2 DOZEN QUESTIONS...WITH INSTRUCTION FRONTMAN ARTY SHEPHERD

INSTRUCTION frontman Arty Shepherd called in on a rainy Friday afternoon while he was putzing around New York City, preparing to hit the road with LINKIN PARK, KORN, and SNOOP DOGG for a few weeks with the Projekt Revolution Tour. I was all set to smack Arty up with a dozen really stupid questions, and within a minute of speaking to the guy I realized how well-read he is...so the dumbass questions pretty much went out the window.

Incidentally, INSTRUCTION's video for 'Breakdown' recently was voted #1 on Fuse TV's OVEN FRESH. It's very TOOL-ish in nature. Check it out when you get a minute. The band's Geffen Debut, 'God Doesn't Care' will be released on August 24th.

Thanks to our own FoundryMusicDana for transcribing this monster...lord knows I couldn't do it in any less than a month.

Steve C: So where are you now, geographically speaking?

Arty Shepherd: I'm actually in New York City. We're running two hours late. Just trying to get out for our first date on the Project Revolution tour. So, I'm on Sixth Avenue right now.

SC: So you're about to hook up with the Projekt Revolution Tour for two weeks. That is going to expose you to a lot of people right?

Arty Shepherd: Yeah, I hope so. We're on pretty early on the second stage. But, the way they've set it up is actually really beneficial cause they don't open the gates to the main area until four o'clock and we're on at 3:15 PM and reports have been there are like 1,500 to 3,000 people who are sort of forced to watch you.

SC: Are you on by yourself or are you sharing the stage with other acts?

Arty Shepherd: Yeah, there's a bunch of other [acts]. GHOSTFACE is the headlining act. FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND from England, whom we've toured with in England are on it. I think DOWNSET. The opening bands rotate and the [headlining] bands are the same through out the whole tour.

SC: So, is that substantially more people than you are used to playing in front of?

Arty Shepherd: Um, not in England. But, here yeah. When we toured with PUDDLE OF MUDD we were doing 1,000 to 2,000 people which was way cool. But, yeah it is, in America, it's definitely a lot more exposure that what we're used to and just in general being on the tour is actually really beneficial to us.

SC: What is something that you could do on that second stage that will leave a lasting impression on people?

Arty Shepherd: Um well, you've never seen us live, but we pretty much do that either way. There is pretty much death and destruction happening by the end [of the show] (laughs). I'm not into like doing anything too stupid. Like DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, I remember when they played Redding a couple of years ago and they took a shit in a bag and threw it at the crowd. I'd rather just play and impress people. The only thing we can do is play and hope people are listening. And kick ass which is what we do every night.

SC: Not that I am suggesting you go for shock value, but the music business is not the prettiest business these days...

Arty Shepherd: No and it's very competitive and if you can do something that makes you stick out, do it. But, we already stick out and there is quite a bit of theatrical stuff going on. It's more aggression than theatrics. But, it comes off that way and people definitely react to it and definitely remember who we are. Nobody ever forgets Instruction after seeing us. You either hate us or you love us...It's the whole Oscar Wilde thing: The only thing worse than people talking bad about you, is nobody talking at all.

SC: You guys were all humping it out for a long time in other bands before landing a deal with Geffen records. Given the climate of the music business today, it must have been tempting to just throw in the towel and say, 'Fuck it, I don't want to do this anymore.' What kept you motivated?

Arty Shepherd: It wasn't about the music business to tell you the truth. It was frustrating, but this is what I'm going to do. I have relegated myself to that [the fact] that I will be making music whether I am sitting behind a desk and doing it at night or I'm doing it professionally. Instead of getting mad about it like I used to, I started writing songs about it.

SC: So, the song writing became cathartic?

Arty Shepherd: Yeah, like the song "Great" is very much about A&R people. For the most part, people in the industry, it's sort of rich kid fun. In order to get inside like that, you have to know the right people. It's a bullshit thing and there's no requirement for the job either (laughs). It's just, you like music a lot and you got lucky and that's pretty much it. And you know what? I've met a lot of really cool people, but I've met a lot of fucking snakes too. You just kind of deal with both of them.

SC: When you say 'snakes', are you referring to other musicians or the corporate people?

Arty Shepherd: Um, the record label side. [Managers] we have had great expeierence[s] with.

SC:The major labels are all downsizing now and only the craftiest guys are going to wind up keeping their jobs..

Arty Shepherd: No kidding (laughs). Even with that, it's a lot of luck. I don't know how to explain it. But really, things have been destroyed. Creativity has been destroyed. It's just the reality of it and I'm glad we snuck through and I hope we can make a difference in the right direction.

SC: Given the state of the music industry, does a record label, like Geffen, give you an indication as to how much of shot you guys are going to get at making sales?

Arty Shepherd: They blow smoke up your ass constantly (laughs). It's part of their deal. A couple of months ago we were priority, priority, priority and then the slam comes down. [Because] Universal/Dreamworks gets consolidated. Now they have a billion bands to deal with, you know?

