The 15 Question E-Mail Interview
with Tammany Hall NYC
November 2002
First I want to thank you guys for sending us "back in the bottle". What a fabulously mellow, beautifully written disc. It's too hard to choose a favorite, although "Wintertime" and "Delicious Melancholy" keep running through my mind. Congratulations.
But enough of the fan-talk. :) We want to let our readers know a bit more about you, so on to the questions.........
GirlPosse: So who are you guys?
Tammany Hall NYC: MATT: Steve O'Reilly-Vocals,Guitar/Matt Anthony-Guitar
GirlPosse: How did the four of you come together?
Tammany Hall NYC: STEVE: Matt and I met through a mutual friend. He was working at a jingle house, doing commercial work, and I was working every wacky job on the planet….mail order mulch… you name it. I had just spent about five hundred bucks (a lot of money for me at the time) on a demo of the song "Sullivan Street" [available on the upcoming BUDDY album]. Matt heard the song and thought…"cool song… too bad it was recorded so poorly". At which point, having just dropped a huge wad of cash, I decided he was a "jerkoff". We soon started recording together and discovered that, in fact, we had a lot more in common musically speaking than we could ever have imagined. Dave, our drummer, was a long time friend of Matt's. They had done the whole NYC heavy metal circuit together years ago. So, it was a natural thing for the three of us to start working together. Rod had been playing in New York as well and we were in desperate need for a bassist. We liked his vibe and kind of just went with it.
GirlPosse: Each of you play masterfully. Who are your influences?
Tammany Hall NYC: MATT: I don't really have a favorite guitar player. As far as artists go right now, I'm listening to a lot of Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Dr. Dre, Lyle Lovett, and Lucinda Williams.
DAVE: Anything HEAVVVYYY!
ROD: Non-stop Jovi
STEVE: The Smiths, The Pixies, The Police, alright…. I grew up on a lot of John Denver, but don't tell the band.
GirlPosse: You've had amazing exposure via HBO with "Always on Sunday" and "Wait for You". Not to mention Showtime and MTV. How did that come about?
Tammany Hall NYC: STEVE: We were really lucky. It's funny how people who've had a good stretch of luck say that, but it is true. It was just one, regular, February afternoon. We got a call from someone over at HBO from the business affairs office. He had been looking for us for some time and had to do some weird reverse URL search to find the host company for our website in order to get my telephone number. At any rate, he told us that HBO was considering using our song ALWAYS ON SUNDAY for their 2002 image campaign. We were like, "ok twist my arm". He told us they had heard about 10,000 song and were deciding between our song and a Frank Sinatra song. Not bad company, huh? I guess they had typed in the word "SUNDAY" into amazon.com and found our album somehow or other. Within days, they decided to go with us and we've all been happy every since.
GirlPosse: Any plans to release "Wait for You"?
Tammany Hall NYC: ROD: We will be releasing WAIT FOR YOU on our upcoming album: BUDDY with that low end that everybody's been missing.
GirlPosse: You've released your 2 CDs "back in the bottle" and "g e t a w a y l a n d" independently. Do you plan the same for your next release?
Tammany Hall NYC: MATT: Yes. We'll continue releasing our own albums until it makes sense to no longer do so.
STEVE: BUDDY should be done within the next month. It is a hybrid of some new recordings and some re-recordings of some slightly older stuff. It is more of a rock album than say… back in the bottle. BUDDY is like a pop/rock feeding frenzy. Put it on and smile.. type thing.
GirlPosse: So will your fans around the country have the chance to see you perform live in the near future?
Tammany Hall NYC: STEVE: We have a great relationship with our booking agent: the Agency Group LTD. We just have to formerly move our last couple of chess pieces into position… if you know what I mean.
MATT: We'll be travelling much more in the beginning and throughout 2003. First on the East Coast, then go further as things progress.
GirlPosse: What are you working on now?
Tammany Hall NYC: STEVE: Currently, we are looking into ways to increase traffic to our website. We have started work on some rock-u-mentary shorts which should help. We're finishing the BUDDY recording, booking some more shows, writing material for our follow up album CHINATOWN, generating more buzz, I guess… and trying to let people know who we are. We have a lot of free MP3s at our site which we are encouraging people to download. We've definitely embraced the "work hard… party hard… force yourself to get up early 'CAUSE YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN OUT SO LATE YOU DUMBASS BASTARD" mantra.
