It’s Not Rocket Science; it’s Simple As Surgery

An Interview with the band
By Cynthia Dagenais

I was on Twitter one day checking out my new strange followers when I came across a guy named Josh who said he was in a band. Naturally, I looked up the name on YouTube to listen to a sampling of music and found myself bobbing my head to a rock pop group from Augusta, Georgia. Through just a few tweets and emails I got to have a conversation with this goofy trio through Skype. Josh (guitarist), Carter (lead vocals), and Daniel (bassist) are a fun bunch of guys that are excited for their debut album to come out on December 14.
(about 0:35) Where do you find inspiration for your music?
• Carter: Relient K.
• Josh: The best band in the whole world. Relient K. I don’t think we sound anything like them.
• Carter: We sound nothing like them, actually, but you do Josh.
• Josh: Really? I’ll take that as a compliment.
• Carter: I get inspiration personally when it comes to songwriting and things from females...girls. *phone rings*
• Josh: Your mom is calling.
• Carter: Oh.
• Josh: As you can see, we’re all pretty close friends and we’ve known each other for a long time. It helps make things flow easier.
(about 3:00) How did the band come together?
• Daniel: All of us went to a show at the 7 Venue in Atlanta to see Attack Attack!, Confide, Showbread, A Static Lullaby, and Maylene and Sons of Disaster. It was a hardcore show, and from that point on, I knew I needed to be in a pop band.
• Carter : That’s not true. We were actually thinking about being a hardcore band for awhile.
• Daniel: So a few weeks later I called Carter up (me and Carter are cousins) and I was like ‘Carter, we gotta be in a band dude.’ And he was like ‘I don’t know man’ because Carter and Josh used to be in an old band a long time ago…
• Carter: About 4 or 5 years ago. We were in a band called Capstone and it was a progressive rock band…
• Josh: Horrible…
• Carter:…and it sucked! It was real bad *pretending to vomit*
• Josh: *retching noises*
• Daniel: So Carter was kinda skeptic about it, and I was like ‘no man, we’re gonna make this happen.’
• Josh: *laughs*
• Daniel: So me and Carter got together and asked, ‘well who’s gonna be our vocalist?’ because at the time Carter didn’t sing at all.
• Carter: I didn’t know how to sing!
• Daniel: So Carter played drums and I played bass, and we tried to start a band with just drums and bass and that wasn’t going to work. So we were like, who can do it?
You should have asked me! Gosh!
• Daniel: So we called Josh and asked him if he wanted to be in a band and he was like ‘No man, I’m trying to be a country artist right now’
• Josh: That is not true.
• Daniel: It is true.
• Josh: Not true.
• Carter: He wasn’t trying to be country, but he did his own little solo project. It was like worship music, but he kind of sounded country.
• Josh: I wasn’t trying to book shows or anything…
• Carter: He just did it for himself, but we weren’t supposed to be part of it.
• Daniel: Back to me. So Josh was like no, and me and Carter gathered some recording equipment and went to Carter’s house and recorded a song. It was absolutely ridiculous. I don’t know why Josh accepted it this time. We sent him this awful song and he was like ‘dude, I’m in.’
• Carter: It was actually like a party rap…it had a sing-along and was called “Howdy Partner” and it had a dance…
• Josh: *laughs* What is that?
This? *pointing to glass I’m drinking*
• Band: Yeah.
Naked Juice.
• Daniel: Fincus juice?
• Josh: Fin-cus.
No, Naked Juice. Mighty Mango flavor?
• Josh: Oh, Naked Juice.
Does it look like a cocktail?
• Josh: Yeah, I thought you were getting tips.
I wish! I have night class.
• Daniel: So then we did “Howdy Parter” and after we showed Josh, he said alright. It was the three of us, but we were still unnamed…looks like a clown. Your picture up there?
• Josh: What’s that clown kid?
Clown?
• Josh: Stage right, behind you.
Oh, my poster? That’s a little girl with a rose, haha.
• Josh: She looks a lot like a clown…
• Carter: Just to keep you up to speed, we saw a hardcore show, recorded a party rap song, recruited Josh, then we decided to be a party rap group. We decided on the name “Bag of Treats”
• Josh: We were doing techno rap
• Carter: We wanted a more rock feel. The first song we sat down and recorded was acoustic, called “Crashing down” and I don’t know how it happened, but I started singing. We played a few shows and we realized what we were doing was weird. So, we canned all our old songs, got a new name, which is Simple As Surgery. Then we went to the studio and then our sound became what it is now.
(about 8:20) How did you come up with the name “Simple As Surgery”?
• Carter: I had a really weird dream one night. It was a long dirt road and there was an old man and a little boy walking down the road. I was floating around, and they couldn’t see me. They were walking and talking and I couldn’t understand a word they were saying. Finally they get to the end of the road and I hear the old man go ‘blah blah blah Simple As Surgery…’ I woke up and told Daniel. Called Josh. It wasn’t concrete but we said it at a few shows and everyone likes it. It makes us happy.
• Josh: Same with our url because when you slam it all together people go ‘look your Facebook name is Simple A** Urgery’ and we’re like, ‘yes, we know’
• Carter: Once you get past that we just embrace it and laugh with them, because then they don’t think it’s nearly as funny.
• Josh: Joke killers, we did that on purpose.
• Carter: Now we know who we are. We found our groove. We’re still working out tons of stuff but I think we found our sound we’re going for under the name Simple As Surgery and we finally got our set thing.
(about 10:30) Who do you guys listen to?
• Carter: If you want to know my top 3 bands right now. I’m listening to Whoa! is Me, Katie Groves, and Old Crow Medicine Show. Actually no, take that back, I’ve been listening to Kid Cudi because his new album is dope. A little post hardcore, a little folk, and a little acid rap.
• Daniel: I’ve been real indie. I’ve been listening to All Time Low, The Almost, and the Kooks.
• Josh: Deadmau5, Frank Sinatra, and…I don’t know mostly dumb stuff and old school music.
• Carter: We really listen to everything. If we’re going for artists following suit of, we’re a mixture of All Time Low…
• Josh: famous people
• Carter:…and Justin Beiber. All of this wrapped up in three, and that’s us.

