Interview with ROSETTA!!!

Bubba: Thanks for agreeing to do the interview and all getting involved! I’d like to start by getting some background from each member. Are you all self taught,? Some lessons? Any theory or college training?

Matt: I was classically taught as a kid; played violin for 10 years, self-taught at guitar for the last 12 years. Lots of theory/composition training in both high school and college.

BJ: I started on the trumpet in elementary school, gave it up, picked up the drums, took lessons for around 4 or 5 years, and then self-taught myself guitar, bass, and piano.

Dave: I took piano lessons for a year or two when I was a kid and guitar lessons for two years.

Armine: The only training I have in sampling is endless hours of playing with music programs on my computer, the results are nothing more than experiments gone right. Nothing I do sample wise is standard, and to this day I do not think I'm even using the programs I have properly. The only piece of equipment I can honestly say that I know how to use is my Roland SP808.

When Rosetta formed, did you set out determined to create the sound you've developed or was it a gradual process?

Matt: I think we set out to be one thing, and it became something totally different. That feels pretty authentic because it seemed like our true musical personalities were a stronger force than whatever arbitrary style decisions we had made in our heads.

For "sound manipulation" what gear does Michel use?

Roland Jazz chorus
2 Roland SP808s
Ableton Live 7
A few analog effects pedals
Midi-keyboards and effects racks.

Any unique effect pedals/rack units you and/or Matthew use to get your sound?

Matt: Almost all of my stuff is modified. I'm also a self-taught electronics hobbyist, and I mod/repair my own guitars, amps, and pedals. I joke that my favorite instrument is the soldering iron. I use a heavily modified TSL 100 amp (my own specs, one of a kind) for all the different distortion sounds --- all the effects are in front of the amp. I use a lot of delay effects piled on top of each other to create a wall of sound, but it always has to be tightly controlled because it gets washed-out otherwise. Another big part is using a slave bass amp with the guitar setup, since we tune so low that regular guitar cabs can't reproduce the lowest frequencies. That makes the live sound bigger.

What do you each do outside of Rosetta?

Matt: I'm an administrator and advisor for the undergraduate Art History & Visual Studies programs at UPenn. I also work on bikes.

BJ: I freelance graphic design/web programming along with various music composition, and part-time at a local starbucks coffee.

Dave: Sadly I have a crappy job in retail sales right now.

Armine: History Teacher. At the start of the summer of 2009 Grad Student.

On your website the band has a strong manifesto emphasizing DIY and denouncing the music and ad industries. I have a few questions in regards to this.

Were each of you raised with in DIY, find it as a tool to reject what you were told to abide by, or something else entirely?

Matt: For me, DIY was never about rebellion, it was just pragmatism. You know, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. That applies to recording, touring, equipment maintenance, ANYTHING. I just have a desire to learn as much as I can and develop new skills. The other thing is that DIY has two fronts: first, you develop your own skills, and second, you start to realize how often you're getting screwed by other people who are trying to sell you those
services. Those two things cyclically reinforce each other over time.

How does a band like yourselves keep true to your own DIY ethics as you get more popular while more and more is asked of you and offered to you?

Matt: By being old, lame, and married, and not devoting my whole life to touring (ha). For me it's about establishing personal boundaries.

BJ: I just play the drums and enjoy the music and the people.

Armine: DIY as I apply it to Rosetta is the avenue that we need travel to achieve the dream we all had growing up in Philadelphia during the 90s. There were 3 really solid DIY venues in the city that ran consistently for 6 or so years. The First Unitarian Church still does DIY shows to this day. Those venues and the people running them along with the bands of that era really set the tone for what we wanted out of our bands in the future. The way we interacted in music
then is what we dreamed being in a band would be like when we finally had one. It's simply a way, at least for me personally, to live out the dream. It's unfortunate that so much as changed so quickly. Hardcore has become a modern day Gap catalog where it's bought and sold without any reference to the values we once associated it with. This ethic is also a matter of pride for me. Rosetta represents me, and I represent it. In no way do I want to personify either myself
or the band with what is currently known as "hardcore". Someone found a way to make a quick buck off of it, and it's destroying what we believed in so long ago. Kind of like how Bam and others like him have destroyed skateboarding culture by making it marketable and appealing on just an aesthetic value, not a cultural one.

Favorite aspect of running the band and booking shows yourselves?

BJ: we don't really have anyone member 'running' the band, but Dave usually books all the shows, and Armine helps a bit.

Matt: Democracy in action.

I personally enjoy the creative ties the lyrics and themes have with astronomy and space. Do any of you have backgrounds, hobbies, or favorite literary works in these areas?

Matt: 2001 - A Space Odyssey is obviously huge, although none of us had read it until after TGS came out.

I see you'll be headed to Europe. Is this your first trip?

BJ: I think that Armine and Matt have been before, don't know about Dave. But this will be only my 2nd time out of the country. Our Australian tour was my first. I'm excited.

Armine: When I was 24 I spent a week in Paris. I'm really looking forward to that trip but am very disappointed that we will only be these cities for just one night.

What’s the scariest thing you’ve seen or encountered on tour?

BJ: having to take Armine to the hospital in the middle of no where in the middle of tour.

Armine: Almost dying in the middle of nowhere on tour.

Matt: Williamsburg.

Going back a few years, how did Translation Loss take to releasing your debut as a double album?

BJ: they were actually really excited, I don't think they knew what they were getting themselves into when they agreed to the project. I just remember Drew just wanting to release something of ours.

Would you ever do a project that large again?

Matt: Nope.

I heard at one point you might do a split with Souvenir's Young America. Is there any truth to that and will it ever see the light of day?

BJ: I think there was something planned, but various projects had to be dropped or postponed, cause we have a couple other projects coming out in a small time span.

Matt: We just didn’t have the time and resources to complete it in a way that would actually help SYA. We had taken on too much during that time.


Any material that is in process?

BJ: We just started writing for the next record. Starting to play a couple of them live. I think we're heading in to record hopefully at the end of the summer following the European tour, but dates get shuffled around so much that I'm not sure
now.

Matt: Yeah, summer. We have three new songs, and will probably do three more before we record. We’re also incredibly lazy about recording so who knows.


We’ll look forward to it, whatever schedule you’re able to record and release it. Thanks again for your time!!

For our readers, come out and support Rosetta with Snowstorm, Dance-A-Tron, Chutzpah, and The DeVilles for the second Ithaca Underground All Ages Saturday at The Haunt on Feb 28th.
Doors @ 5.