Check this out! TJ just did an interview with Shauna O'Donnell of Muen Magazine. Track Fighter will be featured in the October issue.
September 10, 2009
TRACK FIGHTER
TJ Chopelas (Vocals)
Sacramento, CA
Myspace.com/trackfighter
By: Shauna O’Donnell
THIS IS SHAUNA WITH
MUEN MAGAZINE AND YOU ARE LISTENING TO MUEN TALK ON 525 POWER TRACKS. TODAY WE
HAVE TJ THE VOCALIST OF TRACK FIGHTER ON THE PHONE.
MUEN: HI TJ, THANKS
FOR TALKING WITH ME.
Hey Shauna, how’s it going?
MUEN: IT’S GOING
GOOD. HOW ARE YOU?
I’m doing good, just kind of waking up.
MUEN: WHAT’S BEEN
HAPPENING LATELY?
We’ve been out on the road for about 3 ½ months now. We are
in Nashville, Tennessee today. We just got done doing a
show last night at a place called The Rutledge that was really cool. Tomorrow,
we are headed to Mississippi
to play down there. Lots of travel going on right now.
MUEN: WHAT ARE YOU
TRAVELING IN?
We have a big RV that we travel in with a trailer behind it.
MUEN: SO YOU ARE
COMFORTABLE THEN.
Yeah, actually it isn’t too bad. If we had any more people
with us it would probably be uncomfortable. Having five people in the RV is not
that bad.
MUEN: YOUR LATEST
RECORD BAND AIDS FOR BULLET WOUNDS
RELEASED IN FEBRUARY OF 2009. I LOVE THE
NAME OF THE ALBUM. IT’S DOING VERY WELL I SEE. YOU ARE GETTING A LOT OF MAJOR AIRPLAY.
Yeah, it was kind of weird because we didn’t really expect
it, but we got added to all these different radio stations. I think we got up
to 37 stations that were playing “Too Broken to Mend” at one time. That was
about a month and a half ago, so it did pretty well. It was really cool to see
the response.
MUEN: WOULD YOU SAY
THE RECORD IS BEST DESCRIBED AS MELODIC, ALTERNATIVE ROCK?
Yeah, that would be a good explanation for it, with a heavy
edge to it.
MUEN: THERE ARE A LOT OF GREAT SONGS ON THE RECORD. YOU WORKED WITH THE
LEGENDARY BEAU HILL. TELL US ABOUT THAT EXPERIENCE.
Awe Man that was crazy. Beau is a really cool guy. We didn’t
know what to expect when we first met him, but he took us under his wing and
guided us through the whole process. We did pre-production with him for a
couple months by sending emails back and forth. We would send him demos that we
were working on and he would tell us to change this or tweak that. We met up in
Sacramento and
he recorded our record for us. It was an amazing process working with him.
MUEN: HOW DID YOU
COME ACROSS HIM? DID HE COME TO YOU?
I think he found us through MySpace when he was checking out
another band. He happened to see our profile on that band’s top friends. He hit
us up and we striked up conversation from there. He is an amazing guy to work
with, so if any bands are looking for a good producer, you will definitely want
to hit that guy up.
MUEN: WHICH SONG OFF
THE RECORD IS YOUR FAVORITE TO PLAY LIVE?
My favorite is “Pushing Me Away.” We usually play that one
first. We have a song that we didn’t even record that we are getting ready to
record in the next batch of songs we do. It gets the best crowd response and it
is called “Save Yourself.” Look out for that one.
MUEN: YOU GUYS ARE
WORKING ON NEW STUFF?
When we get back to Sacramento
in November we will probably start working on pre-production for the next
record. We already have seven or eight songs mostly done, so we will keep
adding to that and when we get back there we will start recording the next
record.
MUEN: WELL, I’M
LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT. YOU GUYS PUT THIS RECORD OUT INDEPENDENTLY RIGHT?
Yes, we did it all ourselves.
MUEN: ARE YOU GUYS
LOOKING FOR A LABEL?
Yeah, that would be great. We set out with the idea that we
were going to do as much as we could on our own and make ourselves as
attractive as possible to a record label. It has been a good process for us to
get out here on the road and do it all ourselves. I definitely think we are
ready to take that next step whenever it comes along.
MUEN: I HAVE TO SAY
THAT YOU GUYS ARE DOING A GREAT JOB ON YOUR OWN.
Well, thank you.
MUEN: DO YOU WANT TO
GO INDIE FIRST AND THEN MAJOR?
I don’t know because the industry has changed so much that
it is kind of hard to say. We definitely feel that the style of music that we
have is more major label because it is more mainstream. If that doesn’t come
along and a good independent deal does, I’m sure we would take that too.
MUEN: TELL ME A
LITTLE ABOUT THE BAND. DID YOU GUYS GROW UP TOGETHER? HOW DID YOU GUYS MEET?
No, actually, the two guitar players have been in the band
the longest. I have been in the band about 2 ½ years. We just got our drummer
and bass player three weeks before we left for this tour. It has been a process
of getting to know each other while we are out on the road.
MUEN: WHAT WAS THE
INSPIRATION BEHIND THE SONG “TOO BROKEN TO MEND?”
It’s pretty typical, a guy is in love with a girl and the
guy asks her to marry him and the girl cheats on the guy and breaks his heart.
It’s the song for all the broken hearted out there.
MUEN: WAS IT WRITTEN
FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE?
Yeah, it was from a personal experience that happened in my
life. I think the whole record represents my thought process at the time when
we were writing the record. It’s about trying to pick up the pieces in your
life when you think it is going in a certain direction. You think that you are
going to spend the rest of your life with somebody and all of a sudden the rug
is pulled out from under you. You have to shift direction and it’s hard. It’s
putting band aids on bullet wounds; there is nothing you can do to stop the
bleeding at the time.
