Dose of Adolescence

Los Angeles Punk had the opportunity to sit down with Timmy, Steve, and Jimmy of the energetic pop-punk band Dose of Adolescence at Jimmy's house in Rancho Cucamonga. Joe, their drummer, was at school at SDSU and unable to participate in the interview.

LAPunk: Hey, so let’s start out with introductions.

Timmy: Uh, my name’s Timmy Brown. I play rhythm guitar...sing. Uh, I’ve been playing for about 3 years. I’m 19.

Steve: Steve Madigan, I play lead guitar and I’m 18. I’ve been playing for about 4 years.

Jimmy: My name’s Jimmy Brown. I play bass guitar and I’m 23. Been playing for about 2 years.

Timmy: And Joe Stella is 19, the drummer, and he’s played drums for about 6 or 7 years.

LAPunk: So how long has Dose of Adolescence been together?

Timmy: Uh, we’ve been together for about 2 ½ years.

LAPunk: What exactly does Dose of Adolescence mean?

Timmy: Basically, we’re gonna be ourselves.

Steve: You know, kids aren’t fake. They don’t know how to be fake yet. It shows on the CD.

LAPunk: And where’d the name come from?

Timmy: Me and the first drummer just thought of it.

LAPunk: And where are you guys from?

Timmy: We’re all from Rancho Cucamonga except for Joe, he’s from Upland, but he’s going to San Diego State right now.

LAPunk: How’d you guys get together?

Jimmy: Timmy and Steve have been playing together for 3 years, they met through a friend. We had another drummer before Joe but we found him through a mutual friend when we were looking for a new drummer in late June of 02.

LAPunk: So what are your musical inspirations?

Timmy: For me, the bands that influence me are like Blink, NOFX does a little bit, I like Rancid a lot. Uh, Thrice influences me a lot these days, you know, bands like that. Oh, yeah, some other bands that influence me are Homegrown and No Use For a Name.

Steve: Face to Face, Strung out...
LAPunk: And how would you describe the sound?

Timmy: I don’t really know...it’s almost a mix of like, kind of emo-ish punk rock and kind of poppy...I don’t really know how to describe it.

Steve: Like, um, we have the same kind of energy as a pop-punk band but then some of the stuff, like how we play and Timmy’s vocals, sound more punk. Gives it a more powerful feel, still melodic, but powerful.

LAPunk: Who writes the music?

Timmy: Me and Steve write mainly all the music and then I write the lyrics, mostly.

LAPunk: And what’s your favorite song to play live?

Timmy: Uh...I don’t really know. I think my favorite is gonna be that new one, Zaragosa.

Steve: Champ is my favorite now since we changed it up a little bit on the new CD.

Jimmy: I don’t have a favorite, I like all of them.

LAPunk: What venues have you played at and what bands have you played with?

Timmy: We played with Zebrahead at the Whiskey and the Anaheim House of Blues, we’ve played at the Roxy, the Showcase Theatre, Anaheim Chain Reaction, The Wheelhouse, Hogue Barmichaels, I think that’s it. We played with Rufio, Dogwood, Rudiger, Mind Driver.

LAPunk: And if you could play with any band, who would you play with?
Steve: Strung Out!

Timmy: Mmm...I’d say Blink cuz when I was 13, that’s the first band I ever heard...punk band I mean. So, they’re still my favorite, I’m not gonna be like everybody else and hate on them because they fuckin’ make money.

LAPunk : So do you have any show stories?

Timmy: Uh, just the time my brother got really fuckin’ drunk and fell off that speaker at Hogue Barmichaels, pretty funny.

LAPunk: So what about your full length? I’ve been hearing a lot about it.

Timmy: This is the first CD we’ve recorded that I’ve been really happy with. I think it finally sounds really good and it finally, like...it’s us, you know? We’re really excited about it. It’s coming out on September 9th. A CD release party at Chain Reaction with Divit is going to happen, too!

Steve: Im just excited how everything turned out, we always had problems with our other recordings, we wouldn’t be satisfied, but this recording seems really wholesome I’m really happy with all the guitar parts.

LAPunk: And where can someone get the CD? Like, only at shows or can they get it online too?
Timmy: For a while you’ll only be able to get it at shows, but were gonna try to start selling it on our website pretty soon so...

LAPunk: So what’s that website by the way?

Timmy: www.DofAmusic.com

LAPunk: Oh, okay, hey do you also have MP3s on there too?

Timmy: Yeah.

LAPunk : Okay, so people can listen to it online too?

Timmy: Yep. It’s only old stuff on there right now, not the new stuff.

LAPunk: So what are your future goals in the band?

Steve: I just want to become a better guitarist for myself, the best part of it for me is when we fuck up doing something and then we build a whole song off of it, One Young Year was a whole fuck up we just built off of.

Timmy: My future goal is just to be able to play shows and have fun. Just drive around and play all over the place.

LAPunk: So it’s not really a big deal to get signed?

Timmy: I’m not really looking to get rich or anything like that I just want to fucking be able to just survive and play music cuz it’s fun.

LAPunk: Okay, and anything else you’d like to let everyone know?

Timmy: I just want to say fuckin’ thanks to everyone that likes our band and listens to us. We appreciate it and hopefully I’ll see you all at the CD release party on Sept 9th at Chain Reaction.

Steve: Come up and talk to us at shows cuz we want to hear feedback straight from the people. You can email us at GBHsk8@yahoo.com or join our street team, Team Overdose by emailing DoseOfNicole@aol.com.

Interview by Nicole