1) Tell us a little bit about the band - your members, where you are from, and how you got started. We are: Mike, Marc, Todd, Kenny and Nate. We are the product of offshore manufacturing and we owe our existence to the wonderful people at the Xhi-Hwa corporation of Okinawa, Japan. Makers of “American Boy Band in a Box” TM.
2) You guys just dropped your new album – how did it turn out? What’s new on this disc? Since we’re just plastic toys we have no ears to know what our album sounds like, but recent sales reports have shown that the album is selling very well with the 11-13 year old female demographic. In reality: Our new album is going great we sold several hundred before we even finished recording and the feedback is very positive. Plus we’re happy with it and I guess that’s what matters. 3) How long did it take to record? What was the biggest challenge in getting the new album done? We put about 200 hours into making this album and we did all the recording, producing, mixing, and artwork by ourselves. That was a real challenge all-together. The horns generally take a long time because they’re touchy instruments to tune to each other. It gets frustrating sometimes but Mike and Marc were troopers.
4) Who pens the songs for the bands? What are some of your main musical influences? Most of the songs are written by Nate and Kenny with a lot of collaboration between the two of them to make the final result. We like’s a lot of shit, my fingers are cold and if I type all of our influences they’ll fall off. I will let you know that a bunch of us like ska (Mustard Plug, Less than Jake, Big D) and the rest of us mess it up with the stuff they like.
5) What kind of tour does S2D have lined up to support the new album? We did a lot of out of state shows this summer to push the CD. Now we’re back to push it in our home state. Once spring hits we’ll head out again to push the album. I think our tours will be based around the Ska Weekend show set for the end of April in TN and the Skappleton show in Appleton (May).
6) How did you guys come up with your band name? Was it your original band name? “Something To Do” is our original band name. The marketing department at Xhi-Hwa corporation chose it because several focus groups seemed to like it.
7) What is the future of ska? Is it on the rise or slowing making its way towards its death? I feel that ska will just keep coming back again and again. It’s been around since the 50’s and it keeps rearing it’s ugly head. here are a lot of bigger bands touring right now and a lot more shows going on than a few years ago. It might even be cool again someday!
8) Fill us in on some new bands that we should check out that we might not have heard of yet. There are a lot of new Ska bands out there that we’ve played with on tour. Check these ones out: One For the Books – MI, Te Presidency – IN, Te Arrogant Sons of Bitches – NY, Distorted Penguins – WV, Suburban Legends – CA, Monty’s Fanclub – RI, SGR – NJ, The Connelly Effect –WI, Catch of the Day – WI, 3 Block to Murdock – WI.
9) What’s biggest mess up or craziest thing you guys have ever done on stage? Any stalkers yet? We had a clown come offstage and had him beat senseless with a pie tin. Then we sliced open his stomach (which was filled with candy) and threw it into the crowd.
10) Anything else we should know about Something To Do? We like long walks on the beach, candle-lit dinners and lots of grain alcohol (and other types of Mexican moonshine).
We are: Mike, Marc, Todd, Kenny and Nate. We are the product of offshore manufacturing and we owe our existence to the wonderful people at the Xhi-Hwa corporation of Okinawa, Japan. Makers of “American Boy Band in a Box” TM.
6) How did you guys come up with your band name? Was it your original band name?