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This interview was conducted with Jesse on November 9th, 2002 at the Chain Reaction during their tour with The Movielife and The Reunion Show. Their album, Your Favorite Weapon, is out now.

LAPunk: First, let me begin by saying that I've seen you five or six times already, and that was by far the best I've ever seen you. It was 1000 times more intense than any of your past shows. Did you make an effort to change it up a little?

BN: Yeah, we meant to change our setup, that's something we always want to do to keep it fresh for us and keep it fresh for the fans also...but as far as like, our level of play, we always strive for upward movement, you know, we always want to get better. But we always have bad nights, like two nights ago, we played one of the worst shows we've ever played. But it's like, you can't help it. I mean, you can help it, but it's hard to be good all the time, and we're far from perfect. We just try and get better and better, so that we know the next time we're around in a place that we've been before, that we're gonna give the kids something better than we had last time.

LAPunk: So what would you say is the biggest factor? Is it the crowd, or--

BN: Oh, it has a lot to do with the crowd. Of course, the more we play, the more people that come out, and that lets us enjoy ourselves more. The more we enjoy ourselves, the more the kids enjoy us, and so the more kids that come out, and it's like this great cycle. So that's a big thing, but it's also a little bit mental, like 'Get better, get better, get better,' you know, don't become lackadaisical or lazy. Our only job is to get on stage for forty minutes and play, and if we can't give absolutely everything that we have in our bodies and hearts, and if we can't give everything then we shouldn't be doing what we're doing.

LAPunk: Have you been noticing an increase in the amount of fans that you have? An increase in the level of excitement at your show?

BN: Yeah, it's so strange. It's hard for me to understand it. Every time we come back somewhere, there's more kids there.

LAPunk: What do you attribute that to?

BN: I have no idea! I guess I attribute it to them being cool. I mean, someone hears us and they like us, they buy our record and they give it to a few of their friends, and then they all come to the show next time. That's the whole thing, we put a lot of emphasis on us playing live, it's a lot better depiction of what the band is than our record. So when kids come to see us they're getting this sort of first hand experience.

LAPunk: So now you're going back into the studio to re-record Jude Law...

BN: We actually already finished it..we went to a better studio, we're more savvy with our equipment now, and with recording also, and then we got someone who knew their way around the mixing board a little bit better.

LAPunk: So the song itself is the same?

BN: The song is basically identical. There's parts where you wouldn't even be able to notice, you couldn't even tell. It's more about the sound quality of it. And then a lot of people were wondering, 'You gonna change the song, you gonna change it around?' and it's not changed. It's just something that people wanted us to do to get a better sound out of it, you know, and I was glad because it was one of my favorite songs, and I think a lot of the songs on our record could sound better than they do, so the opportunity to record at least one of them again was pretty great.

LAPunk: And that will be released to radio?

BN: It has been. We've been getting some pretty good play, surprisingly.

LAPunk: And you're already recording a whole new album in January. Is that with Triple Crown still?

BN: Yeah, it's definately still with Triple Crown. Their distribution company is BMG Records, and BMG sort of took a liking to us after they distributed our first record. So they're gonna have a hand in some of this, but it's gonna be on Fred's label.

LAPunk: What would you say are some differences between the East coast where you're from and a place like the Chain Reaction tonight?

BN: Well, see, on the East coast, they shake hands like this [at this point Jesse shakes hands with himself using a highly complicated system and methodically naming each form of grip.] And here on the West coast they have a whole different system [Jesse now mimes a completely different set of handshakes, again naming each one]. So the hard part is remember where you are and when to use each one. [laughs]

LAPunk: Well thank you so much, good luck on the rest of your tour.

BN: Thank you!

Interview by Mike Kaminsky