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This is NOT the Apple


Susan Marie, Janna Willoughby, Dave Harter, Alex Mead, Bryan Lohr

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Susan: This is Susan Marie and you are listening to This is NOT the Apple and you were just listening to 'Do You Even Know' by the BloodThirsty Vegans and I'm here today with Alex Mead, Janna Willoughby, Dave Harter, Bryan Lohr, Ben Sachs is not here... and Kim...

Susan: ...push something good out there but you guys are all, you guys are all doing something different it's like... I want like four people video taping you guys because you can't watch it all. You can not watch it all, like you put your head up and you guys are all doing like all something totally different in your own world but you're together while you're doing it...

Janna: ...and I got together with Brrrn and said 'You know, you are freaking amazing on guitar and you should come and play with us...

Susan: ...Bryan over here, You just like come out and you just like [sound]

Dave: Shreds!

Susan: You do your own thing. Yeah! Shreds exactly! But he's real like quiet. And like laid back right? And then you're like this... just... like birds coming out of the guitar it's like... It's crazy. and...

Brrrn: I shred birds [laughter]

Susan: That's what they do at their shows. It's really not peaceful it's like...

Janna: How's that for Vegan?

Susan: This... This is cool. about filling your guitar with beads and buckshot as to have a shaker in the mix. Did you really do that?

Dave: Yes....

Susan: ...You guys have to go check out bloodthirsty vegans They're at bloodthirstyvegans, that's BloodThirstyVegans.com also myspace, facebook, twitter, where else?

Dave: everything

Susan: Everywhere all over, all over, all over the net...

Susan: ...You're just accepting. Unconditional...

Dave: it's very fun

Susan: You can't be sad around Janna. Forget it. You can't.

Janna: I'll slap you. [laughter]

Susan: Alex and Janna, how you guys do what you do with the vocals. I just... I don't know how you do that because I would be completely out of breath it's just... it's totally mind blowing

Susan: You've been with the Vegans for like about a year?

Janna: A little over a year. Getting to be a year and a half now.

Susan: Now, did you join... Were you guys already playing togther when Janna came on

Janna: No.

Susan: Really?

Janna: We had no bass player, no drummer

Dave: Janna and I joined almost on the first night

Susan: Really? Tell me how that happened.

Brrrn: Tell her how it is Papa Vegan. [laughter]...

Dave: I... I have to tell this part of the story [laughter]

Dave: Um... I was working at a program that was right around the corner from his house and I was amazed by that. and that's exactly what he wrote back to me was like... 'do I need to bring my set?' he's like 'Well I can walk it over.' and I was like 'Okay. You're going to walk my drum set over?' and I go down... and this came at a perfect time too... I really needed music back in my life. it was like one of those things so it was like a good... thing. And I walk down and I opened up... and it was this big swinging door at the church, big church door you know and on the other side of it I see, for the first time, Alex Mead. Who is a big, hulking bohemoth. Um.. and I just see this big dude with big hair and um... and he's looking at me and he says "Hi." [laughter] or something very deadpan and very low and um I was "hi." and we went and got my drum set. and we did. We hauled the entire thing right over to his living room. And played that night. It was great...

Janna: And he made more sound come out of those two drums and one cymbal...

Dave: Awww... thank you guys.

Janna: than anybody else I had ever heard I'm like 'This dude rocks!'...

Alex: ...and so I just started rappin, and he was drummin... I was rappin... he was drummin... I was rappin... and...

Dave: It worked.

Alex: it was like "I like this guy."

Susan: You can't... you have to see it live or see their videos because it's just... the crowd that comes along too is just... it's alive. It's --like I said-- your energy that you put out there, you make people just... act spontaneous. which is a really rare thing. You know what I mean?...

Alex: ...instant crowd of dancing people. Where did these people come from?

Janna: and they're all people we've never seen before.

Susan: Yeah but you know that happens all the time. Every time I see you guys play even... remember at the UU, when uh, it was closed. and outside, and all these people come and the baby was singin and laughing and I see all those people with the dog and I'm going where are all these people...right? we're just on Elmwood... and then even at Pearl street. Nothing all day look what happened when you guys played? [sound effect] people. That happens to you guys all the time, so. Seriously.

