Q: You guys have a pretty dedicated fan base yourselves. You guys are always being voted for on these different polls online, for like MyRockinProfile.com for MySpace and stuff. How do you explain the rabid support you receive from your fans?

MC: I think the really strong support comes from the fact that after the shows we'll take two hours and hang out with everybody and just talk to everybody. You can't get to know all your fans, but we try to get to know personally as many as possible. And I think just from spending a lot of time with them, real time. We get done with the shows and we just don't jump in the bus and take off. We dedicate the time to hanging out and getting to hear their stories and what's going on in their lives and that really translates into a really dedicated fan base online.

Q: You know like you said, it's a little bit different nowadays where a lot of bands get off the stage and they're gone, and you don't see them again. That is a great thing that you guys are still doing that. There are a few bands that still do, but it's a rare thing nowadays.

MC: You look at some huge bands and they're still doing it, look at Linkin Park. They're still hanging around for two hours signing every autograph in the house. If they can do it with their hundred million CDs they've sold, then a kind of new band, which I consider ourselves, you really need to dig in and do that for your fans.

Q: You do see it a little bit more, I think, with rock bands than you do with your typical pop star.

MC: I think rock bands are a lot more organic so they're not afraid to show you who they are. Whereas I think a lot of pop acts are kind of pre-fabricated so they don't necessarily want you to see the wizard behind the curtain.

Q: Right. So if you weren't a musician, what do you think you'd be doing as a career? I think I read that you got a degree in financing?

MC: Yeah, and pre-finance I was formerly a commercial real estate appraiser. If I wasn't doing music, I don't know what the hell I'd be doing. It'd be scary. At this point there is no backup plan.

Q: Luckily so far you're doing pretty well with it though.

MC: Yeah, it's been going well thank God.

Q: You mentioned some of the older bands that you of course like, and of course Velvet Revolver and everything, but are there any other new bands that you enjoy listening to?

MC: I'm a really big fan of the Silversun Pickups. If you're not into them yet you've got to check out their record. To me it sounds like a cross between early Pumpkins and Sonic Youth. They've got great hooks, the guy's an amazing songwriter and amazing guitarist. They're kind of blowing up right now. I'm a big fan of TV On The Radio, a band from Brooklyn. They do some really straight up rock tunes, and then they'll do some barber shop quartet harmonies behind some really aggressive music. I don't want to call it art rock. It is out there, but it is really effective stuff. It's really cool; you should check that out too.

Q: The first one is Silversun Pickups? Do they only have one CD out, or do they have a couple out?

MC: They have an EP, and they have their first full-length out now and it's on an indie, but I think they just got picked up by a major label and they're going to be all over the place.

Q: What are your three favorite Lovehammers songs?

MC: Well, I'm a huge fan of the song Clouds. The recorded version and playing it live. There's something about the mood of that song that just fits my personality perfectly. I really like the aggressiveness of Eyes Can't See and the way that one turned out in the studio. Sometimes you bring a song into the studio and it exceeds your expectations and sometimes you bring a song into the studio and it never quite lives up to the song that you have in your head, but Eyes Can't See definitely hit it. And then I have to give props to Trees, just because it kind of defined the first part of my career. It's what got me the record deal and I think more people know me by "the Trees dude" than they actually remember my name.

Q: Really, they actually say that on the street, "Hey Trees dude"?

MC: "Hey, you're that Trees dude," you know.

Q: I've been listening to your CDs quite a bit the last few days and the one song that I like quite a bit is Low Life Insurance.

MC: Oh yeah, "Let's Get Wasted." We always played that song live but we never wanted to put it on a record. We just thought that it was too party rock you know, and a friend of ours from was like "You have to put that song on your record." And then I kept saying "I should change it, it shouldn't be Let's Get Wasted, it should be Let's Get Crazy or something." We just kind of threw it out there, just kind of tongue in cheek and said "fuck it."

Q: Yeah, that's kind of what rock's all about, right?

MC: Exactly.

Q: So when can we expect the next release by Lovehammers?

MC: You'll probably see the next release by the end of the year. It'll be a fourth quarter release. I've just been running around writing songs and recording tunes, and really starting to put it together. I'm meeting with producers next week to see who we're going to get to cut this thing.

Q: How did your band mates react to you trying out for INXS?

MC: At first they were very confused and angry. We had been together a long time and we had made some headway. At the time I was auditioning we were on the tour with Cake, and Gomez, and they just didn't understand it. They were really confused and as it got closer and they understood how driven I was to make this happen, to get on that show, they eventually came around and really wholeheartedly supported me. To a point, but they definitely didn't want me to win.

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