Q: They were probably fine with you getting second, huh?

MC: Yeah, exactly. It was the best case scenario for them.

Q: I guess it helps that you guys were friends for such a long time as well.

MC: Yeah.

Q: Do you have any vocal techniques that you practice before a show?

MC: Try to warm up. Our tour manager was Bon Jovi's tour manager for a long time. A guy named Ted, tour manager Ted. He had gotten to know Jon so well and his performance style and what he did. The big thing was not only warming up for an hour before you go on, and I'm a pretty energetic performer so not only stretching and working your vocals and getting your voice ready, but believe it or not it's also warming down after the show for a half an hour. When you get off the stage you need to sing in kind of a lower register and warm yourself down. You really need to warm yourself up and warm yourself down for a long tour.

Q: I take it you guys will be touring later this year, too?

MC: Yeah, I think we'll start touring in the early Fall.

Q: Are you going to hit the entire United States?

MC: Yeah, we'll be all over the U.S. and all over Canada. And then next year I think we'll make it to Australia, New Zealand, and hopefully Asia. We'll see.

Q: How's your fan support overseas? Do you get a lot of e-mails from fans over there?

MC: The INXS show was a phenomenon in select places. It was on in India, but I don't think we can go tour India. New Zealand and Australia, being that INXS was from there, we get a lot of support there. In Europe, it's not like it was here and in Canada. In Canada it was one of the biggest shows of all time. So it's kind of hit or miss, some markets you're going to do really well out there and then some markets you're not going to be so well-known.

Q: I've read that the band's name was originally the Swinging Lovehammers, what was the reason for shortening it to just Lovehammers?

MC: We had been together so long that we went through the whole swing craze, if you remember in the late ‘90's there were all those swing bands coming out. Every one kind of assumed that we were a swing band number one, and then it was just too damn long and nobody ever got it right on the marquee. We were Swinging Lovehammers but you'd have Bulging Lovehandles, and they just never got it right. Around that time we lost a member of the band who went to focus more on his professional career and really wasn't into the music anymore. So when he left we kind of felt there needed to be a change in the name because the band slightly changed so we just went with Lovehammers plain and simple.

Q: I also read that being from Chicago that you're a big White Sox fan. Do you have a favorite all-time White Sox player?

MC: You know, I'm not a big White Sox fan. The big White Sox fans in the band are Bob and Dino. I'm not really a sports fanatic, but one thing I will say about the Sox is that they've really supported the Lovehammers. We got to play the ring ceremony last year, we got to play during the playoffs, and they give us tickets to the games. For some reason they're huge supporters and I think it's because the bass player and the drummer in Lovehammers are the biggest White Sox fans that you've ever seen. It's more of their trip than mine.

Q: What was the inspiration behind your song Clinic?

MC: Clinic I wrote with my brother-in-law, and actually my sister threw in some lyrics to it as well. We were just sitting around and we kind of had that opening riff that he was messing around with. At the time I was stuck in a job and the band was doing very well, but we just couldn't seem to break through to the next chapter in the career. We couldn't get on a major label and were just kind of stuck. I just kind of felt like I was in a rubber room, like I was starting to go crazy and losing my mind. That's kind of where it stemmed from, just feeling trapped and feeling isolated. I just started writing from that perspective and it turned out to be Clinic. A really kind of weird, angular tune.

Q: We end all of our interviews with word association, so I say "wombat" and you say...

MC: Pacemaker.

Q: Do you have anything you'd like to say to your fans?

MC: I'd just like to say thanks for the continued support and I appreciate everybody sending us all these e-mails and wanting us to come back to their town for another tour. That's all we're looking to do, to deliver another kick ass new album and then follow it up with a kick ass tour. Thank you so much.