Alex: Hmmm... Things that make you go hmmmmmm....

Susan: Alex also goes as My Rap Name is Alex You... Alex also has his own CD, My Rap Name is Alex, and that's 2008 right?

Alex: Uh...2009. This year.

Janna: Early, early, early

Alex: No. It came out like over... at like the beginning of the summer

Janna: Really?

Alex: It's new.

Janna: It seems like so long ago.

Alex: It s... well... We've been on a grand adventure. [laughter]

Susan: I love what Alex says here: 'the very real, very urgent truth as I see it is that people need to wake up fast and begin to realize --and behave like they realize-- that the interconnected web of life around us matters. In fact it is what matters most.' And that's so true of humanity, that's why I see... people are, you know they're complacent. And that's what you do. You're like WAKE UP! It's almost like smashing a bottle...

Susan: ...The energy that you guys put out I just have to say this... is so good and positive. I don't know how to explain it but, I mean your whole life could be literally falling to pieces and... here's a perfect example I'm driving through this busy traffic going up to, you know, Dance Alive! right. And uh, I get up there and I was not really in the right frame of mind or whatever and what did I do? I sit down in the middle of the sidewalk and I'm just sittin there like... I'm just soaking it all in what you guys are puttin out there, and you guys put... I dunno if you guys realize that you do that, everything that you guys do...

Susan: ...When um... you know when you're sittin there... the bare feet. I mean, I absolutely love that. No I do... because I'm a real Earthy person you know... and in the summer I never wear shoes you know...

Susan: and Janna's is MC Vendetta.

Alex: I met Janna um... a very long time ago when I was a very, very shy, introverted, wanna-be poet trying to uh.. make myself sign up on the sign up lists.

Susan: Are you serious?

Alex: Yeah. And uh... Janna used to just come through and just blow up the spot

Susan: Exactly!

Dave: It goes out way beyond that too, I mean it's all the other stuff that goes into being in a band, I mean like Janna's this rediculous marketer... like, I dunno. She's just a mover and a shaker and...

Alex: ...fully expecting her to say 'no way, I'm way too busy.' I just asked Janna... I was like is there any possibility you would wanna be in the BloodThirsty Vegans and she was like 'hell yeah!'

Susan: Yeah exactly. How could you be like 'no.'?

Janna: Yeah, who would say no to the most funnest band in the universe?

Susan: What I wanted to touch upon which is really important is that what you guys do is like, you do it because you wanna do it because you love to do it, because it makes you feel good to do it and you make other people feel good...

Susan: ...graphic design when you guys go to BloodThirsty Vegans.com that is a beautiful website. I want, I want, I want the background. That's yours isn't it Alex?

Alex: I designed that.

Susan: Yeah.

Janna: You should design wall paper for little kids' rooms

Susan: You SHOULD! [laughter]

Janna: I'm tellin you.

Dave: New markets.

Janna: I'm the idea girl over here.

Dave: ...I'm just remembering Ben in that first like week when he was so excited to come and... [laughter]

Janna: ...'Hey, I know you've been playin bass for a couple years and you've just been learning how to play. and you know, really like playin with people. and so we're really lookin for a bass player' an he's kinda like 'Oh. I don't know.' you know. He's so used to most people saying 'Oh I got a band.' and like having the band suck miserably and so I played him a CD of a couple of things that we'd been doing and, you know just basement recording tracks and he's like 'This is your band? No way! You guys are really awesome!'...

Janna: ...and so I let him borrow the CD for, and he had it for like four or five days and then he came to our very next practice after that and he knew all of the songs like he was just like 'I can play this. I have a sweet part made up for this. I'm all set. I'm ready to go.'...

Dave: ...rhythmic happiness is just this essential thing that exists in all cultures all over the world... that people get happy, from either beating drums or dancing

Susan: It's true! True.

Dave: and it's something we do less and less and less. And I love that about our group that that's like goal one of our live performance is 'GET UP AND MOVE!'...

[music]