SC: And now you're one of a billion bands...

Arty Shepherd: Yeah, but it's weird. It's the same concept we had as an Indie band, which is: don't depend on the label to do anything, just do it yourself. So, we've gone out, ourselves and our management, and got thirty to forty ads on radio and basically the label's gone, 'Oh shit. We better do this.' And we've gone from priority to not priority back to priority (laughs). Every week it's something new. I don't really give a shit what's going on there. It's about us doing it for ourselves.

SC: Having said that, do you think the downloading of MP3's is going to help you sell records?

Arty Shepherd: Fuck yeah! Absolutely. It's going to happen either way, why not use it to your advantage?

SC: I was reading your message board and a lot people were asking for the MP3's for the entire album.

Arty Shepherd: Well, yeah because in England it's not being released for a while, so there's a lot of kids over there who want it. But, that's okay. Mp3's, honestly, I they're fantastic.

SC: I was interviewing somebody the other day and they were very adamant about saying that they don't make money off the records anyway so they don't give a shit if the material is downloaded.

Arty Shepherd: Yeah, I don't care [either]. Like I said, it's going to happen anyway and I think if people like it, they are going to come see us live, and honestly, you don't make any money selling records. The reality is, if they like it, they come see us live and that's where we make the money. Everybody in a band realizes that now. It's about playing shows and selling merch[andise] because you don't see any royalities, ever.


Oh my LORD, did you see the cans on that chick?

SC: I hear that PRINCE is now including the price of a disc in his ticket sales and you get handed a CD at his shows.

Arty Shepherd: Yeah, he puts the price of record in with the price of a ticket and the he sells a million records because of how many tickets he sold. It's brilliant! It's very smart because he is using all those sales for Soundscan. So, it looks good in the industry that he just sold three million records. Where in the past, his past couple of records haven't done shit. It's brilliant! You've got to give Prince some props for that.

SC: You guys had Bob Ezrin [legendary producer for KISS, ALICE COOPER,PINK FLOYD] produce your Geffen disc, how did you pull that off?

Arty Shepherd: It was kind of circumstance. It was one of those things where we kept running into each other. He's friends with our manager. So, we would run into him when they were having dinner. He would be up at the office and he wasn't really producing anything at the time. He kinda didn't want to and we saw him out to dinner with our manager and we were like, 'Hey, why don't you come down to the show?' and our manager's like, 'Yeah, we'll put you on list.' He shows up and he fucking flipped out the second we walked off stage and he's like, 'When do we start?' So, that was really cool!

SC: This is a guy that worked with KISS and so many legendary bands...

Arty Shepherd: Yeah. I know man. I mean I was a little intimidated to tell you the truth. But, one of the best things about Bob is that he is great songwriter. So, I was given the opportunity to write and hone [my skills] with a guy I completely think is amazing. And of the big reasons we actually worked with him, and he was even a discussion, was because of that JANE'S ADDICTION record that he did [which] sounds phenomenal. The songs aren't that great but, the actual sound of it, is incredible. And we wanted his engineer, Brian Virtue, who's now doing the AUDIOSLAVE record, and it's been really good for everybody. Like I said, working with Bob really taught me a lot about songwriting and I love learning. I love being with people like that, who are that talented. It just makes me learn more and more and more and get better at what I do. [And the things that] he would tell me about my songwriting, I was like, ' Did he just say that?' Like, 'Wow!' It was an honor to work with him. I learned a shit load. I still talk to him once or twice a week. He's very involved in our career.

SC: Did he share any stories with you about bands that he has worked with? Any good Paul Stanley stories?

Arty Shepherd: He's a little mum on the KISS stuff. He'll tell you stories about Gene Simmons banging a receptionist within fifteen minutes of being in the studio. He'll tell you Alice Cooper would bring in more beer than equipment (laughs) and that Alice Cooper was the only artist that he actually knew that was better drunk than sober. He said that Pink Floyd is incredibly boring (laughs). There's no good stories about them at all. That was pretty much the extent of the story telling. We were really busy man.

SC: The vast majority of young men pick up guitars and start bands for many of the same reasons: women, money and fame...

Arty Shepherd: Is that the reason? That's not the reason I play.

SC: Then what is the reason you play?

Arty Shepherd: Honestly, because that is what I love to do. My mom played and I had a guitar hanging around the house and I was always interested in playing cause I am huge YES fan and I wanted to play "Mood For A Day". Honestly, the money and the fame...I don't know about any of that stuff and whenever I see people say that on VH-1's Behind the Music and what not, I'm like, that can't possibly be their inspiration to pick up a guitar. It can't be. There are so few people that get that, that you either love what you do or you don't. I, luckily after 12 years of not getting paid to do it, I get paid to do it and I would be doing the same thing whether someone was paying me or not.

SC: Really?

