The sucky part of staying overnight out of town is the early checkout of the hotel. What are you to do for hours upon hours before you have to get back home? Duh, go interview and hang out with My American Heart! Well, I don’t know if anyone can say that but I sure can! It was a rainy day in Atlanta so I got to stay dry while hanging out at the venue and chatting with Larry Soliman. He dished on his views on MySpace, Warped Tour, and you, THE FANS!

S!: You’re featured on Punk Goes Crunk with the song “California Love”. What was it like remaking that song and putting your own touch on it?

Larry Soliman: It was fun! I mean, I’ve never rapped before but it was really awesome. I’m from California and I grew up listening to Tu Pac and Dr. Dre so that felt natural. It was a lot of fun.

S!: Fearless has made many Punk Goes… albums. Where would you like to see punk go next?

Larry: Uh, I’d like to see Punk go… disco. [Laughs]

S!: What song would you remake to put on said album?

Larry: Maybe some… um…Can I change my answer to Punk Goes Soul? And I’d want to remake some Al Green.

S!: In 2005, you were featured all summer long on the Ernie Ball stage on Warped Tour. Tell us about your experiences on a festival like Warped compared to club shows.

Larry: We’ve done it for like, three years in a row now. It’s not as fun as it may seem. It’s really hot, repetitive, and tedious. Just like loading your gear and walking everywhere all day. The fun part is hanging out with all the bands. Hanging out, meeting new people, new fans, new bands is cool. Just making friends is a lot of fun for me. The vibe in a club is really different. At Warped it is really competitive like you’re fighting with the bands on the stage next to you for fans to stop and watch you. We work really hard promoting all day just for them to come and watch you. I mean, it’s not like you see our name on the board and you’re going to come watch us. There might be another band you want to see at the same time, so we have to put it in their face. Club shows, it is much more relaxed. I like club shows better.

S!: Do you feel like sites like MySpace and Purevolume on the Internet are good or bad for the music industry and why?

Larry: Well, there is no use in complaining about it because it isn’t going anywhere so you might as well utilize it. I think it is a good tool but the downfall is that there are twenty thousand bands that sound the same on it with different names all trying to get to the same place. I’m actually really indifferent about it. [Laughs]

S!: Last year you traveled to the UK with Madina Lake. How do fans overseas compare to the energy your fans in the US have?

Larry: We’ve been there twice now. We went with Madina Lake and then we went back again. We played the Give It A Name festival and it was pretty amazing. I feel the kids there really appreciated it and enjoyed it more. Here, so many kids get drowned out with all the bands that come around and they are always touring so if they miss them, they can just catch them the next time around. In the UK, there aren’t a lot of bands that do that and they appreciate the US bands a lot more because of it. They know you care because you traveled and took that nine hour or eighteen hour flight to see them.

S!: How does your latest album, Hiding Inside the Horrible Weather, compare to your previous albums?

Larry: It blows them out of the water. Seriously. [Laughs] If I had to compare it to our other records, then I would be comparing it to a fifteen year old boy. This is now like a twenty four year old person. It is way more mature because we’re more mature and it shows. We’ve gotten a lot better on our instruments as well, at least I think. There has been a lot of practicing and a lot of growing as human beings. I feel that if we made the same album twice, then I’d quit because we weren’t growing as musicians or people. It really reflects where we are at in our lives and it’s awesome. I love it.

S!: What did you do to prepare for the studio based on your previous experiences?

Larry: It was way more relaxed coming into this record. The last album took a month to write because we had to get it done. This record though, we got to take our time. I feel that really helped a ton.

S!: How is the one band you’d like to tour with before the end of your career?

Larry: I’d like to somehow become really good and tour with Radiohead. [Laughs]

S!: Any last words to your fans reading?

Larry: Thank you for listening, we really appreciate it.

• MySpace URL: http://www.myspace.com/myamericanheart