stuff there. That’s it. I don’t where else…

EP: I guess a better way to ask it would be where is you favorite city to gig in other than Minneapolis.

Becky: St. Paul

James: Yeah, I don’t know. Certain cities are really good. Small cities in the middle of nowhere…Is it North Dakota or South Dakota?

Jon: South Dakota

James: Yeah theres this one city in South Dakota where a ton of kids came out. Stuff like that…cities that you wouldn’t expect to be the biggest draw.

Jon: Like Pierre, South Dakota.

Becky: My aunt is from Pierre.

Jon: Yeah we stay with Becky’s Aunt each time we go through there.

Becky: She cooks us Chili.

Jon: I really like playing in San Francisco.

EP: What’s the songwriting process like for you guys? Do you all kind of write parts individually and then bring them together? Or do you take time as a band to sit down and crank out some tracks?

James: I think it’s all over the place.

Jon: Generally I would say its James and Mark coming up with the base ideas, because they’re on guitar. Like in most bands that kind of happens. A lot of times James would have ideas for some really catchy, simple songs and Mark would come up with some crazy part and end up making it a song. But once it’s brought to practice all of us contribute.

James: I think we’ve done stuff where it will be like a verse and a chorus idea and then we’ll finish it as a whole. Sometimes we just came up with a part at practice that sounded kind of cool and it became a song. It’s kind of cool just to be able to do it so many ways. It’s not like a songwriter where he could be like, “Here’s my song, you guys play it.” Again, its just cool to do it different ways. Sometimes Mark will come up with the ideas and we’ll finish one that way.

EP: You guys made it sound like you were earlier...but, are you all originally from the Twin Cities area?

Jon: Becky is from South Dakota. But James grew up in Rochester.

James: Yeah, in Southern Minnesota. It’s like an hour and a half away from here.

Jon: Mark and I grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis, right around here.

EP: You guys have kind of already answered this too, but are there any locals bands or venues that have been especially supportive.

Becky: the Triple Rock.

Jon: Yeah the Triple Rock. James and I work here so I kind of have a biased opinion. I mean, I obviously think it’s the best play to see a rock show in the Cities, but we also like do our record release shows here because I want to help out my boss and stuff like that.

James: Everyone that works here supports us and is really cool and goes the extra mile a little bit more so than if we were to do it anywhere else.

Becky: If I could pick a second venue it would be First Ave, or especially 7th Street Entry. It honestly feels really comfortable in there, and it always sounds good. And those guys really are cool too, and obviously the main room is always really fun. But I would say that this (Triple Rock) is definitely our home, they’ve embraced us. But I enjoy playing the Entry too.

James: We kind of share employees with that place sometimes.

Jon: Yeah, half the bartenders that work there work here too.

EP: What about bands? You guys mentioned Motion City Soundtrack.

Jon: Oh yeah, they’ve always helped us out.

James: Motion City has probably been the most helpful because they’re the biggest and they helped us out when were like nothing. And I think Passions is another band that has been great.

Jon: Yeah we did a little tour with Passions and they were great. You know, the kind of bands that we’re friends with and stuff.

James: Hey, these are the Grey Flight guys right here....