Arty Shepherd: Yeah. Initially I played nice stuff just to..the first song I ever learned to play on guitar, that I taught myself was from Pink Floyd The Wall. I remember my mom going,'That's really nice' and that feeling of her [saying] 'That's really nice' was actually amazing. I was like, 'Wow, that's really cool, so you think that sounds nice and I just figured it out myself.' And honestly, the thing that I am addicted to the most is when I write something that I know is great, I get the chills from it. I am like,'this is great' and the rest of my day is made. That feeling is addictive to me. That's what I love.

SC: So, if all of sudden you found yourself in a position where there were a hundred women throwing themselves at you every night of the week, would you rise above it or would you take advantage of the circumstances?

Arty Shepherd: You know, you take in stride. I've had some weird experiences so far and you know I have been doing this for a long time so I've kind of been through all those phases. But this a different level. I mean we've done Puddle of Mudd and fucking Papa Roach. We've seen the groupie scene and we're all from the hardcore scene, it's not really what we're about. I won't even sign a girl's breasts. I just think it's stupid. I've has some experiences with girls where they're like, 'Let's go into the van right now' and I go, 'You know what? I am going to teach you a lesson in self respect by not doing that. Cause in five years, no guy's ever gonna want to be with you because you've been used so badly and you're too young to realize that now and I'm old enough to know it.'

SC: Wow!

Arty Shepherd: I'm not saying we're saints cause we're not, at all. I'm just saying it's not this fucking knock down, drag out Rock N' Roll party.


Cumbaya, My Lord... Cumbaya...

SC: Does that even exist anymore?

Arty Shepherd: Yeah, it does a little bit. But, it's toned down. The thing is, the schedule is so rigorous and I'm a little too old to be fuckin' not sleeping and partying all day. I don't do drugs, so I don't have the cocaine lift before I go on. We've experienced it to a point. But in this day and age, it's the age of AIDS and everyone's running scared of everything and has been for a while. I'd much rather have one girl to call every night than to bang a different chick every night. That's just me though. I'm not saying I'm a saint. I'm just saying I'm a little to old for it. Maybe someday I'll turn into [Charles] Bukowski and I'll want to bang 18-year-olds, but not right now.

SC: There's nothing wrong with wanting to bang 18-year-olds.

Arty Shepherd: (Laughs) And there's plenty of them to go around.

SC: That's fantastic! I read an interview, where you got a little political. You were in England and you were criticizing the American media and how they selectively talk about certain world events. Let's say hypothetically the draft is reinstated in 2005 and you and your bandmates receive notices that you have to report for basic training.....

Arty Shepherd: We're too old.

SC: Are you? Because I hear that they could be raising it to either 35 or 40?

Arty Shepherd: Oh, then we're not too old. You know what man? I have to say that I wouldn't serve this country at this point. Not for this war. It's a fucking joke. It was based on lies. It's about money. It's about [the] American empire which I live in that empire. I live in the economy that it supports and I understand that I take advantage of those things, but there's gotta be a better way of doing it. The Republicans are making fun of John Kerry saying, 'a more sensitive war' the other day. But, that term actually makes complete and utter sense. Yeah, more sensitive to people's culture that's the reason we're worried about more terrorist attacks because we have no sensitivity to their culture. Donald Rumsfeld looks like an arrogant prick on the air. People in Europe think we're fucking nuts. This guy looks like he's a serial killer and he talks about people like they're not even human. It's really wrong and I don't think I'd go. I said when the first war happened I was of the draft age and I remember raising my hand in class and saying 'I wouldn't go' and I got thrown out of class for it. I just remember feeling like 'I don't feel right.' First of all, I'm a pacifist. So, it would be against everything I believe to go and kill anybody. I just don't believe it's right. I just don't think it solves problems in any way, shape or form. That's just not the way life works. I have to say honestly, I wouldn't go. There are guys in the band who don't agree with my viewpoints, but they're not the singer. Honestly, I have very little respect for people who support this war. I think that they're ignorant and they just need to read the facts. They blindly follow George Bush into a war that's about his fucking wallet and about his buddies wallets. I've read quite a bit. Even before the Farenheit 9/11 stuff. That was really cool that that came out. It's a little bit heavy handed, [but], it's fantastic. [It] will get the fence sitters. I would rather everyone read [Noam] Chomsky. Read things that are very well documented, but not everyone's going to be able to sit down and read that. I had a lot free time in the van. But, I try and read all sides to understand it and I've come to the conclusion that this is wrong and we shouldn't be there and I'm not gonna support it in any way. The bottom line is that, in my opinion, I am pacifist and killing is wrong under any circumstances. World War II maybe being an exception. Besides that, every war is about money. Bottom line. It'll never change.

Deep, eh? That was one of the most cerebral conversations I've ever had with a guy in a rock band. They're all New York guys, so hopefully they'll check in once in a while.

Instruction's Geffen debut God Doesn't Care will be released on August 24th.

Don't forget, they're on tour with LINKIN PARK, KORN, and SNOOP DOGG on the Project Revolution Tour through the end of August. CLICK HERE FOR TOUR DATES.

Finally, visit INSTRUCTION-MUSIC.com for all the goods on Arty and his cronies.