(about 14:45) Before getting together as a band, what were your dream jobs?
• Daniel: I wanted to be Elvis Presley for the longest time.
• Josh: That’s not a job. That’s like a human.
So you wanted to be fat and have heart problems?
• Band: Yes!
• Carter: I wanted to be veterinarian for a little while because I really like animals a lot. Then I wanted to be a scientist, but not a nerdy scientist. I wanted to be a scientist that made great things that only benefit me. Then when I was 12 years old I realized I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I was always interested in music. I was 13 when Capstone started, and from there on I was gung-ho with music. Josh, I don’t know what you wanted to do…
• Josh: I wanted to open up a Legos store.
• Carter: Really?
• Josh: Yeah I wanted to have crazy sets that no one else had, like a specialty Legos store.
• Carter: I wanted to be an actor for a little while.
• Josh: Yeah I wanted to be like an assassin, that was a cool job. That was my realistic job.
• Carter: No we were in a drama team, me and Josh. For a few years.
• Josh: Oh wow, you wanted to be an actor?
• Carter: Yeah, I wanted to be a legitimate actor. We did skits and stuff for a few years. And I like to think we were pretty dang good. And everyone thought we were funny.
• Josh: Everyone in the world thought we were funny
• Carter: I’ve been on the stage performing junk since I was 11. I always like being the center of attention, I am an only child. As you know, it’s kind of inevitable. I just embrace it.

(about 21:00) What’s your favorite song on the album?
• Carter: There’s a song on there that I really like. It’s called “Our Kind of Love.”
• Josh: That one’s awesome. I love that one. It’s real good.
• Carter: It’s written about a special lady.
They’re always about special ladies, come on now.
• Carter: No, about a real special lady, one that I like. It’s actually great because we write the songs together, and I usually have a certain someone I’m thinking about and it’s funny because they expound on it and it makes sense…
• Josh: …it’s kinda like an emotional orgy…because we’re all writing about different girls in the same song
• Carter: Yeah “Our Kind of Love” is a personal happy one for me, it’s close to the heart. They’re all close to the heart, but that one’s really close.
It’s your “baby”?
• Josh: Yeah, it’s my baby.
• Carter: It’s actually the best “baby” song out there because it’s got little xylophone ting tings and all kinds of cute little things. It’s really nice.
Does the girl know it’s for her?
• Carter: Yes. *smiles*
(about 23:25) How long did it take from first getting together as a band to recording? When did Simple As Surgery start up, when did you guys get noticed, and when did you get some sort of deal?
• Carter: We started at the beginning of the summer last year. We played a few shows throughout the summer and fall, and during Christmas break we went to Atlanta and recorded “Wanna Be with You.” In one year’s time we’ve done a single, an EP, and now we got the full-length on the way. So, we’ve been pretty busy in the recording studio this year a lot. Cranking out songs, trying to get all that stuff ready, doing features and stuff, so it’s been a really cool process watching the record turn out to what it is now.
• Josh: It’s probably taken a little longer than normal too…
• Carter: We did it in 4 sessions.
• Josh: …because we’ve had to write, record, go up there, come back to save money, go back. It’s been a process…
• Carter: We were working around school and work. But I think ultimately we can all probably sit back, and we’re all really proud of every single song.
• Josh: Yeah, I’m stoked about it.
• Carter: They all bring about different emotions and feelings, and we did them all at different times. I can honestly say that every song pertains to some part of an emotional something.…It’s a fulfilling thing to listen to them all and realize what you can make.
They sound great!
• Carter: It’s very rewarding, you know? It feels like it’s my child. I’m really proud of these 10 songs. So if someone says “oh I don’t really like them” then I’d be like, “well you suck.” All of our families have been really supportive over it. The kids have been coming out to our shows, even if it’s not their genre. People have been pretty accepting of it, so we have a lot of fun. We’ll have more fun. The End. We’re going to have to spend all about…it.
• Josh: We’re all about it, whatever it is. We don’t know what, but we’re about it.