This interview took place on April 3rd. 2005. After a short set at Hollywood’s “THE NEST” A show that featured half of Gosling (acoustic set) and James Hall from the Pleasure Club. Jimmy Gnecco and Vinny (Static) played a four song set list that consisted of 1. Mercy 2. Realize 3. Lost 4. God only wants you The set was of Jimmy on acoustic and Vinny on electric along with his signature distortion pedal set up. Jimmy generously granted us this interview for the Ours Myspace Music Profile. Thank you once again to Jimmy and Vinny for lending us their time. (edited for content) Rekey: So how is it working with Rick Rubin? Jimmy: It’s been really good. He’s really good with song writing, he’s helped me out a lot with that. Rekey: Can you clarify the whole label issue? Who are you with? How long is your contract now? Jimmy: We’re on Geffen, Geffen Records. DreamWorks went into Interscope and Geffen. And we have a five record contract. Rekey: What’s in the record? Or what’s in the workings for the record? Jimmy: I’m not sure, I mean I’ve just being working in and out, and it’s been a few years now. In the state of trying to find its way you know? We didn’t have a specific thing in mind we when we went in from the start. That way it’s taken a while to get what comes naturally of what going to happen in the record. It’s going to be…. I won’t say very much like the first record but it’s that feel. I mean that’s who we are. Rekey: Do you feel you have progressed or changed? Speaking in relationship to your music now in comparison to Distorted Lullabies and even Distorted Lullabies to Sour? Jimmy: I think so, I mean I hope so. I mean you hope that you’ve grown as people first of all. But I think so. Rekey: In past performances you’ve talked about music you and Vinny worked on together. What songs have you worked together on personally? Jimmy: I’ve worked with everyone actually. As far as writing I often go off on my own and do that, and then I go down to rehearsal and we mess around with it, you know with like fifty different arrangements. And this time around Rick helped out a lot and well song writing is often something I kinda disappear and do, and then come down and flush ideas at the guys but it’s always not much different then from the past. The past on both records I had to come up with a lot of things on my own. As for as writing guitar parts or drum parts, this time what we and Locke who’s not here tonight, helped out a lot with that not so much in actually writing songs but in, what they are bringing to the song, it’s them. That’s different then in the past in that in the past it wasn’t like that. As far as accompanying them as in what’s going on the songs, these guys have given their thing. Have I told the story about Vinny yet? When we finished the first record, that’s where we were going with the record, that’s what I was building by putting in all the guitars parts and everything and we played with him you know and basically we were going to have him join the band that time but what happened was that, since I played all the guitars on that record, it was hard to have him play like I did, and when we went on tour for that record by the time we found out what to do we kinda got over it because we had jammed so much and that’s where we were going. Jasmin: So can we expect more of what we heard tonight, with more collaboration between both guitars? Jimmy: And even more guitars then that because Locke also plays guitar as well. I don’t know if you saw him in past shows where you saw him playing piano but he plays guitar as well. So right now what we are trying to figure out is where everything is going to go. We know how big everyone sounds with only two guitars and we try to add a third to that and we think we do a very good job at that, we let the songs record and then we find a place for everybody to where it’s not as if they are playing at once. Jasmin: So now the C.D. We are dying to know about the C.D. Jimmy: Soon….. Soon. Jasmin: How many songs can we expect? Or if you have an idea of how many? Jimmy: We recorded a bunch. Rekey: Anything from Sour can we expect to be on the C.D.? Jimmy: I’m trying to think; we’ve thought about, maybe a year and a half ago I was driving around. I was thinking about possibly redoing it, redoing the whole Sour album just because I wanted to finish it. Sour is called Sour because that’s how we all felt about it. We put it out for the hell of it because we had been working on it for a bunch of years. The way that occasion went, we never got anything done with that band because everyone wanted a say but at the same time we didn’t have anything to say. Often when you work in that way, you accomplish nothing. Rekey: Like right now? Jimmy: Because we hit a brick wall. We wanted everyone to gets their favorites but nobody has anything to say and you put it on hold for another few months. So it becomes six months and then next thing you know it’s a few years. Everyone’s tired and they want to leave. So finally we just put it out. But there’s something’s we just can’t… Billy was one that because there were certain things were my favorites that I wasn’t going to not finish Billy was one, Use me was another one. Rekey: Now the song “Ours” which is now “Mercy” can we expect it to be on the new record? Jimmy: Well we worked something out, so we’ll see how it comes out. What we are trying to figure out is what’s going to go on the record. It sounds like a record of it’s own it’s really long but it feels like wouldn’t be right on its own so. Rekey: You have a lot of devoted fans, who on a daily bases check the message boards hoping for any news regarding the band. Do you ever check that out for yourself? Jimmy: I don’t feel that that’s my place you know? I never really, there was a time a few years ago when I had to go on because someone from the band at the time went on and I had to say that’s not cool it’s not our place to talk about those things, let everyone talk about those things because we have our own place for when there is information we’ll put it out. We haven’t had much information for a long time and I don’t want to pretend that we do. I’m not part of the hype machine I’m not, I never felt that we need to maintain appearances, so when we have something to say we’ll come out and say it. We’ll put a record out and do it but as far as maintaining that persona of hype and like if you have something going on. I’m not interested in that. I’m not going to do that, that’s for people who have nothing better to do with there time as far as bands who like to go on [message boards] and hype their selves up. I have good friends and a good family and that is consuming, extremely consuming so my answer is my hands are full I don’t have time to sit around because I have nothing to prove. Rekey: What genre or music category would you say Ours falls under? Not that we need to label it but what do you feel is the type of music you play? Jimmy: I thought about that for so long, and one time someone told us that we sounded Goth Altern-punk and I thought that was kinda cool. But I don’t think I’m extremely gothic or anything but I don’t know. Jasmin: Is there anything you would like to add? Something you would like to say to your fans? Jimmy: Basically that, I’m grateful for them and I’m grateful for what they do. I hope that we can make a record that means something to them and makes them feel good within them and that’s what we’re trying to do right now and we are grateful for their support. Rekey: Is there any shows lined up? Jimmy: Well like I said before the main reason that we played tonight was for James. I don’t want to do any more acoustic shows for a long time, there’s no reason for us because we have an amazing band now. And we haven’t had that for a long time. That way I did these shows so often so I can see who performing and who doing what they’re doing. We’re pretty much the Ours, that’s going to be a band. Definitely, we haven’t had much of a desire to go out and play shows. Because we’re trying to dream it all up, something worth while doing that I don’t want go out and just play, be like “look at me” “look at me” I have a lot of things going on in my head over the last few years, that I’ve been thinking of a way to say them before we do that. What we are working at is amazing; we’re working it out like nothing else.