Order of the White Rose interview with "For the Fun of It" Zine

Names, instruments, random factoids:
Nate- My name is Nate. I play drums, skate, and work.
Steve- I’m Steve, I go to college, work and play guitar

How can people get in touch with you (to buy your shit, send love/hate mail)?

Steve- They can email me at Steve@whiterosepunk.com or visit us on MySpace at MySpace.com/whiterosepunk If you are interested in snail mail, and I am, please write to P.O. Box 880908, Pukalani, Hi, 96788

Where the hell are you from?
Nate- I'm from the island of Maui.
Steve- I’m from Michigan, originally, but I live on Maui.

Do you like it, hate it, or not give a rat's ass about it? How do you feel about it?
Nate- I like Hawaii a lot even though it has its problems (Not much of a punk scene) We don’t get a lot of concerts from bigger bands and it’s a lot harder to get your band heard over here than if you were in the big America.
Steve- I agree, it is difficult to promote a band if you’re on Maui. There isn’t an underground press that we are part of. I probably should start something but then again, about five people will read it and they all own our CD already. It’s not like we can get in a van and go to LA or something, we have to plan things way out in advance to play Oahu, let alone California. Nevertheless, except for the logistics of playing in a band, I love Hawaii.


What's the funnest hangout spot in Maui?
Nate -Skating ditches.
Steve- I hang out on campus and talk to my professors at school. I’m a dork, I guess.

Is there anything in your hometown that's a "must do"?
Nate- Jump off some waterfalls!
Steve- I’d recommend some of the beaches. I think for anyone to come here, I think they need to read Haunani-Kay Trask’s “Lovely Hula Hands: Corporate Tourism and the Prostitution of Hawaiian Culture.” That way, if they come here, perhaps they will avoid some of the typical tourist
fallacies, like thinking that everyone is here to serve them.

What do I need to make sure to avoid when I come through your town (besides cops)?
Nate-Just Cops!!!
Steve- I’d try and avoid the tourists driving the red convertible cars. They usually don’t know where they are going and are pretty much a menace.

Why are you a band?
Nate- We are a band because it gives a platform to view our ideas in a world that is run by an extremely slanted media. Not to mention its fun!
Steve- I love to play music. I love creating a song and rehearsing it for the first time, the 50th time and the 100th time. I also see the band as an extension of my politically ideals and try to bring something good to the community.
Does your band have any archenemies in the punk scene? If so, who?
Nate -We're nice to everyone.
Steve- I probably have a lot of people who hate me. When you take a stance against things that are popular, you tend to rub people the wrong way. However, I’m okay with that and expect it to some degree.

What role do you feel like your band plays in the scene?
Nate -We play in front of 5-500 hundred people depending on what the show is, and we normally get a pretty good response when we play.
Steve- That’s a good question. I think every band should be asked that. I hope that we fill a void and we aren’t just another shitty band. I think we put a lot of effort into what we create and we put a lot of time into promoting the Hawaii punk scene.


Besides playing punk rock, what do you do?
Steve- I go to school, I try to raise my kids with my wife, and keep active in the community.
Any good tour stories? Any bad ones?
Nate -We've only had one mainland tour so far and was great.
Driving out to the middle of nowhere to play Ridgecrest, Ca. with Elvis Goes Hoggin’ was pretty crazy, but when we finally got there the show was great!
Steve- Yeah, EGH was really fun and the crowd was so cool. They kept asking us, “Why are you guys here, in Ridgecrest?” We played Ridgecrest because Elvis is my friend and I thought Ridgecrest is probably way off the beaten path and isn’t filled with hipsters who are ambivalent. And, I was right. It was an awesome show.
What's the weakest show you've ever played? Why was it so crappy?
Nate- Too many to list! It was crappy because we tried to play new songs that weren’t rehearsed properly or we didn’t practice for a long time or both.
Steve- We’re still learning how to play in a setting where the conditions aren’t perfect. When the monitors are small or non-existent and we can’t hear each other, we tend to have a difficult time. I’d like to see us build our PA bigger with some powerful amps and monitors to handle the volume the band puts out. Nate hits really hard on his drums and Noah’s bass amp is really loud. Because of that, my guitar amp gets cranked and then it’s like a wall of noise. Of course, that’s the way it’s supposed to be, but we also would like to hear our vocals over the din. When we can’t we tend to suck.

