INTERVIEW
MAJORITY LOST
by Taron Cochrane, April 2008
Posted on April 10th, 2008

Hey...how are you doing? So, can you tell us a little bit about your band...Majority Lost?

Jesse: I'd say we're pretty good today, not hungover, which is a pleasant rarity... Let's see...in short ML is a group of 5 dudes who love punk rock. We are definitely all products of the mid/late 90's Fat Wreck unk era, NOFX, Lagwagon etc... but we feel we can bring that kind of raw energy and message into our music without sounding like a throwback band. Other than that... we are dispersed through the L.A. area: Simi valley, Hollywood, Venice, and we are pretty much the sexiest fucking dudes ever.

You recently just released your newest album, "Gods, Kings & Personal Demons" on Felony Records. How did that collaboration come about?

Shaun: We had been playing with a lot of the bands on his label, and starting to get to know everyone pretty well. We love a lot of the bands on Felony, and what they are about, so we were very much interested. We met Ron at one of the shows, and he took a liking to us. He mentioned that he wanted to put out our record, so Joe and I drove down to Hermosa, met him at a bar where a friend of ours was playing, we got really really drunk, and in the morning, we were on Felony.

What are your personal thoughts on the new album? It is start-to-finish a damn fine listen.. how has the reaction been so far?

Jesse: In terms of personal reactions, I think we are all really proud of it. We certainly worked our asses off on it. We really took some risks in terms of stepping outside our comfort zone basically saying "We don't need every song to be an extension of dicks..if that makes sense...this is who we are and a good song is a good song." The reaction so far has been pretty much awesome, it's so great to have a song posted on our myspace for like 2 days and people are already screaming the lyrics back at you from the pit. I really feel like before this album we were five guys and with these 12 songs we are Majority Lost. We can't wait to finish writing the next one.

Are there some touring plans laid out to support the release? Any places you'd love to play? Why?

Shaun: Yes, definitely. We've got a lot of local California shows coming up, and then in May/June will be touring up the coast playing Northern California, Oregon, and Washington. Then towards the end of summer/early fall we will be headed east playing Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas…etc….that way..haha. Then after that….more touring somewhere haha.

What have been some of your favorite moments being in this band? Any dirty secrets you'd like to share about the other members? Ha ha!

Jesse: Well, it's no secret that the boys like to party. We've gotten to the point in our career where we can't pre-game before a show. It's not fair for the fans to come out and see a bunch of wasted assholes swaying back and forth on stage.
One of my favorite stories was when we were on the road. We played in Riverside and had a show in Vegas the next night. So Me and Tony decided to make LJ (our manager at the time) drive us to stateline while me and him killed a bottle of Jack Daniels on the way. Next thing I know, it's 3am, I'm playing black jack at Whiskey Pete's unable to count, so if I see a face card I stand, if I don't I hit. Tony is screaming at every person who walks by the table about how Pennywise is the best band ever or something, until finally management has to walk up and ask us to leave. So I sign a napkin, hand it to him and tell him to sell it on ebay. I think he actually thought it was worth something cause he comped us a room. All I know is I woke up on the floor of a 30 dollar hotel room with 500 bucks in my pocket and a half eaten turkey sandwich on my pillow.

Shaun: Plenty of dirty secrets….I just don't remember any of them.

I noticed via your Myspace page that your selling some wicked merchandise. What was the inspiration behind some of these designs and how has it been working with Mike @ Red Star Productions? *editor's note: one of my favorite designers*

Shaun: We have always been a fan of art, especially punk rock art. It goes hand in hand with the music. We wanted to let the designers have freedom to choose what they wanted, based on listening to our music, and both people we went with did an amazing job. The goal was for it to be the artists projects, just like the music is ours. Mike Magaldi of Red Star has been a longtime friend to many of the guys in our band, and used to be an singer in a punk band we all loved growing up from Simi, so he was a natural choice. He does it all DIY in his garage. We were truly happy to have him do it. Another designer we worked with was Taron Cochrane, of Taron Cochrane Designs. He works out of Canada, and was recommended to us by Daniel Dart of Time Again. He did a great job for us, and for many other bands. Check em out!

The new album was recorded at Daniel Dart's "Riot Riot Studios" in Hollywood, California. What prompted you guys' to do it there? How was it working with the likes of Daniel Dart & Donal Finn?

Me and daniel have been friends for a really long time. Time Again had just started and was coming up with my last band Nothing Special and we were playing a lot of shows together. They had about 4 songs, none of which had lyrics that didnt change from show to show. Daniel was never a big fan of Nothing Special, so when we broke up and I joined Majority Lost I joked with him about how he should produce our album, thinking it would never happen. But when he heard our demo, he was stoked and it was sort of like one of the jokes that just became reality. Daniel and Donal are fucking great, but jesus christ they are slave masters. Pre-production was 7 nights a week for a month of Daniel just yelling at us and changing shit around. Recording was 15 hours a day, every day. "there is no vacations in rock and roll, man the fuck up" he said to us too many times. I blew my voice out and other madness. But it was great. The final product was worth every ounce of sweat.


Obviously, from great minds comes great music...who has inspired you musically and why?


Jesse: What inspires me as a lyricist is not who but what...basically the human condition. It feels like we are all in this struggle...a struggle to survive, to be happy, to make sense of what the fuck life is about. IF there is one thing I try to reflect its "We are all in this together and not one of us has a Goddamn clue what is going on". Musically...the only band worth anything is Europe.

Shaun: Musically for me…..lots of stuff. Lately I have been listening to a lot of Bob Dylan, Alkaline Trio, Lawrence Arms. I grew up on Fat Bands, Epitaph, Nitro, G7, all that kinda stuff that will never leave me. I could go on and on…..I've been known to put on cheesy 80's music from time to time also…

Where do you see Majority Lost in the future? What do you hope to accomplish with this band?

Jesse: Thats a tough one. In terms of musically, we really want to push ourselves with these new batch of songs we are writing. We love the tunes on the new record, but there is some stuff we didn't get to do. Push our sound farther. Re-invent the genre without turning it into bitch music. Non-musically, we want to grow our fan base as big as possible and tour to anywhere and everywhere. Making a living is really tough in punk, so its a constant struggle to keep our jobs and push the band. Mainly though, i just want to go to Japan.

Shaun: Touring, growing, evolving, and having fun!

Can't thank-you enough for the interview! Last question (I promise) ...how can people get their filthy paws on some music & merch from Majority Lost?

Well, come to a goddamn show! Other than that check out our Myspace, Itunes and Interpunk.