MUEN: IT’S LIKE A
SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.
Exactly
MUEN: THE VIDEO IS SO
SAD. IS THAT THE ONLY VIDEO YOU HAVE MADE?
Yeah, so far, we have talked about doing another one.
MUEN: YOU HAVE BEEN
OUT THERE ON THE ROAD WITH SOME BADASS BANDS. I LOVE PAPERCUT MASSACRE AND BURN
HALO. BOTH ARE VERY TALENTED BANDS. HOW
IS THE TOUR GOING?
It’s going great. It has been a lot of fun and we have
played with bands that we never thought we’d get a chance to play with. That
experience alone has been really cool. We went out with Burn Halo for about
three weeks and got to go to the south. We have never been there before and we
got to play a lot of places we have never played. We played with Pop Evil and a
couple shows with Framing Hanley. We just got booked to play with Uncle Kracker,
which is going to be interesting.
MUEN: YOU ARE PRETTY
GOOD FRIENDS WITH PAPERCUT MASSACRE RIGHT?
Oh yeah, those guys are our boys. We love those guys.
MUEN: SO, HAS
ANYTHING INTERESTING HAPPENED OUT ON THE ROAD?
(Laughing) Oh yeah, let me tell you something, before we
left I was like “Those stories aren’t true about the girls, the booze and
whatnot.” It pretty much is exactly how it’s portrayed.
MUEN: LADIES AND
GENTLEMEN…IT’S ALL TRUE.
It totally is. It takes every ounce of energy to avoid that stuff. Three of our
guys are still sleeping right now and its 3:00.
MUEN: LET’S TAKE A
WALK ON THE PERSONAL SIDE. I WAS SNOOPING ON YOUR PERSONAL PAGE AND CAME ACROSS
MANY INTERESTING DETAILS ABOUT YOU. YOU’RE ALL NERVOUS NOW RIGHT?
Yeah
MUEN: LET’S START
WITH THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE AN INTEREST IN THE PARANORMAL. WHAT ARE YOUR
FAVORITE SHOWS?
“Paranormal
State” is really good. “UFO
Hunters” is my all time favorite show, so I dig anything about UFO’s, ghosts
and stuff like that.
MUEN: WE HAVE THAT IN
COMMON. I LOVE “PARANORMAL STATE” AND “GHOST HUNTERS.” I’LL WATCH THEM AND THEN
I CAN’T SLEEP AT NIGHT.
I’ve never seen a ghost, but it has always been something
that fascinates me. I’ve never seen a UFO either, but I want to see one before
we go home from tour.
MUEN: I WAS GOING TO
ASK YOU IF YOU HAVE EVER HAD A UFO ENCOUNTER.
No, I thought I did one time, but I think I was just really
high.
MUEN: CHEVELLE JUST
PUT OUT A NEW CD CALLED SCI-FI CRIMES
AND THERE IS A UFO ON THE CD JACKET. THEY WERE TELLING ME ABOUT HOW THEY WENT
TO THE ROSWELL UFO MUSEUM.
I THOUGHT IT WAS COOL YOU WERE INTO THAT STUFF.
Yeah, we are all into it, we go on YouTube and look for
ghost videos and things like that.
MUEN: “PARANORMAL STATE”
IS THE SCARIEST.
For sure, is that the one where the kid just graduated from
college? That show is great. The other day I saw this one where they were doing
an exorcism on this girl and it was so real.
MUEN: I READ THAT YOU
LIKE TO CLEAN A LOT.
Uh yeah
MUEN: WELL, I THINK
THAT IS A GREAT.
I’m definitely OCD.I think my band wants to kill me
sometimes because I’m like screaming “You guys have to clean up!” They leave
stuff everywhere and I’m the one walking around picking it up for them.
MUEN: THEY PROBABLY
DO IT ON PURPOSE.
I think they do. I’m going to have to have a talk with them
about that.
MUEN: CAN YOU COOK?
Yeah, a little bit, here and there. I can cook spaghetti and
toast, things like that.
MUEN: WOULD YOU
RATHER LIVE NEAR THE OCEAN OR THE MOUNTAINS?
Near the ocean, for sure, I will have a beach house in Southern California at some point in the next couple
years. It’s my goal, I love water. There is something about it, I’m drawn to
it.
MUEN: HOW DO YOU GUYS
STAY HEALTHY ON THE ROAD? ARE YOU ABLE TO EAT RIGHT AND WORK OUT AT ALL?
It’s hard; I haven’t been to a gym since we left. Our shows
take so much out of us, that’s probably the cardio we do most. When you are a
struggling band trying to make it like we are, there isn’t a lot of money to throw
around on getting good food. Most of the time it’s hamburgers and Top Ramen.
MUEN: AND THE DOLLAR
MENU.
Yeah, exactly, the dollar menu at McDonalds. Wal Mart has
become our best friend. The dollar menu is great.
MUEN: WHO ARE SOME OF
YOUR PERSONAL ROCK INFLUENCES?
Jared Leto from 30 Seconds to Mars is my favorite singer. I
think that guy is incredible. I really dig on Story of the Year and Thrice is
definitely up there. We have been listening to a lot more mainstream stuff and
I used to hate on bands like that. When you work with producers and mature a
little bit as an artist and musician, you realize just how good those guys are
and they are where they are at for a reason. Papa Roach is probably my all time
favorite band.
MUEN: THANK YOU SO
MUCH FOR TALKING WITH ME TODAY TJ. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN AND I HOPE TO SEE ONE OF
YOUR SHOWS REALLY SOON.
For sure, I can’t wait.
MUEN: BEFORE I LET
YOU GO WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADD OR SAY ANYTHING?
Be safe, and hopefully we will see you guys at a show soon.