Do you ever refuse shows? If so, why?
Steve- Hell yeah. If it is a show that would compromise my integrity, I’m not playing. I don’t like to play battle of the bands either. I save my competitive spirit for athletic events, I’m not interested in pitting my band against another.

If you could get a show with any 3 active bands, who would you play with?
Nate- Green Day, The Aggrolites, and Rage Against the Machine.
Steve- I’d pick The Melvins, Bad Religion or the Wildhearts. All three of them have devoted fans and if we could win them over, I’d be stoked.

How did you get into punk rock?
Nate- Watching an old surf video that had Minor Threat playing the song Minor Threat. Then I bought a bunch of punk compilations.
Steve- My neighbor across the street had the Clash’s first album on English import and I heard that and liked it. I also grew up hearing Ted Nugent, the Stooges and Mc5 in Michigan, so that kind of style is kind of in my blood. I was really blown away when I heard the song, “Fuck Authority” by Raw Power on the MRR compilation, “Welcome to 1984.” My life changed at that moment.
Do you like to live alone, with one person, or with lots of people? Why?
Nate-I live with my lovely wife!
Steve- I live with my wife and kids on a property that has a lot of people living on it. It’s kind of like a commune, except we don’t really share anything. We grow a lot of our vegetables and stuff like that.

How often do you see your band members when you're not playing shows?
Nate- A couple times a week.
Steve- yeah, we rehearse at least once a week and I see Noah, my singer/bassist just about every day.
What's are your favorite games?
(Drinking game, video game, road trip game, mind game, whatever)
Nate- Skateboarding!
Steve- There’s a great road trip game that I learned on tour with Dieselhed. You basically take a truck company like Schneider and then every time a Schneider truck comes in the opposite direction, you get a point. If you pass a Schneider truck, you get two points. The game gets a lot more complicated as you go along. If your truck is followed by an ambulance, even 15 minutes since you saw your last truck, you lose all your points.

Do you think that everything is gonna be okay or not? How come?
Who knows what’s gonna happen!
Nate- Just have a positive attitude and make the most of whatever gets thrown at you!
Steve- I wish I had Nate’s optimism, but I’m pretty cynical about these types of things.
Who do you want to say "fuck you" to right now?
Nate- Cant be wasting my time with that!
Steve- I’d rather have them not know, so that they don’t see me coming when I exact my revenge.
Are you more into building things, or destroying things? What things?
Nate -I like to build fires! That’s two for the price of one!
Steve- I sometimes will record an entire song, layering track upon track and then delete it because I hate it. I like the process, but I don’t always keep the results.
Are there any other bands that you love to play with?
Nate-The 86 List, Black Square, Khrinj, Gomega, and the Hellcaminos.
Steve- I liked the Ugly Sticks a lot and most of the bands we played with on tour. There was one band in Orange County that played videogame metal that I didn’t like, but other than that, we were really lucky to get some great bands to play with.
Speaking of love, what things do you love, that inspire you to keep going?
Nate -My wife:)
Steve- My kids and my wife. I also read a lot and that usually gets me pretty inspired to write a song, or do something positive.

And what are the things that make you feel frustrated?
Nate –poverty, hunger, and war.
Steve- It’s not only that, but the reasons behind Poverty, hunger and war. Why do we do these things to each other? What is it about us as people make us become such assholes? I think that I get frustrated easily and often.
Is there anything you'd like to tell people who are just getting into punk?
Nate -She'll treat ya fine!
Steve- I’d say, don’t follow anyone, especially me. Find out what makes you interested in punk rock. For me, I didn’t have a choice; punk rock was the only place I could go. I wasn’t a nerd, a jock, a preppie, a redneck, a stoner, or a gear head; the punks I grew up with knew I wasn’t a cool dude and that I was weird. They just didn’t seem to care about that.
Any (not so famous) last words?
Nate- Have u ever heard the one about...
Steve- Aia ke ola i ka waha, aia ka make i ka waha, or “Life is in your speech, death is in your speech.” Know the strength of your words and choose them with care.