I wasn’t sure what to expect as I verbally guided Kaddisfly lead singer Chris Ruff through the crowded parking lot across the street from Tremont Music Hall at the Charlotte, NC stop of the Take Action! Tour.  I’d never done an interview in my car before, and we got some funny looks from passers by as he stepped in and shook our hands.

     With a progressive sound that’s even been labeled as a bit on the pretentious side, lyrically, the Kaddisfly sound stood out for me from the time I started researching them for this interview.  Of course, with two independent albums under their belts, one with Hopeless, and a new one on the way, I wasn’t able to listen to everything they had to offer, but what I had heard really made an impact.  Read on as Chris and I discuss life on a label, lyrical roots, and MySpace…

S!: What made you choose to join the Take Action! Tour?

CR: Well, we’ve been fans of the tour for a while, and Sub City helps put it on, so naturally, there was no reason we wouldn’t do it.  But yeah, just, the timing was right with where we’re at in our career, with our second album coming out for the label, and also just the type of music…we talked it over with the label, and ultimately here we are, and it’s awesome.  All the people on the tour are super revved, so it makes it fun!

S!: Tell us about your involvement with the Take Action! cause.

CR: Yeah, we’re all actually, throughout this tour, working on getting certified as being [suicide prevention] counselors.  My girlfriend actually has had to deal with a suicide in her family, so it kinda hits a little close to home.  But yeah, overall, it’s just a great tour for a great cause, and we’re super pumped to be a part of it…I mean, our new album coming out, we put it out on Sub City, and a portion of that goes to charity as well.  So we’re already kinda in that “scene,” and this is just kinda the next evolution for us.  So we’re pumped just to be a part of it, meet kids, and hopefully not only let them have a great time, but spread a little more awareness about what’s happening out there among their peers that they might not know.  It’s kinda something that not a lot of people talk about, and that’s the big thing, too, is to make people talk about it!

S!: Which band on Take Action! were you most excited to tour with?

CR: I’d have to say all of them.  We respect them all for different reasons, and everyone is just dope, so I really couldn’t swap one out with the other.  I’m just glad that the bill is what it is.  Musically, I really like Emery’s tunes a lot.  I like the tone of the guy’s voice.  Other than that, I think all of the bands are great…everyone’s doing a slightly different thing on the tour, which is great.  It gives something more to the kids than letting every band up there be a pop-punk band or something, you know.  Just, something different!

S!: Well, I listened to everyone a little, and it seems that there’s a common thread…

CR: Yeah, there’s a common thread, but it’s great because it’s not a bunch of carbon copy bands.

S!: You’ve had two non-label releases and one on Hopeless Records (so far).  What are some of the differences in the process?

CR: Well…they’re not really that different the way we do it.  Obviously, in the major label world, it works a lot differently, but with an independent label, other than getting some funding to actually do the record, it’s the same thing.  Everything flows, nothing changes in the way we write or the way we record, not at all.  And the label has supported that.  But by recording and releasing on a label, it just gives you a whole other arm, a 6th man sort of thing there.  They can help you get opportunities that you might not necessarily be able to get on your own, and obviously, it comes with distribution and promotional marketing.  It just depends on kinda where you’re at as a band.

S!: Which would you consider harder?

CR: I think that as far as trails and tribulations, it’s the same.  As a new thing comes along, there’s always that next hurdle to go over.  But when you’re frustrated about one thing as an independent artist, like trying to book shows on your own, and trying to do this or that, then you step up to a label, then you’re trying to get on other certain tours.  And even though you may not be booking it, you have to try to meet these certain people, try to get video play here, and exposure there, and it’s kind of a never ending thing.  So I wouldn’t say one’s harder, I’d just say it’s like a natural evolution.

S!: Your lyrics are unique in their poetic, intellectual quality, and have even been labeled as a bit on the pretentious side.  Tell us a bit about your writing process (background, inspirations, etc.)

CR: I think a lot of what we do both musically and lyrically is targeted at an open-minded audience that can kinda see four dimensionally.  I’ve been writing my whole life, and I was big into English in middle school and high school.  It just depends; it’s pretty free flowing stuff.  My subject matter is just completely different than a lot of other bands, but it’s part of what makes us unique, and some people dig it and some people don’t, but you know, there’re different flavors for everyone.

S!: The words “Write. Influence. Change. Live.” seem to hold a lot of meaning to you guys as a band.  Explain?

CR: Yeah, it’s kinda just our catch phrase at this point.  It came up when we actually were an independent band, because we had this big, grandiose vision of the future, and big plans for what we wanted to do.  That line “Write. Influence. Change. Live.” just corresponded to how we want to live our lives, musically.  It’s just about spreading positivity and good vibes, and a little intelligence and understanding to people that may not have always been the most open-minded.

S!: You guys seem to have successfully transcended genre labels with your varied sound.  Do you think that indie/punk/etc. music has become too trendy, producing too many like-sounding bands?

CR: I don’t know…trends are trends, there are some really great pop-punk bands, there’re great bands of all types.  The thing is that there’re just way too many bands now.  And that’s cool, I mean, it’s good for kids to play and stuff, but I think that the playing field has kinda gotten tilted, and what makes a good artist has become skewed a little bit.  But I guess at the end of the day, if someone enjoys listening to something, it’s not bad at all.  But there are some really awful huge bands, and some really great small bands and everything else.  The thing is that back in the day of like, Tears For Fears for example, it’s just that there’s weren’t as many bands.  Like all of the bands playing were pretty solid musicians.  But with styles like pop-punk, it allows simplicity to kinda take over a little more, so you don’t necessarily have to be well-rounded, musically, which I guess isn’t a bad thing…look at Nirvana and Kurt Cobain.  I still think he’s an amazing musician, but their songs, like, a two year old can play.  But they’re still amazing songs!  There’s no real way to judge.  I just think that it’s harder to be a band now than it was 10 years ago.  Your music can get clouded and passed over so easily, because there’s just so damned much of it. 

S!: This isn’t even on my list of stuff to ask, but on that note, do you even think that sites like MySpace are good for music?

CR: No.  If you’d have asked me that question when it first came out, I’d have said “yeah, it’s great!”  What I never would have imagined is that people in the music industry are actually using MySpace as a tool to gauge a band’s performance.  I think the band’s performance should gauge the band’s performance, you know what I mean?  It’s really bizarre.  I think that it has created this whole weird slew of strangely shitty bands doing really strange things, and strangely good bands not getting any recognition.  It’s just created a big, muddy mess, like putting all of the ingredients in your fridge into a blender. 

S!: Tell us about the new record, Set Sail The Prairie.

CR: It’s just the next step of our band, an evolution from the last one.  It’s a little more mature, for those that are fans of our band, I think they’re really gonna like it.  And I think that people who may not necessarily have liked us in the past, that this might be something that they can latch onto a little bit easier.  This record, we feel, represents us better at this point in time than any other record really has.  The record’s been recorded for a little while now, so we’ve evolved even a little bit from then, but even now, it still holds pretty true.  But I think our sound is more defined on it, and we felt better about it.

• Official Site: http://www.kaddisfly.com/