GirlPosse: (For Steve O'Reilly specifically) How did you balance working with the band and filming a movie ("My Little Eye")?
Tammany Hall NYC: STEVE: I tell you it was not easy. The band was in a difficult place at the time of shooting. HBO hadn't happened, our bass player left for Australia, and everyone seemed to be grabbing for their own personal life preserver. Being in a band is not easy. How many people do you really know that are still playing in a band? Not that many. It's hard. "My Little Eye" was this incredible boon in my life. At a time when my life as an artist seemed rather bleak and depressing, I was flown first class to Nova Scotia to shoot a film. I couldn't have been happier. It was as if 40 people at all times were pandering to my every need, supporting my artistic choices, treating me like someone special, and saying to me personally, " go ahead… play in this artistic playground… that's what you were put on this earth to do." It was profound.
GirlPosse: Speaking of "My Little Eye" - it was awesome. It was my favorite film from Toronto this year. Have you heard any plans for a US release?
Tammany Hall NYC: STEVE: I haven't spoken to Jon or Marc recently, although I do know that it has been picked up internationally. I don't have any current domestic info.
~~~~~ The Fun Questions~~~~~~~~
GirlPosse: Describe each of your bandmates:
Tammany Hall NYC: STEVE: Matt? An obsessive compulsive, crazy, black t-shirt wearing piece of Girl-Candy who is the most talented person I've ever met. He's pretty shy, actually. Dave? Camera loving, crazy, Loisaida, who's all heart and plays the shit out of his drums… He's been a Rock star his whole life whether anyone knew it or not. Rod? Controlled, pragmatic, rocker with a devilish underbelly who seems to only hang out with beautiful women.
DAVE: BOOSER, LOSER, and CRUISER in no specific order.
MATT SAYS: "Steve-The Chief
Dave-Out of Control
Rod-Shy
Me-Mission Control"
GirlPosse: What's the best thing about being famous?
Tammany Hall NYC: DAVE: I've been famous for years, can't remember what it's like not being famous.
Matt: Let you know when it happens.
STEVE: Famous isn't what we are. We are driven and compelled to tell a story with sound. People seem to be gravitating towards it, which only means that our music seems to resonate in people's hearts. Fame is fleeting they say, but if you can touch someone's heart, you're music will survive. I'm all about hearts.
GirlPosse: Most embarrassing moment(s):
Tammany Hall NYC: MATT: Playing a dance party in Philly. We hit the first chord, and they hit the exit sign.
DAVE: Too many to disclose.
STEVE: We played at UPENN. It was suppose to be a rock-show, or so we thought. It turned into a glorified "Prom-type" gala. Everyone was dressed up and looking forward to dancing and what not…within seconds after our first chord the entire room left. I mean the entire room… all 500 people. The only person in the room was our overly-enthusiastic manager who was trying to keep our spirits' up. Yep… that was pretty awful. We opted to eat 12 cheese steaks that night in an attempt to make ourselves feel better. We've been conducting a Philly Cheese steak taste test ever since… mmm cheese steak.
GirlPosse: Currently we have a "Guy Survey" on Girlposse.com. To help us gals know what guys want and think etc. Here's one of the questions: How can a girl tell if a guy likes her? What are the signs?
Tammany Hall NYC: Matt: If he's talking to you for more than 5 minutes, he likes you.
Steve: I was just thinking about this, the other day. I wanted to figure out a way to turn this into a lyric actually. Have you ever stood on a New York City street and kissed someone and while you were kissing them… you became so immersed in the dream or the drug of a kiss that you lost your balance, became totally disoriented, and sort of tripped like a spaz? That's when you know everything is right on.
DAVE: The purchase of much alcohol.
GirlPosse: What is the one question never asked in interviews that you would like to answer?
Tammany Hall NYC: STEVE: AAARGH…When did you become a pirate?
DAVE: How come nobody ever asks me about J-Lo's butt?
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